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Subscribe to RSSWhen a young woman was found dead in her bathtub, suspicion focused on her husband of 4 months. Did she accidentally drown or was it something more sinister? It took three trials to find out. Dennis Murphy revisits this puzzling case.
The two-hour Dateline update of The Bathtub Mystery airs Sunday, January 22nd, at 7pm/6c.
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Widmer is guilty as sin. His 911 call is the best evidence against him. Who calls 911 and starts explaining what he thinks happened? If you found your wife unconscious you would be screaming for an ambulance. All you would need to say is that she isn't breathing. The next thing is the fact that there was no water on the floor of the bathroom. You cannot remove someone from a tub without getting water on the floor. Period. And then the injuries to her neck. As a paramedic, I can tell you that no matter how long I perform CPR, I NEVER injure someone's neck. The hands are on the chest, not the neck during CPR. The fact that this guy never got angry tells me that he is not normal. He was very controlling and the woman he married doesn't seem like someone who would stand for much of that. I believe she may have told him she wanted out of the marriage and that is when he killed her.
So, where are these rules and guidelines for what to say and how to feel after you go through a traumatic experience. From one person to the next people act differently. And also the EMTs tried to intubate Sarah twice in the house, once in the ambulance in the driveway, and two more times en route to the hospital. One EMT tried to help by performing the Sellick maneuver. Which you hold the person head and neck firmly while applying pressure at the thyroid cartilage. Doctors testified in the trial that 5 intubations would cause neck bruising. In the case of a drowning victim, the blood is thinner, making bruising that much more widespeard and prominent.
I would like to ask if the defense attorneys thought about getting a forensic patholigist to autopsy the body, & why wasn't this done 4 his first trial, if he is innocent as I believe he is,something could show up! Such as brain hemmorige,or heart problems. I kind of think it is one or the other, but I am no doctor!Just something to think about & another avenue to pursue!
deb, The defense had Dr. Werner Spitz, do a second autopsy but because the coroner left the body in such poor shape, he couldn't do all the testing that he wanted. He said the death was undetermined. Forensic pathologist Dr. Balko, explained what the coroner did wrong. Read his testimony at www.freeryanwidmer.com He has been criticized for cutting corners and making snap judgements on cause of death, almost causing one company to go bankrupt because of the death of a worker. He also has been criticized for holding down 3 jobs, not being board certified, and not keeping up on his education of injuries caused by CPR and repeated intubation attempts. Google Coroner Russell Uptegrove and read about it.
Listen, when a perpetrator places a 911 call, it's is extraordinarily difficult to sound "normal". I have seen so many 911 calls lead to convictions, and Widmer is a perfect example. What I found amazing is that Widmer continued to hang on the phone for several minutes with that crazy person who answered his 911 call. Here Widmer is in a terrible crisis yet he continues to waste critical time on the phone when he should have been attempting to get his wife out of the tub!!!!! It's no wonder that this piece factored into the jury's decision to convict him. There is a missing person's case in Cincinnati right now where the boyfriend calls 911 and immediately starts offering up his own theory of why his girlfriend is missing. It's unbelievable! If this guy is ever tied to her disappearance through other evidence, it wouldn't surprise me in the least that he's involved.
The 911 call is not "evidence". Injuries to her neck could be due to repeated attempts to intubate (they said FIVE times). I don't see where you get that he was controlling. Except maybe the mother's testimony in the THIRD trial, which changed drastically from the first. He didn't stalk her at work; their common friends all agree that he couldn't have done it.
As a paramedic you would know that all kinds of post resuscitation trauma at the front of the neck is not only possible but PROBABLE with repeated intubation attempts. Please clarify what you have said or admit your inexperience.
I think this whole scenario is a railroad job and the "witness" who testified to Mr. Widmer's confession is just the exact "smoking gun" the prosecution needed to secure a conviction. This is what happens when you give these "win at all costs" DA's that many chances to get a conviction. They will eventually succeed and are willing to subborn perjury to do it. What is extremely telling in this case is that early on, the family of the victim supported the accused, but later came to testify about problems in the marriage that went unnoticed previously. This is part of the understandable grief process where a family seeks to find rationale for the seemingly senseless death of a loved one. Mr. Widmer was bombarded with weirdo women seeking to befriend him. With all that went on around him, he became weaker and weaker (as did his mother and father). That is what happens when your world gets shattered. You lose perspective on all things. This man should be judged on his life and relationships BEFORE his world was turned upside down. Bottom line? No proof that her daeth was anything but an accident. Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? Impossible. But juries these days don't exact that standard anymore. This could happen to you.
i was just wanting to know where did the blood come from on thier floor
yeah, they didn't mention the blood! That was weird!
Did anyone notice the lysol wipes on the ledge of the tub????
if he really did kill her why did he kill?
I think marriages can sometimes have dark secrets that even close friends don't know about. Although maybe he didn't...I can't decide. I guess we will never know for sure.
He freaked out when she said she was going to leave him and told her that no one ever leaves him. Like his father once did.
I knew th minute I saw the lead detective, that he lied. Funny all through the show everytime he spoke I called him a liar. At the very end of your show you stated he was under investigation for that reason. I am usually not wrong on my frist impressions that are that strong. I don't think this kid did it. The whole case was shakey. As far as being a paramedic as the above person stated, I think they should go back for some training. There were several er doctors and experts that stated that these injuries could be cause by trying to revive her. Sorry! I think he was wrongly convicted.
The Lysol wipes were there because Sarah liked to wipe down the tub before she bathed. I do that too. The blood was menstrual blood, there were Always wrappers in the trash can to prove that.
He is innocent! FREE WID!!!
Kaci, are you a friend of hers? I wouldn't possibly have an opinion either way on a show I watched for a couple hours. That would not be fair. I was just wondering about the case. It is very sad either way.
buster, you can read ALL the testimony at www.freeryan.com 's Home Page. Dateline didn't give nearly enough information to make a judgement call.
I am a friend of Ryan's. Please see freeryanwidmer.com I did not know Sarah. I did not know Ryan until this case. I have been a supporter since the first trial. I have read the transcripts. There is no way he did this
It doesn't seem like enough to convict, but I don't see how you could say "there's no way he did this".
One thing I thought about was the testimony of the girl from Iowa said that Ryan confessed on the phone that he was confronted about an affair by his wife and she wanted to leave him and that is why he killed her. Why was there no attempt to locate this woman? If they could track her down and she came forward, it might have given more credibility to the Iowa girl's story about the confession. I kept waiting for the prosecution to bring it up but it was not even discussed.
That's because it never happened. Ryan's boss testified that he was working all that weekend at a sports event in Warren county. Please read the testimony at www.freeryanwidmer.com for ALL the details that Dateline left out.
I have watched this show, even very carefully. It seems to me that when Ryan was interviewed by Dateline host, he had a serious look on his face as though he was trying to tell the truth and he even said that he loves his wife. Now the next thing I heard was that one of the police officer resigned from the police force and this lead me to believe that these cops had fabricated their story of what they found and what they supposedly did. My question is, did they set up a trap on Ryan for their wrongdoing in order to arrest him? There is another indication as to why I ask this is where the coroner found a hemmorhage just below Sarah's neck as if someone tried to perform a CPR on her, but took it too rough. So, is this a cover-up by the police officers trying to blame Ryan for killing her? I doubt very much that Ryan knows any medical procedures and this is why he called 911 to begin with. Sarah on the other hand, was known to be a sleeper and I think it is very possible that she slid further down in the tub while sleeping, choking on water where she could have thrashed about in the tub finally facing downwards in the tub. I am surprised that no one in court had mentioned about her choking on water! Courts always blame too much on people!
You're correct in your asumptions, J. Powers. "Detective" Braley, the lead detective was forced to resign because he fabricated his credentials when he was hired. Do you know any officer that progresses from road patrol to a detective "Lieutenant" in six months? He is on trial beginning today, Jan. 23 in Federal Court in Cincinnati for fabricating evidence to raid a family birthday party under false pretenses, harassing the homeowners and wrongfully arresting two partygoers.
Mary Helen, the 911 call is NOT factual evidence that PROVES anything. It is subjective and open to interpretation. There is NO SOLID evidence to PROVE that Ryan did this. The prosecution has used innuendo and speculation to make their case. In closing arguements the proseuction couldn't even give an explanation of how Ryan "allegedly" murdered Sarah. They said he might have done it in the tub, the sink under running water or in the toilet. The prosecutor told the jury to "Use your imagination and speculate on how he might have done this...." Should someone be found guilty because the jury used their imagination? A juror who was interviewed after the trial said they went through 3 weeks of technical, medical evidence in 12 hours, but they finally threw out all the evidence and made their judgement because the dog was barking on the 911 tape.
I did not like the way he avoided the question from Dateline person about her being face down Also I do not know how someone would know about the blood on the floor except someone working the case or a freiend making excusing for what was on the television screen
I watched the dateline show and discussed this with my wife. Some women get into the tub and wash their hair first under the faucet before taking their bath. After they rinse their hair ,that is when they stop up the drain to fill up the tub for the bath. This would explain why she was not wet and there was no water on the floor. I don't recall anyone stating that they found water in her lungs at her autopsy. Also it is possible that she was kneeling over in the tub with her head under the faucet washing her hair that way. That would explain why only her hair was damp and she was face down in the tub. Also his reaction when he heard his guilty verdict, is not the reaction of a guilty man, but an innocent man.
@cpo1995....there has been a lot of misinformation spread around about how Ryan found Sarah. Testimony came out during the first trial that he found her in the tub with water filled to the overflow. When he said he found her face down in the water, he was referring to her face being under the water, but she was face up. Thus he found her face.....down in the water, but face up. She was not floating face down at the faucet end of the tub as some people have said.
I am convinced he did this to her. If you walk in the bathroom, and see a loved one submerged in water and unconcious, your first human instinct is to get that person out of the water immediatley. Especially if you are going to attempt to administer CPR. She is still in the bath tub when he calls 911, and only pulls her out once the dispatcher tells him to? Come on, really? Think about it. If you see someone you love that way, you rush and pull them out. You don't leave them in there like that. Its obsurd to think any normal person would do this. This fact alone, along with his very unusual comments and explanations during the 911 call scream of his guilt.
I think this case is ridiculous! There is no evidence that he did this. The police detective is a fraud, the key witness is a fraud and the coronor is incompetent. This is a man with no criminal history, no history of violence and no reason to kill his wife. The wife had a medical condition where she fell asleep anywhere at any time. The jury in the last trial tried to prove him innocent instead of guilty, which goes against court rules. Plus, they made up reasons like - he drowned her in the toilet? It's a travesty that Ryan is in jail. The only people who should be in jail are the lying police officer and the lying witness.
He's where he should be, finally, no matter how long it took.
My speculation: I think the timeline is all wrong in the first place as she was in a state of rig when the paramedics arrived. He had to have time to come up with an "alibi" for his sake, which is the football game.
The reason why she was in rig is: She did take a bath at some point that evening (probably way before the football game). She then got out of the bathtub and dried herself and probably wrapped her hair in a towel or patted her hair dry, thus the reason for her hair being damp and her body being "dry" and no "pruning" of the fingers or toes. Soon, at some point after her bath, there was some type of an altercation. This is the point where I am not sure how she died. I personally believe she was strangled in some way. There is evidence of that around her neck area. How the heck can paramedics try to revive her around her neck? Come on. Chest compression's to her chest, yes, but not at the neck. I don't believe the altercation was in the bathroom at all. The thing that I find really troublesome is the fact that there is no mention that she "drown," just that she was found in the bedroom and was trying to be revived for 45 minutes?
I would not have wanted prosecution or defense on my side. Understand? This was a very sloppy investigation to say the least. There were a lot of avenues the prosecution could have gone down the first time around, but they didn't and I don't understand why. Hence, tax payers waste of money. And we still have to pay for this slouch in prison. AND, guess what folks, he'll get out on good behavior in 5 years?!?
As for the women he "befriended"? Wow is all I can say. It takes all kinds.
Neck bruising could be from repeated intubation attempts. Don't know how you get stangulation when the coroner said she drowned. Maybe you think the coroner is incompetent?
Debbie in NV--- Sarah was absolutely NOT in a state of rigor mortis. They wouldn't have worked on her for 45 minutes at the house and again in the ER at the hospital. You are giving a "possible, probably, might have happened" scenario. Those are NOT facts -- only YOUR opinions. You don't send a man to prison on what you think probably, might have happened.
Ray Y --- yes, the family and friends who support Ryan's innocence know that the coroner rushed to judgement. He has been on the hot seat before because he cuts corners and doesn't do all the testing that he should, as well as make death rulings without talking to the family of the deceased and reading their previous medical records.
Russell Uptegrove - Warren County Coroner
•He holds down 1 full time and 2 part time jobs as county coroner.
•He hasn't been certified in CPR since the early 1990s
•He did one intubation in medical school in the early 1990s
•He's never done the Sellick maneuver or seen it done
•He's not board certified by the state of Ohio
•He doesn't keep up with new research in pathology.
•He's not aware of studies that show intubation injuries mimic strangulation injuries.
•He ruled Sarah's death a homicide in 2 hours.
•He didn't read the ER or EMT reports until after the autopsy was finished
•He had already ruled her death a homicide before he received the toxicology reports
•He had already ruled her death a homicide BEFORE he talked to family members
•He took sections of her brain before it was properly fixed.
•He didn't note which sections the brain tissue was from
•He didn't test the part of the brain responsible for seizures
•He didn't know the hypothalamus gland controls narcolepsy
•He didn't test the hypothalamus for narcolepsy
•He didn't note which sections of the heart he took tissue samples from
We didn't hear on the show or I missed it, did she have water in her lungs? Also I used to wash my hair bent over in the tub and then get inside the tub, maybe that is what she did. I think he truly thinks he is not guilty because he would have taken a plea deal and of course we know he didn't. Why would the paramedics work on her for so long if she really was dead at home. Why take her to the hospital, they said she had rigamortis already. Was she naked when police found her was she naked. Just saying.
I have watched all the Datelines on this case, one question I wish they would have brought up was if he was supposedly watching the game that night, while she was upstairs, did the detectives question him about what the score was or any plays of the game that night? If he knew that info it would make more sense that he WAS downstairs watching the game. So simple!
FoxTX, Nobody EVER questioned Ryan about anything. Except for the coroner's investigator who asked him a few questions at the hospital but stopped because Ryan was so upset and overcome with grief, he couldn't talk, he was never interviewed. The next day, after a quick 2 hour autopsy, he was charged with murder. He phoned Det. Braley that afternoon wanting to meet with him, but Braley blew him off because they already decided to charge him.