Latest / NO FILTER / Husband Found Frozen Outside His Home_ The Strange Case of Mark Phillips [True Crime Documentary]

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Husband Found Frozen Outside His Home_ The Strange Case of Mark Phillips [True Crime Documentary] · NO FILTER

0:01
Speaker 1: On a winter morning in February twenty nineteen, fifty year
0:05
Speaker 1: old Lorie Phillips awoke at home and couldn't find her husband.
0:10
Speaker 1: While she searched for him, Laurie spotted something through the window.
0:13
Speaker 1: Out of the corner of her eye, A dark figure
0:16
Speaker 1: collapsed in the snowbank. It was her husband. She rushed outside,
0:21
Speaker 1: but it was too late to help him. Mark Phillips
0:24
Speaker 1: was frozen to the ground. He had been there all night,
0:28
Speaker 1: but he did not die of hypothermia. Mark had severe
0:32
Speaker 1: injuries to his head and chest. I just wish I
0:35
Speaker 1: knew he was out there, Laurie said, Hi there, welcome
0:42
Speaker 1: to just Thought lounge. I'm Kevin. Today's case is another
0:45
Speaker 1: head scratcher, strange circumstances, details that cannot be verified, and
0:50
Speaker 1: a wife with a motive. Let's take a look. Holeman
1:08
Speaker 1: is a community of about twelve thousand people located in
1:11
Speaker 1: the northern part of Lacrosse County in Wisconsin. The area
1:16
Speaker 1: developed from a small farming community over the past few decades,
1:19
Speaker 1: and its rural roots remain intact. On the outskirts of Holman,
1:23
Speaker 1: on a county road east of Highway thirty five, was
1:27
Speaker 1: the property owned by forty eight year old Mark Phillips
1:30
Speaker 1: and his new wife Laurie in February twenty nineteen. Wisconsin
1:35
Speaker 1: was experiencing a typically cold and snowy winter. On the
1:39
Speaker 1: evening of February twenty second, a few feet of snow
1:42
Speaker 1: covered the ground where it had not been cleared, and
1:45
Speaker 1: the skies threatened to deliver more later that night. Mark
1:50
Speaker 1: and Laurie Phillips married for nearly two full months, made
1:53
Speaker 1: plans with a few friends for the evening. Laurie, who
1:56
Speaker 1: hailed from nearby Winona, had invited out friends Hannock's Klinsky
2:00
Speaker 1: and Adam Stevens. Sometime around seven pm, the group arrived
2:05
Speaker 1: at a venue humbly named the Dive Bar. With many
2:08
Speaker 1: drinks consumed in the hour. Getting late, Mark and Laurie
2:11
Speaker 1: left for home at just after ten pm. Exactly what
2:15
Speaker 1: occurred half an hour later once they reached the house
2:18
Speaker 1: is unknown. Laurie reported that the couple had an argument,
2:22
Speaker 1: which ended when she took off in their Dodge Ram
2:25
Speaker 1: pickup truck. She returned home hours later in the middle
2:28
Speaker 1: of the night, once Mark had presumably gone to bed.
2:33
Speaker 1: Laurie awoke the next morning at about six thirty she
2:36
Speaker 1: had managed only a few hours of fitful rest. As
2:39
Speaker 1: she went through the house, she found that Mark was
2:42
Speaker 1: not in their main bedroom. Before Laurie reached the garage
2:45
Speaker 1: to check for their second vehicle, she spotted a dark
2:48
Speaker 1: lump in the snow through the window. Rushing outside, Laurie
2:52
Speaker 1: laid eyes upon Mark, lifeless and frozen to the ground.
2:57
Speaker 1: She ran inside for a phone to call nine one
3:00
Speaker 1: in one.
3:01
Speaker 2: Okay, would go on my husband he chosen.
3:14
Speaker 3: I don't know he's not by breathing. I don't think cool.
3:24
Speaker 2: Oh my god, help ma'am.
3:27
Speaker 4: Okay, tell me exactly what happened.
3:31
Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know what's going on right now? And
3:39
Speaker 2: still okay, okay, okay, is he away breathing?
3:48
Speaker 5: Okay, we have health on the wail.
3:54
Speaker 2: You lay, I'm flat on his back. I think we're
3:57
Speaker 2: gonna try to him.
3:58
Speaker 5: Okay, I'm a I'm.
4:06
Speaker 2: Are you able to get him on his back and
4:08
Speaker 2: we'll try to do chest congression? No, okay, when the
4:17
Speaker 2: last time you saw him last night at eleven o'clock?
4:22
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, he was gaging me.
4:27
Speaker 2: And I just so offing you down in the truck.
4:32
Speaker 2: Is that what she said?
4:33
Speaker 5: Yes, okay, okay, he was over here.
4:41
Speaker 1: It was twilight when responding officer Valencia received the call
4:45
Speaker 1: out to the Phillips property, arriving minutes later. He took
4:49
Speaker 1: the first driveway leading to the house, the same one
4:52
Speaker 1: that Laurie had used to come home the night before.
4:55
Speaker 1: The drive curves to the right around the end of
4:57
Speaker 1: the main house and circles back towards the county road.
5:01
Speaker 1: Before the bend in the drive just passed a pair
5:03
Speaker 1: of sunglasses which seemed to have been dropped in the
5:06
Speaker 1: center of the path. Mark Phillips was found next to
5:10
Speaker 1: a snowbank. Though he was clearly visible from the house,
5:13
Speaker 1: he was almost entirely concealed from view from most angles
5:17
Speaker 1: on the driveway by roughly three feet of snow. Sergeant
5:21
Speaker 1: Valencia was the first to speak with Laurie about what
5:24
Speaker 1: had occurred.
5:26
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I did not know he was odier.
5:29
Speaker 2: So he was coming around the trucks to come and
5:33
Speaker 2: get me.
5:34
Speaker 3: So I took off. His door was snow wide open.
5:37
Speaker 3: But I didn't know that he was, Like, I didn't,
5:39
Speaker 3: I didn't. I don't know what happened. I didn't know
5:42
Speaker 3: he was there. Oh my god. Okay, stay here, stay
5:49
Speaker 3: with me. Okay, are these your footprints here? I thought
5:55
Speaker 3: it was. I went to see, okay if he was,
5:59
Speaker 3: because I got it, and it was to the bedroom,
6:01
Speaker 3: and I went to see where you want to ve
6:03
Speaker 3: his car?
6:04
Speaker 6: Fun my god.
6:07
Speaker 7: I came home last night and I never even saw him.
6:11
Speaker 1: It had snowed throughout the night. Mark was covered by
6:14
Speaker 1: a thick layer, leaving no doubt that he had been
6:17
Speaker 1: outside for several hours. The only footprints visible surrounding him
6:22
Speaker 1: were Laurie's left when she rushed out from the house
6:24
Speaker 1: to his side. Laurie and Mark had been married the
6:27
Speaker 1: previous December after three years together. Mark was the father
6:32
Speaker 1: of two children from a previous relationship. By all accounts,
6:36
Speaker 1: a loving and supportive father, He had recently been offered
6:39
Speaker 1: a new job in Bismarck, North Dakota. The couple were
6:43
Speaker 1: planning their move. A trailer parked on the back of
6:46
Speaker 1: the property was partially loaded with items. It was meant
6:49
Speaker 1: to be the start of a new chapter in their lives.
7:00
Speaker 3: Job.
7:02
Speaker 5: She said, they just got married in December to shout
7:22
Speaker 5: absolutely sure, that's a big part of it.
7:31
Speaker 1: Inside the house, Laurie spoke further with a sheriff's deputy.
7:34
Speaker 1: She recounted how she had last seen her husband the
7:37
Speaker 1: night before. They had been arguing, and she had driven
7:40
Speaker 1: away in the pickup truck, leaving her husband in the driveway. Unprompted,
7:45
Speaker 1: she told the deputy, I didn't hit him or anything.
7:53
Speaker 1: Laurie agreed to provide a written statement outlining the events
7:56
Speaker 1: of the previous day leading to her nine to one
7:58
Speaker 1: one call that morning. She sat down with Lacrosse County
8:02
Speaker 1: investigator Fritz Leinfelder later that day to do so soams,
8:08
Speaker 1: It's easier, you're so much.
8:18
Speaker 8: Honestly, this.
8:24
Speaker 1: Laurie was not under arrest. She did not request an attorney.
8:29
Speaker 1: She was likewise unaware that while she sat in the station,
8:32
Speaker 1: the Dodge Ram pickup that she had been driving the
8:34
Speaker 1: night before was hauled away from the house on a
8:37
Speaker 1: flatbed truck and taken to a police impound lot. Investigators
8:42
Speaker 1: were also keen to take a look at the home
8:44
Speaker 1: security camera footage. Laurie helpfully explained to Leinfelter how to
8:48
Speaker 1: access the security system remotely. She provided the login and
8:52
Speaker 1: passwords and explained how the system worked.
8:56
Speaker 5: Camera system.
8:58
Speaker 4: Is your emails us that goes by email system and
9:03
Speaker 4: past and as it passed, you know what his Mimi
9:06
Speaker 4: addresses that would go through.
9:08
Speaker 7: I have all okay.
9:10
Speaker 1: There were three cameras on the property, one that captured
9:13
Speaker 1: the door to the house where the truck had been
9:15
Speaker 1: parked the night before, another captured the back door of
9:18
Speaker 1: an outbuilding, and the third was directed towards the hot tub.
9:22
Speaker 1: Only the first camera was likely to be of interest
9:25
Speaker 1: to investigators, though they could not be certain of anything
9:29
Speaker 1: just yet. While the camera's footage was accessed and a
9:32
Speaker 1: search warrant was sought for the truck, Laurie diligently recorded
9:36
Speaker 1: the events from the night before.
9:39
Speaker 5: Just basically, starting from when you left last night, you
9:43
Speaker 5: went to dinner everything you.
9:44
Speaker 4: Told me that, you went to Sloopy's head Wing spizza
9:48
Speaker 4: blah blah blah, went to the dive.
9:49
Speaker 5: For the dry.
9:51
Speaker 9: If when things got.
9:53
Speaker 4: Little an argument that may have started just in that
9:57
Speaker 4: kind of deal. Where do you think so important into
10:01
Speaker 4: that tell ustory what happened last night?
10:03
Speaker 5: But the domestic situation.
10:07
Speaker 1: After dinner, the couple arrived with friends Hannah and Adam
10:10
Speaker 1: at the dive bar. There they ran into another acquaintance
10:13
Speaker 1: named Scott Cundy.
10:15
Speaker 4: Did to go to features draw at nine and we
10:18
Speaker 4: ran into Scott Condy, But we were leaving, Scott Condy
10:23
Speaker 4: asked us.
10:23
Speaker 5: To go to a CARVAGEI were in his life.
10:29
Speaker 1: This chance encounter with Scott and Terry was bad news,
10:32
Speaker 1: Laurie said, because Mark had been drinking. According to what
10:36
Speaker 1: Laurie told the detective, after a few drinks, her husband
10:40
Speaker 1: had a tendency to become extremely and unreasonably jealous. Any
10:45
Speaker 1: link to her past was often not received well by
10:48
Speaker 1: her husband, especially when he was intoxicated. Terry Lafleur, who
10:53
Speaker 1: arrived at the bar with his wife, was an old
10:55
Speaker 1: acquaintance of hers. Terry had once bartended at a business
10:58
Speaker 1: owned by Laurie's form in laws. She too, had worked
11:02
Speaker 1: there for a time. Laurie did not have a romantic
11:05
Speaker 1: past with Terry, but this did not matter to her husband,
11:08
Speaker 1: she said, who became angry as they tried to leave
11:11
Speaker 1: the bar, got into the truck and we left.
11:14
Speaker 4: Mark accused Terry of coming to the bar to see me,
11:17
Speaker 4: excuse me sleeping with.
11:18
Speaker 5: Him, asked.
11:20
Speaker 3: The name of Befoarne lights.
11:22
Speaker 4: Mark told me into the middle of the truck and
11:24
Speaker 4: was holding me down. He had me in a choke
11:28
Speaker 4: called after getting away from Mark.
11:29
Speaker 5: I went in side to be with friends, though you were.
11:34
Speaker 1: Still Laurie further alleged that Mark punched the window of
11:37
Speaker 1: the truck in an angry rage, his fist landing directly
11:41
Speaker 1: next to her head. When the encounter ended, Laurie retreated
11:45
Speaker 1: back into the bar. She was left with visible marks
11:49
Speaker 1: on her neck. Detective Leinfelder did not ask to see
11:53
Speaker 1: the bruise that Laurie claimed to have on her chest.
11:56
Speaker 1: None of her alleged injuries were photographed.
12:00
Speaker 2: The last thing I wanted to do is think he's
12:01
Speaker 2: a bad person though by reading them, because he certainly
12:04
Speaker 2: wasn't You just had a jealous.
12:06
Speaker 5: Reaction, said yeah, us with boos here you night.
12:15
Speaker 6: Yeah.
12:16
Speaker 5: Now, I don't know if there's anything or not. Yeah,
12:19
Speaker 5: I me in the middle of the truck.
12:24
Speaker 2: If there should be hearing somewhere in the truck too,
12:26
Speaker 2: business engineering.
12:27
Speaker 3: Business Film.
12:29
Speaker 1: Mark eventually returned to the bar as well. Laurie told
12:32
Speaker 1: Leinfelder that she believed that he had calmed down by
12:35
Speaker 1: that time, sending her a text just before nine pm
12:38
Speaker 1: apologizing for his behavior. Laurie told her friends that everything
12:43
Speaker 1: was fine they could leave her to go home. An
12:46
Speaker 1: hour later, Laurie drove them both home from the bar.
12:50
Speaker 4: My friends were going to leave, and I told them
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Speaker 4: I'd be fine if we were going and went back
12:55
Speaker 4: by Mark. Everything was okay. He texted me at eight
12:58
Speaker 4: fifty two to say I'm so sorry. I love you.
13:03
Speaker 5: Shortly after that we left to go home. He brought up.
13:06
Speaker 4: Terry again and got really mad. We argued all the
13:11
Speaker 4: way home. When we got home, I told him I
13:13
Speaker 4: was leaving. He said he wanted to getsh things out
13:16
Speaker 4: of the truck. He was on the passenger's side with
13:19
Speaker 4: his door open, and he got mad and started.
13:24
Speaker 5: That, running over to.
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Speaker 3: My door, running over my door.
13:30
Speaker 5: When he got to my door, I took off.
13:33
Speaker 4: His door was still open, meeting the passenger door that
13:36
Speaker 4: he was getting his stuff out and.
13:39
Speaker 5: Turned right out of the driveway and I closed.
13:43
Speaker 4: I drove to a subdivision down the street pull over
13:46
Speaker 4: to see if Mark was chasing.
13:50
Speaker 1: Mark phillips autopsy revealed blunt force injuries to his left torso,
13:55
Speaker 1: upper limbs, and to his head. He had multiple crack
13:58
Speaker 1: ribs and a significant trauma to the left side of
14:01
Speaker 1: his head. Hypothermia was ruled out as the cause of death.
14:06
Speaker 1: If an innocent stumbled to the ground had caused the
14:09
Speaker 1: head injury, it would not have accounted for the rest
14:12
Speaker 1: of the trauma. Doctor Ross Reicherd, the forensic pathologist, concluded
14:17
Speaker 1: that Mark's injuries were likely caused by an impact with
14:19
Speaker 1: the ground with severe force, or he had been crushed
14:23
Speaker 1: by an object on that side of his body. The
14:26
Speaker 1: injuries were also consistent with Mark having fallen from a
14:29
Speaker 1: significant height, though that scenario, of course, did not fit
14:33
Speaker 1: the circumstances. This left a few options to consider. Investigators,
14:38
Speaker 1: sorting through all scenarios, concluded that Mark Phillips had most
14:43
Speaker 1: likely been crushed by a heavy object. They believed that
14:47
Speaker 1: object was the Dodge Ram pickup driven by his wife.
14:55
Speaker 1: Investigators with the Wisconsin Crime Laboratory conducted a forensic examine
15:00
Speaker 1: nation of the truck. The search yielded apparent hair that
15:04
Speaker 1: was located near the pickup's front right passenger tire, front
15:07
Speaker 1: passenger suspension bar, and the driver's step. They also found
15:12
Speaker 1: fibers in various locations, most notably on the rear drive
15:16
Speaker 1: shaft on the underbelly of the truck. These were found
15:19
Speaker 1: to be consistent with the pants Mark Phillips was wearing
15:22
Speaker 1: when his body was discovered. There were tears of Mark's clothing,
15:27
Speaker 1: including his trousers. There were no obvious signs of damage
15:31
Speaker 1: to the vehicle, However, no visible dents, scratches to the paint,
15:36
Speaker 1: side mirror, front grill, or other signs that the truck
15:39
Speaker 1: had been in an accident. Similarly, there was no sign
15:43
Speaker 1: of blood. Regardless, investigators found it suspicious that what could
15:48
Speaker 1: be clothing fiber had adhered to the underside of the vehicle.
15:53
Speaker 1: Lurie's earring, which she claimed had been pulled off during
15:56
Speaker 1: the alleged attack by Mark at the bar, was never recovered.
16:00
Speaker 1: Based on the autopsy and preliminary results from the examination
16:04
Speaker 1: of the truck, investigators reached a conclusion about the death
16:08
Speaker 1: of Mark Phillips. They theorized that in the midst of
16:12
Speaker 1: a heated argument, Laurie had indeed taken off down the
16:15
Speaker 1: driveway in the large vehicle, but not when her husband
16:19
Speaker 1: was safely to the side of the truck. She hit
16:22
Speaker 1: the gas when he was running towards her from the front,
16:25
Speaker 1: hitting him and spinning him to the ground, where the
16:27
Speaker 1: truck ran over his left side, leaving him collapsed and
16:31
Speaker 1: the snow bank. Scared for her own fate after what
16:35
Speaker 1: she had just done, Laurie stayed out most of the night,
16:38
Speaker 1: then returned to the house in the dark, claiming to
16:40
Speaker 1: not see her husband in the snow bank. Finally, she
16:44
Speaker 1: must have then pretended to discover him in the morning.
16:50
Speaker 1: Lacrosse County investigators set out to verify every aspect of
16:53
Speaker 1: the story Laurie had provided them. They were able to
16:56
Speaker 1: recreate a timeline based on security camera footage and the
16:59
Speaker 1: data downloaded from Lourie's phone. They found footage from Sloopies,
17:04
Speaker 1: where the Phillips had in early dinner. They found them
17:07
Speaker 1: arriving at the dive bar together. The door camera shows
17:10
Speaker 1: them entering and exiting for the parking lot, just as
17:13
Speaker 1: Laurie had recounted. A few minutes after they left together.
17:17
Speaker 1: Laurie is shown returning on her own after the alleged
17:20
Speaker 1: incident with her husband in the truck. Roughly fifteen minutes later.
17:25
Speaker 1: She is followed by Mark. In the interim, Laurie was
17:28
Speaker 1: texting her friend Hannah after the incident outside. She wrote
17:33
Speaker 1: shit just got real, followed by an instruction to delete
17:37
Speaker 1: that message from her phone. Laurie did not want to
17:40
Speaker 1: risk Mark seeing it. Interior camera footage captured Mark approach
17:45
Speaker 1: Laurie at the table. They appear to exchange a few
17:49
Speaker 1: words before leaving together to talk further outside. When they
17:57
Speaker 1: return once again, Mark is seen using exaggerated gestures, banging
18:02
Speaker 1: on the table and raising his arms into the air.
18:05
Speaker 1: The argument is continuing several minutes later, separated in the bar,
18:14
Speaker 1: Mark texted an apology. Laurie's friends left for home just
18:20
Speaker 1: after ten pm. Laurie and Mark are captured arguing as
18:23
Speaker 1: they leave the bar. The home security cameras were not
18:30
Speaker 1: armed when the couple returned home, they did not record
18:33
Speaker 1: what transpired. Investigators were able to verify that Lurie drove
18:37
Speaker 1: the truck from the property at about eleven pm. They
18:41
Speaker 1: also had text messages that Laurie sent to Hannah after
18:44
Speaker 1: she left the house. She wrote, he just freaked again.
18:48
Speaker 1: He was at the passenger side of the truck and
18:50
Speaker 1: tried to come at me around the truck, but I
18:52
Speaker 1: took off. I don't even know what to do. He
18:55
Speaker 1: has lost it tonight. He promised he would never touch me,
18:59
Speaker 1: he lied. Google searches show that Laurie tried to book
19:02
Speaker 1: a room at the Holiday Inn, but they had no vacancies.
19:05
Speaker 1: She searched for additional hotels nearby, as well as directions.
19:10
Speaker 1: By eleven forty, Laurie was at the Beaymont Inn attempting
19:13
Speaker 1: to check in for the night. Within an hour of
19:16
Speaker 1: allegedly crushing her husband with her pickup truck. Laurie calmly
19:20
Speaker 1: searched her purse for her ID and a debit card.
19:23
Speaker 1: She had booked a room in advance from her phone,
19:26
Speaker 1: but had selected an incorrect date. There were no rooms
19:29
Speaker 1: available that night. Leaving the Beaymont, Laurie then drove across
19:34
Speaker 1: the street to a vacant parking lot. There she parked
19:38
Speaker 1: for a time. During this period of time, Lurie's phone
19:42
Speaker 1: activity showed a handful of searches and messages. Notably, she
19:46
Speaker 1: texted Mark telling him that after tonight their marriage was over.
19:50
Speaker 1: I can't believe you put your hands on me, she wrote.
19:53
Speaker 1: She wished him the best of luck, but would not
19:55
Speaker 1: be moving with him to Bismarck. Then, she performed two
19:59
Speaker 1: searches for domestics abuse upon locating a quote on the topic.
20:02
Speaker 1: She also sent this to her husband's phone. Laurie also
20:06
Speaker 1: did something potentially suspicious. Throughout the night, she routinely logged
20:10
Speaker 1: into the home camera system. Was she checking if the
20:14
Speaker 1: incident from earlier had been captured or was she checking
20:17
Speaker 1: to see if her husband was still alive. Although she
20:22
Speaker 1: had nowhere to stay the night, she refused an invitation
20:25
Speaker 1: from Hannah to stay at her place in Winona. Instead,
20:29
Speaker 1: Laurie stayed in the parking lot until about two a m.
20:32
Speaker 1: At which point she believed that Mark would have gone
20:35
Speaker 1: to bed. Laurie remotely disabled the camera system before returning home,
20:40
Speaker 1: rearming it in the early morning hours before emerging and
20:43
Speaker 1: finding Mark in the snowbank. In June twenty twenty, fifty
20:49
Speaker 1: year old Lourie Phillips was arrested and charged with one
20:53
Speaker 1: count of reckless homicide. Her case went to trial in
20:56
Speaker 1: November twenty twenty three. District Attorney Burdick argued that the
21:02
Speaker 1: cause of death had to be the truck. He told
21:05
Speaker 1: the jury, we know it's not a slip and fall.
21:08
Speaker 1: We know it's not a heart attack. We know that
21:10
Speaker 1: mister Phillips didn't get drunk and fall asleep in the snow.
21:15
Speaker 1: He argued that it was impossible for Laurie to have
21:18
Speaker 1: hit her husband with the vehicle, and to have done
21:21
Speaker 1: so with enough force to cause fatal injuries while completely
21:25
Speaker 1: unaware of what she had done. The state also argued
21:29
Speaker 1: that Laurie's behavior after she left the house was an
21:32
Speaker 1: act to cover up her crime. She had texted Hannah
21:35
Speaker 1: as well as Mark over those few hours, and Google's
21:38
Speaker 1: domestic abuse to leave a data trail pointing to her innocence.
21:44
Speaker 1: Only someone completely unaware that their husband was severely injured
21:48
Speaker 1: lying in the snow bank would continue to text his phone.
21:52
Speaker 1: The physical evidence supporting this assertion, however, was not exactly overwhelming.
21:57
Speaker 1: A forensic expert who examined the truck testified that the
22:01
Speaker 1: fiber found underneath was a match to Mark's pants, but
22:04
Speaker 1: it was an extremely common material. It would have been
22:07
Speaker 1: a match to thousands or even millions of other garments,
22:12
Speaker 1: and the presumed hairs found on the exterior of the vehicle.
22:15
Speaker 1: Despite the emphasis initially put on these in the early
22:18
Speaker 1: days of the investigation, testing could not confirm if they
22:22
Speaker 1: were human, they certainly could not be proven to have
22:25
Speaker 1: belonged to Mark. Phillips. Defense counsel Chris Zacher also questioned
22:31
Speaker 1: smudges in the dirt on the driver's side of the
22:33
Speaker 1: truck near to the rear of the vehicle. The defense
22:37
Speaker 1: believed they could be indicative of an alternative theory. The
22:41
Speaker 1: steps attached to the exterior of the pickup on both
22:44
Speaker 1: the passenger and driver's side doors were aftermarket parts. They
22:48
Speaker 1: are wide and protrude out the sides of the truck.
22:51
Speaker 1: If Mark had tripped on the side of this step,
22:54
Speaker 1: perhaps had his pant leg snagged and caught for a moment,
22:57
Speaker 1: it could have spun him to the ground all on
23:00
Speaker 1: his left side. If this occurred, his hand may have
23:03
Speaker 1: reached out along the side of the truck, leaving a
23:05
Speaker 1: mark on it while he fell back, finally hitting the
23:08
Speaker 1: ground with enough force to kill him.
23:12
Speaker 10: Well, let me ask you first, do you see the
23:13
Speaker 10: presence of kind of that salt film that tends to
23:16
Speaker 10: accumulate on vehicles?
23:17
Speaker 7: Yes?
23:18
Speaker 8: I do.
23:19
Speaker 10: And do you see an area behind the uh the
23:24
Speaker 10: driver's side rear door where that film appeared to have
23:27
Speaker 10: been wiped or marked in some respect?
23:32
Speaker 7: It appears that in this picture, yes, and it appears
23:37
Speaker 7: that we have some center.
23:39
Speaker 10: Lines running downwards from the smear near the edem of
23:42
Speaker 10: the gas cap. Is correct, So those impureity is the
23:46
Speaker 10: width of the human finger. I don't have a scaled photo,
23:49
Speaker 10: but just based off the size of typical vehicles, that
23:53
Speaker 10: looks to be pretty close to about the width.
23:55
Speaker 7: Of a finger.
23:57
Speaker 1: Forensic pathologist doctor Reichert, a Southern Minnesota medical examiner, told
24:02
Speaker 1: the jury that Mark Phillips had a conservative estimate of
24:05
Speaker 1: a point one four to nine alcohol level. He would
24:08
Speaker 1: have been very drunk at the time of his death.
24:11
Speaker 1: He was also found to have benadryl in his system,
24:14
Speaker 1: which would have contributed to his intoxication. The doctor's autopsy
24:18
Speaker 1: report concluded that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
24:22
Speaker 1: Doctor Recherd did not determine a manner of death. When
24:26
Speaker 1: questioned by the defense, he conceded that he could not
24:29
Speaker 1: have ruled out the possibility that it was accidental. The
24:33
Speaker 1: theory posited by Laurie's defense counsel was possible if you.
24:39
Speaker 11: An individual were caught or tripped by a moving vehicle,
24:42
Speaker 11: that's enough force to cause this type of injury, this
24:46
Speaker 11: subdural hemorrh jane and the exterior head injury.
24:49
Speaker 10: If this spect the Davians's answer to that.
24:51
Speaker 11: Try to say yes, are some of these injuries after
24:55
Speaker 11: are consistent with mister Phillips dating a sudden fall in
25:00
Speaker 11: coming attached to the vehicle for some period of time,
25:04
Speaker 11: worried with being a position who dragged.
25:09
Speaker 1: Yes, it's awesome, Laurie took the stand in her defense.
25:14
Speaker 1: She testified that Mark was a loving partner when sober,
25:17
Speaker 1: but when drunk, became paranoid that she was seeing other men.
25:22
Speaker 1: She said her husband always apologized once his mind was clear.
25:26
Speaker 1: Laurie also introduced testimony about prior incidents with Mark before
25:31
Speaker 1: they were married. He had a history of breaking into
25:33
Speaker 1: her apartment in the night. He had never directly hit her,
25:37
Speaker 1: though his anger fueled behavior was undeniably abusive when he drank.
25:42
Speaker 1: She said Laurie had learned over time that certain behaviors
25:45
Speaker 1: would set him off. It was for this reason that
25:48
Speaker 1: she declined Hannah's invitation to stay in Winona that night.
25:52
Speaker 1: She had a pass there. It would have infuriated Mark
25:55
Speaker 1: if he had found out that she had driven there
25:57
Speaker 1: to stay overnight. Laurie also introduced photos of the injuries
26:02
Speaker 1: to her chest, neck, and legs from the night of
26:04
Speaker 1: Mark's death. These have been taken by Hannah as the
26:07
Speaker 1: bruises appeared a few days later, the police had shown
26:11
Speaker 1: no interest in documenting them. Her testimony was also a
26:15
Speaker 1: chance to offer explanations for the behaviors that were being
26:18
Speaker 1: presented as circumstantial evidence of her guilt by the state,
26:22
Speaker 1: such as her choice to remotely access the home security
26:25
Speaker 1: cameras multiple times after leaving the house that night.
26:31
Speaker 6: What would lead me to believe if that he would
26:33
Speaker 6: leave the home he had stated he found some beer
26:35
Speaker 6: tokens to a home and bar, that he was going
26:39
Speaker 6: to go to that bar and pick up some ladies.
26:43
Speaker 10: Okay, And Laurie, did you have some sense that Mark
26:47
Speaker 10: might also try to follow you in the other vehicle?
26:49
Speaker 11: Oh?
26:49
Speaker 10: Yes, which cameras in particular? Did you check all of them?
26:56
Speaker 10: Why were you checking all of them, Laurie?
26:58
Speaker 6: Because when I couldn't tell if he had left the
27:00
Speaker 6: house or not with the vehicle, or had somebody actually
27:04
Speaker 6: even come in, I thought, oh, my gosh, maybe he's
27:08
Speaker 6: in the hot tub. So that's the reason for the
27:11
Speaker 6: hot tub as well.
27:12
Speaker 10: Is it something that you were checking throughout the course
27:15
Speaker 10: of the evening just to see if Mark was up
27:17
Speaker 10: and about. Yes, Now, at any point, Laurie, were you
27:23
Speaker 10: watching anything other than the live feeds from those cameras.
27:28
Speaker 9: No.
27:28
Speaker 10: And I'm going to ask you a question that you'll
27:30
Speaker 10: probably get on cross examination. Were you checking these live
27:33
Speaker 10: feeded cameras to see whether or not Mark had been injured? No?
27:38
Speaker 10: When you were going home, Lauri, did you do anything
27:41
Speaker 10: particular with the cameras?
27:43
Speaker 8: Oh?
27:43
Speaker 6: Yes, I turned them off so that the alarm didn't
27:46
Speaker 6: wake Mark up.
27:48
Speaker 10: Is that the sole reason that you turned the cameras
27:49
Speaker 10: off at that point?
27:50
Speaker 6: Yes?
27:52
Speaker 10: And what would lead you to believe that the alarm
27:54
Speaker 10: might wake Mark up.
27:55
Speaker 6: Because there's a beeping. I can't remember if it's a
27:59
Speaker 6: beeping or what. It doesn't spen a few years, but
28:01
Speaker 6: that it alert your phone anytime there's a movement. Okay.
28:06
Speaker 10: Were you trying to conceal evidence of you returning home
28:08
Speaker 10: at that point, Laurie.
28:09
Speaker 8: No.
28:11
Speaker 1: Laurie later re armed the cameras from her bed in
28:14
Speaker 1: the early morning. Mark would be angry if he found
28:17
Speaker 1: out that she had turned them off, she said. The
28:21
Speaker 1: defense introduced the dashcam footage from Sergeant Valencia's vehicle, which
28:25
Speaker 1: showed how dark it was at twilight when you received
28:27
Speaker 1: the call out to the Phillips residence. It would have
28:30
Speaker 1: been even darker at two am when Laurie came home.
28:34
Speaker 1: They also showed the jury a still shot from the
28:36
Speaker 1: scene depicting the snow bank next to Mark's body. He
28:39
Speaker 1: was within frame of the photograph, but entirely concealed by
28:43
Speaker 1: the snow.
28:45
Speaker 10: Let's describe the conditions when you were driving back. Was
28:49
Speaker 10: it light out at all?
28:50
Speaker 4: No?
28:50
Speaker 6: I was pitch black.
28:52
Speaker 10: Do you have any street lights or sources of artificial
28:55
Speaker 10: lighting right in that area that would have illuminated the
28:58
Speaker 10: area of the driveway.
28:59
Speaker 6: No, well, my truck lights, that's it.
29:02
Speaker 10: So other than the headlights, nothing else. Correct, And Laurie,
29:08
Speaker 10: at any point, did you look over to the right
29:13
Speaker 10: or feel the need to look over to the right
29:15
Speaker 10: as you were driving up that west facing driveway? No, Laura,
29:19
Speaker 10: I'm just going to ask you. Did you see Mark
29:21
Speaker 10: out there when you returned to the house.
29:23
Speaker 9: No?
29:24
Speaker 10: How would you have reacted had you seen Mark?
29:27
Speaker 6: I would have helped him.
29:29
Speaker 1: Maury told the jury that she remained completely ignorant of
29:32
Speaker 1: what led to Mark's death that night.
29:35
Speaker 10: Did you believe at that time that you had hit Mark?
29:41
Speaker 10: To this day, are you even sure exactly what happened?
29:43
Speaker 10: Once Mark reached the driver's side of the truck.
29:45
Speaker 6: I have no idea what happened to my husband, Laurie.
29:50
Speaker 10: What was your sole purpose for trying to get away from.
29:52
Speaker 6: Mark that night? To get away from him so that
29:56
Speaker 6: I would be safe, to get to safety.
30:00
Speaker 10: Everything that we've heard and everything that we testified to
30:03
Speaker 10: in this trial, how do you feel about Mark today?
30:06
Speaker 6: I love him, I miss him.
30:10
Speaker 1: During their cross examination, the prosecution took Laurie step by
30:13
Speaker 1: step through the argument from that night. The aim was
30:16
Speaker 1: to show how angry she would have been. Mark had
30:19
Speaker 1: insulted her, told her that he was changing the locks
30:22
Speaker 1: to the house, and even threw a beer cozy at
30:24
Speaker 1: her that depicted a pair of woman's breasts. According to Laurie,
30:29
Speaker 1: he had told her, this is all you're good for.
30:32
Speaker 1: While she sat in the driver's seat of the truck,
30:34
Speaker 1: Laurie attempted to record her husband's behavior with her phone.
30:38
Speaker 1: She alleged that he knocked it from her hands. He
30:42
Speaker 1: came towards her with a clenched fist to punch either
30:45
Speaker 1: her or the truck. She was not sure which.
30:49
Speaker 7: In that moment is.
30:50
Speaker 9: When he walks goes around that truck, when something clips.
30:53
Speaker 9: That is the angriest you've ever seen him?
30:57
Speaker 6: The look I saw in him. Yes, he was very upset.
31:01
Speaker 9: Okay, so we're talking about a period of time when
31:05
Speaker 9: he goes from the passenger seat to your driver's side window.
31:10
Speaker 7: Correct, how many seconds?
31:13
Speaker 11: Is that?
31:15
Speaker 6: Two to three? I don't know. It's just running around
31:18
Speaker 6: the truck.
31:19
Speaker 7: So what is the look?
31:19
Speaker 9: I guess describe the look? Describe what the worst you've
31:23
Speaker 9: ever seen him?
31:24
Speaker 7: Is he yelling? Is he fuming?
31:25
Speaker 9: Is he No?
31:26
Speaker 6: So when I had my phone and then when he
31:29
Speaker 6: jumped to grab it and it fell, I as soon
31:33
Speaker 6: as it fell, I was like, oh no. I look
31:35
Speaker 6: at him and he had this just evil look. And
31:38
Speaker 6: that's just when he just tore off and I was like,
31:40
Speaker 6: oh my god.
31:42
Speaker 7: So it was a look.
31:43
Speaker 6: It was an absolute look.
31:44
Speaker 7: Yes, he didn't.
31:45
Speaker 6: Was he screaming then? No, not that I recall. I
31:49
Speaker 6: just remember him just immediately coming at me or coming
31:53
Speaker 6: for me.
31:54
Speaker 7: But it was that look that he gave you was
31:57
Speaker 7: the true worst you've ever seen.
31:58
Speaker 6: That's the scariest I've ever seen my husband.
32:01
Speaker 7: Correct, how does he walk around the trot?
32:04
Speaker 6: He didn't walk around the truck. He ran around the truck.
32:07
Speaker 7: He ran around the trock and Miss Phillips, that's when
32:10
Speaker 7: you took off.
32:13
Speaker 6: After he cleared the front and he was by my door. Yes.
32:15
Speaker 7: Over.
32:17
Speaker 1: The question facing the jury was whether Laurie's actions had
32:20
Speaker 1: been reasonable or reckless. If she drove off in the
32:24
Speaker 1: truck in the heat of an argument, then she was
32:26
Speaker 1: motivated by anger and not by a need to seek safety.
32:31
Speaker 1: The prosecution argued that her actions after the fact were
32:34
Speaker 1: inconsistent with her narrative. She texted her already enraged husband
32:40
Speaker 1: that the marriage was over only five minutes after leaving
32:43
Speaker 1: the house. By her own account, she was not certain
32:46
Speaker 1: at that time if he may have been trying to
32:48
Speaker 1: follow her. Were these the actions of a woman terrified
32:52
Speaker 1: in seeking safety? Laurie declined an invitation to stay in
32:57
Speaker 1: Winona in favor of sneaking back into the house that night,
33:00
Speaker 1: where she thought, but obviously did not know, that her
33:04
Speaker 1: abuser was sleeping.
33:07
Speaker 9: She goes over and with her truck she causes his death.
33:11
Speaker 9: That is unreasonable and it is substantial. It is unreasonable
33:14
Speaker 9: because it's not based on her need to flee, as
33:18
Speaker 9: she indicated. It is based on her anger. It is
33:21
Speaker 9: based on her being in the heat of the moment.
33:23
Speaker 9: It is based and perhaps very probably based on mister
33:29
Speaker 9: Phillips in the way he acted that night, that he
33:33
Speaker 9: mistreated her in some capacity, is probably is going to
33:36
Speaker 9: be undispute, is not in dispute.
33:42
Speaker 7: Maybe she knew she killed him right then and there.
33:43
Speaker 9: Maybe she just thought she hit him, but she knew
33:46
Speaker 9: she knew right then and there, and everything that happens
33:49
Speaker 9: after that is a narrative that is inconsistent with the
33:58
Speaker 9: evidence that is presented. Is a corroberty history of physical OBEs.
34:04
Speaker 9: There's Mark's behavior in the bar, captured by witnesses and videos.
34:08
Speaker 9: There's this blood alcohol concentration of one four nine.
34:11
Speaker 10: Doctor Reikrid's agreement that this accident could have happened in
34:15
Speaker 10: a way consistent with mss Phillips' innocence, Mark's perfect concealably
34:19
Speaker 10: behind that snowbank, Laurie's video reaction in nine to one
34:23
Speaker 10: one call the corroboration of all of Laurie's movements after
34:27
Speaker 10: the fact, in her cooperation with law enforcement and providing
34:30
Speaker 10: her phone and camera log and information, and that fight
34:33
Speaker 10: or flight instinct that each and every one of us
34:35
Speaker 10: can understand, and you know, what. I am a true
34:39
Speaker 10: believer in our system of justice here in the United States,
34:43
Speaker 10: and that I believe that a group of twelve people
34:46
Speaker 10: selected randomly out of the voting roles, it's how we
34:49
Speaker 10: found you all, your all good citizens can come to
34:52
Speaker 10: a better conclusion than any one of us could individually.
34:55
Speaker 10: And I respect the fact that in the course of
34:57
Speaker 10: your deliberations, the twelve of you might be able to
34:59
Speaker 10: take some of these cards and put them back up
35:01
Speaker 10: on the deck. But before you reach the result that
35:04
Speaker 10: the state has asked before, they've all got to be there,
35:07
Speaker 10: and they're a long ways away from that.
35:11
Speaker 1: The jury deliberated for three and a half hours. When
35:14
Speaker 1: they returned, they were unanimous.
35:18
Speaker 8: State of Wisconsin versus Lourie Phillips, Lacrosse County, Case Number
35:22
Speaker 8: twenty c F three six y four verdict Lee the
35:26
Speaker 8: Jury find the defendant, Lourie Phillips, not guilty. Signed by
35:31
Speaker 8: the jury, four person dated this tenth day of November
35:34
Speaker 8: twenty twenty three.
35:36
Speaker 1: Mark's family members were hurt and disappointed by the jury's decision.
35:41
Speaker 1: According to his brother Todd, the Mark Phillips that Laurie
35:44
Speaker 1: depicted at trial was not the one that they knew.
35:47
Speaker 1: Mark's ex wife, Nancy, has reportedly claimed his behavior, as
35:51
Speaker 1: described by Laurie, was not at all characteristic of her
35:55
Speaker 1: ex husband. Todd has also claimed that Laurie's actions were
35:59
Speaker 1: part of a poser. He asserted that she had once
36:02
Speaker 1: tried to run over her ex husband with a vehicle
36:05
Speaker 1: as well. He also questioned the holes in her story
36:08
Speaker 1: that were not properly scrutinized at trial. For instance, how
36:13
Speaker 1: is she unable to find an available room to stay
36:16
Speaker 1: that night in an area that has over thirty hotels.
36:20
Speaker 1: Todd further criticized the state prosecution for failing to question
36:24
Speaker 1: Laurie on the abuse allegations, which were corroborated that night
36:28
Speaker 1: by contemporaneous texts but no direct witnesses.
36:35
Speaker 10: I'm cognizant of the fact that there are two families
36:38
Speaker 10: here that are grieving in their own ways over what happened,
36:41
Speaker 10: and realistically nobody wins. But I hope that what the
36:45
Speaker 10: community takes away from this is what Judge Lavine said
36:47
Speaker 10: at the end, that this is a time hopefully to heal.
36:51
Speaker 1: That was the strange case of Laurie and Mark Phillips.
36:55
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me I'm Kevin. This
36:58
Speaker 1: is just thought lounge, and I'll see in the next one.
37:09
Speaker 7: When the scene plays, tell me who the scream saves.
37:11
Speaker 7: I can hear the crimes repeat.
37:13
Speaker 9: Gotta take my.
37:13
Speaker 7: Time because these crimes get deep, but these stories can't hide.
37:16
Speaker 1: Let me find my seat, Kevin, go ahead and settle in.
37:19
Speaker 6: Gotta be selective, doing all the research, keeping it objective.
37:22
Speaker 7: I've always been effective st