[David Sr. speaking]
David Sr. always made a fuss over little David.
Margaret loved him.
She loved him a whole lot.
-Whee! -Yay!
[David Sr. speaking]
I never really thought about it,
but maybe everything he did was a big deal.
[Margaret speaking]
To look at his little face, this cute,
innocent-looking face,
we had no idea what's to come.
SAWYER: This is one of the worst cases,
if not the worst case, I've had in my career.
ELLEN: I just start screaming.
I didn't know the monster he really is.
I had no idea.
[theme music playing]
NARRATOR: It's 1986 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
[announcer speaking]
NARRATOR: The Shade family are putting on
their annual dance recital.
ANN: We all had a dance studio,
and we had a big show every year.
The four girls danced together, and then the one year,
the four girls and my brother, Jeff, danced.
So that one was really special.
NARRATOR: Dancing on the far right is
the youngest sister in the Shade family, Margaret.
ANN: Margaret was a good tap dancer,
ballet, and she was a wonderful teacher.
She had taught lots and lots of little children,
and they just loved her.
She had a great personality for that.
NARRATOR: 34-year-old Margaret isn't just a teacher.
She's also a mother to 9-year-old Peggy
and 12-year-old Ellen.
My mom was, what I would consider, the perfect mom.
She was caring and loving
and -- just unconditional love.
NARRATOR: Eight years earlier, Margaret split
from the girls' father and remarried.
David Sumney Sr. came into my life as a stepfather.
He was a Harvard graduate.
He was a periodontist.
He had a very good practice.
He was hard-working.
He was a nice man.
He always had
the best suit, the best ring, watch.
You knew it was really good quality.
NARRATOR: On April 26th, 1989,
Margaret gives birth to a baby boy.
They call him David after his father.
ANN: When he had
baby David, he was like...
crazy happy.
I mean, really happy, and the girls took
care of David like he was their own,
carried him around, fussed over him.
Everybody really made a fuss over little David.
NARRATOR: It's June 1990,
and Margaret is turning 38.
The family celebrate with a pool party.
Proud husband David Sr. is behind the camera.
They had a nice-sized pool
and a sliding board,
and they had a little jacuzzi.
Margaret would invite all of us.
She'd say, "Just bring everybody out here.
I'll get them whatever you need."
Margaret was very giving.
She was always dressed perfectly.
Her hair was done.
The makeup was done.
She had the gorgeous clothes, and she was gorgeous also.
NARRATOR: But it's not long until baby David
steals the limelight.
[Margaret speaking]
[David Sr. speaking]
[Margaret speaking]
That is David Sr. filming.
My mom's telling David
to dance, and David seems to be following
the instructions -- Mom's...
playing with David.
But as much as that's a happy video,
it's a sad video, because...
to look at that little boy...
and what he'd turn into, it -- it's sad.
NARRATOR: A few weeks later, the Sumney family are back
at the pool for the Fourth of July weekend.
[David Sr. speaking]
ANN: David Sr. always wanted
younger David to be treated like a prince,
to have everything he wanted, and he was spoiled.
[David Sr. speaking]
She always took him in the water, played with him,
gave him a ride on the raft,
had him jump off the side.
[David Sr. speaking]
She loved him.
She loved him a whole lot.
NARRATOR: Four days later, little David tries to slide
for the first time with his big sisters,
Peggy and Ellen, there to catch him.
-Whee! -Yay!
[David Sr. speaking]
He was fussed over, because there was such
an age gap that he was a big deal,
just because there just wasn't a baby in so long.
DAVID SR.: Big boy.
[all singing]
It's my 17th birthday.
I guess they wanted David to sing
happy birthday to me.
[Margaret speaking]
ELLEN: He doesn't.
ANN: They always try to have him, uh,
sing a little bit, do a little dance.
ELLEN: When he was a toddler,
he had the blonde hair,
he had these blue eyes,
he had a very sweet look on his face.
[Margaret speaking]
ELLEN: For some reason, eating an ice cream sandwich
is a big deal.
I never really thought about it,
but maybe everything he did was a big deal.
NARRATOR: Fast forward to 1995.
Six-year-old David is sitting on Santa's knee,
and he knows exactly what he wants for Christmas.
David listed probably everything that he wants
or saw in a book
and just figures if he says it all, he will get it all.
ELLEN: I think David had already had
a taste of the finer things in life
and was demanding of what he wanted.
NARRATOR: Later that evening,
David's dad films him giving Santa a tour of his bedroom.
-[Santa speaking] -[David Sr. speaking]
[Santa speaking]
-[David Jr. speaking] -[David Sr. speaking]
[Santa speaking]
[David Sr. speaking]
David Sr. is absolutely proud of
his son and wants it told to
the whole world that he's good at everything.
He just loves to brag about his little boy.
[Santa speaking]
-[David Sr. speaking] -[Santa speaking]
I don't believe that,
that he was a purple belt.
Must have bought it for him.
NARRATOR: By the time David approaches second grade,
he has worked out how to get anything he wants
from his parents.
ANN: He wanted money at a very young age.
He expected it, expected money to do
different things, to get into the car, to behave.
You know, if you sit at the table nicely,
then we'll give you some bucks or whatever.
NARRATOR: But it's not long until little
David's behavior takes a worrying turn.
[children singing distantly]
ELLEN: I was home from college.
I heard my mom coming downstairs, screaming.
I ran down the stairs to see what was going on.
My mom was beside herself.
She was crying, and all I could hear was David killed a bird.
He had killed a bird with his hands.
He didn't show any emotion.
I remember looking at his face, and there wasn't any remorse.
NARRATOR: It's Valentine's Day, 1998,
a very special day for the Sumney family.
24-year-old Ellen is marrying her fiance, Jack.
This is my wedding.
My mom's carrying in my wedding dress.
She looks very happy.
NARRATOR: David Sr.
and his eight-year-old son, David, make their way inside.
Little David's one of the ushers,
escorting Margaret down the aisle.
She must have felt like the queen
being escorted down the aisle by her son.
We were all so excited,
and my entire family was there.
NARRATOR: But behind the happy veneer,
the Sumneys' marriage is suffering.
David Sr. and Margaret,
they weren't communicating very well.
He went to work, she did her dance studio, and, um...
that's how it was.
If you notice at the wedding,
you see my mom come up, they're kind of separate.
It just -- there was like this separate
feeling going on in a lot of places.
Margaret and David Sr.,
they decided to split in 2001.
Little David, in this divorce,
was pulled between the two of them,
trying to keep his dad happy,
trying to keep his mom happy.
NARRATOR: The split devastates Margaret financially.
She's forced to close her beloved dance studio.
Once the divorce happened, she took a full-time job
at Sachs, because she needed the income.
ANN: Young David would then really
play them against each other, because...
his dad could get him what he wanted.
NARRATOR: In 2008, David focuses on his studies.
He leaves Pennsylvania behind to study
math at George Washington University in DC.
ANN: Margaret had high hopes for David.
She really wanted him to go far, be accomplished.
David Sr. would pay for the college, and David
and Margaret got him an apartment and paid for it.
NARRATOR: In 2010, Margaret visits David in Washington.
I get a phone call from my mom, and she said,
"We were both in the hospital," and I said,
"Oh my God, what happened?"
She was crying.
She said she looked up, they were in the hotel room,
and David had a knife from the kitchenette,
and he was slashing his arm with the knife.
But then she goes on that
she fell down and hit her head, that the hospital had to keep
them both far apart.
And this isn't making any sense to me.
I felt like she was covering something up.
I think cutting himself was to
make her feel sorry for him, because
she somehow alluded to that he might be suicidal.
I don't think he's ever been suicidal.
I think that's a manipulation tool.
NARRATOR: Despite David's erratic behavior,
his parents continue to fund his college education
until they find out he isn't attending classes.
ELLEN: They weren't proud of him.
They were starting to catch on
that things just weren't going right.
David eventually was kicked out of college,
so he didn't have another choice but
to move back with his parents in Pittsburgh.
So he split his time between his mom and his dad.
They were both financially drained, and David did not care.
[speaks indistinctly]
NARRATOR: Margaret hopes that 24-year-old David
has finally found his way
when he tells her that he's joined the Navy Seals.
ANN: She was so proud of him,
that he joined the Navy Seals,
and he was,
you know, top notch and all of this stuff.
And of course, Margaret told me, and I was so happy for her.
David did a lot of weights.
I think it was -- look good,
but needed to be strong,
be in charge, power,
you know, bigger than everybody.
If he had the extra muscle and so on,
he could take care of himself very well...
and anybody else.
[weights squeaking]
[David grunts]
In 2015, my mom called me,
and she was beside herself.
She was so upset.
She was crying.
ANN: David was at his dad's house
and beat his father so badly.
There was so much yelling and fighting
that the neighbor called the police.
ELLEN: When the police came,
I guess they forced the door open, and David was standing on
top of his dad, all bloody.
Um, and supposedly the argument, I think, was David
wanted a vacation, and his dad wouldn't pay for it.
NARRATOR: David is arrested for assaulting his father.
ELLEN: His injuries were so horrific.
His brain bled.
He had very bad groin injuries.
He had spinal injuries.
He could no longer live on his own.
He was then transported to a nursing home.
NARRATOR: David is taken to Washington County jail
but doesn't stay there for long.
He calls a female friend in South Carolina
and asks her to post his bail.
My mom was very scared after David assaulted his dad.
We had no idea what was to come.
[phone ringing]
Margaret had called 911 requesting the police to
respond to her residence on Olde Orchard Drive.
She had been assaulted, and there
was a domestic taking place with David.
NARRATOR: Officers respond to the scene and find Margaret
badly injured.
She had bruised ribs and possibly broken ribs
from the assault.
David actually picked Margaret up out of bed,
squeezed her, and said,
"This is how the Navy Seals do it."
NARRATOR: The house is searched, and David
is found intoxicated in his bedroom.
He was subsequently arrested for that assault.
NARRATOR: David is initially charged with assault.
But at Margaret's request, it is reduced to harassment.
She had asked for some leniency for David, because
she didn't want the full punishment for her son.
I know she was being abused,
but she didn't want to say it.
And the only reason I know
she didn't want to say it is because he was her son.
She loved him unconditionally.
And we found out at the hearing for this assault
that David was not,
in fact, a Navy Seal, that he was not ever in the military.
It makes me wonder what other lies were there?
NARRATOR: After assaulting his mother,
David is resentenced for his father's assault
and is sent to Washington County jail for 8 to 16 months.
[door clangs shut]
Margaret would be down there every visitor's day.
ELLEN: I think she wanted him to change.
I think she had faith in him.
He went to the social worker, and he said that he was
struggling with alcoholism,
and the reason he assaulted his father and his mother was
due to alcoholism, and the jail wasn't helping him.
And she found a pilot program and sent him
to Cove Forge Rehabilitation Center in Pennsylvania.
NARRATOR: After rehab,
David is released early and moves to a halfway house.
The halfway house helped him get a job.
I think it was a glass manufacturing company.
My mom was very hopeful -- even I was hopeful.
NARRATOR: But on August 2nd, 2018,
David Sr. dies at the age of 74.
When David Sr. passed away in the nursing home,
I thought he's now safe.
He can go to heaven.
David won't be able to beat him up any longer.
ELLEN: His dad suffered.
David just got away with it.
In my opinion, David should be charged with his death.
NARRATOR: Not long after the death of his father,
David meets a woman on a dating app.
She wishes to remain anonymous.
[voice distorted] We started texting, uh, hit it off.
Um, had our first quote unquote date or meet up, and he,
despite being very cautious of his privacy,
was a very standup gentleman, opened doors,
said please, thank you,
had nice manners, was attractive, well spoken.
He seemed to...
very much always have the right words.
He seemed like he was in touch with
his emotions, as well as having that masculine energy.
EX-GIRLFRIEND: We were planning on going dancing that night
at a local nightclub, and he was joking about
how that there was someone next to him
in the car before he said,
"I really wish you were next to me."
This video is a hard one for me to watch.
This was the person that I really thought had some sort
of goodness in him and was a family person
and was potential future husband.
I can't fathom that this person had
the ability to do what he did.
NARRATOR: A few months into their relationship,
David struggles with a basketball injury
that prevents him from training.
[ex-girlfriend speaking]
[laughing]
EX-GIRLFRIEND: This was after his actual severe injury,
his tendon tear playing basketball, and he was trying to
get up the steps of a house, and I thought it was really cute
because this huge, 6-foot-3 giant was really struggling
with crutches -- in hindsight, at the end of this video,
the way that he looks at me, and he goes, "Delete,"
that was a look that I that
I would become familiar with in the future.
NARRATOR: As David recuperates, he attempts to
take charge of his mother's financial affairs.
EX-GIRLFRIEND: He would speak about her like
she was progressing quickly
with either dementia or forgetfulness
or just general aging,
and I saw that he was trying to help, or he made
the appearance of trying to help her.
I distinctly remember him sitting at my table,
signing a check with his mother's signature,
and he got very upset with himself.
And I said, "Why are you so upset?"
And he said, "Well, I messed up this check," and I said, "Well,
can't you just rewrite it?"
And he just made this huge deal out of it.
If he was having issues with the fact that he needed to
have access to her money,
because she was forgetting things or she was not doing
things right, I said, "You need to not do it illegally."
NARRATOR: By February 2019,
David's girlfriend experiences his extremely controlling
behavior firsthand.
EX-GIRLFRIEND: He became more demanding and aggressive.
He, you know, he would call me and say, "I need this,
"and I need it now, and you need to get it for me now.
You need to do this."
There was a time when he flew home from Florida,
and I don't know if he didn't buy his return ticket
or if he didn't -- missed his flight or something
happened to his ticket, and he kept saying to me,
"You need to get me home.
You need to buy my ticket," and then the commands
and the demands did become a little bit more aggressive.
He wanted all of my attention and was
very commanding in the way that he got it.
NARRATOR: David's girlfriend decides to end things,
but he continues to contact her.
It was early to mid-May,
and, um, David reached out to me,
and I thought to myself, okay, well,
if we start a relationship, it will be
purely a platonic friendship again.
And that's kind of what happened.
He seemed calmer.
He had told me he had been doing yoga.
He seemed to be in a better mental health space.
And that is what allowed me to open back up
as a friend to him.
It was like a complete overhaul.
It was similar to the David that
I had met when I first met David.
NARRATOR: On Sunday, September 1st,
the family receives some tragic news.
My brother, John, had passed away, and we were trying to
get a hold of Margaret to tell her that Johnny had died.
There is no answer.
I called again and again, then I called
Margaret's daughter, and I said,
"I don't know what to do.
I can't get Margaret on the phone."
I tried calling. She didn't answer.
I happened to call David, and it's early.
It was, like, 8:30 in the morning.
He said he's in her house.
And I thought, well, that's odd at 8:30 in
the morning -- why is he there?
So I asked him, I said, "Why are you in her house?"
And he said something like he stopped by,
and I said, "Oh, okay, well put her on the phone."
He said, "She's sleeping," but it's still early.
So I said, "Okay, well, when she's up,
could you have her call me?" So...
This goes on 9:00-- 9, 10, 11.
And then I -- I call back,
and I said, "If she's still sleeping,
"maybe she needs to go to a hospital or something,
because nobody sleeps this long."
And then he hangs up again.
On September 2nd, 2019,
the South Fayette Police Department
responded at 10:57 a.m.
to the residence of Margaret Sumney for
a welfare check that was called in by her daughter.
I was very unsure what we were walking into.
We didn't know if David was there.
Relatives informed the officers that Margaret
did own a .38-caliber revolver.
So not knowing if he was there,
knowing that he could be armed,
not knowing if we were going to be ambushed,
that was definitely a -- -[pounding noises]
that was, like, a difficult entry to make.
Sergeant Wessick and Officer Blocker,
they cleared the kitchen and the living room area
of the home -- Margaret wasn't there,
and David wasn't there.
I was the first person to go up the stairs.
The lights were off in the bathroom.
Margaret was in the tub.
It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
She was obviously deceased.
SAWYER: Margaret Sumney's body was taken to
the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.
They performed an autopsy, and the cause of death was
determined to be blunt force trauma
to the head and neck and the manner of death
was ruled homicide.
I wake up at six o'clock in the morning,
and there's this text from my sister,
like, "Sorry to tell you this on text,
but mom passed away."
I just start screaming.
[voice breaking] It's so awful --
so awful.
[normally] I get a hold of my sister, and...
I said, "Have you told David?"
And she said, "No."
And I said, "Okay, I will get a hold of David."
[phone ringing]
The first thing out of his mouth
he said is, "I can't go through this
a year later, another death."
I said, David, "What are you talking about?"
He said, "Mom."
I said, "What about her?"
He said, "Her death."
I said, "Who told you she died?"
I didn't tell David she died.
From that moment on,
I knew...it was him.
He did it. He killed her.
SAWYER: I accompanied one of the detectives in
going through the residence, looking for evidence.
There was towels with blood on them.
There was blood up and down the stairs.
There was blood in the carpet on the top of the stairs,
like on the landing -- there was more blood in
the house than I personally have seen on a crime scene.
I realized the horrific nature
of what had happened to Margaret.
We located a handsaw
directly outside of the bathroom.
We did believe that there was some intent
on possibly dismembering her
to dispose of Margaret in some way.
There was an empty ammunition box found.
The revolver she had was not found in her house
at the time of the murder.
ELLEN: I had told the police that I had talked to David,
and he told me he was in her house.
So he already had placed himself there.
When we realized that David was a possible suspect
in possession, possibly, of Margaret's gun,
we put out a BOLO for all the local law enforcement
that David was wanted to be questioned
in the death of his mother.
The police didn't know where he was, and that --
that was scary, because I know what David's
capable of at this point.
They had no idea where he was, and I was
the only one that had contact with David.
NARRATOR: Ellen helps the police to try to locate her brother.
ELLEN: I would call David, but he would
keep his conversations to me very limited...
I think on purpose,
and I told him
that he should really go to our Uncle Johnny's funeral,
that Uncle Johnny loved him, and that he needed to go.
NARRATOR: Investigators stake out the funeral.
He said, "Ellen, is there anything
I should be worried about?"
I felt like I was going to throw up,
and I said, "What would you be worried about?
Like, I'm on your side."
And then the police, they got him from there.
SAWYER: The homicide detectives worked in conjunction
with other local law enforcement officers
to detain David as he was leaving the funeral.
NARRATOR: At the station,
David is searched, and detectives find
a gold necklace,
a silver bracelet, and three blank checks
belonging to his mom.
At that point, he was detained for theft by unlawful taking.
NARRATOR: Detectives also find a key card
for a local hotel, Hotel Indigo.
They execute a search warrant.
What was taken from David Sumney's hotel room when
the search warrant was executed was several of
Margaret's designer handbags,
Margaret's .38 revolver, several .38 cartridges,
various pieces of jewelry,
bank cards, credit cards, belonging to
Margaret, and also an expired passport
that was Margaret's.
SAWYER: David always wanted more from Margaret.
He took both the jewelry and the checks
and the debit cards because he wanted to
have access to her bank account,
and if she didn't have anything,
he would presumably sell or pawn the items of jewelry
that he had taken.
Everything at that point pointed towards David
being the prime suspect.
NARRATOR: Back at the police department,
detectives interrogate David.
SAWYER: When he was questioned about his mother's death,
David did not confess.
The detectives felt that he felt he was smarter than them.
He never made any statements about what happened.
NARRATOR: David refuses to talk to police,
but later that evening, he calls Ellen from jail.
ELLEN: He said, "Ellen, Ellen,
I'm in the homicide department,"
and I said, "David, I really hope you didn't
"have anything to do with killing her.
"She loved you.
You were her favorite child."
He was her everything.
He cried, and I said,
"You're crying because you're caught.
You're not crying because you care."
NARRATOR: David remains tight-lipped about
his involvement in his mother's murder,
so detectives conduct a forensic search
of his cellphone.
SAWYER: A skilled technician pulls all data,
even data that has been erased off of the phone.
The photos that were located spanned
from August 30th to September 2nd.
There was 277 pictures that were
then entered as evidence, ranging from
Margaret sitting on her couch holding a bloody rag
on her head.
There was a picture of Margaret laying
on the floor in a bloody state.
He had put her in one of the beds,
and he moved her around and posed her
in different ways and took pictures.
There was a selfie-style picture of
David with blood splatter on his face.
I can't even imagine what reason he would have to take
those other than some sort of sick,
twisted fantasy or something in his head.
JOHN: There were Google searches on
how to clean up a crime scene,
how long it takes for a body to begin to smell,
different Google searches along these lines,
which is an indication that he was looking to hide
what he had done to his mother.
NARRATOR: David is charged with six counts of
theft by unlawful taking, one count of robbery,
one count of abuse of
a corpse, and one count of criminal homicide.
He is taken to a psychiatric hospital, where
doctors declare him legally sane to stand trial.
The photos he took help investigators establish
a theory about what happened in Margaret's home on August 30th.
I believe that David tortured his mother,
and the images show that.
She either rejected his request for more money
or demands for more money,
or she had no more to give,
and that enraged him.
SAWYER: If you've seen pictures of David and Margaret together,
he towers over her.
He was an athletic younger man,
and he used his physical strength
over her to beat her with his bare hands.
It was a very brutal assault
and one of the worst cases,
if not the worst case, I've had so far in my career.
Margaret gave David all that she could,
everything that she could.
And when there was no more, then he beat her to death.
ELLEN: How much did she hurt or how much did she feel?
I don't know how much my mom suffered.
I don't know, and I think about that a lot.
[crying]
NARRATOR: In August 2022, David strikes a plea deal.
SAWYER: David pled guilty to third-degree homicide,
and all of the other charges were dismissed.
So the counts of theft by unlawful taking,
the robbery, and the abuse of a corpse were all dismissed.
His total sentence was a minimum of 20 years with
a maximum of 40 years,
and he had already served three years of time
during the process.
So he could essentially be out in as little as 17 years.
NARRATOR: Family members believe that
the way Margaret was killed, plus David's actions
in the aftermath, merited a first-degree murder charge.
I think he wanted to see her suffer.
He wanted to torture her.
If he wanted her just dead, he would have used that gun.
Why would we ever be giving somebody
that obviously enjoys murdering somebody a deal?
NARRATOR: After repeated requests from
the family to overturn David's plea deal,
the judge upholds his decision.
SAWYER: I personally don't believe that the plea deal
does any justice for Margaret or for the family.
I don't believe that the...
deal matches the crime that was committed.
ANN: I'm just still really angry
that he could get away with it like this.
I don't care if he's in jail, but it's only 17 years.
ELLEN: I don't have words for this.
I don't want him ever, ever to be out.
Come on. [indistinct]
ELLEN: I not only lost my mom,
I lost him. I lost...
I lost the person
I thought he was, because I didn't know
the monster he really is.
I had no idea.
I was so manipulated.
Margaret's, um, always gonna be in our hearts.
She was a good, uh...
good person.
I would like my mom to be remembered as
kind, caring,
loving...
and she was so giving.
[voice breaking] And I just -- I just miss her.
Narrator: This season on American Monster...
♪
I felt that Matt was a good match for Michelle.
He seemed like a really fun person.
♪
Scott was the center of Ryan and Sherry's world.
He just messed up his mind...
...and made him a monster.
♪
Man: He'd go from hot to cold with the snap of a finger.
Woman: He didn't do this on a whim.
He was prepared for war.
Brittany loved him.
He could go from being so loving to being so horrifying.
He punished her just for loving him.