[dramatic music]
* *
- Tim Boczkowski portrayed
this churchgoing,
family man image,
but he had a deep, dark secret.
- Mr. Tim, how you doing?
- In 1990,
Tim Boczkowski
claimed he found his wife
unconscious in their bathtub.
- They're trying to revive her
and I notice these track marks
going across her abdomen.
I said, "Something was wrong."
- Four years later,
his second wife dies
in a hot tub.
- And it was like, "Wow."
I mean, is this the most
unlucky guy in the world?
Two wives die drowning at home?
- Law enforcement suspect
Boczkowski is behind
the deaths.
- He wasn't showing
any emotion whatsoever.
That's what really got us.
- But what his son
didn't realize,
he was living
with a serial killer.
- As a five-year-old,
my dad was this
goofy, comical, humorous
kind of a person.
He wouldn't hurt a fly.
- Or so he thought.
* *
Greensboro, North Carolina.
To the northwest of the city
is the community
of Yester Oaks.
- Christmas 1989.
- Ah.
- Tim Boczkowski,
his wife, Elaine,
and their three children,
Randy, 9, Sandy, 7,
and 5-year-old Todd
are enjoying opening
their presents.
- For me, my childhood
in North Carolina
was, you know, quite fun.
- Tim moved his family there
from his hometown,
Pittsburgh, in 1986
to open an ice cream parlor.
- This is King Kones.
- The ice cream parlor for me
was more of a playground
where I would run around,
have fun with my siblings,
eat as much ice cream
as I can.
- Todd and his mom
had a special bond.
- My mom, Elaine, would take me
along with her
wherever she went.
I wasn't in school yet.
I was a mama's boy,
if you will.
My dad, he was this kind of
goofy, comical, humorous
kind of a person.
He wouldn't hurt a fly.
- [chuckles]
- But Todd didn't realize
his parents' dream
of a new life in Greensboro
was turning sour.
King Kones' profits were low
and the business
was going under.
Elaine had told friends
she and Tim were arguing
over money.
And he was becoming
more and more controlling.
By mid-1990,
after 11 years of marriage,
Elaine wanted a divorce.
- I didn't understand
what they were talking about
because from my angle,
they still acted like
all the moms and dads
that, you know, I had seen.
They got along just fine.
- November 4, 1990.
Ten days before
his sixth birthday,
Todd is awakened
in the middle of the night.
- My dad was coming
down the stairs.
He was frantic.
He pulled me and my siblings
to the next door neighbors,
saying,
"Hey, something happened
to Elaine.
Can you watch the kids?"
- 911 had already been called.
While neighbors look after
the children,
paramedics arrive
on the scene.
- I actually saw
the reflection of the lights
from the ambulance,
but what happened to my mom,
at that point, I had no idea.
* *
- Elaine is rushed
to the Wesley Long Hospital...
[siren blaring]
as is usual
in a serious injury case.
Law enforcement
is quickly notified.
- It was about
3:50 in the morning.
Some sort of accident
had happened at Yester Oaks.
- Police head
to the Boczkowski residence
to check if there
is anything suspicious.
At the same time,
officer Steve Goode
rushes to the ER
to establish the facts.
- When I got to the hospital,
they're trying to revive her,
but by the time
she came to the ER,
she was already gone.
About that time,
Tim shows up at the hospital
and he began to tell me a story
about how he had found her
submerged in the bathtub.
He had portrayed her
as she had had a lot to drink
that night on the back porch
of their apartment.
He kept saying things to just
try to paint a picture for me
of Elaine as,
basically, a lush.
But the one thing
I did observe
after she had passed away was
there was no odor or alcohol.
I also noticed
she had these track marks
going across her abdomen.
- Officer Goode thinks
the track marks
look suspicious.
He asks Boczkowski
to go with him
to the station
to answer some questions.
On route, Goode phones
his colleague, Brenda Vance,
who has arrived at
the Yester Oaks apartment
with an investigation team.
- I said,
"Hey, Brenda, he's saying that
"she was submerged in water
in the tub.
"Could you give me an overview
of what the bathroom
looked like?"
Brenda told me, she said,
"There was no water in the tub
when I got there.
The tub was bone dry."
- The only thing
in the bathtub
was vomit
and a discarded face cloth.
Boczkowski
tells Officer Goode,
Elaine had vomited while
he tried to give her CPR
and this had caused
the unusual track marks
on Elaine's abdomen,
but Officer Goode isn't sure
Boczkowski
is telling the truth.
- I said, "Brenda,
by chance is there a track
where a glass door goes
back and forth on the bathtub?"
She said,
"Yeah, how'd you know that?"
I said, "Well,
there's some marks on Elaine
that just concern me
at the moment."
- Steve Goode's
suspicion was that
the marks may
have been caused by Tim
forcing Elaine down
onto the shower door tracks.
- Tim also said that the door
to the bathroom was locked
and that he had
to go get a screwdriver
and pry the door open,
so there would obviously
be signs of forced entry.
There was none of that.
The door had no marks
whatsoever on it,
indicating to us that,
in all likelihood,
he was either
inside of that bathroom
at the time things happened
or the door wasn't locked.
- Police strongly suspect
Tim is lying,
but so far the evidence
is purely circumstantial.
- We had a whole lot
of physical evidence
that didn't line up
with Tim's testimony,
but all of that doesn't always
line up to probable cause
to go ahead
and try to charge him.
- Neighbors are asked
if they'd heard
anything suspicious,
but no witnesses
are sufficiently compelling
to counter
Tim's version of events.
They have no choice,
but to let him go.
- When he walked
out of that room that night,
I thought we had let
a guilty man go free.
- But law enforcement have
one more card to play.
They order an autopsy to
establish the cause of death.
- The moment
that an autopsy was done,
we would at least know
some things
that would either
corroborate his story
or make him an outright liar.
One of the two.
- For now, at least,
Boczkowski was free to break
the news to his children.
Their mother was dead.
- As a 5-year-old,
I had no understanding
of death.
I had to actually be told
that my mom was in heaven
and that she was never
gonna be coming back.
I had this knot feeling
in the pit of my stomach.
My eyes started to swell
with tears.
My dad was there
hugging all three of us
and just trying to comfort us.
- Todd's mother died
just ten days before
his sixth birthday,
a day his mom had promised
to give him something special.
- She had asked me
a few weeks earlier
what kind of cake I wanted,
and without flinching, I said
Michelangelo, because at
the time, I was really big into
the Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles.
My dad ended up going to get
a Michelangelo cake,
but it was store-bought
and so that was
drastically different than--
from the cake
that my mom would've made.
- As he had done
with the police,
Boczkowski told his children
their mother's death
was a tragic accident.
- I had no reason
not to believe
what my dad was telling me.
- Of course he's going
to believe his father
that his mother died
accidentally in the bathtub,
and now more than ever,
he needs his remaining parent.
- Law enforcement have
examined
Boczkowki's apartment
and questioned him.
The evidence creates doubts
about how Elaine died.
Will the autopsy confirm
exactly what happened to her
that fateful night?
* *
- To me, thinking that my dad
would even hurt somebody
was just absolutely ludicrous.
- The kids
were still conflicted
about the fact that
they want to believe their dad.
- You had to feel
for all three of them.
It was heartbreaking.
[dramatic music]
* *
- Tim Boczkowski's
wife, Elaine,
has been found dead
in the bathtub
of their home in Greensboro.
Law enforcement suspect
foul play.
They are banking
on the autopsy
to confirm the cause of death.
While they wait
for the results,
they start to build a case.
They want to find out
what sort of man
Tim Boczkowski really is.
- What stood out the most
about Tim
was the fact
that nothing stood out.
He had no criminal history.
He was an every week
churchgoer.
There is indications
that Tim had a great
relationship with his kids.
No one from
the outside looking in
would've seen anything wrong.
- So we have to do that
background investigation
to find out what was
the state of the marriage.
We need to have
an understanding about
what were
their financial affairs.
- Investigators soon learn,
not only was Boczowski's
marriage crumbling,
so was his ice cream business.
- As a businessman,
he was not financially
in a good place at all.
- Boczkowski needed cash
badly.
Investigators discovered
where he might find it.
He'd taken out
an insurance policy
on his wife's life
for $25,000.
- Let me tell you
what all murders are based on.
It's either sex, drugs,
or money.
That's it.
* *
- It looked like Boczkowski
took their mother from them
for $25,000.
How can someone be that cold
and that calculating?
- Murderers
in domestic situations
are not thinking about
the collateral damage--
a motherless family,
for example.
They're in the moment.
They're thinking about
themselves
and whatever they can gain
from the spouse
being out of the picture.
* *
- But uncovering
a financial motive
wasn't enough to put
Boczkowski behind bars.
- We needed
the medical examiner to make
a determination for us
about the case.
- Elaine's autopsy
took place on November 4th.
By November 13th,
the results were in.
- Some of the history
that we're given
was that she had
been drinking heavily,
but what had been found
by the pathologist who
did the initial examination
was that this was contradicted
by the absence of any alcohol
present in her system.
- Boczkowski's claim
his wife was drunk
is revealed to be a lie,
but what about his statement
he found her under the water
even though
the bathtub was dry?
- One of the findings
that is often relied upon
to make a diagnosis of drowning
is wet, heavy lungs,
and her lungs were not
wet and heavy to the extent
that one might expect to see
in a drowning.
- Analysis of Elaine's lungs
to determine
asphyxiation by drowning
is inconclusive.
Next, they examine
the track marks on her torso.
The marks, Boczkowski claimed,
were caused by CPR.
- Track marks were consistent
with her body having
been lying on the tracks
that closed off the shower,
but while we were
reasonably certain
that the offered explanation
was not appropriate,
in this instance,
whatever we decide
on a cause
has to be defensible.
We have to be able to get up
on the stand and under oath,
in a court of law,
offer enough evidence,
but we did not
have enough information
to put down
a definitive cause of death.
And what's done
in those instances
is it's usually designated
as undetermined.
- With the cause of death
recorded at undetermined,
the autopsy result
law enforcement
had been counting on
had not delivered.
- Probably one of the worst
days in my police career.
[chuckles]
Had to be the day
the autopsy came back.
I knew what happened to Elaine
that night in that bathroom
based on common sense,
but it wasn't enough for us
to be able to make a case.
- There's nothing
more frustrating
for a homicide cop
than to know
that he has the right suspect,
but just missing
that one piece of evidence
that would make the case.
- It appeared Boczkowski
may have got away with murder
and was now free
to get on with his life.
Boczkowski cashed in
the $25,000 insurance money
and moved his family
back to Pittsburgh.
Soon after,
he told his children
there was someone he'd like
to introduce them to.
- My dad opened up the door
and, you know, said,
"Hey, you know, I want you
to meet somebody."
- Within a year
of Elaine's death,
Tim met Maryann
at a single's club
organized by
their local church.
- My first thought of Maryann
was, "Is this Mom?"
because the resemblance
was very striking.
It was almost like
I have my mom back.
- In 1993,
the couple were married.
On the big day,
Maryann declared her joy
of becoming stepmother
to three wonderful kids.
- It felt like
a new beginning.
It felt like a new life.
- The new family
settled down in a suburb
of Pittsburgh
called Ross Township.
- I would say,
happy memories being here.
Younger and that innocence
of being able to go outside
and just be carefree
and just be a kid.
I had a new mom.
I had a new house.
- Merry Christmas,
Sandy and Todd.
Where's Randy?
There's Randy.
Give us your Christmas look,
Maryann.
- Maryann,
who I now called Mom,
was taking care of us and
shuttling me and my siblings
to activities
and it just felt like
a whole new life
from what had happened
in North Carolina.
Shortly after the wedding,
we actually had a nice,
big family get together.
We had recently built a deck.
It was that warm feeling
of just,
everything is going great.
My dad also wanted a hot tub,
so he got a hot tub on the deck
of the back of the house.
- The kids loved
splashing around in the water,
but dad, Tim, was keen
to point out
its potential dangers.
- One thing that
I specifically remember
him saying over and over
and over again was, you know,
"Don't stay in
longer than 15 minutes."
That was something
that really stuck with me.
- But just four months
after this home video
was shot,
emergency services receive
a frantic 911 call
from Tim Boczkowski.
- It was a rush of déjà vu,
like, how is this
happening again?
[dramatic music]
* *
- November 7, 1994.
Tim Boczkowski has called 911
to say he has found his wife,
Maryann, unconscious
in their hot tub.
- Within minutes,
law enforcement arrive
at the Boczkowski residence.
- I remember running around
to the back of the house
and finding the victim lying on
the deck in her bathing suit.
Over my career,
I've seen many dead bodies.
Unfortunately,
she was absolutely deceased.
- Boczkowski tells detectives
Maryann had been
drinking heavily
and had likely gotten
into the hot tub
while he was upstairs,
but straight away,
they notice something odd
about his behavior.
- Everyone deals with grief
differently.
People go into shock
and so forth,
but I picked up that Tim
seemed more concerned
about Tim.
- Police became
even more suspicious
after Boczkowski's parents
arrive.
- I'll never forget
his mother.
She went right up to him,
almost in
an accusatory manner,
and she was like,
"What happened?
What's going on?"
Almost like a,
"What did you do?"
He got very defensive
and told his mother,
"Oh, I didn't do anything.
We were fine.
We had argued earlier,
but we made up."
And Tim realizes
I'm in the room.
He looks over
and he says to his mother,
"I hope they don't try
to pin this on me."
And I thought, that
is the most peculiar statement
for a husband to make
whose wife just supposedly
died accidentally,
and he found her.
That would be the last thing
on my mind
that they would try
to pin this on me.
- In my world,
as a homicide detective,
I would register that
as an admission,
and this is what
a homicide detective has to do
is pick up on these
little nuances that occur
when he listens to
the interaction at the scene.
- In a desperate attempt
to revive Maryann,
paramedics rush her to
the Allegheny Hospital
Trauma Center.
- Tim and his mother followed
them and went to the hospital.
Tim's father was left behind.
And I remember saying how
tragic and how terrible it was
that there were three small
children sleeping upstairs,
and in just a few hours,
they were gonna wake up
to get ready for school
and learn that their mother
had died.
Boczkowski's father said,
"Oh, she's not their mother."
And I was startled by that,
and I said,
"Oh, she's not?
So she's their stepmother."
And he said yes.
And I said, "Well, can we
get ahold of the mother?
Because I think
they may need some support."
And Tim's father got red
and got very agitated
and said, "Well, she died
under similar circumstances.
She drowned in the bathtub
at their home."
And it was like, wow.
I mean, is this the most
unlucky guy in the world?
Two wives die drowning at home.
- Boczkowski agrees
to go down to the station
for questioning.
- During the interview,
he wasn't showing
any emotion whatsoever.
That's what really got us.
You just found your wife dead
in a hot tub.
He's cool as a cucumber.
We're thinking if any of us,
we'd be broke down, crying,
wanting to get out of there
to get back to comfort
our children and that,
but he just sat there.
- Just as he had done
after the death
of his first wife,
Boczkowski tells police
Maryann had a problem
with alcohol.
- Tim was pushing the fact
that Maryann
had been drinking heavily,
but there just no evidence
to support that.
There wasn't
beer cans everywhere,
wine bottles everywhere.
The house was very neat.
- Police become
even more suspicious
when they notice deep
scratch marks on Boczkowski.
- He claimed that she gave him
a scratch massage.
I don't know what exactly
a scratch massage is,
but any massage that would
leave bloodied scratch marks,
I can't believe
would be too enjoyable.
We believe that those were
scratches caused by
his wife while she was fighting
for her life.
- We said, "Tim, we want
to clear you on this.
Let's get this over with.
Would you take a polygraph?"
And he says, "Yeah, but I want
to take it right here,
right now."
- Tim was hoping
a polygraph operator
wouldn't be available
at short notice,
but police
have someone on hand.
- I walked into the room.
I said,
"Tim, it's your lucky day.
Operator's on his way
right now."
His eyes got big as saucers.
He couldn't believe it.
Operator took Tim Boczkowski
into a private room,
came out, and said,
"There's no doubt in my mind
that he killed his wife."
- But a failed polygraph
is not admissible in court,
so police order an autopsy
on Maryann's body to establish
the cause of death.
Until they get the result,
they can't charge Tim,
so he's free to go.
* *
The next morning,
Randy, Sandy,
and 9-year-old Todd wake up
unaware that anything
has happened.
- November 7, 1994
started off, for me,
just like every other day
with the exception
that I woke up late for school.
We were in such a rush
that we forgot
to do one, little thing that
we did every, single morning
and that was to go
kiss our mom, Maryann,
a kiss goodbye.
- Nothing is mentioned
to the children that morning,
but when they return home
from school,
Tim is waiting
to give them the news.
- I think one of my siblings
asked, you know,
"Dad, what's wrong?
You know, where's Mom?"
And, you know,
that's when he said,
"Hey, your mom, Maryann,
had an accident in the hot tub.
Um...she passed."
For me, it was a rush
of déjà vu.
I'm feeling this way again.
Like, how is this
happening again?
But I had no reason
not to believe
what my dad was telling me.
- But for Todd,
things had the potential
to get even worse.
The results of
Maryann's autopsy were due.
Would they prove that his dad,
Tim, had murdered her?
[dramatic music]
* *
- In 1990,
Tim Boczkowski's first wife
died in the bathtub
of their Greensboro home.
Now four years later
in Pittsburgh,
Boczkowski's second wife dies
in similar circumstances.
This time in a hot tub.
- What are the chances
a guy has two wives
that die supposedly drowning
at home?
- Boczkowski claimed
both wives had been drinking,
but there
is one more comparison
between the two cases,
and it's a big one.
After first wife,
Elaine's, death,
Tim cashed in
on an insurance policy
he'd taken out on her life.
Now Pittsburgh detectives
uncover a chillingly
similar story.
- Maryann's parents had given
them several thousand dollars,
wedding gift money.
They wanted her
to buy furniture,
but he wanted to buy
a life insurance policy on her.
- After Elaine's death,
Boczkowski walked away
with $25,000 in cash.
- Once he got away with it
the first time,
he's figuring, "I'm good to go
for the second round."
This becomes
a pattern of behavior.
- But this time,
Boczkowski stood to collect
a cool $100,000.
- The greed factor kicks in.
Why not we just
quadruple the policy
and let's go for the 100,000.
Let's go for the six digits.
- The motive is financial,
just like the police suspected
in 1990.
But back then,
Greensboro detectives
were unable to charge
Boczkowski with murder
because the autopsy recorded
the cause of death
as undetermined.
Now Pittsburgh investigators
are hoping the autopsy
on Maryann will prove
Boczkowski is a killer.
One week after her death,
the results are back.
- Forensic pathologist
determines that
the cause of death
is asphyxiation,
which is strangulation,
and you can't
strangle yourself.
- I believe there were
thumb prints,
both sides of her neck.
It was obvious.
- On November 16, 1994,
Tim is arrested and charged
with first degree murder
of his second wife, Maryann.
* *
- To hear that my dad
had been arrested,
I couldn't wrap my head
around that notion.
- Having lost both mothers,
Todd's father had now
also been taken away.
- I'm sitting there thinking,
"What now?
"You know, where am I gonna go?
Who am I gonna stay with?
And, you know, what else
is going to take place?"
- Boczkowski
is placed in custody
at the Allegheny County Jail
in downtown Pittsburgh.
- This is where I would
come visit my dad,
at this jail,
while he was awaiting trial.
It was sad because
I had never been away
from my dad for longer than
a few days, maybe, if that.
Plus, I didn't understand
why he was there
in the first place.
I was also trying to wrestle
with how did we get here?
This is not how I grew up.
This is not
what was instilled in me.
You know, we would go
to church every single Sunday.
* *
- On each visit,
Todd's father continued
to reassure him
he was innocent.
- My thinking was
people would come to realize
it was what my dad
has been telling me.
This is just one
big, huge mistake
or misunderstanding.
It was an accident.
I thought that my dad
would be found innocent
because we'd been here before
and we were able
to move forward,
so we would be able
to do that again.
- Boczkowski was behind bars
and Pittsburgh had wasted
no time contacting Greensboro.
- We got a call
from Pennsylvania,
and we were told
that Tim's wife
had died in a Jacuzzi.
There really isn't words
to describe...
[chuckles]
What I was feeling.
He did it again.
He murdered again.
* *
- But Pittsburgh wasn't
just making a curtesy call.
In the course
of their investigation
into Maryann's murder,
they attained
crucial information that
could help reopen the case
on his first wife,
Elaine's, death.
The potential breakthrough
came from an interview
with Boczkowski's children.
- We had to talk
to all three of them.
They're in the house
when both their mothers die,
so you got to talk to them.
- At the time,
Boczkowski claimed
wife, Elaine, was passed out
when he forced open
the bathroom door,
but on the night
of Elaine's death,
daughter Sandy recounted
a different version of events
to the neighbor
who had taken them in.
- Sandy told the neighbor
she heard her parents
in that bathroom, and she heard
her parents fighting.
She said she heard
Elaine saying,
"No, Tim, no. Stop."
- But when she was questioned
by police in 1990,
Sandy didn't repeat
what she'd told the neighbor.
Four years on,
Pittsburgh detectives
think they know why.
- We believe that Tim
had a big influence here.
No, you don't talk
to the police.
You know, after that,
she clammed up.
It was evident because she
wouldn't talk to Greensboro,
but four years later,
with Maryann's passing,
Sandy reiterated what she said
to the neighbor.
- It may be enough
to put Boczkowski in court
for the murder
of his first wife, too,
leaving him facing two trials
for the murder of two wives
in two different states.
* *
- I said, "Look, I don't want
to hear any excuses.
"Just tell me flat out.
Did you or
did you not do this?"
Was I actually present
during my mom, Elaine's, death?
[dramatic music]
* *
- Police in Greensboro
have received crucial,
new information.
Tim Boczkowski's daughter
Sandy has reported
that she heard her parents
fighting in the bathroom
the night her mother died.
- She heard Elaine saying,
"No, Tim, no. Stop."
- With this new evidence,
detectives request
a reexamination
of Elaine's autopsy report
which originally recorded
the cause of death
as undetermined.
- When new information arrives
that would cast doubt
upon our conclusion,
we're always willing
to go back and revisit it
to review it,
and if appropriate, change it.
- The medical examiner
pays close attention
to Sandy's testimony,
which places Tim
in the bathroom
at the time of Elaine's death.
He concludes that
the track marks on her abdomen
had been caused by
pushing her down over the tub,
forcing the air
out of her lungs.
- It was my feeling
that very significant pressure
had been applied to her back.
It would have been sufficient
to have led to her death
by asphyxiation
because she couldn't
take air into her lungs.
- Four years after her death,
Boczkowski is charged
with Elaine's murder
and this is while he's
awaiting trial in Pittsburgh
for the murder
of his second wife, Maryann.
* *
For Todd,
the news is overwhelming.
- I did look to my dad
to get from him
how does this work,
what is the process.
- Boczkowski continues
to protest his innocence
and asks his children
to stick by him.
- He always made the statement
of the truth will come out.
So as an 11-year-old,
I have zero reason
to question that.
- The kids were still
conflicted about the fact
that they want
to believe their dad.
After all,
these kids have nobody else.
- For me, if there
was any kind of justice
at that point in time,
it would be justice
for my dad to be freed,
so that I could go back
to having a normal life,
a normal family,
having my family back
and moving forward.
- Greensboro,
October 1996.
Tim Boczkowski
is led into court on trial
for the murder
of his first wife, Elaine.
- I don't think there was
something I could've wanted
more in my career than
to be able to get a conviction
against Tim Boczkowski
for what he did to his kids.
- It takes the jury
less than three hours
to deliver
a unanimous verdict.
Guilty of murder
in the first degree.
Boczkowski is sentenced
to life in prison,
but 11-year-old Todd,
still wasn't ready
to believe his dad
could've killed his mom.
- I was completely dumbfounded.
I was shocked.
I was speechless.
I didn't know what to say.
I did sit there
and ask myself,
"What is in store
in my future?"
Those are all things that
somebody that's 11 years old,
about to be 12,
should not have to answer.
* *
- Three years later,
Boczkowski
takes the stand again.
This time at the Allegheny
Courthouse in Pittsburgh.
He's charged with the homicide
of his second wife, Maryann.
Now there's even more
at stake.
- Unlike my dad's
first murder trial,
I knew upfront that
the death penalty
was on the table.
So I tried not
to think about that
because just like
with everything else
up to this point,
I was under the impression
that this was just
one, big, huge mistake.
- Anxious to show
support for their father,
who has convinced them
of his innocence,
14-year-old Todd
and his two older siblings
attend the trial,
but Todd could never
be prepared for
what he was about to hear.
The judge ruled that
evidence from the neighbor
who looked after the children
the night Elaine had died
was also relevant
because the circumstances
surrounding the two deaths
were so similar.
- The neighbor
from North Carolina
testified that I had told her
that I saw my dad
holding my mom down.
Sitting there in the courtroom,
it took my breath away.
That's not, at all,
what I had remembered,
you know?
If I saw my dad
holding my mom down,
that's something
that I would remember.
- Children can cope with
severe trauma by burying it,
disassociating, or detaching.
And, you know,
that memory can be blurred
or altered or even blocked
all together.
- Todd simply refuses
to accept
the witness statement.
To him, it's just
one more mistake, one of many,
that had taken his dad away
and broken up his family.
- Because of all of
the conflicting things,
there is really only
one way to think
and that was to go back
to what my father had said.
To, you know, still believe,
my dad didn't do this.
- The Allegheny
courthouse jury
did not agree with Todd.
- In Pittsburgh, at
the conclusion of that trial,
Boczkowski was convicted.
- Todd remains convinced
his father is innocent,
but now,
Tim Boczkowski's life
is on the line.
Will the court sentence him
to life in prison
or will he face death
by lethal injection?
- After my dad was convicted,
there was a sentencing phase
and me, my brother,
and sister, all three of us,
testified in that.
And, you know,
we were essentially
asking 12 strangers
to spare our father's life.
- There's no doubt that this
testimony from these children
was contrived by the defense
'cause what else did he have?
What else does
Boczkowski have except
to put those children
on the stand
and get them to tell
them how much they love him?
- As he had done after
murdering their birth mother,
Tim continued to convince
his children of his innocence.
- We believe Tim Boczkowski
brainwashed the kids.
I'm not talking about
browbeating them,
but manipulative, you know?
What would you do
if you were that young?
You're gonna listen
to your dad.
- I just remember turning
towards the jury
and saying to them, you know,
"Please don't take away
my father.
Please don't sentence him
to death."
[dramatic music]
* *
- Allegheny Courthouse,
Pittsburgh, May 1999.
Tim Boczkowski
has been found guilty
of the murder
of his second wife, Maryann.
In an attempt to save
his dad from being executed,
son, Todd,
has appealed to the jury.
Now it's the turn
of his sister Sandy.
- When my sister testified,
she pretty much had
the entire courtroom in tears.
* *
- Tim Boczkowski's
daughter Sandy
made a very emotional plea.
She was a young girl,
really trying
to save her father.
- You had to feel
for all three of them.
Yeah, it was heartbreaking.
- It really affected, I think,
everyone in the courtroom
except for Boczkowski.
* *
His cold demeanor prevailed,
and he seemed unmoved by it.
- If you looked at Tim,
no emotion whatsoever.
Nothing.
The jury was eyeing him up.
I know I was eyeing him up.
Everybody was eyeing him up.
And he made a comment
after she testified,
"Make sure my sandwich
is down there.
I think they were late
yesterday."
Something to that extent.
- This is, perhaps,
one of the boldest expressions
of narcissism that I've seen.
His daughter is making
a passionate plea
for mercy
for her father's life.
In fact, his reaction
when she finished was
whether his lunch
was gonna be there on time.
- That hurt him bad.
Jury right there--I think
the jury said,
"To hell with him.
He doesn't even care
about his daughter."
They ruled
the capital punishment.
Put him to death.
- Sentenced
to death for the murder
of his second wife, Maryann,
Boczkowski is placed
on death row
at the Pennsylvania
department of corrections.
But even in these
bleak surroundings,
Tim presses all three children
to continue to visit him.
- I would still go visit him.
I had a relationship with him.
As far as believing in him,
his innocence,
I still believed in that.
- After graduating
high school,
Todd decided to leave
Pittsburgh, a city where
the name Boczkowski
had become infamous.
He signed up to train
as a military police officer
in the Air Force.
- When you join the military,
it doesn't matter who you are,
it doesn't matter what
background you're coming from.
They strip you of who you are,
they build you back up into who
they want and need you to be,
so that's something that was
very appealing to me.
- Before long,
Todd was posted to Iraq.
- I was deployed
to Camp Bucca,
an Iraqi detainee prison camp.
- Todd did his best
to forget the past,
but there was one memory
he could not shake off.
- I thought back to that
testimony back at the trial
where, you know, I supposedly
saw my dad holding my mom down.
Is that what happened
and I just couldn't remember
because it was so traumatic?
- Back on leave in 2004,
Todd traveled to
confront his father in prison.
- I said, "Look, I don't want
to hear any excuses.
"Just tell me flat out.
Did you or
did you not do this?"
Was I actually present,
you know,
during my mom, Elaine's, death?
- Reluctantly,
Boczkowski agreed to talk
about that night in 1990.
With the couple
due to divorce,
Boczkowski told Todd
he had become jealous
after reading an entry
in Elaine's diary.
- He said that he went
to the bathroom,
she started
to raise her voice,
and knowing that us
three kids were asleep,
he wanted her to be quiet.
He said there was
a washcloth on the sink.
He attempted to put it
over her mouth
and in turn, he placed her
over the bathtub,
and he was
literally squeezing her.
- Then came the confirmation
of the horrific event
Todd had suppressed
since he was 5 years old.
- He said that somebody had
opened up the bathroom door,
and it was me.
He told me to get out
of the bathroom,
and then the realization came
of I literally witnessed
my dad killing my mom.
- It had taken 14 years,
but Todd finally had the truth
about how his mother died.
Todd thinks he now knows why
his dad made the confession.
He simply didn't need his son
to believe his lies anymore.
Just before Todd's visit,
Boczkowski's death sentence
was commuted
to life in prison.
His closeness to his children
was given as the reason
for this clemency.
- It opened up my eyes into
who he actually was
as a person.
He's not the harmless,
goofball, humorous dad
that I had viewed him
whenever I was a child.
He's a cold,
manipulative killer.
That's what he is.
I don't need or want
someone like that in my life.
* *
- Today, 36-year-old Todd
is writing a book about
his experience as the son
of Tim Boczkowski.
- I do think my dad
took certain aspects
of my childhood away.
- Hey, Todd,
give us a Christmas smile.
- Can we have
one more present?
- I don't have a lot of happy
memories of my childhood.
Those are very tough
to come by.
- Hey, Maryann,
merry Christmas.
- Merry Christmas.
- Can we have one more present?
- He took that innocence away.
* *