when it happened I know you were there I can prove that you were there and if you don't tell me the truth about what happened now then you're gonna have to Forever live with the fact that you lied about it and then it's going to come out in court that we know he was in the house and he's lying about it and that looks awful that looks like you knew exactly what you were doing this was the exact moment Stephen Williams realized that the detective had him cornered and that he had nowhere else to go the woman in question was Steven's ex-wife Trisha Todd who mysteriously vanished from the face of the planet one day never to return again on the 27th of April 2017 Trisha Todd was supposed to pick up their daughter Faith from the babysitter however weirdly enough she didn't show up her family went to her house to check to see if she was there she wasn't to their surprise the house was left with all the lights on and a full bag of fresh Groceries on the counter it seemed like Trisha had just disappeared out of thin air without leaving any traces the only person who had been with her on the night of her disappearance was well you guessed it even initially police suspected no foul play in the matter it was only when they discovered Trisha's private Journal that it would all change from the outside Stephen and tris's divorce seemed peaceful and unproblematic however according to her journal that was far from the truth apparently Steven had a darker side to him filled with violence and abuse police didn't waste any time and immediately brought Stephen into questioning as the primary suspect in the case and it was here that everything would slowly unravel showing just how Sinister Stephen really was um [Music] and I've been involved with this case from the beginning okay you've already heard about all the stuff that we got I mean there's no question about what happened that night we know that it's more than you're telling us we know that you were involved with with her death we know that what the detective does here might seem like a small thing but it's actually a really effective tactic interrogators often try to trick the suspect into a confession by overstating the strength of the evidence they have however as the detective will soon realize these Small Tricks won't work on Stephen he's an Air Force sergeant and receives special military training he knows every trick in the book so instead of trying to intimidate him detective dulock shifts his demeanor from threatening to Friendly a move that would turn out to be the ultimate key to Stephen's mind and the thing that that we're trying to do is I mean I'll talk to you earlier you're a nice guy I like you I mean I think we could be friends you know in different circumstances but here's the thing but I've seen you okay I've done a lot of research on your background and I know what it was like with Trisha I know what kind of stuff you went through I know she had a Wild Streak when she was younger I know what she did and she came after you you know in that domestic thing that happened before I know how that started okay we've seen the reports We Know It All Happened we know she went back and said no the whole thing was made up because she started I think probably what happened was something more like she started something what a lot of people don't know about interrogations is that the detective is allowed to lie without any repercussions they usually act like your friend and tell you all the things you like to hear until the perfect moment when they drop the hammer on you detective dulock talks almost uninterrupted for the next 30 minutes pretending to be Steven's friend by doing this he has given himself more room to turn up the heat a little bit which is exactly what he's about to do I know that what you're telling us about coming back from the gas station I know that's a lie I know that's a lie and I can prove that's a lie and I don't want that to be the last lie that you tell us I need you to tell us [Music] it's another story and no matter what I tell you it's not going to be the truth according to you so what do you want me to tell you here's the thing about this okay every time you tell us some version of what happened it gets closer to the Church almanine of Trish's disappearance Stephen had visited her house in Florida to see their daughter Faith Trisha's house would become a crucial part of the evidence later on as this was the last place Trisha was seen alive later that night CCTV cameras at a gas station show Steven driving Tricia's car now why would he be driving her car seems a little suspicious 45 minutes has passed since the interrogation started and the detective still hasn't been able to crack Steven's Shield the police already know that Steven was at Trisha's house when she died but they don't know much more than that the situation is beginning to get more and more dire and as a result the detective starts upping the pressure in the hopes of cracking Stevens you were there when she was injured and that she was injured in some way that was not a direct attack from you but I think that you have more information about what actually happened to her because I know you were in the house with her when it happened is that true okay no listen we I know and you tell me that okay and you're using very specific language so tell me I'm not saying that you laid a hand on her I know that you were there when she was injured so you need to explain to us how it was she she became injured because because this whole thing where you came back from the gas station you knew his founder like that I know that's not true I and I can prove that's not true up until this point Steven's story has been that he came back to the house after being at the gas station to find Trisha laying lifeless on the floor the detective has forensic evidence disproving Stephen's story however going to trial on that is not enough he has to be 100 sure that they have enough evidence to convict them so the detective continues pressure okay I can prove that you were at the house with Trisha when she was injured I can prove that so the question lies with you as to you're the only one who was there with her like I said you're the only person who can tell us what happened so this is your opportunity to tell us what happened in the house before you left because that's when I know she was injured and I can prove that what I need to know is what happened in the house it took almost 20 minutes of duloc's masterful interrogation skills to break Stephen's shield and oh boy did he crumble remember when he said this in the beginning of the interrogation never hurt her I never I didn't push her I didn't shove her I didn't do anything to that woman well that has now mysteriously been changed to this moved her away and then she slipped and that's when she freaking fell and I'm like oh [ __ ] I asked her if she was okay it was like a weird sound she didn't say anything though and then I freaking panicked and then I just freaking panicked and then all I think it is great now I've pushed her and she's hurt her head and and I'm done Stephen knows he just made a grave mistake and it is here that his Demeter completely shifts from me confident and self-assured to being weak and Afraid how do you escalate the situation because I couldn't get out I didn't know where to go I didn't even just leave like all I wanted to do was just leave I disappointed because I can't do it notice how his body language has completely changed in the start of the interrogation he is sitting right across from the detective looking straight into his eyes now he is avoiding eye contact and sitting at an off angle these are clear signs to detective dulock that he is getting closer and closer to the truth Steven's description of Trisha's death was very vague and lacked a lot of details suspects tend to downplay the brutality of their crimes to try to look more innocent duloc knows this and has 100 certain that Stephen is withholding details however to prove his theory he needs to find one crucial thing Trisha's body her body would have all the evidence about how she really died now you know you know the next question I'm going to ask you okay and I know you don't want to know where Trisha is I don't know I really don't have a freaking clue where that was I was I just I just panicked and I just drove and I can't think of where she is and I'm still screwed because we gotta try to remember remember that I don't know where that was okay it was just a random place I have no idea where I was let me let me try to let me just try to understand through the rest of the the evening okay Stephen pretends to not know where he hid the body because he knows if they find it he's completely screwed his body language imitates that of a person who is blatantly lying detective dulox spider senses are tingling he knows he is on to something and decides to keep pressuring Stephen I know you don't think you remember but I know you remember if we can work through this I think you can figure this out okay just work with me for a minute okay I don't know I just I just spaced and I just drove and I just tried to think and clear my head and figure it out and what now and then just realized that I'm screwed like I'm just oh God there's nothing I'm just going to prison like screw it I'm going to prison no matter what I do at this point at this point Stephen is just trying to sound as confused and dazed as possible in order to drag the interrogation out according to him he drove out some random Forest when he just laid her on the ground not even trying to cover her up however as it would soon turn out he did something much more Sinister than that let's see okay here's the next thing now I need to understand when you when you got to where Trisha ended up how how did you where did you put her okay okay I took her out of the car and I just laid her down and she just looked peaceful and sweet like what I remember her did you I didn't even try to cover her up I didn't I just laid her down so she was hoping beyond belief that she would be okay I didn't I mean you you knew she was peaceful she knew she was at peace at that point later on in the case it was revealed that Stephen had been lying all along he leveraged the fact that the investigators couldn't find Tricia's body to buy himself a more lenient sentence a month after the interrogation Stephen entered a plea deal in exchange for giving a full confession of what really happened between him and Trisha Todd and to reveal where her body was a month prior to the murder Stephen had dug a three-foot grave at the hungry Lynn Wildlife Reserve this was the force that he was vaguely describing in the interrogation he had also purchased acid which he brought with him on his visit to Trisha's house his plan wasn't to visit his daughter no he was there only for Trisha investigators believe that Stephen strangled Tricia then drove her out to the coordinated burial site to get rid of the body before burying her Steven used a chainsaw to chop her up into little pieces from here he put her remains inside a 2x3 plastic box and then buried it scattered around the burial site law enforcement also found Tricia's teeth and fingertips which Steven had cut off to make the identification process more difficult in normal circumstances a case of this brutality would definitely result in a death sentence however because of the plea deal Steven signed moments before confessing he was only sentenced to a mere 35 years in prison