Husband Claims Flying Pipe Killed His Wife!? The Case Of Barbara Kendhammer

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Pop over to Progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with coverage on the Dell XPS laptop. options tailored to your choices. Plus, you'll see which discounts you may qualify for, like the online quote discount or savings for paying in full. In fact, 99% of Progressive auto customers earn at least one discount. See if you could save when you switch to Progressive. You'll feel good about making a savvy choice. Visit Progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little extra cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2021. Potential savings will vary. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much as always for joining me. I'm always so happy to have you guys here. And if you're new to the show, then welcome. And make sure that you click subscribe or follow depending on what platform you are listening or watching on. So that you never miss an episode from me. Now, guys, today's case. Oh, wow. I have a lot of thoughts. And I am so excited to hear all of your feedback as well, because this case is just absolutely crazy. I don't even know how to say it. I have so many thoughts and so many questions still. And there's part of me that wonders, could the jury have gotten it wrong here? Now, we're going to be talking about the murder of Barbara Kendhammer. And I could have said, I don't know. I don't know. I believe I had never heard of this case. I actually found it in my members only request form. So thank you to whoever submitted this case, because, wow, I have just been, yeah, mind blown and stumped by this one, to say the least. Now, I'm using the term murder based off of a guilty verdict. Someone is serving time for Barbara's murder today, her husband. However, if you were to ask their children in, they would tell you that the jury got it all wrong. Before getting into this episode, I just wanted to thank you all for listening to and supporting my show and also any of the Mile Higher Media shows. Your support makes it possible for us to continue funding grants through my foundation, Higher Hope, which supports victims of violent crimes, their families and like-minded nonprofits. And with that, let's get into today's case. As I said, today, I'm going to be telling you guys about Barbara Kendhammer, who was born on March 4th, 1970, and was born in the Wisconsin to her parents, Merlin and Joyce. Growing up, Barbara was said to be an extremely bright young person, very caring. Also, she was known throughout her life to fill her time doing things that brought her joy and brought others joy. She specifically loved crafts. She loved camping. She loved tending to her garden and taking care of her animals. And I think people who gravitate towards hobbies like that and have that sort of passion for life, they're going to that sort of natural caretaking ability, even when it comes to plants and animals. Obviously, her children, too, just end up being the most salt of the earth people around us. And Barbara certainly seemed that way. Now, like I said, she does have children. And above all else, her family was absolutely the most important pillar in her life. Now, Barbara was actually only 16 years old when she met Todd Kendhammer, her future husband. And he says that it was love at first sight. He described it as a picture book moment where just looking at Barbara was enough to know that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Now, the two of them started off as friends, but in 1989, they officially started dating. And on August 3rd of 1991, they tied the knot in West Salem, Wisconsin. And then soon after that, they welcomed their daughter, Jessica, followed by their son, Jordan, both of whom described their parents' relationship as something out of a fairy tale. And as far as arguments go, their kids, their friends, and other family members say they never witnessed any arguments, just two people in love for the two and a half decades that they were married. In fact, in August of 2016, on their 25th wedding anniversary, Jessica and Jordan threw their parents a surprise party to celebrate their love. I also threw my parents a surprise 25th wedding anniversary party, and they got divorced a few months later. So that's great. But anyway, the Kendhammers were middle class, but a pretty comfortable family. Todd and Barbara both had jobs, and I thought this was sweet. Barbara worked at the same school that she actually went to growing up, which is pretty cool, and that was West Salem Middle School. And she worked in the food service program as a lunch lady. And as for Todd, he had a couple of different jobs. He primarily worked at a factory called Crown Cork and Seal, making aluminum soda cans. But he and Barbara also flipped houses to make some extra money as well. And he did some glass repair, replacing broken glass. And he also did some windshields for people. And that particularly is going to play a major role in today's case. So keep that in mind. Now, when all of this happened, it was September 16th of Friday, 2016, and the Kendhammers were excited because they were going on their annual family camping trip later in the day. Since Barbara had work that day, though, which was scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., the plan was to leave as soon as her shift was over. Jordan was home from college, and he says he remembers that day hearing Barbara and Todd leave together that morning, which he said wasn't uncommon for them. Oftentimes, Todd would drive Barbara to work, he would go run some errands, and then he would pick her up when she was finished, as long as he didn't need to be at work himself that day. Now, according to Todd, they left sometime between 7.30 and 7.45 a.m. They stopped at a neighbor's house briefly to look after things while they were out of town, and then they were on their way to work. So they were able to leave at 7.30 a.m. And of course, you would assume that they were on their way to West Salem Middle School, where Barbara worked, but that wasn't the case, actually. Rather than drive in the direction of her work, Todd began driving north on County Road M, and that is the opposite direction of the school. And what happened next is the reason I'm covering this case. And let's start out by listening to Todd's 911 call. So as you can tell, it's very chaotic, and it's also very hard to hear. Wish I could make it better for you guys, but obviously, with 911 calls, that's not an option. Now, is somebody hurt? Yes, they are. Okay. I need you to tell me what happened. Slow down. I want to jump. Okay. And so your wife is injured? Yes. Okay. And there was a car accident? Yes, a pipe or something came through a windshield, a pipe did. A pipe? And I'm going to connect you to medical information, sir. What's your first name? Todd. Todd, okay. They're going to help you help her until somebody gets there, okay? Yes, ma'am. And then you're going to hear a dial tone in the phone ring. Just stay on the phone, and let me talk to her soon. They'll pick up, okay? Hi, this is Lisa, 911. I've got Todd on the line. Reference that accident at Bergen County M. Yes. He said a pipe or something came through the windshield and hit his wife. Tell me exactly what happened. It got her, and she's hitting her head and in the throat, I think, in the throat or something. She's got blood coming out of her nose and mouth, and how old is she? Four and a sixth. Is she awake? No, I can't get her to wake. She talked that first a little bit. Okay. Is she breathing? No, I don't think so. Can you get her out of the vehicle, sir? I got her out. Okay, I want you to lay her flat on the ground. I got her flat. So as you could hopefully hear in the call, we can hear Todd talking about how, as he's driving his truck down County Road M, a pipe fell off of a truck and came through the windshield. This call was placed at 8.05 a.m., and he is saying in the call, that as this pipe fell off the truck, it came through their windshield and struck Barbara somewhere in the head and neck, causing her to bleed from her nose and mouth. And as it continued, the dispatcher is asking him to remove her from the car so that he could start performing CPR. But according to Todd, he had already done so. And then he stayed on the line while continuing to perform it until first responders arrived. But by the time that they got there, Todd was covered in blood. And although Barbara was technically still alive, survival already seemed low. I mean it was bad. Now let's take a a look at police dash cam footage of that day i know cpr first day come on barb's taken take him sir come on over with me okay go out the officer come with come with me who is this my wife it's your wife okay what happened do you know what happened okay there's a pipe come up come up here by mike by the thing the pipe in the ground no it would come out of that tree off a truck of a truck a truck or a trailer or something i think it was a truck with a flatbed on it and the truck kept going it didn't i don't know if he felt good i didn't see what okay were you in the car with her i was i was driving okay all right stay right here okay i don't know let first responders and everybody deal with them okay try to catch it catch the pipe i tried to see it i hit it i went to hit it but the windshield got me it came across the windshield it came through the windshield okay just stay right here they gotta hurry they're working she's not good she's putting one out of mouth they're they're dealing with her okay you were driving she was in the passenger seat correct okay okay i gotta go with her she's going down with her well if she goes to the hospital we'll see if she you can go with her okay okay all right stay right here okay just stay right here and for my audio only listeners this is just dash cam footage you're not seeing a whole lot other than first responders arriving at the scene but what you need to know about this scene especially if you are just listening is that the back end of todd's toyota 2009 camry appeared to be stuck in a ditch and he had an explanation for that todd explained that after this pipe came crashing through the windshield he turned down bergam cooley road and while trying to remove the pipe he somehow put the car in reverse and that's how it ended up becoming trapped and i turned in here and i reached over to get the pipe out and and i ended up trying to get the pipe out and i was trying to help her and i i got to here i got to stop and i hit it in reverse and back into there now i noticed something interesting when i first watched this footage and it has to do with todd's response about where he said he and barbara were going that morning he explained that he was taking her to work but that he was taking her to work that morning he explained that he was taking her to work but that he was taking her to work but that he was taking her to work that morning he explained that he was also going to go fix a windshield on someone's car and again he does do that for work keep watching and yes like i said he does replace windshields as part of his work but the strange part to investigators was the timing of it they left between 7 30 and 7 45 and barbara worked at 8 so why would he have not taken her to work and then gone to replace this windshield it just doesn't make a lot of sense and it's definitely something to keep in mind as we keep going here so anyway todd continued to act quite frantic at the scene or was just frantic potentially constantly asking how his wife was doing and if he could go see her and ultimately he ended up being transported by law enforcement to the hospital where she was taken to be treated for her injuries but before the scene was cleared this dash cam footage picked up this conversation because the pipe is there he said he said the truck was going this way it was an older flatbed it came off the flatbed truck and went right through the windshield he said he tried to deflect it but he couldn't and it hit her in the head and she just started flailing all over is this super normal to you well he said he backed up because he was such a panic but there's a hole is this normal no but i don't know yeah i mean i'd what did he say to you that they were driving he was driving her to work coming up north and uh this older flatbed truck was coming this direction pipe came off went into the through the windshield hit her he turned in here to try to help with her and the truck kept going you want him to take pictures of todd his hands and everything before he takes off yes okay take pictures of todd his front all the blood his knuckles everything so there is definitely some suspicion coming from them immediately i'm sure you picked up on that one of the things that people love most about merit beauty is they don't believe in launching products you know just for the sake of launching products every addition to their collection really feels intentional and that's why when merit beauty introduces something new people pay attention and they've done it again with their clean volume mascara that is absolutely going to be a staple for you i'm talking small brush but big impact clean volume pairs a small precise brush with a building tubing formula to create lashes that are lifted defined and voluminous without mess or heaviness clean volume isn't designed to give you a fake lash effect this is merit's version of volumizing mascara buildable lifted and defined they call 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had sustained several injuries himself this included damage to eight of his knuckles as well as scratches on his neck and they later discovered a scratch down his stomach all of which did not appear to be consistent with the story he was telling and he continued to tell that story on the way to the hospital however the police say that he already started to contradict himself just during that drive at the scene he said that the pipe fell off of a flatbed truck and then it bounced off the ground then came up and struck their windshield but then in the car on the way there he said it never bounced and sure that may not be a massive inconsistency especially with someone who's just experienced such a bizarre freak accident potentially but investigators say that this was just the tip of the iceberg now when todd arrived at gunderson health system he was met there by his kids who say that he was genuinely just devastated by what happened and he kept asking how barbara was doing but each time the doctors came out with an update her prognosis only worsened and ultimately between 4 and 5 a.m on september 17th 46 year old barbara kendhammer passed away after being pronounced brain dead and in her final act of goodness her organs were donated which i hope in some way brought some comfort to her loved ones knowing that she got to live on and help others which is something that she loved to do but i know at the end of the day it doesn't take away from this massive loss and the devastation that they were all feeling and just shock from something happening like this and before anyone knew it things were about to get a lot harder because when investigators really started to take a look at the big picture of what had happened here something just wasn't adding up take todd's injuries for example when he was driving with the police to the hospital he explained that the reason he had cuts on his knuckles was because he tried to block the pipe when it came crashing in and he specifically said that he used his left hand to block that pipe but to investigators this didn't make sense because he had cuts on the knuckles of both hands now todd did later say that he tried blocking it with both hands but this was still a red flag because he was clearly changing his story and then another note on his injuries and i'm sure a lot of you have thought of this already but the scratches on his neck and on his stomach very much look to be defensive wounds now todd had an explanation for those too he said that it came from working with glass but when investigators looked into his actual work they discovered he didn't work with any broken glass i mean sure he came in contact with a fair amount of glass doing windshield repair of course but investigators were very confident that this work would not have translated to those injuries plus after barbara's autopsy was conducted they were certain that those wounds were not random and they believed that his knuckle injuries came from attacking his wife and that those scratches were in fact defensive wounds now a medical examiner named kathleen mccubbin performed barbara's autopsy and it was her opinion that todd's story about the pipe just could not have been true she ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma injuries to the head and neck outlining that barbara also had a skull fracture and cricoid cartilage fractures ultimately causing brain death barbara also had three lacerations to the back of her head scratches on her neck and forehead bruising on her body a broken nose and two torn fingernails. So unless this pipe came in and ping-ponged all over her body, which just defies the laws of physics, Dr. McCubbin felt very strongly that Barbara had been in some type of altercation, resulting in her strangulation. Now that cricoid cartilage that I mentioned is in the front of the lower neck, and she believes that it being fractured was suggestive of Barbara having been choked. And with all that, investigators began to paint the picture that Todd attacked his wife, and then staged the pipe incident to try and cover it up. And to further support that theory, all they had to do was look at the evidence at the scene. For starters, and this is a big one, there was no blood on her headrest at all. And if she had ducked the way that Todd explained when that pipe came in, and then the pipe sliced the back of her head, the expectation, of course, would be that there was blood all over the headrest, that there should have been. But there wasn't. Not only that, but there was no glass on the passenger side door, but there was glass on the passenger seat. And this, to the technicians who processed the car, strongly suggested that nobody was sitting there when the pipe came through the windshield. Think about it. If Barbara was sitting in that seat, in the passenger seat, and the pipe came through the windshield, she would have been in the passenger seat. And if she had ducked the window, broke all of that glass, her legs would have blocked a lot of that glass from collecting on the seat underneath her. And yes, I'm sure some glass would have still, of course, fallen between her legs and ended up behind the seat. But from how it's reported, the amount of glass suggested that the seat had to have been empty. And then, you know how in most cars, I think, I mean, any car that I've been in, the passenger side door, sometimes the driver's side door as well, has like a little, you know, a little bit of glass on the passenger side door. And so, I don't know what to call it, like a cubby where you can store things. And there was no glass in there. And technicians said that if the door was closed, as it should be since they were driving, right, why would there have been no glass inside that cubby area whatsoever? No glass in there would mean that the door was open, right? And therefore, it just doesn't align with what Todd says happened while they were driving. And it was also determined that the door was open that the way the glass fell into the gear shifter meant that the car was in park when the pipe came through the windshield. And there's more weirdness, guys. Another inconsistency has to do with a single blade of grass. Investigators found this piece of grass half inside the trunk and its seal. Now, if you remember, Todd's car was stuck in the ditch, and that ditch was in some sort of swampy area with tall grass. Now, of course, the only way that grass could have gotten in the trunk that way, halfway in, halfway out, is if the trunk was open and closed. And I'm sure a lot of you are already thinking this, but investigators theorized that he had opened that trunk to get a steel pipe, the steel pipe. And they believe he brought it himself. And to support that, the crime lab found an orange-like soil material, similar to what was found on the pipe inside the trunk. And another huge red flag, speaking about that pipe, is there was no blood found on it whatsoever. Okay? Riddle me that. Yet there was blood found on the back rear tire. And I'll tell you why investigators say that that matters so much. So around 8 a.m. that same morning, a construction worker was driving down the same road, and he said that he saw their Toyota Camry in that ditch. So, you know, he's thinking that maybe some team or something was driving down the same road, and he said that he saw their Toyota Camry in that ditch. And so he slowed down a little bit, but he didn't see anybody. And he also didn't see a cracked windshield on the car. So investigators believe that this must have been when Todd was attacking Barbara behind the car. Hence that blood on the back tire. Now, unfortunately, this is a very rural road. So of course, there are very few cameras around, right? But that being said, there was one camera on a nearby horseback. Which wound up playing a big role in this case. At 7.57 a.m. on September 6th, Todd and Barbara's car can be seen headed north, just as he described in his story. And if you remember, that 911 call came in at 8.05. Well, in order to believe him, investigators expected to see this so-called flatbed truck heading south, at least within a few minutes of Todd's car being seen. But that never happened. No truck matching the dark blue dark green description that he gave was seen traveling in the opposite direction. And when they checked the other cameras in the general area, like at the gas stations and such, they still found nothing. And those aren't even all the inconsistencies, you guys. There's a lot here. And I'll share more as we go along. But as you're hearing, investigators ultimately were not believing Todd very early on. And so the day before her funeral, he was brought in for questioning. Now, they actually tricked him into coming in by saying that they had footage of a truck that they wanted him to take a look at. But that was just a ruse. What they really wanted to do was try and get him to confess. So let's take a look at that interrogation footage. I remember what time it was. Maybe 7.30, quarter to 8, somewhere in there. And we headed out, went across the auspice road up to M and started going up to M. And I wasn't paying attention as to who was coming at me or what. We always just talked. And where were you going? Over Holman. And she, I don't know what, I don't know. It looks like a bird. It looked like a bird coming at us at first, like on swallows or something. And then it just, it just, um, it, it, it, it, it, it come through the windshield. It tried to reach out for it, I guess. I don't know. And how did you try to reach out for it? I, I, I tried to hold on to the wheel, I think, with my right hand and lunged harder with my left. But I ended up, I think I ended up going with both hands because when I turned on the road, I didn't, I didn't know that she was hurt bad at first. Okay. Um, and, and, and I don't remember, I don't remember, um, I remember seeing her realizing what, what was going on. When you first realized what was going on, what was it that you were realizing? She, she, she thrashed. She was, like, thrashing a couple, I don't know, a couple, two or three times, I think. I don't know if she did it more than that or not. Where was the pipe when she was doing that? Sticking through the, it was, she was trying to get, I think she was trying to get away from the pipe. I'm sure you guys noticed how, um, much his leg is shaking. I mean, just how nervous he looks overall, but his leg is, like, really, really going. And that was a big thing that stuck out to investigators through the interrogation was his very fidgety, nervous behavior. And, of course, going through something as traumatic as this, it is possible that he was just feeling all the emotion. Of reliving watching something so horrible happen to his wife. So it doesn't, you know, necessarily say everything, but it does say a lot, I think. And I'm curious your opinions on that. But anyway, there was hardly a second during this multi-hour interview where his legs weren't shaking. And in his defense, it was later revealed that he has Graves' disease as well, and tremors can be a symptom of that. I know several people with Graves' disease, and I. I haven't noticed that as a symptom of theirs, and I was actually talking to, um, someone I know that has it, and they said that they've never experienced tremors. But, of course, it's so different for everybody, and I'm sure for a lot of people it is a symptom. So I'm not sure if that was a symptom for him, necessarily, or if this nervousness is coming from somewhere else, or could also be a performance. It's really hard to say, right? Not to mention the fact that this interrogation occurred a day before his wife's funeral, and emotions are. are high. I mean, that's understandable. Listen, at the end of the day, I can't say for sure why he was acting like that. I don't even feel comfortable fully giving my opinion, um, because I've never been in a situation like that, and I also don't have Graves' disease. It is bizarre. I know investigators definitely noticed it was bizarre and doesn't look great. 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And what he couldn't remember was whether he pulled the pipe out of the windshield before yanking her out or after. However, he said he never left her side once she was out of the car, which means it must have happened before. Now, something important to note here too is the location the pipe was found at the scene. Investigators found the 53-inch, 10-inch, 10-inch pipe at the scene. The pipe was found at the scene at the 10-pound pipe behind the Toyota, which, logically speaking, of course, didn't make sense to them. Why would he have pulled it out of the windshield, then walked around to the back of the car and tossed it back there? And then later on, he'd also end up saying that he forgot what he did with it, and that obviously didn't look good for him either. But really, one of the biggest things that did not check out here that wasn't making sense to investigators at all was Todd's story about where they were going that morning. His original story, was that he was driving out to Holman, Wisconsin to a guy named Justin Himes' farm in order to replace his windshield. Specifically, he said that Justin left the keys in his truck and that he was going there to pick it up, and then Barbara was going to drive their car to work. But here's the kicker. Investigators had already spoken with Justin before this interrogation, and he said that he never hired Todd to do that. He had never had you do any work for him. I told you I never did a windshield for him. And then he told me that the guy he had was busy. When he finally called back, you said that you had sold it. It's sitting in my garage. The windshield's sitting in my garage. Are you guys insinuating that I did this to my wife? I'm not insinuating anything at this point. I'm saying that Justin is saying that there wasn't a windshield worker. He didn't talk to you. He hadn't seen you in about a month. So you can see here in this clip, he is really starting to freak out. He is realizing that they don't believe his story. And so I told you, at least a month, maybe. I'm just guessing a month, but I'm not changing my story. I'm 100%. I'm not saying you are. I'm just telling you that any time that somebody dies, whether it be a traffic accident, there's obviously a lot of questions. And if we just take the first person, one person's word for it. That's why we're here today is just to kind of clear things up and try to get answers to some of those other questions. Obviously, as time goes by, more questions come up and we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we don't look into it thoroughly. Here's the thing. I'm sure you heard in that clip that once Todd starts freaking out even more, and he's definitely fidgeting quite a bit more at this point, he said verbatim, I'm not changing my story. But he did. In fact, change his story. He later said that it wasn't Justin's windshield that he was replacing. It was actually the windshield of a mutual acquaintance named Ben. But when they, of course, went and tracked Ben down after this, he said the same thing as Justin. And another reason, of course, why this windshield story as a whole just does not make any sense is because Barbara had work at 8am and Barbara had a track record. She took her job seriously. She was a beloved member of this school. But Todd did mention that even though her work started at 8, she didn't really have to be there until 8.30. Take a look at this. She's not going to be there by 8.30. Then she's got to call and let them know. Okay. So Friday, where were you? You're going to Holman. Where were you going? And what were you going to? I was just going over to that house right there at the bottom of the hill. You weren't going to go to? No, I wouldn't make it with her for work. Not that early. We would have to leave a lot earlier. So she was on the rest ready to go in case you found the truck? Yeah. And she was going to work from there. Now, they were also put off by the fact that Barbara, who usually called her mom, every morning at 7.45 a.m., didn't call her that day. Now, Todd explained that sometimes he would call her mom, which he said he did that morning, but that just didn't sit right with them. It's, of course, a small detail, but they felt that it added to the bigger picture of things here. And ultimately, one of the biggest red flags was the injuries that Todd had sustained, which during their conversation, he changed his story, or I guess, forgot. His story, okay? If you remember, when he last spoke with investigators, he said that those scratches on his neck and stomach were from working with glass, but now he said he couldn't remember where they came from. So if you're listening, they are actually bringing out the photos of those injuries and showing them to Todd. I don't know how I got that one, but I don't remember if we were, I don't remember. I don't remember, honestly. What about these? I don't know. I honestly can't tell you. I know they're not from me. Okay. I mean, you know, I guess that's, you know, they're not from you. I mean, I didn't, I didn't do it with my hand or like that or. Okay. Um. Now that you're not sure how that one happened. I think I had that before the accident. Okay. I think. Eventually, they ended up just calling him out on it. I mean, those injuries, especially Barbara's injuries, were not consistent with what he was telling them. If a galvanized steel pipe. Had crashed through their windshield at the speed with which it was traveling. It would have caused it to go right through her head and it didn't. They believed her injuries were consistent with having being choked despite Todd's repeated denial that he was ever violent with her. There's injuries to Barbara that aren't consistent. Okay. Okay. There's. A lot of injuries to her that aren't consistent with a pipe going through the windshield. Okay. Um. The pipe going through the windshield itself would, at those rates of speed, with a car going 45, 50 miles one way, say 45, 50 miles the other way, that pipe would be a projectile that would go right through anything it came in contact with. So. What we need to know, and sometimes it's tough to tell, is what was the stage before that pipe came through with Barbara. Okay. And it's not easy to tell. How do we tell that? Okay. We need you to tell us that. What, what, what, what, what, what do you mean? What, what, what state? What? There's injuries that aren't consistent with the scene that was drawn out. Okay. Okay. Okay. And we need an explanation for those. Okay. And we don't have an explanation for some of those injuries because they didn't happen by a pipe coming through the windshield. And I think you understand that. Okay. Okay. I think you know that. Okay. We're trying to figure out some of these things. Okay. And we're here talking to you so you can help us figure those things out. Okay. Of what happened before. Okay. You were out on Bergen Coulee. Nothing. Okay. There was absolutely nothing happened before we were out on Bergen Coulee. Okay. Okay. You realize that pipe would have gone right through the vehicle at those speeds? I don't know. I don't know. Most people wouldn't know that, but with the physics of it, the pipe traveling, a 53-inch pipe traveling at 45 to 55 miles per hour heading one direction with a car going to a car windshield at 45 to 55 miles per hour. I don't know. Most people wouldn't know that, but with the physics of it, that the pipe traveling a 53-inch pipe traveling at 45 to 55 miles per hour heading one direction with a car going to a car windshield at 45 to 55 miles per hour going to a car windshield at 45 to 55 miles per hour going to a car windshield at 45 to 55 miles per hour going to a car windshield at 45 to 55 miles per hour. Yeah. That's going to be a pretty heavy load. Yeah. projectile and it's going to take a whole lot of something to stop it okay and if it did hit her um and we don't you're not sure where it hit her um we're not sure where it hit her because i don't know if it did or not if it just shattered or what but there's all these injuries that we need to have an explanation for um so how many times would that how many times would that hit that person in the car what do you mean if it came through the windshield can we assume that if it hit her to hit her once yeah right yeah here here's here's what they're telling us at the autopsy is that she's been hit several places front and back on her okay can i tell you about some of the injuries yeah because it broke a nose you can imagine if a steel pipe hit you in the nose i don't think there's going to be a cut right it would have cut her bad in the nose i don't think it got her in the nose inside her lip it's heavy bruising and cuts okay something like her lip was pressed hard against her teeth okay not hard enough to break her teeth but hard enough and then she's got crushed cartilage in her throat okay around her neck okay she's got three extremely deep lacerations down to her skull back here okay back to her head okay she has a skull fracture from those okay okay she's got a big huge bruise bruise right here on her jaw very dark very swollen some swelling on this side she's got a cut right across her forehead on the right side here okay so if you imagine that one pipe coming through right would you agree that it would seem fairly unlikely that those injuries could have occurred that way and that's that's why we're here and you can see he's he's shaking his head in agreement it does not make sense right it just doesn't make sense now the windshield itself provides a lot of clues too because it wasn't like there was a single fracture to it if you're watching this episode you've already seen the images but let me describe it for audio listeners there are two big fractures across the windshield there's one that has an actual whole breakthrough and then there's one that's just you know a big kind of spider web looking like almost like a base ball hit it these two big fractures were determined to have been made from the outside but there were reportedly additional fractures that were made from the inside so in order for todd's story to be true that would mean that the pipe would have had to hit the windshield then bounce off of it then hit it again at the same angle with the same force and then somehow bounce around inside the car once it broke through now keep in mind this is a 53 inch pipe meaning that once it fully came through the windshield part of it was still sticking back outside of the car meaning it couldn't have bounced around inside the car that just does not add up and that's partially why the tone in this interrogation suddenly shifts so much they become so much more accusatory because they just aren't buying the bullshit here right however todd was insistent that he had nothing to do with it he even made a comment that if he wanted to kill his wife he had 50 guns sitting in his cabinet and that is something that i have heard his daughter state in interviews as well that he has all these guns why wouldn't he have just used a gun if he wanted to murder his wife but while all of this was happening a search warrant was also being executed at the kent hammer house however nothing suggested that a fight or anything had broken out there and in all honesty their poor kids really couldn't have been more confused they knew their dad was being questioned that day but they just could not grasp the fact that law enforcement thought he killed their mom in their minds he had absolutely no motive to do so and that actually becomes a big point of contention in all of this investigators just really didn't have a solid motive for their theory i mean even as someone just reporting on the case i can't think of a solid motive either that's just something that's completely missing they didn't have any financial troubles there was no infidelity going on and everyone in their lives really consider them to be a happy couple and of course you never know what's going on behind closed doors it's possible for people to just snap that does happen all the time but you know without a motive it is it's a lot weaker of a case it's definitely makes you think twice and that's something i have struggled with when it comes to this case man i am always so excited when i get to talk about our next sponsor for today and that is fabletics and that's because fabletics has truly become one of my favorite brands the way i light up when i get a fabletics package and i was extra excited to get my latest package from them because i ordered stuff from the new kiki palmer collection and i think these are truly my favorite fabletics pieces yet i'm always looking for sets with really unique prints and kiki palmer came up with the best design ever it's 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think i lean about at least 90 percent guilty just based on the evidence and the story not adding up um especially the forensic evidence side of things but there's still this little part of me that has the doubt especially um you know i feel so badly for his children their children and i can't imagine feeling so confident that your father didn't kill your mother and then for them to be you know behind bars for her murder that would be that would be really difficult if you truly didn't believe he did it so i definitely feel for them and honestly that was a big part of the defense's argument overall was the fact that as seen by his support in the courtroom todd was was a loving family member i mean everyone was totally shocked that he was even you know a suspect that he was even facing these charges and sure his story may have gotten jumbled up and maybe he did look nervous during the interrogation but all of that could be explained in their minds by his grief and i do see a world where that might make sense to them this was a man who had just lost the love of his life in a terrifying freak accident and of course he wasn't going to be clear-headed the prosecutor who has come off as very strong and in my opinion a little unprofessional said that this was anything but an accident in opening statements that prosecutor whose name is tim grenke told the jury that they weren't going to hear a story of an unhappy couple or that there had been a history of violence because neither of those things were true and he knew it but what was true was the evidence that they collected and that evidence they argued told a story of murder and that's what ultimately pushes me towards the side of todd being guilty on the second day of the trial the state star witness took the stand and that was the forensic pathologist that we talked about earlier kathleen mccubbin she testified that barbara's injuries were not consistent with her having been killed by a rogue flying pipe take for example those three lacerations on the back of her skull you looked at these injuries do you think they came from a pipe i do not believe that these injuries are consistent with the end of a pipe striking the back of the head no and why do you have that opinion because i don't see any evidence of a curvilinear mark from the end of a pipe i also think that that if a pipe was traveling with great force and struck the back of the head, if you're going to say that these were all from the pipe, then it would have to be traveling sort of tangentially across the back of the head. And I believe that in that situation, it would actually avulse the tissue because the intense energy of the pipe traveling at that speed into the back of the head would cause worse damage than just these few lacerations. Then she explained her analysis of that cricoid fracture. You also noted that Mrs. Kandemer had a cricoid fracture? Yes. Can you tell us what that is? Sure. So in the neck, underlying the skin and the fatty tissues, there is complicated structure that takes air down to the lungs and then also takes your food and your liquids down to your gastrointestinal. And it's a cartilaginous ring that's at the top of the trachea. And then the trachea takes your air down to your lungs. So that cartilaginous ring, the cricoid cartilage, was fractured and there were multiple fracture portions on the front of the ring. What causes cricoid fractures? Cricoid fractures can be seen in either compression of neck, such as manual strangulation, or there's intense pressure on the cricoid. They can be seen in blunt impact injuries. They can be seen when you have a strike or a chop to the neck or you have an impact of the neck against a hard surface. Could a seatbelt cause a cricoid cartilage fracture? It is possible that a seatbelt could cause a cricoid cartilage fracture in certain situations. Did you think that was the case in this instance? I did not think so, no. So when I see the cricoid cartilage fracture with the hemorrhage around it, as well as that pattern of multiple irregular lacerate, or excuse me, multiple linear and irregular abrasions on the neck, and I did not see any evidence of what we call a seatbelt sign, which is an abrasion or contusion on the side of the neck where the seatbelt would be. When you put all of these things together, the findings on the skin surface on the neck, as well as the injuries of the cricoid cartilage and the bleeding around it, and the totality of all the injuries that I saw, I did not feel that this injury was consistent with a seatbelt injury. Dr. McCubbin was careful in her testimony to say that she couldn't determine the exact mechanism for many of Barbara's injuries. However, she provided strong medical context as for what likely occurred. And in her professional opinion, she believed that there was evidence that the evidence to support strangulation and some kind of assault or beating. And as a reminder, Barbara had injuries all over her body, the front of her head, the back of her head, her throat, her nails, all of which seemed unlikely to have been caused by a single pipe. That being said, though, on cross-examination, the defense pointed out that Barbara had been yanked out of the car in a way that, let's just say, wasn't super gentle. So Todd's defense attorney asked Dr. McCubbin if it was possible for Barbara to have sustained those injuries from being pulled out of the car in a, you know, hasty and sort of aggressive way. Because obviously it's an emergency situation, they need to get her out of there fast. And she did say yes, that was a possibility. And there was also a lot of debate throughout this trial about Barbara's water bottle. Now, she had one of those really big water bottles. Investigators found it at the scene. It's a metal water bottle. It's more of like a jug, you know. It's pretty massive. And it was mentioned by the defense that this could explain some of her injuries. Since Todd had said that she ducked when the pipe came in, their suggestion was that the water bottle could have broken her nose. And again, Dr. McCubbin agreed that that could be a possibility. What the defense didn't bring up, though, was that cricoid fracture. And maybe that's because, and this is just me speculating here, maybe they didn't think they could explain it, or they really knew they couldn't explain it. Now, another key witness for the prosecution was Justin, who was the initial guy whose windshield Todd said that he was planning to replace that morning. But in his testimony, he was adamant that he and Todd never made an official plan for his windshield to be replaced. He testified that Ben, the other guy Todd said that he was replacing the windshield for that morning, also wasn't interested in having his replaced. And speaking of windshields, of course, Todd's windshield was a big focal point of the trial, specifically the pattern of damage. According to the defense, according to the defense's expert, those patterns show that this incident happened exactly the way Todd said it did. The expert said that there was a fracture inside the windshield from the impact of Todd trying to stop the pipe from coming in. There was a fracture from when the pipe actually came in, and a harder to see fracture from when Todd pulled the pipe out. However, the state's expert, a forensic scientist named Nick Stocchi, said that that was all wrong. He, testified that those punctures were intentional, and that had a pipe flown off of a truck in the manner described, it would not have generated multiple different points of impact, meaning the pipe didn't hit the windshield dead on, bounce back, and then perfectly hit it again. And this same expert also testified about the blood that was found in the car, and he determined that there was blood on the front edge of the passenger seat and on the shoulder of the passenger seat belt, mentioned there was no blood on the headrest. Instead, it was theorized that the altercation began inside the car, but her head injuries were sustained outside of it, which was supported by testimony about her blood being found on the back rear tire. And the same expert also testified about the glass on the seat that I mentioned earlier, and the lack of glass in the passenger side door. And some other testimony that I think had a pretty big impact was that of the construction worker, who said, he drove past their car that day and never saw damage to the windshield. However, here's the thing about his testimony. When you consider the timeline of events, the fact that Randall drove by at 8 and Todd called 911 at 8.05, that would have only given him about five minutes to attack Barbara and stage the scene. I mean, that's not a whole lot of time. The prosecution does believe that a lot can happen in five minutes, that it is possible, but Todd's supporters and his attorney, of course, disagree. The real kicker though, was when he took the stand in his own defense. And we, of course, don't always see this happen, but he and his family felt like it was the right thing to do, and that hopefully the jury would see that he was innocent. By this point, they had already played his interrogation tape, and unlike that day, Todd appeared less fidgety. Over the course of his testimony, he spoke about his marriage and the love he had for Barbara, and obviously the events that transpired that day. Let's watch some of his testimony. Did you do everything together? Yes, we did. If you had to shovel snow, what would she do? She'd be right there with me. If you had to mow the lawn, what would she do? She'd pick up the weed eater and weed it right with me. Were there things you did for Barb that were unusual? Yes. What were those things? I would, if it snowed, I would take her car down, halfway down the driveway for her, so she didn't have to run on the steep part atop. And if I was home, I would actually take her down, you know, take her to work. But if I wasn't, if I had to work, I'd take her car halfway down. And leave it there, and she'd have a remote start, so she wouldn't have to go down the driveway by herself. Barb was a real clean freak. And a big pet peeve of Barb's was when guys stood up to pee. And I respected her enough to sit down at home to pee. For 25 years? Yes, I did, for 25, actually, yep, 25 years. Was it your intention to drive Barb to work that morning? Yes, it was. Now, did Barb usually drive to work by herself? Not if I was off for the day. A lot of times I would take her, On that day, did you choose to do something on the way to taking Barb to work? Yes, we did. And what did you decide to do? We were going to take a quick jog over Highway M and see if we could find that blue Ford pickup. You heard all the tapes of your interviews that were played in the courtroom, is that correct? Yes. And you recall on at least one of those tapes telling people that you were looking for Justin Heim's place? Yes. Do you recall saying that you were headed to Holman? Yes. Do you recall another time saying that you were looking for a place near Long Cooley? Yes. Do you recall another time saying that you were looking for someone near Shufflebine Hill? Yes. Why'd you say Justin Heim, Long Cooley, Holman? When I watched those tapes, and I watched that video, that's not me. It's me in the picture, but it's not me talking. It's not right state of mind talking in that. I wasn't thinking of where I was going or what I was doing. I was thinking of Barb. As you guys know, my family has grown since the last time that we've talked about this, and I am officially navigating life with two little ones now. I just can't believe it. And if there's one thing that I've realized postpartum, it's that comfort isn't a luxury. It's an absolute necessity. It is what you deserve. And between balancing two kids and getting back into a routine and just juggling work and life and everything, I just want pieces that are going to make me feel good and give me confidence all day. and that's one of the reasons I love NYX. 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However, when he was cross-examined about this discrepancy, he said he wasn't lying before, but he also said he wasn't telling the truth. You spoke with Officer Leffelholz. The first sheriff's deputy was Officer Wickland. Correct. And you told him that you were driving to Holman, correct? Yes. And you also talked to Sergeant Ely that day, and you told him that you were driving to Holman, correct? Correct. And you gave him the name of Justin Heim, and it was a guy you worked with at Crown, correct? Correct. You told Investigator Leinfelder in the interview that we watched that you were driving to Holman, and again, you mentioned Justin Heim, correct? I mentioned Justin Heim. You weren't driving all the way to Holman, though, were you? No. You said the keys were in the truck at the end of the driveway, correct? I did. You said you did work for him all the time, correct? I did. And you said you just called him a month before, correct? I don't recall if I said that or not. Those were all lies, weren't they? No. They weren't true, were they? No. Justin never needed a windshield from you, did he? Justin said he needed a windshield in the lunchroom at Crown one day, yes. Did Justin Heim personally need a windshield from you? Justin Heim was going to purchase a windshield from me, yes. When you were informed that Justin Heim was talked to and didn't back up your story, you then said it was his friend who needed the windshield, right? You don't remember watching the video here with the police? I watched several videos, yes. Do you remember telling them that it was his friend who lived somewhere else, it wasn't Justin Heim himself? I may have said that, yes. You did say that, didn't you? I don't recall for sure if that's how I worded it or not. Well, the police then found Ben Paff, correct? Yes. Ben Paff did not need a windshield from you, right? No. And now today you have a third story, right? No. I have the second story. You told police first that you were going to Holman to Justin Heim's house, correct? Yes. Yes. Justin Heim didn't need a windshield and wasn't even home that day. You then said you were driving to his friend's house, right? No. You never said that? No. Not that I recall. Okay. Well, it wasn't Justin Heim or Ben Paff. Now it's somebody named Jerry Loggin? Yes. It was that all along. Well, it's not what you said, though, is it? No, it's not. He had a similar explanation for the injuries he sustained. He wasn't lying when he said that the cuts on his car were caused by the car. He Todd was given an automatic sentence of life in prison. That being said, people were able to take the stand during that and make a case before the judge about his possibility for parole, and I'm not sure if this is surprising or maybe not. I doubt many of you will be surprised by this, but there was way more support for Todd there than there was for Barbara. In fact, the only person who testified on her behalf was Barbara's cousin, Jerrianne, who read a letter asking that Todd remain behind bars as long as possible. And Jessica, her daughter, would later say that her mom hated this cousin and that the two of them were estranged, but Jerrianne denies that, so who really knows? Now, during this sentencing, and this is why I mentioned earlier that I'm not a big fan of the prosecutor in this case, he had some words to say that were definitely strongly opinionated, in my opinion, aggressive, unnecessary, and just. cruel. I think it was extremely unprofessional. He told Todd's kids to get their heads out of their ass, and I'm sure there will be a lot of comments, many of you out there listening, who think that Todd's kids are being ridiculous, that they just don't want to face the truth, and I'm sure there are, you know, plenty of mean things that people have to say about them, but I would say that when you have been through something like this, and you see. you're a parent in one way, it would be extremely hard to accept that they could do something like this. I just want to say I do have a lot of sympathy for them, and I just. I wish them nothing but the best, because they have lost two parents here, and two very different, and, you know, their mother in such a horrific way. It's just hard to comprehend how you would ever come to terms with that, whether they believe it was an accident or not. Either way, it's horrendous. But they did take the stand in defense of their father. But when all was said and done here, Todd was given life in prison, with the possibility of parole in 30 years. However, that was not the end of the road. Since then, Jessica and Jordan have worked tirelessly to try and clear their dad's name. They seem very determined to do so, and they even sold their family home. Jessica even sold her home to help pay for a new set of defense attorneys for their dad. They hired a homeowner, and they hired a homeowner, and they hired a homeowner, and they hired a husband and wife duo, who managed to bring Todd's case back to court in a three-day evidentiary hearing. The husband, Jerome Budding, is actually known for being one of the attorneys who defended Stephen Avery. He appeared in that famous Netflix documentary, Making a Murderer. And that's besides the point, of course. I just thought that was kind of interesting to add. But anyways, four years after being convicted, Todd appeared in court again, where these new attorneys argued that he received ineffective counsel the first time around. They also argued that Todd argued that there was new evidence. It turns out that actually prior to the first trial, a reenactment had been conducted, and it was an experiment put together by local authorities. They wanted to see that if a pipe had fallen off of a truck, could it strike the ground and then bounce high enough to reach the windshield height the way that Todd said it did. And that reenactment was done 12 different times, but ultimately, the videos were never shown because the defense found the test to be inconclusive, and the state said that they didn't think they needed the evidence to prove their point. So they literally both agreed that it didn't need to be admitted. However, during this new hearing, Todd's attorneys argued that this reenactment should have been shown because it would have helped prove that he was telling the truth. They believed that the results were conclusive and that the pipe could have fallen off of a truck and bounced high enough to go through the windshield. But yeah, this was now the first time the judge had ever even heard of the reenactment. And so they both agreed that it didn't need to be mentioned. But yeah, this was now the first time the judge had ever even heard of this reenactment. His attorneys also presented evidence of cars from all across the country showing that pipes do fall off trucks and strike through windshields. So their suggestion here, obviously, being that it wasn't as uncommon as the prosecution was making it seem. Of course, not all of the examples that they showed ended in fatal accidents, but these examples provided some proof that pipes can strike through windshields. Todd's kids also have pointed out that another pipe was found on County Road M around the time that this had happened, which again would suggest that pipes do fall off of trucks in this area. Another thing they did differently is, unlike his first defense attorney, they called in their own forensic pathologist to the stand to dispute Dr. McCubbin's findings. This pathologist, Dr. Tease, said that Barbara's injuries were consistent with Todd's story and even that some of her injuries could have come from when her organs were harvested for donation. She said, She didn't believe that Barbara was strangled and feels her cricoid could have been fractured by her water bottle. And as for Todd's ever-changing story, a memory expert testified that the stress of the incident could have caused these lapses in memory, not because he was trying to deceive people. But his appeal was denied and has since been denied again at the Wisconsin Supreme Court level. And another thing I wanted to mention before we wrap up here is I watched an episode of 48 Hours on this case and they had brought in their own forensic pathologist to take a look and see what another expert has to say. And that was a woman named Dr. Lindsay Thomas. And it was her conclusion that this case was not as clear-cut as some may believe. She agreed that the original report was well done and that the conclusions that were reached were reasonable, but she said she wouldn't have reached some of those same conclusions, specifically when it came to the cricoid fracture. Like Dr. Tease, she didn't believe that the strangled, but rather the injuries consistent with a car crash. And in her opinion, she came to the conclusion that the injuries to the back of Barb's head were too severe to have come from Todd beating her. In her opinion, the medical evidence wasn't enough to prove a murder or an accident, which makes this case ever so puzzling and frustrating. Here we have several different experts saying that very different things, conflicting things, and I have no doubt that each of them are well-educated and hopefully know what they're talking about. When 48 Hours also spoke with the jury foreman, he explained that he stands by their verdict firmly. He said that the jury agreed that Todd came across as someone who was lying and they were certain they got it right. And that, you guys, is Barbara Kendhammer's case. Just an absolute tragedy. What a wonderful woman and so, so unbelievably awful that her children have to go through all of this pain of losing her and then to truly believe that their dad is innocent and maybe they're right and have to fight, you know, for that. It's just everything that they have been through. I just really do feel incredibly sorry for all of them and especially Barbara. And I'm always so, so curious to hear the opinion of my audience. On the cases that I cover, but this one especially, I am very, very curious to hear what you guys have to say because I think we're going to have some all over the place. But I think I know the overall majority of you, I'd say, are going to land with the jury here. At the end of the day, there are two possibilities here. Could Todd, who had no apparent motive, have snapped after 25 years and killed his wife? And staged it as a freak accident? Or was this truly a freak accident and he's innocent? Regardless of what you believe, I know we can all agree that Barbara's death was absolutely tragic and horrific one way or the other. And she should still be here today. But that is going to be it for me today, you guys. I will be back next week, of course, to discuss another case. And until then, stay safe out there. I'll see you then. I'll see you then. My space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivGuardMyWay.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. 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