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

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Then you'll understand. Kewpie, the original Japanese mayonnaise. 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. Ooh, wow. I have a lot of thoughts, and I am so excited. I'm 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 couldn't 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 request. Thank you to everyone who submitted this request for 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, 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 non-profits. 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 as Barbara Adams in La Crosse, 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 natural caretaking ability, even when it comes to plants and animals, obviously her children too, just end up being the most important people in their lives. 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. 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 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. He would go 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. 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. 911, what is your address in the middle of the night? Take a deep breath, because I'm having a hard time understanding you. We're on County Road in West Salem. Okay, and what happened there? A pipe went through a vault. What blue? Is there an address there? No, I'm right at the beginning. I turned off and down the ditch. Okay, sure. 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. And now, is somebody hurt? Yes, they are. Okay. I'm going up. I don't want to just sit here on it. I don't want to. I need you to tell me what happened. Slow down. Slow down. He jumped. 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. There's 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? Hurry up. And then you're going to hear a dial tone in the phone ring. Just stay on the phone. Let me talk to her soon. They'll pick up, okay? Hi, this is Lisa 911. I've got Todd on the line. That accident at Burgundy County M. 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. How old is she? 26. Is she awake? No, I can't get her to work. She talked to her 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 wait. Get her out of 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 said, 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, her chance of survival already seemed low. I mean, it was bad. Now let's take a look at police dash cam footage of that day. Sir, come on over with me. Okay. Come with me. Who is this? My wife. It's your wife? Okay. What happened? Do you know what happened? There's a pipe. There's a pipe over here. Come up here by the thing. The pipe in the ground? No, it would come out of that tree off a truck. Off a truck? A truck or a trailer or something. I think it was a truck with a clamp on it. And the truck kept going? I don't know if he fell. I didn't see one. Okay. Were you in the car with her? I was. I was driving. Okay. All right. Stay right here. Okay. Is she all right? 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. Stay. We've got to hurry. She's not good. She's putting one out in all. They're dealing with her, okay? You were driving. She was in the passenger seat, correct? Yes. She. Okay. I got to go with her. She's going down with her. Well, if she goes to the hospital, we'll see if you can go with her, okay? I will. I will. Okay? All right. Stay right here, okay? 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 here. He had an explanation for that. Todd explained that after this pipe came crashing through the windshield, he turned down Burgum 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. He was flailing. Yeah, and I turned in here for him. And I reached over to get the pipe off. And I ended up trying to get the pipe off, and I was trying to help her, and I got to here. I got to stop. And I hit it in reverse and backed 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 also going to go fix a windshield on someone's car. And again, he does do that for work. Keep watching. Where were you guys headed? I got to take her to work. Okay. And I got to go pick up a windshield. I got to put the windshield on the car. 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 730 and 745, 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 can. He 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 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. 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. What did he say to you? That they were driving. He was driving her to work, coming up north, and this older flatbed truck was coming this direction. The pipe came off, went into the. Through the windshield. It hit her. He turned in here to try to help with her, and the truck kept going. Do 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. This is Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about Kewpie mayo for a minute now, Bow, and wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Kewpie. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Kewpie? Uh, do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know it, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mayo. Well, the answer, egg yolks. Kewpie is made with egg yolks. Only. Giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Kewpie it. So if you haven't tried Kewpie yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand. Now, they specifically mention his knuckles, and that's very important because when first responders arrived, they could see that he 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. But investigators say that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Now, when Todd arrived at Gundersen 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 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 looked 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. 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 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, I don't know, 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 window was open. And so, you know, there was no glass in there. And so, 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 that grass could have fallen was if it had been in the trunk. But 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 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. 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 teenagers got their car stuck. 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 horse farm 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. Well, 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 off M. And I wasn't paying attention as to who was coming at me or what. We always just talked. Where were you going? Over at Holman. And she, I don't know what, I don't know. It looked like a bird. There was 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. 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. 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? I was digging 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. Um, 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. But all I can do here is present you with both sides and let you make a decision for yourself of what you take away from it. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Kewpie is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. You'll understand. The conversation continued, and Todd went on to explain that he, quote, yanked her out of the car, cleaned the blood off her face with his shirt, and then proceeded to perform CPR before calling dispatch. 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-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 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 didn't even know what he was doing. So, he didn't know what he was doing. He said that he never hired Todd to do that. 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. I'm not changing my story. I'm 100%. I'm not saying you are. You're just telling me that any time. Somebody dies, it would 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 when they're under arrest, 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 8 a.m. And Barbara had a track record of being on time. 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. You said that sometimes she doesn't have to go to kind of lax on the time that she shows up for work. Does she have to call somebody and report that? No, if she's not there by 8.30, then she has to be. If 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 were 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 had to leave a lot earlier. So she was on the rest ready to go? In case you'd find 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. Yeah, no, and this one was, um, I don't know how I got that one, but. You don't know how you got that one? I don't remember. If we were, um, 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, I, I, I mean. You know they're, I guess, that's, like, I, you know they're not from you. I mean, I didn't, I didn't do it with my hand or like that or, um. Now that you're not sure how that one happened. I, I, 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 been 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 of Barbara. Okay. And it's not easy to, to tell. How do we tell that? Okay. We need you to tell us that. What, 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. Um, and we need an explanation for those. Okay. And, uh, 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, and you. Okay. I mean, 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 you were out on Bergen Coulee. Nothing. Okay. There, there was absolutely nothing happened before we were out on Bergen Coulee. Okay. You realize that pipe would have gone right through the vehicle, at those, those speeds, with. I don't know. Most people wouldn't know that, but with the physics of it, you have to. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. There's heavy bruising and cuts, something like it was pressed hard against her teeth. Not hard enough to break her teeth, but hard enough. And then she's got crushed cartilage in her throat or on her neck. She's got three extremely deep lacerations down to her skull, back here, back of her head. She has a skull fracture from those. Okay. Okay. And she's got a big, huge 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, would you agree that it would seem very unlikely that those injuries could have occurred that way? And that's why we're here. And you can see he's shaking his head in agreement. It does not. It doesn't 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 hole breakthrough, and then there's one that's just, you know, a big kind of spider web looking almost like a baseball hit it. These two big fractures. 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. Okay. 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. 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 Kenthammer house. However, nothing suggested that a fight or anything. 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 motive for their theory. I can't think of a motive for their theory. 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. This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East. Okay, we've been talking about QB Mail for a minute now, Bow. And wow, the feedback we're getting. You're stopping us in the street going, I love QB. And if you're thinking, wait, what? What is QB? QB is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really love food and flavor. Whatever you're eating, QB it. So if you haven't tried QB yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand. QB, the original Japanese mayonnaise. In December of 2016, three months after Barbara's death, Todd was arrested for her murder. And one year later, in December of 2017, that trial began. And the courtroom was filled with his supporters. Not only were Jessica and Jordan, their children, on his side, but so were members of Barbara's family, including Barbara's mother. They had collectively raised money for a good defense attorney, and their hope was that he would be found not guilty. And that's what has made this case so difficult to cover, is there is definitely a part of me that thinks maybe he is innocent. It's a smaller part, I will say. I think I lean about at least 90%. Guilty, just based on the evidence and the story not adding up, especially the forensic evidence side of things. But there's still this little part of me that has the doubt. Especially, 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 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 I think that's a big part of the defense's argument overall, was the fact that, as seen by his support in the courtroom, Todd was a loving family member. 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. When 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 if a pipe was traveling with great force, and striking, 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 have to be careful. You also noted that Mrs. Cantamera had a cricoid fracture? Yes. Can you tell us what that is? Sure. So in the neck, underline 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 system. And it's a cartilaginous ring that's at the top of the trachea. And then the trachea takes your air down. 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 where 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, 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 a 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 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 hasty and sort of aggressive way, 'cause 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 was 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 said 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'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 Stokke, 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, but as 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. 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 eight and Todd called 911 at 8:05, that would have only given him about five minutes, 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, and it was the end of the day for Randall. But, in the end of the day, it was the judge's decision to let him go. And, in the end of the day, 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 had 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. 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 him were from working with glass, but that wasn't true either. When the police noted scratches on your neck, you first said that that was from working with glass, correct? I said that, yes. You don't work with glass at Crown, do you? No. And you work with windshields, but that's not the same as working with broken glass, right? I assume when you install windshields, you're not getting scratched up from broken glass. Well, it depends how bad it's broken. Well, were these scratches from glass? No. Not from glass doing at home. You said it was from working with glass. Correct. I said that. That was a lie. It wasn't a lie. It was not true. It was not true. Scratches were from her trying to get you off of her, weren't they? Nope. The two of you were fighting and she was scratching your neck? Nope. She was scratching your neck, her neck, her nail broke. Nope. Looks like a fight, doesn't it? No. Not at all? Well, it might look like it, but it wasn't. So clearly, this just is not making any sense here. I'm totally lost in what he's trying to do here. And we would be here forever, honestly, if I went through every single one of his rebuttals. And his testimony was just a lot of the same. There was a lot he said he just didn't remember. And he continued to reiterate that he never hurt his wife. Before trial wrapped up, though, there was a pretty big shock for everyone when the state called Jared Logging to the stand. As soon as Todd mentioned his name in his own testimony, they went and tracked him down. And guess what, you guys? Just like the other two men, he testified, Jared, that he never made an arrangement to have his windshield replaced. Now, do you know somebody named Todd Kandhammer? Yes. How do you know him? I've known him for years, through dealings with my brother, his younger brother. Now, direct your attention to a time in last fall, September 2016. Was there a day that you saw some first responders or ambulances driving by your house? Yes. Do you remember if that was September 16th of last year? I'm pretty sure it was. I was on my way to a chiropractor appointment that day. What time was your chiropractor appointment? 8.30. What did you drive to your chiropractor appointment? I drove my car. What kind of car is that? It's a little Ford Contour. Do you also own a truck? Yes. What kind of truck? F250 Super Duty. What color is it? Blue. Where do you usually park that truck? In the front yard. In September of 2016, well, at any time in 2016, did you talk to Todd Kandhammer or anybody else about needing a windshield for your truck? No. So trial concluded shortly after this with closing arguments, and after only nine hours of deliberation, Todd Kandhammer, was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. Now, his children were more than stunned by this outcome, and I really do feel just so sorry for them, especially considering how much hope they had held that their dad would be found not guilty. Then, three months later, during his sentencing, 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 that's true. 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, like, 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, 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 your 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 in 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 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 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 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 it was in the past, was that 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, 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 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 injuries were consistent with having been 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. 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 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. 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. All right. Quick question. Check out. See packages and options at toyota.com for feature availability.