14x06 - Home of the Brave

[bunniefuu]

Up next, a suspicious house fire

nearly kills an entire family.

- Had she been in
there much longer,

she certainly wouldn't
have survived.

A month later,
the husband is assaulted

and the wife is dead.

Who did this?

Who would have possibly
wanted to hurt her?

Everyone was in a lockdown mode.

New lights, new sensors
had been purchased.

Everyone was on edge.

Police have no witnesses,

no motive, and no suspects.

This was a
savage, brutal att*ck.

Until science
uncovers an elaborate plan.

- Everybody was
scratching their heads.

Michael and Effie Ratley

didn't meet in the typical way,
through friends, or at work,

or school.

- Hey there.

- Hi.

- You've got a little
trouble there, huh?

- Yeah.

They met when
Effie's car had a flat tire,

and Michael stopped
and offered to help.

- Would you, really?
- Yeah.

It wouldn't be any problem.
- Thank you.

- Michael.
- Effie.

Thanks.

- I was glad that
Effie found someone

that she wanted to date.

Because she had not
previously dated a whole lot.


their chance encounter,

the couple married.

But the union lasted
only three months.

- They were married for
a short time originally.

They broke up.

Uh, never really lost
contact with one another.

But less than a year later,

the couple married
again and soon

had a child together,
a son, Aiden.

I knew that
if Effie had the opportunity

to be back with
Michael, she would.

Because she truly loved him.

She truly loved him.

Michael was an office worker

for Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

And the couple lived in
a mobile home next door

to Michael's parents
in Bryceville, Florida.

But just weeks after coming
home from the hospital

with their new baby,
tragedy struck.

A fire broke out in
Michael and Effie's home.

Michael managed to get
the baby out unharmed,

but Effie was trapped inside.

Instead of waiting
for firefighters,

he used a satellite
dish to break a window.

- Effie!
Effie!

The window.
Come on.

Michael's actions
were hailed by the local media.

Michael's
wife said she was asleep

and had no idea
what was going on

because it was all
happening so fast.

- I wasn't really thinking
anything at the time.

When I got out and I was, like,
realized what was going on,

you know?

It was good to see him
and know that he was OK.

Michael says
he's just glad he woke up.

- I try not to think
what could have

happened if I
wouldn't have woke up.

That's too scary to think about.

- As a reporter, I'm hearing
him say this and I'm thinking,

this guy is an absolute hero.

When you saw the damage
inside this home,

you realized that had she
been in there much longer,

she certainly wouldn't
have survived.

Fire investigators determined

the cause of the fire
was faulty wiring.

And there was no
functioning fire detector.

The fire was ruled to
have been an accidental fire.

Michael, Effie and their baby

moved in with Michael's parents.

- Effie had her own room
inside the parents' house.

So the parents were helping
them out after the fire

and trying to set them up.

But a month later, tragedy

struck the Ratleys again.

Michael Ratley was sleeping

in the living with
his newborn son.

That was something he did
frequently so that Effie could

be in the room by herself
and get more sleep.

Michael heard a
noise coming from the bedroom.

And that's
what awoke him and arose

his attention to going in
there and check on her.

He went in,
found the window wide open,

and his wife
bleeding on the bed.

Paramedics rushed
Effie to the local hospital.

She was alive and
breaking according to Rescue,

but when I got there, they
said she was barely hanging on.

It was terrible.

I remember coming
out and telling Joy,

I said, it's, it's, it's bad.

It's bad.

- The trauma doctor come
in and talked to us.

They explained that Effie had
experienced an injury that

was going to be life-ending,
that there was no way

that she was going
to pull through.

There had been a suspected

break-in to the Ratleys' home.

And Effie Ratley had
suffered serious injuries.

Emergency room
doctors discovered

she had been struck
seven times in the head

with a blunt object.

- The wounds had a very distinct
appearance of a star, which

generally tells
you that it's round

object that struck that person.

What makes this a personal crime

were not only the
extent of the injuries,

but the placement
of the injuries.

So this was not a one
g*nsh*t, or a one s*ab would.

This was blow, after
blow, after blow.

Very, very violent.

- Effie had no enemies.

She was loved by
everyone who met her.

Who would do this, and why?

After four days, doctors

concluded the neurological
damage was too great.

And with the
family's permission,

Effie was taken
off life support.

I'd always thought,
what would I do

if something happened
to one of my children?

As I'm sure we all have
probably done that.

But it's not the same
when it does happen.

You could... Seem like
you could pare...,

prepare all you want to.

It's not going to, uh,
diminish the effect on you.

It looked as
if Effie's k*ller entered

and exited through her
ground floor bedroom window

while everyone else in the
house was asleep in other rooms.

Outside the window, they

found the screen
that had been cut.

It was laying directly
beneath the window.

- Once I stepped in the room,
you could see the blood spatter

on the wall behind Effie's bed.

- Michael Ratley's parents stated
that they never heard any noise

coming from the bedroom
during the att*ck.

Effie Ratley's m*rder was

a concern to the
entire community.

This was a big time
crime in a very small city,

and it got everyone's
attention immediately.

The night before Effie's m*rder,

there had been another incident
on the Ratleys' property.

Someone att*cked Michael
Ratley outside the barn.

Nothing had been
stolen, which led police

to believe Michael had
surprised his attacker

before he could steal anything.

It created a lot
of concern with the family.

It was common in this
area to, at night,

leave a garage door open,
or even a window open,

or what have you.

That was not the case
after the barn incident.

Before this
incident, 40 miles away,

a woman was r*ped
during a home invasion.

A week before that, a woman
working at a nearby convenience

store was beaten and
left in a store room.

- It appeared that there might be
someone out here on the loose,

preying on women in our county.

- That was a real
concern for women.

That, was it one person?

Are women being targeted?

Why is this person
targeting certain women?

But investigators
found evidence that

contradicted the idea
the intruder entered

through the Ratleys'
bedroom window.

It had been freezing cold
on the night of the m*rder,

yet there were no
foot impressions

outside in the ground
under the bedroom window.

- There was a heavy
frost that night.

Also, there were no
footprints in the frost

where, that would indicate
that someone had disturbed it.

And nothing had been tracked

inside onto the bedroom carpet.

- This carpeting
was white, and so,

if somebody had come
in through the window,

you would expect some evidence,
some debris that would have

been carried inside the
residence from outside.

In fact, a basket
of clothes directly in front

of the window and a layer
of dust on the window sill

hadn't been touched.

- The investigators went
so far as to videotape

the window sills inside and
out with a close-up view.

And you could see the
dust on the inside

of the window sill
that was undisturbed.

And robbery didn't
appear to be a motive.

There was a purse by
the window that was not taken.

There was a wallet on the
nightstand that was not taken.

And she was not sexually
assaulted in any way.

Investigators also
found some personal items

in Michael Ratley's
possession that

raised questions about
the couple's marriage.

There was a
portable DVD player, a bottle

of personal lubricant, and
several DVD movies that

contained adult male, gay,
p*rn material on it.

- It did lead to theories
about motive, you know,

that he had a
boyfriend somewhere.

And maybe he wanted
to do away with Effie

to live that lifestyle,
and just break away.

In addition,
Michael's phone records

indicated he'd been making
frequent phone calls

to a 35-year-old man who'd
been one of his teachers

in high school.

Although this was
suspicious, was

it a possible motive for m*rder?

This isn't Hollywood.

This is Bryceville.

And there's just an
awful lot to this story,

a lot of smoke and mirrors.

At the Ratleys'
home, investigators

found evidence that
appeared to contradict

the theory an intruder
broke into their home

the night Effie was m*rder*d.

The curtains were white.

There was no
evidence whatsoever...

I actually got down on my
hands and knees and looked

at that area, looking for
any kind of trace evidence

that I could tell the crime
scene technicians to look.

And, um, there
was nothing there.

Nothing there.

Michael Ratley's
sister lived down the road,

and she, too, heard nothing
to indicate an intruder.

Michael Ratley's
sister and her husband

had eight hunting dogs
that were in a pen,

and they had two
dogs that ran freely.

And by everyone's account,
there were no dogs

heard barking the
night of the as*ault.

And Michael's
friends told investigators

he'd made some malicious
comments about his wife.

He had told his
friends that he hated his wife.

He had told his friends that
he couldn't afford a child.

So there was more to
Michael Ratley's marriage

then what there appeared
to be on the surface.

And according to Effie's family,

there were other troubling
incidents, like the time Effie

was driving to work
on the interstate.

Michael called, asking
her to check the console

to see if his
medication was there.

She nearly
wrecked the car at that point.

Uh, her girlfriends,
uh, later relayed to me

that she was just
plum hysterical

when she got to work.

Yeah.
She did have a fear of mice.

We're not real sure if
Michael did it or not.

Investigators also learned

Effie had $150,000
of life insurance,

with Michael as the beneficiary.

In reconstructing the crime
and analyzing the blood spatter

evidence, investigators
concluded that the k*ller

would have been
covered in blood.

Scientists tested the
robe Michael was wearing

on the night of
his wife's m*rder.

I did look
for the presence of blood

on that bathrobe, but
I did not find any.

I was surprised.

- The whole house was searched,
anything, for weapons.

The whole house
was fingerprinted,

DNA swabs, any kind of blood
or anything for touch DNA

was swabbed in that house.

But investigators found nothing.

No m*rder w*apon,
bloody clothing,

or any other evidence
of the crime.

Inside Michael's truck,
however, investigators

found a hidden compartment
under the back seat.

There, they found a treasure
trove of forensic evidence.

- Michael Ratley's
truck turned out

to be the jackpot, if you
will, um, for our case.

- It was almost like it was
packaged for them to find,

because it was just that easy.

There was a
hammer, a box cutter,

a piece of burnt
electrical wire,

and several pairs of gloves.

Michael Ratley
said he was shocked

that these items were
found in his truck.

- His words were, oh, my god.

So it looks like
I k*lled my wife.

Michael insisted
he wasn't the k*ller,

and that someone was
trying to frame him.

- Michael believed that
somebody planet those items

in his truck, and that
it might have possibly

been the same attacker who
attached him in the barn.

The piece of
burnt electrical wire

was compared to the wire
in the Ratleys' mobile home

that caught fire
a month earlier.

And forensically
and microscopically, it

was compared to the ends
of the wire that remained

in the trailer,
and it was a match.

The wire alone
disproved the intruder theory.

- It showed that the person
who did this m*rder then

went through all the trouble
of getting those wires,

and putting them also in,
in the storage compartment

that Michael Ratley had,
which was, be incredible.

But one question
bothered investigators.

If Michael Ratley
wanted his wife dead,

why did he go through the
trouble of rescuing her

from the house fire
just a month earlier?

- I try to think what
could have happened

if I wouldn't have woke up.

That's too scary to think about.

Everybody was scratching

their heads because
he rescued her.

It makes you wonder, did he
try to k*ll her in that fire?

Nobody knows.

Michael Ratley
insisted that an intruder broke

into his wife's bedroom
window, att*cked her, then

fled the scene without
leaving any trace evidence.

He also claimed the k*ller hid
the m*rder w*apon and gloves

in the hidden
compartment of his truck.

- He talked about the fact that
he loved his wife, that he

would not do this to her,
that she had just given birth

to his child, so there
was no reason whatsoever.

His story was
difficult to believe,

but would forensic science
provide the answers?

The bloody hammer found
in Michael's truck

was the first thing
analysts tested.

And that is where I
developed the DNA profile from.

That DNA profile matched
that of Effie Ratley.

The medical examiner's analysis

concluded the hammer matched
Effie Ratley's head wounds.

DNA tests identified it was
Effie's blood on the paper

towels and the heavy work
gloves found in Michael's truck.

But they didn't find any
DNA inside the work gloves.

So scientists swabbed the
inside of the latex gloves

for skin cells.

Michael Ratley's DNA was

recovered from the latex gloves.

It was just a logical
assumption that Michael Ratley

had worn the latex gloves, and
then put the larger, heavier

rubber gloves on,
and then wielded

the m*rder w*apon
in k*lling his wife.

Prosecutors believe
Michael Ratley had planned

his wife's m*rder for
months, and had made

more than one
attempt on her life.

The first could have
been the incident

in the car with the
mouse, which almost caused

to crash on the
interstate highway.

The mobile home fire
was also suspicious.

Prosecutors believe Michael
disconnected the smoke alarm

and started the fire near
the baby's diaper warmer

while Effie was asleep.

Michael grabbed their
infant son and ran outside.

The blaze blocked
Effie's escape.

But family members and
neighbors saw the smoke

and got to the scene
before the fire

engulfed the entire mobile home.

So Michael probably
felt he had no choice

but to make some attempt
to save his wife.

So he broke one of the windows
and helped her to escape.

In so doing, he was
hailed as a hero.

- Effie, are you OK?

A month later,
while living with his parents,

Michael fabricated the story
that he was hit on the head

by a robber trying to
break into the barn.

His plan was to create the
impression that a thief was

running loose in
the neighborhood.

The next day, prosecutors
believe he cut out the bedroom

screen, waited for
his wife to go to bed,

took off his clothes, put
on two pairs of gloves,

and used a hammer to
b*at his wife to death.

Blood spattered onto the
walls and all over him.

He used the paper towels
to clean himself then

put on his robe, which explains
why there was no blood on him

when interviewed by police.

Michael hid the evidence
in the hidden compartment

of his truck, then ran
to his parents' bedroom

and reported the att*ck.

Michael Ratley thought
that the last person that they

would look at was him, and the
last place that they would look

was his truck.

And he was dead wrong
on both accounts.

Effie's parents believe

Michael no longer
wanted to be married,

but didn't want the financial
burden of a divorce.

- I truly believe he just did
not want to be married anymore

and, in his mind,
this was a way out.

In his mind, it was
the only way out.

Because if he divorced, he
would be a weekend further,

paying child support until
Aiden was 18 years of age.

- At least seven
times, she was beaten

on the head with a hammer.

The multiple blunt
impact of those injuries

caused skull fractures,
brain lacerations,

hemorrhaging, and
brain swelling.

In July of 2009, Michael Ratley

was tried and convicted
of First Degree m*rder,

and sentenced to life in
prison without parole.

- On its face, a person
can appear a certain way,

but when you do
more investigation,

you find out it's
a little different.

You really find out the
true character of a person

at that time.

Michael's a
monster, a soulless monster.

I've struggled with that.

Why, why anybody could do
something of that magnitude.

There's a lot of
deceivers in the world.

- With this type of the crime
scene, the way it was laid out,

and the amount of evidence
that was left for us,

It was a home run.

You couldn't ask
for anything better.