Phil Rouse News Today

>> when someone is exposed to poison, it goes through the body and is usually excreted. but it also gets deposited in the hair root at the time of the exposure. when the hair grows out, the shaft becomes a historic record of when the exposure took place. when phils hair grew longer, a strand was sent for an icp test which tests for 22 different metal components at the same time. the hair was cut into quarter inch pieces and marked and mixed with water and boiled for seven hours. this cocktail wa...

Living at home, dr. marigian found traces of another poison, mercury. >> i believe that he was ingesting it. i dont know who or why it would be delivered to him. i had no doubt he was poisoned with heavy metals. >> state law requires that police be notified when any poison is found in someones system. when the police department learned of the poisoning and the financial dispute between phil and his partner, they took out a search warrant to search steve whites home. >> i thought at that time we ...

For most of his career, phil was a salesman. in 1997, he quit to finally pursue his dream of starting an antique car restoration business. he called it top quality and it was housed in the garage near his home in bartlett, tennessee. >> phil was real excited about going into business. that was his dream. >> to no ones surprise, the shop was successful from the day it opened. and with that success came the need to expand. for capital, phil turned to his best friend and next door neighbor steve wh...

Local wine and spirits company somewhere close and buying booze. >> and phil noticed that steve white had written a check to a company called american national for $127. when he didnt recognize the company, rouss decided to call. >> she said its life insurance. i said can you tell me more about it? she said, well, its for $100,000. and the beneficiary and owner of the policy is stephen allen white. >> but the life insurance policy wasnt on steve whites life, it was on phil rouss. and there was n...

Would inherit 100% of a maul business. >> after a week long trial, the jury found steve white guilty of first degree attempted murder, theft, and sales tax violations. he was sentenced to 31 years in prison. >> if it hadnt been for the heavy metals test and dr. marigian running all the tests on my husband, he would have been dead. >> his antique automobile restoration business is now closed. to this day, white maintains his innocence. >> these people were our friends for 14 years. i mean we thou...

Business partner, steve white. but prosecutors didnt have enough evidence to show how phil rouss was poisoned. >> we were never able to prove conclusively how he got the compounds into mr. rouss system. we were able to prove he had ample opportunity. >> phil rouss recalled a number of incidents with steve white marked by unusual behavior. prior to his illness, phil and steve were having dinner at a local restaurant. not long after placing their order, white complained about the poor service. he ...

Talent and experience that made the company so successful. when phil rouss became ill just two months after the shop opened, it was a serious blow. >> i got to write didnt have any energy. and my stomach gave me a lot of trouble. i had trouble with digestion. i had severe chest pains. my hands and feet began to get numb. >> and to make matters worse, medical tests couldnt find the cause. >> i had an ultrasound done, a c.a.t. scan and an ultrasound. and all those tests came up negative. >> inexpl...

>> and white would often visit phil at home to share a cup of coffee and talk about work. but phil says steve would frequently ask phil to get something from another room, leaving steve alone with the coffee. phil and another man recalled a time when he offered to get them hamburgers for lunch. >> after eating these, they both became very ill. and they actually made a joke about how theyre never going to send steve white out to get food again because its going to make you sick again. >> when con...

He said, i forgot my way to the shop. >> to protect his investment while phil was ill, steve white ran the day to day operations of the business. by december, phil was convinced he was going to die. >> i was so sick that night. i was in such bad pain that i actually took my shirt off and laid on the kitchen floor. i thought maybe that cold floor would take the pain and burning out of my stomach. >> restoring automobiles sometimes involves chemicals and solvents that can cause illness if the work...