Page 10 - Steven Sharp News Today

It back in the garage. he put it in the bag with the pickny items. it was just convenient. it was a convenient excuse for having that hammer. >> reporter: detectives ask fundamental they could check out the drawer and the rest of stevens house that night. he agreed. but as it turned out, something potentially far more telling was happening away from the action. >> and i said, look, mr. scharf, im your local police department. >> reporter: ted aronberg was told to keep an eye on steven scharf tha...

Reviewed the evidence and has determined that this could not have been an accidental fall. >> reporter: in december of 2008, detectives paid one more visit to steven scharf. >> they wouldnt tell me what it was for. i had no idea what this was about. i mean it didnt make sense. >> reporter: 16 years after that fatal night on the cliff, police were back. and steven scharf was in for a shock. after all these years you thought it was done. >> not until they reached behind and handed me this thing, t...

Palisades cliff to take in the view. but a short while later, jody fell over the edge and questions about what really happened that night began to mount. heres chris jansing. >> reporter: it was the worst night of his life and now steven sharp in the early morning hours of september 21st, 1992, had to tell his 10-year-old son jonathan his mother was dead. >> i said, come on, jonathan. we need to take a walk and i told him and he immediately burst into tears and i cried. i cried like a baby and i...

Base pointing flashlights north. finally about 30 feet away the beams landed on something white. it was jody lying motionless next to a tree. >> there was a lot of blood on that tree and the blood was actually draining down the tree. thats where severe impact took. thats where she really, you know -- >> jody sharp had not survived the fall. to cioffi it was clear she had slammed into that tree. as they began to move the body, he noticed something else. >> she had an odor of an alcoholic beverage...

Maybe hes in shock? >> no, ive seen people who lost loved ones and ive never seen anybody act that way. >> reporter: but it was a particular moment later inside the station house that really caught the officers attention. >> and he asked if he could get a direct from the water fountain, he was looking like over his shoulder and splashing his face and made it look like he was crying? >> you thought he was faking tears. >> absolutely, absolutely. >> a death scene where the pieces didnt connect. a ...

Usually theyre going to go south or theyre going to go right down. should have been right down where i got off the ropes. >> reporter: someone else was scratching his head about that night for different reasons. it had to do with stevens behavior while the search was under way. officer walter serrie was surprised steven was willing to leave the lookout as rescuers were still looking for jody. did he give any indication, i dont want to leave, my wife could still be alive down there? >> no, not at...

Alcoholic beverage that emanated from her body. >> so when you smelled that did you think maybe she had had too much to drink and fell? >> at that moment, yes. >> steven sharp was waiting in a police station for someone to tell him what it happened to his wife. do you remember what goes through your mind at that point? >> how badly is she hurt? where is she? >> and thats when an officer walked into the room and broke the news to steven. jody was gone. >> i dont even remember who came in and told...

Pieces didnt connect. a husband who appeared n nonchallant. from a cops point of view things were adding up and not in stevens favor. >> it was the totality of the circumstances. every little thing was clicking in my mind. and im saying to myself, this isnt right. something is wrong here. >> gut instinct is one thing. people are paid to be suspicious. maybe their view of steven was too jaundiced. a few months later the ruling was in. the burgen county medical examiner concluded the manner of jod...

Obvious. what was a hammer doing in that picnic bag? >> well, he told us he fixed a drawer in his kitchen with a hammer. he put it in the bag with his picnic items. it was a convenient excuse for having that hammer. >> detectives asked if they could check out the drawer and the rest of stevens house that night. he agreed. but as it turned something potentially far more telling was happening away from the action. >> and i said, look, mr. scharf, im your local police department. >> he was a local ...

>> either she should be here or the pocketbook should be down with her. and it wasnt fitting. >> another thought dawned on him. if jody had tumbled, why hadnt she hit the side of the cliffs? there was no blood or hair anywhere on the rocks. and the location of jodys body seemed off to him. way off. >> she was like 30 to 40 feet away from us to the north. when a person falls off a cliff usually theyre going to go south or right down. right down where the got off the ropes, thats where she should ...