it felt like law & order . the fire broke out before dawn. in the daylight, they found this mother of two young children dead. she lived a very courageous life. she was very bold in the things she did. but after the smoke cleared, a mystery lingered. we knew she did not die in that fire, she died before the fire. who do you look to as the suspect? obviously the spouse is the first person you look to. but her husband had a clear alibi and he passed a lie detector test. eventually, the case grew cold until this witness came forward. with a tale of love and lust gone wrong. he finally just took the sweat shirt and wrapped it around her neck. but could she be believed? i was sleeping around. i think i slept with half the town. was she out for justice or revenge? is it a perfect world, no? will she get hers, yes? and she does. what was the lie? and what was the truth? how could you miss it? he wasn t there! hello and welcome to dateline . paul and c
until this witness came forward. with a tale of love and lust gone wrong. he finally just took the sweat shirt and wrapped it around her neck. but could she be believed? i was sleeping around. i think i slept with half the town. was she out for justice or revenge? is it a perfect world, no? will she get hers, yes? and she does. what was the lie? and what was the truth? how could you miss it? he wasn t there! hello and welcome to dateline . paul and catherine novak wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city. they found peace and quiet when they moved into what catherine dubbed the big red house. but soon a roaring fire would ravage the couples home, and when the flames subsided one of them would be dead, leaving investigators wondering if the blaze was a tragic accident or something more sinister. here is andrea canning with secrets and lies . on a frigid december morning in 2008, in a tiny, picturesque town along the banks of
the details of how he killed his wife. he told me that they were fighting and that they were rolling around on the basement floor for about 45 minutes. and that s why he was so late. and she was screaming and begging for her life. and the jury didn t have to just take her word for it, prosecutors called scott sherwood, paul s partner from work to the stand. they told the jury he had been interrogated by police and showed them the tape. let s go from the beginning. you meet paul where? i met paul at his house in glen cove. jurors heard him tell police his version of what happened the night of the murder. so he gets in your red blazer. who s driving? i was driving. we were driving up towards where his residence was, where s catherine lived. sherwood said paul told him to part about a mile away from catherine s house and wait in the car.
the evidence to seemed to support sherwood s story, particularly show woods license plate we. one of the the ez-pass record crossing the what george washington bridge, at the right time for this crime. the answer to that is very simple, it proves nothing. there is a picture of the license plate, there is no picture of who is in the vehicle. how do you know as we re sitting here now that scott sherwood or possibly michelle were not in that vehicle. the answer is, you don t. and that receipt from walmart in middletown. is it just a coincidence that someone went to walmart at 1:30 in the morning and bought a hat, gloves, and duct tape, all the things that were supposedly used in her murder? okay, first of all, mr. sherwood admitted under oath to me that he got to middletown at 12:00. he could ve never been there at 1:30 or so because he was out by 12:15. still, there was an age old motive, money to explain away. and in our interview, paul himself had a answer to that.
i think that what people will have a hard time wrapping their head around is how three separate people would all lie. the reality is, i take elise out of the picture, because she lied to support her husband. scott has a psychiatric problem and he was manipulated, in my opinion, by michelle. michelle is a woman scorned. and the defense argued that their defense was tainted because michelle had been given full immunity when she agreed to testify against paul. and sure would made an appeal to have a reduced charge. next, the defense went after the evidence to seemed to support sherwood s story, particularly show woods license plate we. one of the evidence that seem pretty damning was the ez-pass record crossing the what george washington bridge, at the right time for this crime. the answer to that is very