the natural signs. you can't by definition, it's science and it works and it's repeatable. it's verifiable. it's accepted. >> up next, a suspicious house fire nearly kills an entire family. >> had she been in there longer, she wouldn't have survived. >> the husband is assaulted and the wife is dead. >> who did this? everyone was in lockdown mode. new lights and sensors had been performed and everyone was on edge. >> police had no witnesses and no motives and no suspects. >> this was a savage brutal attack. until science uncovers an elaborate plan. >> everybody was scratching their heads.

>> michael and effi didn't meet in the typical way through friends or at work or at school. they met when effi's car had a flat tire and michael stopped and offered to help. >> i was glad that effi found someone she wanted to date. because she had not previously dated i whole lot. >> 18 months after the chance encounter, the couple married, but the union lasted only three months. >> they were married for a short time and they broke up. never really lost contact with one another. >> less than a year later, they married again and soon had a child together, a son, aaden. >> i knew if effi had the opportunity to be back with michael, she would. she truly loved him. she truly loved him. >> michael was an office worker for blue cross and blue shield and they lived in a mobile home

next door to michael's parents in bryceville, florida. just weeks after coming home from the hospital with their new baby, tragedy struck. a fire broke out in michael and effi's home. michael managed to get the baby out unharmed, but effi was trapped inside. instead of waiting for firefighters, he used a satellite dish to break a window. 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 happening so fast. >> i wasn't thinking anything at the time when i got out and i realized what was going on. it was good to see him and that he was okay. >> michael said he was glad he woke up. >> i try not to think what could

have happened if i didn't wake up. it's too scare tow think about. >> i am hearing him say this and i thought this guy is a hero. when you saw the damage in this home, 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 accidental. >> michael, effi and their baby moved in with michael's parents. a month later tragedy struck them again. >> michael rattly was sleeping in the living room with his newborn son. something he did frequently so effi could get more sleep. >> michael heard a noise coming from the bedroom. >> that are awoke him and arose his attention to check on her. >> he found the window wide open and his wife bleeding on the

bed. >> what's going on? >> my daughter in law -- >> what is she doing? >> just laying in bed. >> she unresponsive? >> yeah. >> paramedics rushed effi to the local hospital. >> she was alive and breathing according to rescue when i got there, they said she was barely hanging on. >> it was terrible. i remember saying it's bad. it's bad. >> a trauma doctor coming to talk to us explained that effi had experienced an injury that was going to be life-ending. there would be no way she would pull through.

>> there had been a suspected break into the rattlies's home and effi suffered serious injuries. emergency room doctors discovered she was struck seven times in the head with a blunt

object. >> the wounds had a distinct appearance of a star which generally tells you it's a round object that struck that person. >> what makes this a personal crime were the placement of the injuries. this was not a one gunshot or a one stab wound. this was blow after blow after blow. very, very violent. >> effi had no enemies. she was loved by everyone who met her. who would do this and why? after four days, the neurological damage was too great and with the family's permission, effi was taken off life support. >> i always thought what would i do if something happened to one of my children. i'm sure we all have done that, but it's not the same when it does happen. you can prepare all you want to, but it's not going to diminish

the effect on you. >> it looked as if effi's killer entered and exited through her ground floor bedroom window while everywhere else in the house was asleep in other rooms. >> outside the window they found the screen that had been cut. it was laying beneath the window. >> when i stepped in the room, you can see the blood spatter behind the bed. >> they never heard noise coming from the bedroom during the attack. >> effi rattly's mother 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 effi's murder, there was another incident on the rattly's property, someone attacked michael rattly outside the barn.

>> did they know who did it? >> nothing had been stolen. that led police to believe michael surprised hlgs attacker before he could steal anything. >> it created concern with the family and it was common to leave a garage door or 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 raped during a home invasion. a week before that, a woman working at a convenience store was beaten and left in a storeroom. >> it appeared there might be someone out here on the loose preying on women in the county. >> they found evidence that

contradicted the idea of the intruder entering through the bedroom window. it was freezing cold on the night of the murder, 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 that would indicate that somebody disturbed it. nothing was tracked inside on to the bedroom carpet. >> this carpeting was white. if somebody came into through the window, there would be some debris. >> a basket of clothes directly in front of the window and a layer of dust on the window sill had not been touched. >> the investigators went so far as to videotape the windowsills with a close up view. you could see the dust on the inside of the windowsill 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 night stand that was not taken and she was not sexually assaulted in any way. >> investigators found personal items in michael rattly's possession that raised questions about the couple's marriage. >> there was a portable dvd player and a bottle of personal lubricant and several dvd movies that contained adult male gay pornographic material on it. >> it did lead to theorys about motive. they had a boyfriend somewhere and maybe he wanted to do away with effi to live that lifestyle and break away. >> in addition, michael's phone records indicated he had been making frequent phone calls to a 35-year-old man who had been one of his teachers in high school. although this was suspicious, was it a possible motive for

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at the rattly's home, they found evidence that appeared to contradict the theory an intruder broke into their home the night effi was murdered. >> the curtains were white,

there was no evidence and i got down on my hands and knees looking for trace evidence and i could tell the crime scene technician to look at. there was nothing there. >> michael rattly's sister lived down the road and she too heard nothing to indicate an intruder. >> michael rattly's sister and her husband had eight hunting dogs in a pen and had two dogs that ran freely and by everyone's account there were no dogs that were heard. >> michael's friends said he made malicious comments about his wife. >> he told his friends that he hated his wife. he told his friends he couldn't afford a child. there was more to michael rattly's marriage that there appeared to be on the surface. >> according to effi's family, there were other troubling incidents like the time effi 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 and her girlfriends later relayed that she was hysterical and she did have a fear of mice. we are not sure if michael did it or not. >> investigators learned effi had $150,000 of life insurance with michael as the beneficiary. in reconstructing the crime and analyzing the blood spatter evidence, they concluded that the killer would have been covered in blood. scientists tested the robe michael was wearing on the night of his wife's murder. >> i did look for the presence of blood on that bathrobe and i

did not find any. i was surprised. >> the whole house was searched for weapons. the whole house was fingerprinted and blood or anything for touch dna was swabbed. investigators found nothing. no murder weapon, broody clothing or any other evidence of the crime. inside michael's truck, however, investigators found a hidden compartment under the back seat. they found a treasure trove of forensic evidence. >> the truck turned out to be a jackpot, if you will, for our case. >> it was like it was packaged for them to find. it was just that easy. >> there was a hammer, a box cutter, a piece of burned electrical wire and several pairs of gloves. >> michael rattly said he was shocked that these items were found in his home.

>> his words were oh, my god so it looks like i killed my wife. >> he invested someone was trying to frame him. >> here believed someone planted the items in his truck and that it might have possibly been the same attacker who attacked him in the barn. >> the piece of burned electrical wire was compared to the piece that caught fire in the mobile home a month earlier. >> 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. >> the person who did this went through the trouble of getting those wires and putting them also in the storage compartment that michael rattly had. that would be incredible. >> one question bothered investigators. if michael rattly wanted his wife dead, why did he go through the trouble of rescuing her from

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michael rattly insisted that an intruder broke into his

wife's bedroom window, attacked her and fled the scene without leaving any trace evidence. he also claimed the killer hid the murder weapon and gloves in the hidden compartment of his truck. >> he talked about that he loved his wife and would not do this to her. she had just given birth and there was no reason whatsoever. >> the story was difficult to believe, but would forensic science provide the answers some the bloody hammer found in michael's truck was the first thing analysts tested. >> that is where i developed the dna profile from. that dna profile matched that of effi. >> they concluded the hammer matched effi's head wounds. dna tests identified effi's blood on the paper towels and the 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 rattly's dna was recovered from the la text gloves. it was a logical assumption that michael rattly had worn the la text gloves and then put the larger heavier rubber gloves on and wheeled in the murder weapon in killing his wife. >> they believe michael rattly planned his wife's murder for months and made more than one attempt on her life. the first could have been the incident in the car with the mouse which almost caused her 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 effi was asleep. michael grabbed their infant son and ran outside. the blaze blocked effi's escape. but family members and neighbors saw the smoke and got to the scene before the fire engulfed the 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. >> are you okay? >> 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 believed 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 beat his wife to death. blood spattered on to 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's bedroom and reported the attack. >> michael rattly thought that the last person that they would look at was him and the last place they would look was his truck. he was dead wrong on both

accounts. >> effi's parents believe michael no longer wanted to be married, but didn't want the financial burden of a divorce. >> i truly believe 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 father paying child support until aaden was 18 years of age. >> in july of 2009, michael rattly was tried and convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to in prison without parole. >> on its face, a person can appear a certain way, but with more investigation, you find out it's different. you find out the true character of a person. >> michael is a soulless monster. why anybody could do something of that magnitude.

there is a lot of deceivers in the world. >> with this type of crime scene and the amount of evidence that was left for us, it was a home run. you couldn't ask for anything better. up next -- >> my husband has locked himself in our bedroom. >> did this man kill himself? >> the death certificate came back as a suicide. >> or was it murder? >> what in the name of heaven is he doing committing suicide by a turkey baster? >> the evidence at the scene confounds investigators. >> there's something more going on with this. it just wasn't right. >> i mean, it's creepy. it's chilling. >> and it would take years before the forensics could figure it all out. >> this case was a forensic bonanza for me. the heating and air conditioning business was a lucrative one for david castor.