Todd Kendhammer says his spouse Barbara died in a freak automotive accident. However authorities questioned his story from the start, and he was tried and convicted of intentional murder.
Barbara Kendhammer/Fb
Kendhammer and his youngsters have refused to simply accept the decision and are looking for a brand new trial. Their struggle for what they are saying is justice is the main focus of “Thriller on County Highway M,” reported by “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty. An encore of the published is streaming on Paramount+.
Simply after 8 a.m. on September 16, 2016, a distraught Todd Kendhammer referred to as 911 to report a automotive accident on a rural highway outdoors La Crosse, Wisconsin. “A pipe or one thing got here by the windshield,” he instructed the operator.
La Crosse County Sheriff’s Workplace 
When authorities arrived, he instructed them a pipe flew off a truck driving in the wrong way, got here by the windshield and struck his spouse. Barbara Kendhammer, 46, was rushed to the hospital however died the following day. The couple had simply celebrated their twenty fifth anniversary.
Their youngsters, Jessica Servais and Jordan Kendhammer, say their mother and father had been nonetheless very a lot in love. “No matter my mother wished, my dad gave it to her,” Servais instructed Moriarty. “They had been simply in a very good time of their lives ‘trigger they’d their first grandchild, they usually had been properly off.”
An post-mortem revealed that Barbara died of blunt drive accidents to the top and neck. She additionally had three lacerations to the again of her head. The health worker didn’t assume Barbara’s accidents had been per the accident as described by Todd.
“She mentioned that the accidents to Barb had been very inconsistent with a pipe … that dimension and that weight coming by the windshield,” says Tim Gruenke, La Crosse County district lawyer.
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Surveillance video from a horse ranch down the highway confirmed what seems to be the Kendhammer automotive cross by at roughly 7:57 a.m. on the day of the incident. However at across the similar time, no truck that matched the outline Todd gave police was ever seen heading in the wrong way.
Todd Kendhammer instructed police that he and Barbara had been driving to select up a truck that wanted a windshield changed, belonging to a person named Justin Heim. Kendhammer did windshield alternative work as a aspect job.
“When the police seemed into that, they discovered Justin Heim by no means had ordered a windshield from Todd, did not want a windshield. Todd did not even know the place he lived,” says Gruenke. Kendhammer then instructed police he was going to see a pal of Heim’s.
Gruenke believes Todd Kendhammer killed Barbara and staged the scene to appear like an accident. Kendhammer was arrested three months later and went on trial a yr after that. “Each day I used to be in a continuing state of tension and could not eat and could not sleep,” says Jessica.
At trial, each side argued about what induced Barbara’s accidents — a tragic accident, or a brutal struggle. The windshield was as hotly disputed because the medical proof. Dueling consultants had totally different theories of what induced the glass fracture patterns.
Jessica and Jordan do not consider prosecutors ever answered vital questions on what occurred.
“They by no means actually mentioned how he killed her or what he did to stage every little thing,” says Jessica. Her brother added, “If he wished to kill Ma, why the hell would he undergo all of the work and hassle to discover a pipe, drive all the way in which out to the center of a busy highway—.” “He has like 28 weapons within the basement,” Jessica interrupted. “Greater than that,” mentioned Jordan.
The prosecution needed to admit they did not know why Todd would kill Barbara. They discovered no proof both one was having an affair, no historical past of home violence or monetary hassle.
Todd Kendhammer made the weird resolution to testify in his personal protection. He instructed the jury he was distraught throughout his interview with police, when he instructed these totally different tales of the place they had been going that morning. “I am not in the fitting frame of mind… I wasn’t considering of the place I used to be going or what I used to be doing. I used to be considering of Barb,” he mentioned on the stand.
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However he continued to battle together with his reminiscence of the incident and instructed the jury a couple of third individual he was going to see that morning. Gruenke requested him: “Did you alter your story for trial since you knew police had found out your lies?” “No,” he responded.
Todd Kendhammer’s youngsters stood by him. “He does not lie. So when he says he did not do it, we consider him,” Jessica mentioned. However the jury did not consider him, and Kendhammer was convicted and sentenced to life in jail, with the potential of parole in 30 years.
After the conviction, the Kendhammer household employed lawyer Jerry Buting, of “Making a Assassin” fame, to deal with the attraction, alongside together with his spouse and co-counsel Kathleen Stilling.
“This was an accident,” Buting instructed Moriarty. “The concept that out of the blue he would snap and kill his spouse after which stage the accident, it simply appears so implausible to me,” Stilling added.
In 2021, Todd Kendhammer was again in courtroom earlier than the identical decide for an evidentiary listening to. It was an opportunity to argue that his unique protection staff had been ineffective, and that there was vital new proof. The forensic pathologist who testified there disagreed with the unique health worker and mentioned Barbara’s accidents had been attributable to an accident.
“We aren’t going to cease till he may be house,” Jessica says.
Prosecutor Gruenke believes justice has already been served for Barbara Kendhammer. “Do you’ve any considerations in any respect that you just might need convicted an harmless man?” Moriarty requested. “Not on this case, no,” Gruenke replied.
