:13
time help arrived, it was already too late. And Todd Sturmer, who was found outside, was barely alive with his body
0:20
scorched and broken. From what they could see, he had managed to crawl from the burning home engulfed in flames,
0:26
only to collapse in the front yard seconds later. His wife, Linda, stood nearby, barefoot and screaming. But what
0:33
she told the officers next would be crucial in unraveling a complex story that was built on betrayal and rage. And
0:39
as investigators sifted through the ashes, they found more than just charred debris, they would also discover lies,
0:46
contradictions, and a trail of gasoline that led them straight to his killer.
0:51
And what followed? Well, let's just say that this kind of story will leave you questioning who the real victim is right
0:58
until the very end. Welcome or welcome back to Coffee House Crime, folks. My name is Adrian and today we're diving
1:04
into a horrifying domestic case. Please subscribe if you'd like to see more stories like this weekly. And now, with
1:10
that said, please grab yourself a coffee. This is the case of Linda Sturma.
The Incident
1:25
On the afternoon of January the 7th, 2007, the cold stillness over Waverly Township in Michigan was broken by the
1:32
crackle of a radio call. An urgent house fire had been reported near 51st Streets
1:37
just west of Bloomingdale. For the men and women of Comtock Township Fire Department, this was the kind of call
1:43
that always worried them. They were miles away and they knew that by the time they reached the property, what
1:49
might have started as a small blaze could now have already swallowed the entire house. They knew this house, too.
1:56
Most locals did. A sprawling old place that was set back from the road by a gravel driveway and half hidden behind
2:02
bare winter trees. The place belonged to Todd and Linda Sturma, a couple and a family who, at least to their neighbors,
2:09
seemed ordinary enough. By the time that firefighters arrived, they were met with a house which was now fully ablaze.
2:15
Smoke plumemed from the main section of the building with fire visible on both sides. It became obvious to them that
2:22
this was no small disaster. And with a large family living here, including several children, the firefighters were
2:28
prepared to risk their lives for whoever was still inside. When firefighters and neighbors finally arrived at the scene,
2:35
they were met by the family's mother, who had some good news and some rather bad news. The good news was that none of
2:42
her children were inside the property at the time, as conveniently they were all away for the day. But the bad news,
2:48
well, that became clear almost immediately. Lying in the grass behind her was her husband, Todd. And sadly,
2:55
one look told them all they needed to know. He was practically dead. They noted that he was severely burned
3:02
basically from head to toe and apart from a pair of boots and sweatpants around his ankles, he was naked. First
3:08
responders rushed to help him, but despite their efforts, he never regained consciousness and sadly he was
3:14
pronounced dead at the scene. And as for Linda, well, she did seem to be a little bit frazzled, but otherwise was in good
3:20
condition. However, I think everyone at the scene already knew that there was more to this story than some simple
3:27
tragedy. There were lots of little signs that just really didn't make any sense. You know, like a car parked way at the
3:33
edge of the yard, tracks in the snow that didn't seem to check out, and items placed in strange spots that just felt
3:40
off. And so, with that in mind, investigators kept a very close eye not only on the crime scene, but Linda
3:47
herself. By sundown, all that remained of the Star Home was a steaming skeleton of wet
The Sturma Family
3:54
timber and scorched brick. with one life lost, one left behind, and far too many
3:59
smoldering questions. Questions that quite arguably were hotter than the ashes themselves. So, what really
4:06
happened that afternoon? How did the fire begin? And what secrets lay buried behind Todd's tragic death? Well, to get
4:13
those answers, we have to step back in time to where the Sturma family story began. And the deeper you look, the more
4:20
visible their flaws become. Before the fire, both Linda and Todd appeared to be living a humble Midwest dream. As a
4:27
large family of seven, they had dreams to build a beautiful home in Michigan. And not only that, but they also had
4:33
their own careers in progress, beginning with Todd Sturma, who was born on November the 22nd, 1964 in Kalamazoo. He
4:41
was a graduate of Portage Northern High School and KBCC. He eventually moved on to become a high school official in
4:47
several sports and loved coaching children in baseball, softball, basketball, and football. Moving into
4:53
his adulthood, he stayed in the area and was known by everyone around him to be friendly, hardworking, and loved to run
5:00
his own companies. It was in his 20s that he started a small business selling work gloves and hunting gear, where he
5:06
would go on to make quite the sizable profit. Not only that, but he prided himself on being a provider to those
5:12
around him. And at the age of 25, that is when he met her, Linda. Now, Linda was a local woman with two young
5:18
daughters from a previous relationship. And although she was initially hesitant to grow close to Todd, he would
5:24
eventually win her over with this charisma and charm. The two met in 1989. By the early 1990s, their relationship
5:31
had blossomed. They would even go on to have two children before officially tying the knot, and in August of 1993,
5:38
they were married. Despite her daughters, Todd willingly stepped into the role of father to all four children.
5:44
Not only that, but he would even open their home to Linda's young nephew, Cory, who unfortunately had a troubled
5:50
family situation and was then adopted by the two. Friends and relatives saw Todd as a true family man. And it's known
5:56
that he would try to do everything for them. In photos from those years, the Storma household looked happily chaotic
6:02
with a blended family of six, later seven, and filled with laughter, pets, and a farm's worth of animals. Talking
6:09
about the property for a moment, the Sturma home was a small farm on the outskirts of Lawrence, Michigan. Both
6:15
Todd and Linda had saved up the money to purchase this land, which was dotted with oak and pine trees, and was the
6:21
ideal place for them to build their dream home. Over the years, and under their care, the property would slowly
6:27
come to life. The barn was raised out back to accommodate Linda's beloved horses and pastures were fenced in for
6:33
their grazing. And by the year 2007, she actually had dozens of horses on the farm, personally seeing them as both a
6:40
hobby and a side business. However, this was not actually her main hustle. Linda worked as a technician at a dialysis
6:46
clinic, while Todd managed his glove business and juggled side projects as he built the family home. and together they
6:53
tried to look after five children, dozens of animals, two jobs, and a renovation. You could say that with all
6:59
of this going on, life was not easy. However, it was definitely ambitious and rewarding. And then, of course, came the
7:06
fire on January the 7th, 2007. So, do you remember I said that things didn't seem to quite add up at the crime scene?
7:14
Well, there were plenty of small clues left behind which did seem to suggest foul play. For one, the authorities
The Clues
7:20
found several gas cans on the property, all empty and freshly disturbed in their environment. And the area in which the
7:27
fire broke out also seemed to be very oddly placed. Not only that, but when officers took a closer look at the
7:34
family car, they realized that it had blood on the front bumper and the undercarriage, almost like someone had
7:40
been run over. and Todd's body. Well, autopsy results confirmed that he had suffered a great deal of blunt forced
7:47
trauma among other injuries, too. We'll come back to more of these clues later, but the evidence left behind did
7:53
strongly suggest that there was more to this story than just a simple accident. So, who could have possibly murdered
8:00
Todd? Could it have been an ex employee or a competitor in the business? Or maybe an old friend or perhaps someone
8:06
within the family itself? Well, as far as we can tell, Todd had no enemies. In
8:12
fact, he was well loved, not only by his neighbors, but his entire community. He was seen as a good man, even. So, how
8:19
about within the family home? From the outside, everything seemed to be peachy, especially Todds and Linda's marriage.
8:25
But the truth is that actually they were suffering many hardships, more than most, in fact. And to say that their
8:31
arguments were explosive, that would be an understatement. I mean, don't get me wrong here, because there certainly was
8:38
love, especially at the beginning. But over time, those quiet nights together became far and few between until
8:44
eventually those cracks started to grow, grow until the whole foundation started
8:49
to rot. You see, apparently Todd was the kind of man who could win you over in 5 minutes. He was charming, funny, and
8:56
warm. However, in the background, he allegedly had a temper, too. At home, the most minor of things would set him
9:02
off. And when they did, Linda would apparently bear the brunt of all of it. And in the background, she was quietly
9:09
telling her mother that apparently he was becoming harder and harder to live with. The older girls, Ashley and
9:15
Britney, would later describe their stepfather as a man who liked to rage and scream at their mom. But despite
9:21
this apparent violence, Linda would always forgive him. And for a while, that cycle just seemed to keep on
9:27
repeating until eventually it didn't. Now, on the flip side, and with Todd's
9:33
sons, Trevor and Trenton, the story looked very different. They idolized their dad, and they say that they never
9:39
saw him lay a hand on anyone. Sure, he would get angry, and maybe he would grab Linda's arm from time to time, but
9:46
outward violence, no. In their eyes, Todd was strict, but loving, and the stories that their stepsisters told,
9:53
well, they saw them as exaggerated. However, what we do know is that by late 2006, Linda was supposedly exhausted by
10:01
her husband. But let's be very clear here because that doesn't mean that she was the perfect wife to him either
10:07
because honestly, she wasn't. She was far from it.
Money
10:13
Now, let's start with money because, well, it's quite the universal problem and one that played a huge part in this
10:19
story. As it turns out, both Todd and Linda were absolutely terrible with their finances. Now, to begin with,
10:26
Todd, he began to grow lazy with his love business. And instead, he would chase these get-richqu schemes, which,
10:32
no surprise, never took off. And when Linda found out that he'd borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from his own
10:38
mother just merely to keep the lights on, well, she was furious. However, it
10:43
was not all one-sided because turns out that Linda had an obsession with horses. In fact, at the time of Todd's death,
10:50
she owned 31 of them on the property. Now look, speaking from experience here, I once dated someone who owned three
10:56
horses. And as beautiful and rewarding as she found them, let me tell you, they were a total money pit. So 31 of them
11:04
and on a small property, you can definitely kiss your money goodbye and probably their welfare, too. Now, Linda
11:11
was not happy by that. She fired back, claiming that the horses were her only escape from reality, and that Todd had
11:17
promised that she could keep them as long as they didn't drain the family's finances. But let's be honest, they
11:23
were. They really were. She would even take a $25,000 line of credit for them.
11:29
Every conversation between them that was centered around money would very quickly turn ugly, often dragging in other
11:35
resentments and old wounds between the two, and unknown to Todd at the time. But amidst the chaos, another secret had
11:42
emerged because it turns out that Linda had started an extrammarital affair. This had started about 8 months prior
11:49
with a male co-orker at the clinic that she worked at. And what started as a friendship would quietly blur into
11:55
flirtation and then a fullblown affair. All while Todd was looking after their children and building the house of their
12:01
dreams. Fast forward into winter and the date
Fire
12:08
was January the 6th, 2007. More specifically, the night before the fire.
12:13
After a busy day working on the property, Todd was rumaging through the house when he discovered something
12:18
alarming. It was a suspicious message for Linda from someone that he did not recognize. Whatever it was, it had led
12:25
Todd to believe that his wife was now having an affair. And so Todd being Todd, he confronted Linder about it
12:31
immediately, and unfortunately, she would confirm his fears. Turns out the horses were not her only escape after
12:37
all. It was another man instead. The news was beyond enraging for Todd. And what followed was an argument that the
12:44
family had never seen before. In fact, it was so loud that a neighbor across the field was worried that they were
12:50
quite literally killing each other. Turns out that one of Linda's daughters, Ashley, was away from the family home
12:55
that evening, too. But for the other four, all of them saw that both Linda and Todd were red-faced and trembling
13:02
with fury. That was the argument that would break them up forever. And of course, the next day, Todd was dead. So,
13:10
what precisely happened? Well, according to Linda, she was down in the basement doing laundry the following morning when
13:16
all of a sudden she heard Todd screaming from upstairs. And when she ran upstairs to find him, that is when she found the
13:22
living room engulfed in flames. Despite everything that happened between them, she believed that Todd had everything
13:28
under control. And so what did she do next? Well, that is when she ran out of the house without shoes, a coat, or even
13:35
a phone to call the fire brigade. Living on a large farm, Linda claims that her only option was to jump into Todd's van
13:41
and then drive to the nearest neighbor for help instead of, you know, just using that phone. And as she pulled out
13:47
of the driveway, that is when she allegedly saw Todd, who was now extremely burned, stumbling outside of
13:53
the house, but he would not get inside the van with her. Now, this is where it gets really strange. But Linda then
13:59
decided to drive around the house in the opposite direction to the front gate because apparently her tires couldn't
14:05
get traction. And it was in that moment while driving in the opposite direction from the front gate that she
14:10
accidentally ran over her husband. Now look, I'm sure that we all get a little bit flustered while under pressure. But
14:17
accidentally running over your husband while running away from a fire that you supposedly didn't start, that's not just
14:23
bad luck. That's GPS set to guilty. When the flames finally ended and the coroner
Evidence
14:29
took Todd's body away, investigators began combing through the charred ruins of the Sturma home. and what they found
14:36
would turn a presumed tragedy into a crime scene. Shortly into their search, investigators found blood on the van's
14:43
front bumper. Now, Linda's excuse was that at one point she had leaned Todd against the front of that van after he
14:49
emerged from the property. However, when the investigators revealed to her that they had also found blood beneath the
14:55
undercarriage, well, that is when her story changed to her accidentally running him over. Soon enough, when
15:02
tested, the results were clear that the blood did in fact belong to Todd Sturma.
15:07
Back inside the house, the unmistakable scent of gasoline was noticed all throughout the rubble, and the pattern
15:13
of charring found on the floorboards did suggest that an accelerant had been poured and ignited. Now, if this were a
15:19
simple accident, like an overturned oil lamp or a candle spark, as Linda had initially claimed, then the fire spread
15:26
would have been slower and much more localized. But now, well, at least to the officers, it looked like the entire
15:32
living room had become ablaze in an instant. As the investigation unfolded, the evidence slowly started to stack up.
15:39
And unfortunately for Linda, it was not in her favor. Out in the front yard, officers discovered an empty gas can.
15:46
Another two were found in the garage, and all of them were empty with their caps left unscrewed, and the traces of
15:53
fuel found inside all confirmed that they had been full not long before. Then came the forensics, and things would
15:59
only get worse from here. A towel was found in the basement washing machine where Linda claimed that she had been
16:05
when the fire started. That towel tested positive for gasoline. And disturbingly,
16:10
so did nearly everything that Todd was wearing. His sweatpants, his socks, and even the waistband of his underwear was
16:17
all soaked in that gasoline. And so with this evidence at hand, it was clear that this was not the result of a random
16:24
house fire. and it looked more like that someone had deliberately dowsed him. With every single new discovery, the
16:30
narrative of what happened to Todd seemed to shift from a tragic accident to something that was far more sinister.
16:38
Her sons would reveal new red flags, too. They told detectives that their mom was insistent that they left the
16:44
property that day despite them wanting to stay. I mean, according to them, she basically shoved them out the front
16:50
door, which they did find odd because it was a bitterly cold morning. And when they tried to say goodbye to him on the
16:56
way out, Linda basically stood in front of them and said that they shouldn't bother their father because apparently
17:01
he was sleeping. This would raise even more eyebrows because Todd never slept in, not even on weekends. I mean, the
17:07
man was practically allergic to being lazy. Anyway, the two left as instructed, but over time, this all
17:13
started to feel a little bit calculated, and eventually they began to wonder if maybe Todd had already been drugged at
17:20
this stage, or perhaps even worse. And then, just when things couldn't look any sketchier, a gas station clerk
17:27
approached the officers with yet another piece to the puzzle. She told the officers that she remembered Linda
17:32
stopping by at the gas station at around 8:00 a.m. that morning. And the way that she bought fuel, well, let's just say it
17:39
was not your standard topup. A receipt confirmed that she spent $10 on petrol, which wouldn't even fill a lawn mower,
17:45
let alone her SUV. And although it looked like she was filling the tank, she was actually slipping fuel into a
17:51
container which was hidden in the back seat. Piece by piece, the case against Linder Sturma slowly began to take
17:57
shape. And by late 2008, state police and fire experts had stitched together a
18:03
chilling theory. They believed that after an intense argument the night before, where Todd had discovered that
18:08
Linda was having an affair, she had made the decision to kill him and tried to make it look like a tragic accident. It
18:15
took nearly 2 years to gather all the evidence and build a strong case against her, but in the end, the authorities
18:21
came down hard. And on June the 5th, 2009, they finally arrested Linda,
18:27
charging her with arson and firstderee murder. However, as shocking as the arrest was, even darker revelations were
18:34
still yet to come. Investigators would finally get a major break when Kate Fox,
18:39
who was a longtime friend of the Star family, came forward with a very disturbing story. She claimed that Linda
18:46
had apparently once confided in her, admitting that she had slipped a seditive in Todd's morning coffee that
18:51
day to quote calm him down. She also said that Linda was quite clearly worried that investigators might find
18:58
traces of that seditive in Todd's system. Not only that, but she had also asked her if she could go to the burned
19:04
property and get rid of a coffee mug which was left in the dishwasher. And although Todd's toxicology report would
19:11
eventually come back inconclusive, that doesn't necessarily mean that he hadn't been drugged. So, those are the main
19:17
things that Linda was up against. However, there were many other nuances, too. And you probably get the picture
19:23
already, but she was in very hot water here, probably boiled from the fire that she lit herself. Linda's trial
19:29
officially began in January of 2010 under very intense public scrutiny. By then, her story had already gone viral.
19:36
a wife who had burned her husband alive before then running him over. According to the prosecution's theory, Linda's
19:42
life was unraveling, and unfortunately, she saw only one way out, that being
19:48
that Todd had to die. However, her defense would not go down quietly, and they snubbed the prosecution's story as
19:54
a fantasy constructed out of coincidences and unreliable witnesses. The prosecution described how on the
20:01
morning of January the 7th, 2007, Linda put a cold, calculated plan into action.
20:06
In the early morning hours, she drove to the gas station under the guise of buying milk. However, in reality, she
20:13
actually filled a small can of gasoline. She next ensured that her sons were out of the house that afternoon, pushing
20:19
them to go see a movie in town so they wouldn't interfere or witness what was yet to come. Back at the farm, Linda
20:26
spiked Todd's morning coffee with a seditive, and with Todd now unconscious and on the living room couch, she then
20:32
retrieved the hidden gas can, poured all of it over his body and the living room floor, and then lit the match. The fire
20:39
investigator testified that the blaze was absolutely arson without question. He pointed towards the gasoline traces
20:46
found throughout the living room and soaked into Todd's clothing, which, as we know, included not only his socks,
20:51
but even his underwear and sweatpants. A crime lab analyst confirmed that the gas can found outside of the property had
20:58
the very same residue as the fuel found on Todd's body, meaning that the accelerant had a source and it tied
21:04
directly to the crime scene. Meanwhile, a medical examiner confirmed that Todd had suffered thirdderee burns across 90%
21:12
of his body. However, that was not the only thing that she had found. She also confirmed that he had four deep
21:19
lacerations on his scalp and two broken ribs. And these blunt force injuries were consistent with being struck by a
21:25
vehicle or beaten with a heavy object or perhaps even both. When Todd survived the fire and then stumbled outside of
21:32
the house, that is when Linda grabbed the van and finished the job that the fire had started. It doesn't really
21:39
matter if she had struck and ran over him deliberately or in fact panicked and hit him in the blind chaos. It made no
21:46
difference. Todd was now dead and Linda was at fault. and a lot of the evidence around would seem to fit the
21:52
prosecution's theory that this woman had gone to extreme lengths to make sure her husband wouldn't survive. Her best
21:59
friend Kate also testified that Linda would often complain about Todd's abuse and even once half-jokkingly asked, "Do
22:06
you know any ways to get rid of someone permanently?" In fact, she had even mused about hitting Todd with a car to
22:12
make it look like an accident. And on the topic of Kate, she would also tell the court that just three months before
22:18
Todd's death, she had actually even called the police because Linda had said, "Give me one good reason why I
22:24
shouldn't shoot Todd." And although Linda adamantly claimed that she only began a relationship with her new
22:29
partner, Chris after Todd's death, Chris would also testify under oath that in fact it had actually started several
22:36
months before. Now, I could go on with a lot more evidence here, but we would probably be up all night, and so let's
22:44
just say that the prosecution had a lot to say, and to be fair, so did the defense. No surprise, but Linda
22:50
maintained her innocence, sticking to the story that Todd must have accidentally knocked over the oil lamp, which then caused the fire. And as for
22:57
her running him over with his own truck, well, again, although she eventually admitted that it did happen, she claimed
23:03
that it was some sort of horrible accident. Her defense also insinuated that facing bankruptcy and foreclosure,
23:09
Todd decided to set his own house on fire, of course, for the insurance, and tragically miscalculated his ability to
23:17
get out. Linda's trial would not only divide a nation and a courtroom, but her very own family, with both of her sons
23:23
testifying against her. Meanwhile, her daughters, who had no biological connection to Todd, decided to take
23:29
their mother's side of the story and claimed that apparently he was abusive. And no surprise, this divided all four
23:36
siblings in half. This included her sons testifying that she often changed her story, even with them. And it turns out
23:43
that she would even physically attack them if they questioned her or her stories.
23:48
Laundry. And she heard yelling. And when she looked up the stairs, there was too
23:54
much smoke. And so she ran out the basement door. And then did the story change?
24:00
The story changed a few different times. What did it change to? Another time she
24:06
heard yelling. She ran up the stairs and saw her dad in the living room on fire
24:12
and she couldn't do anything because the smoke and the heat was too much and so she ran out the front door. Another time
24:18
she ran upstairs and there was too much smoke and she couldn't see anything and ran out the front door.
24:24
Did you ever ask her about the differences that she was telling you? I
24:30
never did. But um my brother Treton was very adamant about pushing her on her
24:35
stories. Did that happen in front of you? Yes. What happened when he would push her?
24:41
She would start screaming and one time she pulled the V or one time she pulled the vehicle over on the side of the
24:47
highway and started slapping him. He was in the back seat. Um other times she would just start
24:53
screaming and crying and saying, "How dare you call me a liar?" And she would tell Trevor to silence
25:02
him, shut him up, and she would allow Trevor, our other brother, to punch him, and
25:08
um physically attack him to keep him, you know, to um to shut him up.
25:15
Did Linda ever tell you what to say prior to you
25:22
being interviewed? Yes.
25:27
Did Linda tell you what happened when you talked after the fire?
25:33
Yeah, she gave a few different stories over the next two years.
25:40
Different stories. Do you recall how they were different? What she did, where she went,
25:47
um, changed. How did they change? At one point she
25:54
said that she went upstairs and
25:59
uh there was she saw a fire and couldn't see anything and
26:06
um I think she said that she couldn't
26:12
make it up the stairs at one point and that there was too much smoke or there
26:17
was fire already before that and uh where she went
26:24
out of the house uh seemed to change.
26:29
What did she tell you on where she left the house? Well, at one point she said that she
26:36
went back downstairs and went outside back door and I feel like a different point she
26:43
said that she went out the front door. Um,
26:48
but it anytime that I would ask, she would get either hysterical or angry and
26:58
uh be would attack me at times. So when you asked her about the
27:04
differences in the story, is that when she attacked you? Yeah. Tell me about that. driving once she
27:12
I think pulled over and started smacking me or something and uh
27:18
um another occasion she um just flat out attacked me and gave me
27:28
a bloody nose and pushed me into the bathroom. Um, another occasion she
27:36
told Trevor to um, beat me up if I kept asking
27:41
questions about it. Do you say anything concerning to you about your dad?
27:47
Prior to the fire? Yes. Yes. Um,
27:53
at one point she had came downstairs and sat on my bed
27:59
and said, "Uh, wouldn't it be better if he was dead?"
28:06
Um, there were just so many little pieces of
28:12
the puzzle that all pointed towards Linda's guilt. All the evidence pointing towards arson wasn't merely strong, but
28:19
outright overwhelming. And so when the prosecution wrapped up their case, all they had to do was stick to cold,
28:24
calculated facts. They also found out that while behind bars, Linda apparently
28:30
confessed to an inmate that she had, in fact, murdered Todd. Apparently, she just outright said it. But of course,
28:36
there was no actual way to prove this, and it was merely their word against Linda's. Now, moving to the legal
28:42
proceedings of this case, Linda's trials were a little bit different to the usual. So, let's dive into it. In
28:48
February of 2010, and after weeks of testimony, the jury saw a clear pattern emerge. They saw a woman with motive and
28:56
a trail of evidence to support it. And so, in the end, they found Linda Sturmer to be guilty on all counts. She was
29:03
therefore convicted of arson and first-degree premeditated murder. As the judge read the verdict, Linda closed her
29:10
eyes and shook her head, almost as if she couldn't quite believe that she was actually being held accountable for her
29:16
own actions. And it seemed that justice had finally been served for Todd. The
29:21
judge described her crime as monstrous. He spoke of the unimaginable pain that Todd must have endured and the pain that
29:28
all five children now have to face for the rest of their lives. After that, Linda was then sentenced to life in
29:34
prison without the possibility of parole. However, the story would unfortunately not end here.
The Aftermath
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So, no surprise, she did initially end up behind bars and for the next 8 years,
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she stayed there all while insisting that she was innocent. To begin with, she tried appealing through the state
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courts, but would get nowhere. Despite this, she didn't give up. And when she filed for a federal appeal, things
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actually seemed to start to shift for her. Again, playing the unfortunate victim, Linda claimed that her original
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trial was marred by serious errors from her defense team. And in 2018, a federal
30:12
judge would agree with her, ruling that her defense attorney had failed to challenge key arson evidence. Because of
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that failure, her original trial was deemed to be unfair, and she was actually let go. As a result, she was
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released on a $10,000 bond in December of 2018. Of course, prosecutors
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immediately promised that they would retry the case and push to reinstate her conviction, and most of Todd's family,
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including her own sons, were seething by the results. But for the time being, Linda was free, and she did have her
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daughters on her side. Her retrial wouldn't begin until 2025, which by
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coincidence would be held in the very same courthouse that her initial one was in. This time, the court largely heard
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the same story, but with a few key additions. And after weeks of testimony, the result was thankfully identical. In
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April of 2025, the jury returned with a second verdict, once again guilty on all
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counts. And so, Linda Sturma was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a second time. And just like
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that, she was back to where she had started, a prisoner forever. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty
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of first-degree premeditated murder. We the jury finds the defendant guilty
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of firstdegree felony murder. Members of the jury listen to your verdict as reported in regards to count
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one, guilty of firstdegree premeditated murder. Count two, guilty of
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first-degree felony murder. Is this the verdict of the poor person? Yes, it is. Is this the verdict of the jury?
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Yes, it is. She doesn't deserve the hope of ever being free again. And while I'm normally
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a compassionate person, I have zero forgiveness in my heart for Linda. And I hope when death comes for her, I hope it
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is as painful and as agonizing. This is the one you put through. You deserve it.
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You're an awful human being.
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With Linda losing a second trial, it is very unlikely that she will ever win another appeal, thankfully. Now, I'm
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going to be honest with you here. I really do believe that Linda is emphatically guilty of this crime. I
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mean, there is simply way too much evidence to suggest otherwise. There are simply way too many facts here,
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including the argument night before, the gasoline soaked clothing, and also, you know, the entire fact that she drove in
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the opposite direction to accidentally run over her husband. I mean, seriously, what kind of story is that? What also
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really gets me here is the way that Linda treated her children after Todd was murdered. She wasn't just
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manipulative, she was cold, cruel, and controlling. I mean, she would quite literally become violent with her sons
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if they questioned her story. What kind of mother is that? Definitely not a supportive one. And it's no surprise
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that two of them grew terrified of her while the other two girls became blindly loyal. And as for Todd, well, look, he
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wasn't a saint and he probably did have a temper. However, there was no evidence to suggest that he was the kind of
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monster that Linda tried to make him out to be. Anyway, those are my thoughts, but what are yours? Do you think that
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Linda is a victim of a broken system? Or do you think she's a cold-blooded killer that almost got away with it? By the
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way, the property that once held a family of seven and which promised so many dreams and aspirations still lies
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as an empty carcass to this day. Anyway, as for me, I'm going to wrap this video up here today, folks. So, thank you for
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watching, and as always, I'll see you again very soon. Until then, remember to stay safe and of course, stay curious.
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Thank you and goodbye. [Music]