Murder of Kristine Fitzhugh

Kristine Fitzhugh (1947–2000)[1] was a music teacher in Palo Alto, California. She was murdered in her home on May 5, 2000. On October 11, 2001, her husband, Kenneth Carroll Fitzhugh Jr. (1943–2012), was convicted of her second degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life.[1][2] The murder attracted strong local attention.

Murder

On May 5, 2000, Kristine was murdered at her home at 1545 Escobita Avenue in Palo Alto.[3] Her husband created an alibi by running an errand with two family friends. He made an excuse to stop by the house after getting a call on his mobile phone from Palo Alto Unified School District that Kristine had not come in to teach. He went inside and supposedly "discovered" that his wife was dead.

Kristine's body was at the bottom of the stairs to the basement. Kenneth claimed she had tripped on a pair of shoes on her way down to the basement, and suffered a deadly fall. The paramedics, however, were suspicious of the circumstances. A forensic investigation determined that Kristine had been killed in the kitchen after being hit on the head seven times and strangled and then repositioned by her husband at the bottom of the stairs in a staged accident.[4] Investigators used luminol to discover water-diluted blood on the floor in the kitchen, as if Kenneth had cleaned the blood off the floor.

During the time of the murder, Kenneth claimed he was in San Mateo, California, far from his house, looking at real estate. However, Craig Frost from Verizon Wireless examined the firm's cellular telephone records and determined that a Fitzhugh telephone call that happened just a few minutes before the murder did not use a cellular tower antenna in San Mateo but rather a Palo Alto antenna that served Fitzhugh's own neighborhood.[5]

Motive

The motive for the murder is not known; it was speculated that Kristine was about to reveal to her eldest son that he had been fathered by another man. Kristine had a six-year affair with Robert Brown early in her marriage to Fitzhugh and long suspected that Brown was her son's biological father. Kristine informed both Fitzhugh and Brown that she was going to tell the son of her suspicions upon his graduation from college. According to police and prosecutors, this infuriated Ken and led him to murder Kristine.[6] A DNA blood test conducted by police after the murder confirmed Brown as the biological father.[7]

Another possible motive was money. Kenneth C. Fitzhugh Jr was convicted of his wife's murder, so he did not receive the $96,000 from her life insurance policy. With his conviction, her $900,000 estate passed to her sons Justin Kenneth and John Patrick.[8]

Conviction and sentence

Kenneth Fitzhugh was convicted of second-degree murder and, in 2001, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.[1] An appeal of Fitzhugh's conviction and sentence was rejected in 2006 by the California Supreme Court. Fitzhugh was paroled on compassionate grounds in February 2012 due to Parkinson's Disease. He died in Palo Alto on October 27, 2012, at the age of 69.[9][2]

Cultural references

References

  1. 1 2 3 Stannard, Matthew B. (October 11, 2001). "Fitzhugh gets 15 years to life / Palo Alto man lacks remorse in wife's death". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Dremann, Sue (December 2, 2013). "Palo Alto murderer dies after 'compassionate' parole". Palo Alto Online. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Kristine Fitzhugh Case". Palo Alto Weekly News Online. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  4. ↑ Herhold, Scott. "Herhold: Murder in Palo Alto -- the coda to the Kenneth Fitzhugh case". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  5. ↑ D'Agostino, Bill (11 July 2001). "Prosecution tries to crack Fitzhugh alibi". Palo Alto Weekly. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Walsh, Diana; Finz, Stacy (24 June 2001). "Death betrayed secret life of the 'perfect wife' / Palo Alto teacher raised a love child". SFGate. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  7. ↑ Smith, Carlton (2003). Blood Will Tell: A Shocking True Story of Marriage, Murder, and Fatal Family Secrets. New York, NY: St. Martin's Paperbacks. p. 204. ISBN 0-312-97795-6.
  8. ↑ Gathright, Alan. "Money a Motive in Slaying? / Fitzhugh could inherit $900,000 if exonerated". SFGate. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  9. ↑ Herhold, Scott (December 4, 2013). "Murder in Palo Alto — the coda to the Kenneth Fitzhugh case". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Palo Alto: Flesh and Blood". IMDB. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  11. ↑ "Kristine Fitzhugh Case". IMDB. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  12. ↑ "The Truth Hurts". IMDB. Retrieved 2016-03-28.

External links

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