Todd Mullis (KCRG TV photo)
The Iowa farmer accused of killing his wife with a corn rake told jurors on Thursday he didn’t do it. KCRG TV was in the courtroom when Todd Mullis testified on the third day of his own trial and was asked if he killed his wife Amy last November. “No I did not,” Mullis said.
The 43-year-old Mullis of Earlville is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Amy Mullis. Mullis testified on Friday and gave statements against evidence the state brought to the jurors. One piece of evidence included Google searches from an iPad, which included queries like, ‘killing unfaithful women.’ Mullis explained his whole family used the device and that he and Amy would watch historical shows together and the would then research more information on the topics together.
There were also searches for the man who Amy had been having an affair with the summer before her death in the fall. On Wednesday, witnesses described how a few years ago Mullis requested Amy leave her job as a nurse at the Manchester hospital after her first affair at that time.
Thursday, Mullis told jurors that Amy wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and spend more time with her family. Amy had outpatient surgery in the days before her death. Mullis said that during the last day of her life, she was dizzy when they were working in a hog barn and he told her to go back to the house. A little while later, he described hearing his son yell when he found Amy with the rake in her back in a different shed on the farm.
“I seen Amy hunched up, face down, laying up next to the door,” said Mullis. “Did she have this corn fork stuck in her?” Mullis’ attorney asked. “Yeh,” Mullis responded. Mullis says he then dove down by her and tried to get her attention. Mullis said he wanted to help her. Mullis testified that she must have fallen.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations Special Agent Jon Turbett, who interviewed Mullis six days after Amy’s death, said that investigators were convinced it was a homicide — not an accident — based on the autopsy results, which indicated the corn rake had been impaled at least twice in different directions. He also described the conversation that he had with Mullis in the hours-long conversation less than a week after her death.
“As I proceed for the next 35-plus minutes to tell him the evidence is very clear, in fact, it is a homicide, and ‘You killed Amy,’ the most I get from him it’s a very flat emmotional affect and he says ‘How?’ and he says, ‘What evidence do you have?’ He never tells me, ‘No, I did not kill my wife,” Turbet says.
The trial is back underway today.