Barbara Kendhammer case: Prosecutors say Todd Kendhammer murdered his wife and staged the scene to look like a freak car accident

 Todd Kendhammer says his wife Barbara died in a freak car accident. But authorities questioned his story from the starting, and he was tried and convicted of intentional murder.

Kendhammer and his kids have refused to settle for the verdict and are in search of a new trial. Their combat for what they say is justice is the focus of “Mystery on County Road M,” reported by “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty, reairing Saturday, September 3 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Just after 8 a.m. on September 16, 2016, a distraught Todd Kendhammer known as 911 to report a car accident on a rural street exterior La Crosse, Wisconsin. “A pipe or something came through the windshield,” he instructed the operator.

When authorities arrived, he instructed them a pipe flew off a truck driving in the other way, got here by the windshield and struck his wife. Barbara, 46, was rushed to the hospital however died the subsequent day. The couple had simply celebrated their twenty fifth anniversary. 

Their kids, Jessica Servais and Jordan Kendhammer, say their dad and mom had been nonetheless very a lot in love. “Whatever my mom wanted, my dad gave it to her,” Servais instructed Moriarty. “They were just in a really good time in their lives ’cause they had their first grandchild, and they were well off.”

An post-mortem revealed that Barbara died of blunt power accidents to the head and neck. She additionally had three lacerations to the again of her head. The health worker didn’t suppose Barbara’s accidents had been in line with the accident as described by Todd.

“She said that the injuries to Barb were very inconsistent with a pipe … that size and that weight coming through the windshield,” says Tim Gruenke, La Crosse County district lawyer.

Surveillance video from a horse ranch down the street confirmed what seems to be the Kendhammer car move by at roughly 7:57 a.m. on the day of the incident. But at round the identical time, no truck that matched the description Todd gave police was ever seen heading in the other way.

Todd Kendhammer instructed police that he and Barbara had been driving to decide up a truck that wanted a windshield changed, belonging to a man named Justin Heim. Kendhammer did windshield substitute work as a aspect job.

“When the police looked into that, they found Justin Heim never had ordered a windshield from Todd, didn’t need a windshield. Todd didn’t even know where 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 look like an accident. Kendhammer was arrested three months later and went on trial a yr after that. “Every day I was in a constant state of anxiety and couldn’t eat and couldn’t sleep,” says Jessica.

At trial, each side argued about what induced Barbara’s accidents — a tragic accident, or a brutal combat. The windshield was as hotly disputed as the medical proof. Dueling consultants had totally different theories of what induced the glass fracture patterns.

Jessica and Jordan do not imagine prosecutors ever answered essential questions on what occurred. 

“They never really said how he killed her or what he did to stage everything,” says Jessica. Her brother added, “If he wanted to kill Ma, why the hell would he go through all the work and trouble to find a pipe, drive all the way out to the middle of a busy road—.” “He has like 28 guns in the basement,” Jessica interrupted. “More than that,” stated Jordan.

The prosecution had 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 bother.

Todd Kendhammer made the uncommon determination 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’m not in the right state of mind… I wasn’t thinking of where I was going or what I was doing. I was thinking of Barb,” he stated on the stand.

But he continued to battle with his reminiscence of the incident and instructed the jury about a third particular person he was going to see that morning. Gruenke requested him: “Did you change your story for trial because you knew police had figured out your lies?” “No,” he responded.

Todd Kendhammer’s kids stood by him. “He doesn’t lie. So when he says he didn’t do it, we believe him,” Jessica stated. But the jury did not imagine him, and Kendhammer was convicted and sentenced to life in jail, with the chance of parole in 30 years.

After the conviction, the Kendhammer household employed lawyer Jerry Buting, of “Making a Murderer” fame, to deal with the attraction, together with his wife and co-counsel Kathleen Stilling. 

“This was an accident,” Buting instructed Moriarty. “The idea that out of the blue he would snap and kill his wife and then stage the accident, it just seems so implausible to me,” Stilling added.

In 2021, Todd Kendhammer was again in court docket earlier than the identical choose for an evidentiary listening to. It was a likelihood to argue that his unique protection group had been ineffective, and that there was essential new proof. The forensic pathologist who testified there disagreed with the unique health worker and stated Barbara’s accidents had been attributable to an accident.

“We aren’t going to stop until he can be home,” Jessica says.

Prosecutor Gruenke believes justice has already been served for Barbara Kendhammer. “Do you have any concerns at all that you might have convicted an innocent man?” Moriarty requested. “Not in this case, no,” Gruenke replied.