Staged Accident_ How Forensics Exposed a Double Life

A boating accident on a remote lake. A husband who survived. A wife who drowned. The widow collected the insurance and moved on with her secret boyfriend. But the lake would not keep its secret forever.In 1987, Janice Gault drowned on Lake Wylie in North Carolina. Her husband David Gault told police they were boating when she fell overboard. He tried to save her, he claimed, but the current was too strong. He collected a $150,000 insurance payout and moved in with his girlfriend. The case was closed.Six years later, a new detective reopened the file. He interviewed a diver who recalled an anchor rope tied around Janice's ankle. He found a boating expert who testified the body's location was impossible given the currents. And he discovered that David Gault's girlfriend had recently sold a ring that belonged to the dead woman.The state medical examiner exhumed Janice's body and performed a new autopsy. Her hands and feet had been tied. There was no drowning. She had been strangled hours before entering the water. David Gault was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Forensic science proved that a staged accident was nothing but a cover-up for a double life.Turn down the lights, put on your headphones, and press play because the widow thought he had gotten away. The lake knew better.