In Northern Michigan,  “Up north” as they say here, crime is rare and murder rarer still.

On a clear October morning three years ago, deputy Troy Packard responded to a 911 call to Watervale. He was apprehensive.

Troy Packard, police officer:  Well, all that’s reported to me is there’s a body in the water.  You’re thinking, “Was it an accident?” “Was it a suicide?”  You know, “Was it a murder?”

Investigators took hours to comb the scene, starting with the boathouse.  On the wooden upper deck, a post was broken. 12 feet below on the concrete platform was a bloodstain.  Below that, in shallow water, was Flo’s body.

Packard says Mark Unger seemed evasive.

Packard: He just kept on saying, “I don’t know.”  And I asked him, “Well when was the last time you seen Florence alive?”  “I don’t know.” 

Packard watched Mark make a series of cell phone calls.  He was frequently interrupted by call waiting.

Packard: He would click over.  He would answer it and then

He would start trying to cry and moan and “She’s gone.  I can’t believe it,” in this great emotion. And then he’d go back to the other person and then he was all calm and fine again. It just didn’t seem right.

And something kept bothering Linn Duncan. He says he hadn’t told Mark where Flo’s body was -- how did Mark know to run to that very spot?

Linn Duncan: He jumped in the water right next to her.  And at that moment I looked around and I said to myself. “My God he did it.” 

By nightfall, Mark was under a cloud of suspicion, and Flo’s parents were given temporary custody of the boys. 

Flo was buried a few days later. Hundreds of people attended her funeral.

Months passed. The investigation seemed stalled and Mark was not charged with a crime.   He fought bitterly to regain custody of his sons, Max, age 10, and Tyler, 7.  Flo’s parents fought back. 

Claire Stern, Florence's mother: This is not about custody of the children. This is about a murder investigation. FINISH the murder investigation.

Within days of Flo’s death, Mark hired a heavy-hitting defense attorney, Bob Harrison.  Harrison has handled over 100 murder cases.

Bob Harrison, defense attorney: I had a client in a world of trouble. 

Hansen: When somebody hires Bob Harrison in a case like this what does he get?

Harrison: Well, whether it’s gonna be good enough or not you’ll get everything I’ve got.

Calling Flo’s death a tragic accident, Mark took - and passed - a lie detector test, given by a respected retired police polygrapher.

Hansen: Did you personally kill your wife Flo?

Unger: No.

But prosecutors didn’t buy it. In May of 2004, seven months after their trip to Watervale, Mark was charged with the premeditated murder of his wife.

Hansen: In Michigan when you’re convicted of first degree murder you have to face a mandatory life sentence.

Harrison: Correct.

Hansen: No parole here.

Harrison: Until you die.

Attorney Donna Pendergast led the prosecution. Daughter of a Detroit cop, Pendergast has been called Michigan’s best prosecutor. This was her 93^rd murder case. 

Hansen: How many have you won?

Donna Pendergast, prosecutor: All but two.

Hansen: That’s a pretty good record.

Pendergast: Uhm, I’ve been lucky.

This time Pendergast had her work cut out for her. She had a tough opponent and a weak case.

Hansen: There was no DNA evidence.

Pendergast:  No.

Hansen: No fingerprints.

Pendergast: No. But we had circumstantial evidence. And we believed with what was admissible as evidence, that we could present a pretty clear picture for the jury.

And so began a trial that would last nearly nine weeks and would include mountains of conflicting evidence. Detailed pathology reports, a recreation of Mark’s walk down to the water that morning,  a wooden mock-up of the deck railing, and explicit animations—all of it leading to very different conclusions. 

The biggest trial this small community ever witnessed began with an extraordinary field trip to the scene. With the defendant’s mother, the defendant himself, the twelve people charged with his fate, and the victim’s father all mingled where Flo died. 

Prosecutors painted this picture of what happened that night. They claimed Mark and Flo argued on the boathouse deck, that Mark pushed Flo and that she fell 12 feet onto the cement below.  She was unconscious but alive. Mark left her there and went back into the cottage to tuck his children into bed— and this, prosecutors said, is why her murder was premeditated. Mark waited over an hour before he returned to the deck and killed Flo by pulling her into the water where she drowned.

Back in the courtroom, Donna Pendergast began building her case by asking witnesses there that day to describe Mark'sodd demeanor.

Pendergast (in court): So you indicated he had kind of going between crying and matter of fact?

Tom Kelley: Yeah.  And I’d offer him Kleenexes and he’d take them, but I never saw a tear. 

Fran D'Angela: He got noticeably upset sobbing very loudly, but I never noticed any tears. 

And deputy Packard told the jury he was stunned to find that just hours after the discovery of Flo'sbody, Mark had already packed up the family car. 

Packard said Mark kept repeating, “I just want to leave.”

Deputy Troy Packard: I found it peculiar because that’s all he was saying.  He just wanted to leave.  And here’s Florence, still lying face down in the water.

But Pendergast was not going to convict Mark Unger on peculiar behavior alone. She planned to make her case around a marriage in trouble and something about Flo that made it very unlikely for her to have stayed out on that boat deck alone.

Hansen: And what was your theme in this case?

Donna Pendergast: Well, in this case it was pretty clear—that this woman was not just scared, but terrified of the dark. And the bottom line is, if you believed that she truly was afraid of the dark, then she simply would not have stayed out on the deck where it’s pitch-black. Then his story failed from the get-go.

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