The Scariest Staircase

Tanya Jean Bushler was born on 8 October 1949. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now

By 1993 she feared him. details of the account remain covered until revealed She told the same to her sister Robin, a priest, Father Anderson, friends Jan and Carol, her cousin Vicky, a car salesperson, Jeanine Rathart, and a Sioux Falls divorce lawyer, Lee Bird.

In 1994 Lee Bird prepared a divorce on the grounds of extreme cruelty, but Tanya withdrew it before it was filed, for the sake of the children, then aged nine to 17. Counselling did not help. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Their daughter Jessie said that in the summer of 1999 he was drunk and threatened to throw Tanya through a wall.

In October 1999 Tanya emailed a daughter that she was looking for a place in Faulkton and would file for divorce. this part of the story is covered for now On 7 November, while he slept, she moved out with her youngest daughter. details of the account remain covered until revealed On 16 November she called Lee Bird to reinstate the divorce.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Afterwards he drove her to the bank and they met an attorney in Highmore about the divorce. Sheriff Mike Vollick saw them returning at 11.10. Between 11.43 and 11.55 they called their daughter Rebecca in Italy for twelve minutes. Tanya's 1 p.m. appointment with Father Randy Phillips in Faulkton never happened.

this part of the story is covered for now At 3.01 he told the former sheriff, Martin Wortman, that Tanya had fallen down the stairs and died; at 3.16 he rang the current sheriff. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now He later admitted wiping blood off the left stair railing.

Tanya lay at the bottom of the carpeted basement stairs, with no blood on the stairs. The garage floor had scuff marks, blood spatter matching her DNA on the inside of the door, a clump of her hair under a car, and appeared recently cleaned. The autopsy found a blackened eye, a split lip, fractures to both sides of the skull, petechial haemorrhages, bruising to the neck and voice box, four or five fractured ribs and a defensive bruise on the hand. The cause was manual strangulation and blunt head trauma. details of the account remain covered until revealed He said she had dizzy spells, then that he was pretty sure he had not knocked her down, then that there had been pushing and shoving in the garage. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

He had two life insurance policies on Tanya worth $1.7 million with accidental death benefits, and on 12 November 1999 he told his agent, "I'm going to kill the bitch, you know I can do it." A neighbour, Carol, had heard him talk of killing his wife and hiring a hitman. this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The prosecution expert Dr Sammy Shibani claimed physics made the fall impossible, though he was later exposed as a fraud. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed