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1 woman, 2 husbands dead under strange circumstances

Posted at 8:38 PM, Sep 30, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-30 20:39:24-04

“The Widow on Solway Road” at 10 p.m. 

Erin Moriarty and "48 Hours" investigate the murder case against Raynella Leath in the death of her second husband, David Leath, in “The Widow on Solway Road."

David Leath was found shot to death in the couple’s bed. Raynella Leath, a nurse, called 9-1-1 to report finding her husband shot dead. There was no evidence linking her to the weapon or the shooting.

Raynella Leath

Raynella Leath

“There was more than one shot,” says District Attorney Steve Crump. “And while that’s not unheard of – well, it didn’t look like a suicide scene.”

“Everything good about this woman was twisted,” says Leath’s defense attorney Josh Hedrick. “Everything good about this woman was turned around to be evil. There’s not any real evidence to suggest a homicide.”

“How many times does this have to happen before someone says, ‘enough’?” says Beth Roberts, David Leath’s cousin.

Raynella’s first husband, who was in the late stages of terminal cancer, also died after being trampled by cattle on the family farm.

"48 Hours" and Moriarty gained rare access to attorneys on both sides, family members, jurors and even the judge in a case that ended in a way that no one saw coming.

Was Raynella Leath very unlucky, or is there more to the story? "48 Hours" was there for the trial and the shocking end. But that’s not all. Moriarty also reveals key details jurors never heard.

Raynella Leath trial

Raynella Leath trial

48 Hours Special: “O.J. Simpson: Endgame”

As the country debates how football players react to a national uproar over race, patriotism and free speech, CBS News Special Correspondent James Brown anchors a 48 HOURS SPECIAL: “O.J. Simpson: Endgame,” a one-hour broadcast at 9:00 p.m., on the eve of Simpson’s release from a Nevada prison after serving time on armed robbery charges.

“Some half a million inmates will be released from our state prisons in 2017,” Brown reports. “None will be met by the spotlight, the curiosity that will greet O.J. Simpson. Will the man so many still consider a killer slip into the shadows and live out his days quietly? We know the national conversation about race and the criminal justice system remains center stage. It is America’s endless refrain, a nation’s unfinished business. When will race no longer measure and divide us?”

The special retraces the events that led Simpson to this moment: from his landmark murder trial – where he was found not guilty in the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman – to how that verdict continues to influence race relations.

The broadcast also focuses on what role domestic violence played in the murder trial and how the case impacted the careers of those involved. Brown’s report features interviews with Ron Shipp, a former Los Angeles police officer and friend of O. J. and Nicole; Fred Goldman, Ron’s father; Tanya Brown, Nicole’s sister; Sylvester Monroe, a writer who covered the trial for Time magazine and now is an editor at the Washington Post; Simpson’s friend Joe Bell; sports sociologist Harry Edwards, and Simpson’s legal “Dream Team” members F. Lee Bailey, Shawn Chapman Holley and Carl Douglas.

Douglas tells Brown the verdict in the Simpson murder trial was about more than just about the man on trial.

“People weren’t cheering O.J. Simpson per se. But they were cheering that once, one time it seemed that the criminal justice system balanced in favor of a black person - tomorrow will be the same,” Douglas says. “Yesterday will be like it was. But one time, it seemed that the system balanced in favor of a black man, and still we Americans can’t get past that.”

Asked why there’s still a fascination with Simpson today, Sylvester Monroe tells Brown, “Because it reflects where we still are today on matters of race.”