The Murder of Kristine Fitzhugh

For this case, I watched an episode of Forensic Files. It’s season 14 episode 3, titled ‘Hell’s Kitchen.’

A beloved music teacher is killed her in home.

Background

Kristine Fitzhugh married her husband Ken in 1966. They raised two sons together, and lived in a beautiful home in Palo Alto, California. They also had a shared love of music.

Kristine worked as a music teacher in of the local public schools. She was described as a perfectionist, and as very punctual.

The Murder

On May 5, 2000, Ken received a phone call from Kristine’s school. They said Kristine hadn’t made it back for her 1pm music class, which was unlike her.

Ken worked as a real estate consultant. He and two of co-workers decided to stop by the Fitzhugh home to check on Kristine.

When they arrived, they found Kristine’s car in the driveway. Inside the home, Kristine was found lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs. One of Ken’s co-workers called 911, told the dispatch that Kristine had fallen and hit her head.

Kristine Fitzhugh was pronounced dead at the scene.

A Suspicious Scene

At first glance, it looked like Kristine had fallen as she carried laundry down the stairs. She had been wearing dangerous shoes that were also found on the staircase. However, the police became suspicious because the shoes were in a position inconsistent with a fall down the stairs.

Gregory Schmunk, a forensic pathologist, also made discoveries during the autopsy, that were inconsistent with a fall. Kristine had about 7 lacerations to her head and neck, and she had been manually strangled.

With these findings, a forensic team was in and out of the Fitzhugh home for several days. They didn’t find any blood spatter on the walls or staircase, meaning Kristine was most likely killed somewhere else in the home.

In the kitchen, the police did find small drops of blood on the leg and seat of a chair. The room was sprayed with luminol, and as they said in the show, “it lit up like a Christmas tree.”

Kristine had been attacked at the kitchen table as she ate lunch. As well as the chair, a wall nearby was also covered in blood. There was also blood on the landing between the kitchen and basement. Kristine had then been dragged down the staircase. There were shoe prints leading from the kitchen down the stairs. The scene was then cleaned so well that none of the blood was seen with the naked eye.

Family Secrets

During the investigation, the police learned that the Fitzhugh’s had serious financial issues. Kristine had confided in her friends that she was thinking about leaving Ken and about selling the house.

The police also learned that Kristine’s oldest son, Justin, was not Ken’s biological son. They had noticed a picture of the family in the home, and commented that one of the sons didn’t look like his brother.

During his police interview, Ken had referred to Justin as “her oldest son.” The police caught onto this slip-up, and asked him about it. Ken then covered it up, and said “our son.”

Justin’s biological dad was a man named Bob Brown, that had once worked with Ken, and had been friends with the family. After Justin was born, Bob became Justin’s godfather. Bob had been addicted to drugs and alcohol for most of his life, and lost contact with Ken, Kristine, and his son.

Kristine had been planning to tell Justin after he graduated from college. She had wanted to invite Bob, and tell other people in her life about who Justin’s father really was.

A paternity test was done, and it confirmed that Bob was Justin’s biological father. Many claimed that Ken didn't know that he wasn’t Justin’s dad, but many believed that Kristine would have told him before confessing it to everyone.

A Mountain of Evidence

The police narrowed in on Ken as their suspect. They thought he was overacting in the interrogation. He appeared very angry that Kristine wore “those goddamn black shoes.” He pounded his fists on the table in anger.

At first, the police didn’t have any forensic evidence linking Ken to the crime. That was until they obtained a search warrant for his SUV. Inside, they found bloody shoes, a bloody shirt underneath the seat, and a bloody paper towel with Kristine’s blood on it.

Ken’s shoes were also found in the car. They were somewhat cleaned, but they matched the shoe prints found in the home. They had a small amount of deluded blood on them, meaning the shoes had been on Ken’s feet as he cleaned up the blood. The blood also proved that he had been in contact with Kristine’s body as he attacked her.

Ken was confronted by the evidence. He claimed that the bloody paper towel was from a gardening accident about a week earlier. The forensic pathologist was able to tell the police that Kristine didn't have any wounds on her hands.

The Conviction

Two weeks after Kristine’s murder, Ken was arrested. He went on trial a year later.

The prosecution said that the evidence showed that Ken had lied about where he had been that day. Ken claimed that he had driven to Belmont, California, about 9 miles from Palo Alto, to look at a vacant lot. However, his phone records said otherwise. His phone records had placed him in Palo Alto between 12:20pm, when Kristine grabbed coffee, and 1:40pm, when the 911 call was placed.

The prosecution said Ken’s motive was secrecy. Ken didn’t want their financial issues, the possible divorce, or the truth of Justin’s biological dad to get out to the public. Ken would’ve also been the beneficiary of Kristine’s $96,000 life insurance policy.

On the day of the murder, Ken parked away from the home. He went inside, and attacked Kristine as she ate lunch. He also strangled her, dragged her down the stairs, staged and cleaned the scene.

Ken Fitzhugh was convicted of second degree murder. He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Other

In February 2012, Ken compassionate-release parole, and was released from San Quentin Prison.

In October 2012, Ken died from Parkinson’s disease. He had always maintained that he was innocent.

There is a book about this case, titled Blood Will Tell: A Shocking True Story of Marriage, Murder, and Fatal Family Secrets by Carlton Smith. It has mostly great reviews on Amazon, so this is another book I will be adding to my list!

FINAL THOUGHTS

This case has many similarities to the Kathleen and Michael Peterson case. A staged fall down the stairs, head lacerations, flimsy shoes, and of course, the husband being the killer.

Kristine deserved to live, to continue teaching, and to handle the revelation of her son’s biological father in the way she wanted to. It’s a tragic case, and I believe that Ken did kill her. There’s too much evidence pointing to him, and obviously, Kristine didn’t actually fall down the stairs.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kristine_Fitzhugh

https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news_features/fitzhugh/2001_07_12.12fitzhugh.shtml

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Death-betrayed-secret-life-of-the-perfect-wife-2906668.php

https://yamm.finance/wiki/Murder_of_Kristine_Fitzhugh.html

https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/11/30/palo-alto-murderer-dies-after-compassionate-parole

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Will-Tell-Shocking-Marriage/dp/0312977956