The Murder of Lisa Techel
For this case, I watched an episode of Motives and Murder: Who Cracked the Case? It’s season 5 episode 1, titled Who Killed Daddy’s Girl?
A 23-year-old pregnant woman is killed in her home.
Background
Lisa Caldwell met her future husband, Seth Techel in high school. They were both members of their high school bowling team. They eventually married in October 2011. Lisa had wanted to start a family, which they did right away. Seth also seemed excited about being a father.
Lisa worked at the Washington County Jail in Iowa. She also was a reverse for the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office, and wanted to become a criminal investigator someday. Lisa looked up to her father, Todd Caldwell, a Wapello County deputy sheriff.
Lisa was described as competitive, funny, and as the glue of her family. She was so excited to be a mom, and was 17 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
Lisa Caldwell Techel
Lisa with her sister, and father, Todd
The 911 Call
In the early morning hours of May 26, 2012, Todd received a call that something had happened to his daughter.
When he arrived, the other police officers couldn’t stop him from running inside Lisa and Seth’s house. Lisa was found lying on her bed, and had been shot in the chest. Todd said he just knew that Lisa was gone. He wanted to be there for Seth, who was clearly devastated.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) sent agents Chris Thomas and Tony Birmingham to take over the case. They spoke to Seth about his movements from that morning.
Seth told them that he had woken up around 5am to shower, while Lisa slept for a few more minutes. Seth said he heard what sounded like a shot gun blast, and the sound of an intruder leaving the house. Seth said he ran outside, but didn’t see anyone. He then called 911.
The Neighbor
Seth became very angry while he was speaking to the police, and said he would kill whoever had killed Lisa.
Todd believed he knew who had killed his daughter. He told the police that it was Brian Tate, the neighbor of Lisa and Seth. Brian was a paranoid schizophrenic, and had several issues with his neighbors in the past.
Three months before Lisa’s murder, Seth said he had seen Brian in his yard. Brian had called the police because someone had been vandalizing his yard. Todd had even responded to one of these calls, and said he just listened to Brian ramble on.
The police did learn that Brian had a shot gun. The police spoke to Brian several times, but didn’t have any evidence against him. They also couldn’t completely rule him out. Brian’s mom had claimed that Brian was asleep until 10:30am on the day of the murder.
Seth’s Story
Around 1pm on May 26, 2012, Seth went to the police station for another interview. The police asked Seth if he could remember anything else from that morning, but he said no.
Seth asked the police during his interview if Lisa was still in the house because he didn’t want to see her lying there anymore. Seth was also very adamant that Brian had killed Lisa.
While Seth was at the police station, one of his friends named Colton had come to Lisa and Seth’s house. Colton revealed that Seth had been texting with a woman named Rachel McFarland from work and he had seen photos of her on Seth’s phone.
DCI Agent Thomas received this information while he was interviewing Seth. He asked Seth if he had any extramarital affairs going on, or had exchanged photos with anyone else. Seth said no, and claimed he did have a friend from work. Seth said Lisa had found out that he was texting his co-worker, Rachel. Lisa had asked Seth to stop, so he said he did, and the situation had been forgotten about.
The police didn’t have any evidence to prove that Seth had killed Lisa, but couldn’t rule him out.
The Evidence
The police spoke to another friend of Seth and Lisa’s. The friend had lived with them until 10 days before the murder. He said he moved out because the Techel’s were going to renovate the room for their baby, and he was getting shoulder surgery.
The friend did admit that he had a shot gun, but it was left at Seth and Lisa’s house. Seth had been asked to make a list of his firearms, but he failed to mention that his friend had left behind a shot gun.
The shot gun was found on May 27, 2012, in an area of tall grass near Seth and Lisa’s home. The gun had been wiped clean of fingerprints, but the ballistics testing proved it was the murder weapon.
Seth was allowed back into his house on May 27. He was seen by police officers in the area looking in the tall grass where the gun had been found. It seemed like he had been checking to see if the gun was still there.
On May 28, the police went back to the Techel’s house. Inside Seth’s truck, the police found a burner phone in the passenger side pocket. Seth used the phone to talk to his co-worker. They exchanged thousands of text messages and photos. They were saying I love you, and that they wanted to be together.
An Ultimatum
On May 29, the police spoke to Rachel She said they had met up, but only kissed. The police believed she wasn’t being completely honest about that.
Rachel McFarland
She told the police that she had made the decision to end their fling because she believed Seth wasn’t going to leave Lisa. She said 2 weeks before the murder, she gave Seth an ultimatum to either end his marriage or lose her. Seth had told her to give him 2 weeks.
On May 30, 2012, Seth Techel was arrested. He was handcuffed with Lisa’s handcuffs, and was charged with first degree murder and nonconsensual termination of a human pregnancy.
Third Time’s a Charm
Seth’s first two trials ended in a hung jury. The jury couldn’t come to a unanimous decision on whether or not Seth had killed Lisa.
Seth’s third trial began in July 2014, and was moved 2 hours away from the first two trials.
The prosecution’s theory was that Seth wanted out of his marriage to be with his girlfriend, and didn’t want to pay child support.
Seth’s friend, Colton, had testified that he told Seth that it was stupid for him to be speaking to his co-worker. Colton said he was aware of the 2nd phone that Seth had.
According to text messages, Seth had texted his co-worker on May 25. He said that he had ended things with Lisa, and that Lisa was sad and mad. The next day, Seth shot Lisa. He tried hiding the gun, and showered to clean himself off. Seth then called 911.
Seth’s defense was to blame other suspects, especially Brian Tate.
In September 2014, Seth was found guilty. He was sentenced to life plus 25 years without the possibility of parole.
Seth Techel
Other
Seth continued to appeal his conviction, but the court upheld the conviction.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Seth should’ve just left if he really wanted to be with his another woman. Seth didn’t only kill Lisa, but he killed their unborn child, who he clearly didn’t care about. It’s believed that Seth had been the one who vandalized Brian’s yard. Brian didn’t even know Seth that well, but was targeted because he was mentally ill. Seth deserves to rot for a long time, and my heart goes out to Lisa’s family.
Sources
https://www.kcci.com/article/techel-sentenced-for-killing-his-pregnant-wife-1/6896896
https://apnews.com/article/3f6f64dc73524637891f5bd8a6b85a8a
https://www.iowacourts.gov/static/media/documents/141520_7A20441F3091A.pdf
