Heart Rake

Remember when Donald Trump told California officials that if they raked the forest, the wildfires would stop? It's a thing that really happened, it became a meme. Outside of the lunacy that a rake would stop a wildfire, Todd Mullis may have given them another reason to not listen to Trump. Mullis is charged with killing his wife, Amy Mullis, with a corn rake. And as with so many victims before her, Amy seemed to know that Todd was aiming to snuff the life out of her.

Amy and Todd married in 2004, and almost right away there were troubles in the marriage. Friends would tell investigators that the couple would always fight, they rarely agreed on anything. Once they began having kids, there was hope that they would calm down. Those that hoped for that have obviously never watched a true crime show before. It was the beginning of a long story about a toxic relationship that would only end when one of them was killed. Maybe they also missed the adultery.

Amy began having an affair with a man in 2013, and once Todd found out he lost his mind. The already strained marriage was near its breaking point. Arguments began to increase in frequency and violence. Amy told friends that she wanted out of the marriage but Todd seemed to be hanging on for one reason or another. Just when things looked their bleakest, a ray of sun came in and the marriage seemed to stabilize... Stabilize as much as it could for two people who had no business being together.

Amy and Todd were almost as incompatible as Rachel and Joey from Friends. Maybe they were friends and truly got along, which led them to believe they loved one another enough to make a marriage work. As they started to work together and attempted to create a loving home for their kids, Amy once again began to voice her fears to friends. She told one if she went missing, "You'll know Todd did something to me."

In July of 2018, it is believed that Amy once again began having an affair with another man. This time she warned friends that when Todd found out, she was a goner. One message she sent to a friend said, "If he catches me, he might make me disappear," it seems as though no one believed Amy until it was too late. Todd did find out about the affair and they stopped sleeping in the same bed. Amy began telling friends this might finally be the end of the marriage.

She was right, but it was also the end of her life. November 11, 2018, Amy Mullis was killed. Todd for his part, tried to spin a story of illness for the police. He told investigators Amy had been "feeling dizzy" and overall just not feeling well. She must have fallen onto the rake and died. The story is so bad that if it were satire, it would be funny.

Here's why it's laughable. Amy had six puncture wounds in her body. The rake she allegedly fell on had four prongs. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out something is wrong with the story. Plus, there are some Google searches that suggest that Amy's "accident" was not an accident.

Some of the Google searches that police found on an iPad registered to Todd's were "what happened to cheating spouses in historic Aztec tribes," and "killing unfaithful women." Those on their own are damning but when added with finding another Google search asking about "organs in the body." Todd wanted to inflict some old fashioned pain, and he made sure that Amy suffered as she took her last breath.

Now, he faces murder charges and an uncertain future. It seems as though he is trying to spin a yarn that this was God's vengeance for Amy cheating on him, most of the news stories lead with that piece of information rather than her murder. Fox News made it a part of their headline! Will it be enough to get Todd acquitted? His preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 8, 2019.