Did The Doctor Kill The Doctor?

20:43I gave them that jacket to facilitate them looking for her jacket so they knew what they were supposed to be looking for. I was trying to help them and they looked at it for blood stains and all that kind of stuff and obviously that wasn't there.

20:58Richard Schlesinger:Stryker was helping the police just as he said he was but he was helping them confirm their suspicions of him and he didn't help himself any when just one week after the murder, he went on that Caribbean vacation alone. He was down there on the day of Lynn's memorial service. It actually became an opportunity to actually have some time away and for me to sit in a quiet space and start to deal with the emotion that I had to kind of shut down right after her death. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't gone, even though at the time it was therapeutic for me to do that. Stryker's sister Jean agreed it was a bad idea.

21:47He did it mainly because my mother told him to. Yeah. My mother told him to go on vacation because he was talking with her about all of the harassment he was getting. And she's like, Tim, you need to just go on this vacation. because I thought it was not such a great idea.

22:07Richard Schlesinger:Why did you think it wasn't a good idea? I mean, here's this good-looking, sexy doctor, and it's very exciting to think that he could possibly have done this, and they were making a lot of it. It didn't look good. It didn't look good. It didn't look good. And when Stryker got back from the Caribbean, the police were eager to talk to him again. And they told me that everything about my story was checking out okay. But they just wanted to do a little polygraph so they could rule me out as a suspect. And off you went to the polygraph. And off I went to the polygraph. According to transcripts of the lie detector session, the polygraph examiner asks Stryker, Do you know why I've asked you here?

22:54Richard Schlesinger:Stryker replies, The boyfriend is usually the number one suspect. Later, Stryker is asked, Did you cause the death of Lynn Gowdy? And Stryker replies, No. When he's asked, Do you think she was murdered? Stryker says, It's easier to accept suicide. The police told Stryker the results of the polygraph, in their words, clearly indicated he was involved. And that's when Tim Stryker said he did not want to continue cooperating. The police say Stryker incriminated himself further after the polygraph when he told them, quote, I just put a noose around my neck. I can see my world crumbling. Did you say after the lie detector test, I just put the noose around my neck?

23:43No, I would never say something like that. It would have been more like, I think you guys are trying to put a noose around my neck. because my feeling at the time was that these people were trying to badger me.

23:59Richard Schlesinger:Soon after Stryker got an attorney, the investigation into Lynn's death stalled. The polygraph test was inadmissible evidence, and the police didn't have much else against him. Stryker wasn't charged, but he wasn't cleared either. Far from it. For more than a decade, he remained the prime suspect, despite his consistent denials. Did you kill Lynn Gowdy? No, I did not. Do you know who did kill Lynn Gowdy? No, I don't. And if I did, I wouldn't be in this situation. The police investigation might have been stalled, but Lynn Gowdy's family would not be stopped. They believe Stryker was getting away with murder and proving it was now up to them.

24:52For years, Gone South has been a podcast about crime in the American South. But for our new season, we're widening the lens. Through deeply reported narrative-driven stories, we're digging into the myths, scandals, and power structures that still shape the South, and in a lot of ways, the country itself. Follow and listen to Gone South Season 5, an Odyssey podcast. Available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows.

25:26Dr. Link out is killed back in 1993. The longer a homicide remains unsolved, that eats at me and it eats at our investigative team because we know that somebody could literally get away with murder. Gowdy's body was found in her car in front of Estonum Hospital where she worked with Stryker.

25:49Richard Schlesinger:In the 90s, when he was a young assistant DA, Jerry Leone worked this case before it went cold. How do you solve a case with no witnesses, no physical evidence, no DNA, none of the tools you like? This is and always was a circumstantial case, But we build circumstantial cases all of the time. You take your time. But after three years' time, nobody had been brought to justice. So Lynn's family stepped in and did the only thing they could. In 1996, Lynn's mother, Marguerite Rathus, filed a wrongful death suit against the man she always believed killed her daughter, Dr. Tim Stryker. The suit charges Dr.

26:39Richard Schlesinger:Stryker, quote, willfully, wantonly, and maliciously killed Gowdy by strangling her, unquote. It's a scathing accusation against a man who's never been criminally charged with Lynn's murder. If I think about what I would do if my daughter died, and if I suspected that somebody else may have killed her, then I could see how I would have an agenda, you know, to try to bring somebody to justice. But they obviously are blaming the wrong person. It's a civil case, not a criminal case, so it's easier to win. But Lynn's family still wanted the DA's file containing all the evidence against Stryker. And that turned into a long, drawn out, legal tug of war.

27:27Richard Schlesinger:The DA's office considered this an open case and refused to turn over the file. Well, I'm very disappointed with the way this thing happened. The family wanted to prove their case. The prosecutors wanted to protect theirs. It went back and forth for nearly 10 years. But Lynn's family and their attorney, Michael Altman, kept up the pressure to get Stryker in front of a jury. Our feeling was, you do it or we'll do it. And it should not be nobody does it. And finally in 2006, 13 years after Lynn's murder, her family won the fight. How you doing, Tony? Good boy. A court ordered the DA to turn over the criminal file.

28:09Richard Schlesinger:And armed with that... All rise. ...the Refuses were ready to do what prosecutors could not, confront Tim Stryker in a court of law. He had a history of abusive behavior. Altman says Stryker and Lynn often argued, argued more violently than Stryker says argued the last day she was alive. They were seen arguing in the corridor that evening. There was something that went awry. He lost control. He was a control freak. He killed her. Please raise your right hand. Stryker had to face his accusers from the witness stand. Did you express feelings of anger towards her? I never screamed at her. I never cursed at her.

28:57So I never, you know, expressed anger in any significant way. What was going on inside? Did you feel anger towards her? Sometimes.

29:05Richard Schlesinger:Altman finally got a chance to confront Dr. Stryker with the one question he'd waited 13 years to ask. Did you get angry enough to want to strangle her? No, sir. Did you kill Lynn Gowdy? No, sir. Throughout the trial, I felt really that there was nothing of substance being brought against him. Stryker's wife, Mikhail, sat in court and listened as Lynn's family laid out the case against her husband. It was an angry Tim Stryker that killed her. But once the closing arguments took place and Altman spoke and wove this amazing fantasy of who this imaginary killer is. Strangling is grotesquely personal.

29:51I really thought, you know, if I were the juror hearing this, this would be very compelling. It requires the hands around the neck and holding the person tight as they're gasping for breath and trying to escape. I just burst out. It was just unbelievably painful to listen to.

30:11Richard Schlesinger:Stryker has always said he didn't even see Lynn the night she was killed. But Altman brought in the briefcase, the tote bag, and that jacket. Where were they? He had them. The jacket wasn't found in the car. The primary bag wasn't found in the car. They were found in his apartment. He calls them his three silent witnesses that prove Lynn was at Stryker's apartment the night she was killed. There's only one way they could have gotten there. She was carrying them. Stryker says while they were dating, Lynn often left her belongings at his home. But Lynn left behind some other damaging evidence at her home.

30:55Richard Schlesinger:We do have her voice. It's in Exhibit 55. Lynn Gowdy left behind notes, revealing notes about her fights with Stryker. Altman says they are written in Lynn's voice. We could listen to her voice as to what happened. She described a fight where she was injured. Up angry, storms out, through pearls, flips me into railing, back and foot injury, shaking, chills, swollen foot. Altman says the note proves Stryker could be violent. Stryker says Lynn was injured when they were practicing a dance step. Does that sound like a dance step? That's Lynn's voice describing what happened. Compare that to his. Where are the witnesses?

31:47Richard Schlesinger:Stryker's attorney, Martin Lepo, says the case against his client isn't just weak. He argues there is no case. Where is one person, one scintilla of evidence, just one person who had one noise? of a fight in that house, of a person screaming. Lepo asked the jurors to use common sense and asked themselves one question. Has the plaintiff proved her case that Lynn Gowdy was there that night and that Tim Stryker caused her death? All rise. Special verdict questions. Question one. It took nearly 13 years to get this case to a civil court trial. The defendant, Timothy Stryker, caused the death of Linda Gowdy.

32:34Richard Schlesinger:But it took only a day and a half for the jury to reach a verdict. Answer, yes. So say you, Mr. Floorperson. Yes. Question two, did he act maliciously, willfully, wantonly, or recklessly towards her? Answer, yes. The jury believes Stryker killed Lynn Gowdy and, in an extraordinary move, ordered him to pay Lynn's family$15 million. We're thrilled. This is fantastic. Absolutely. And I can't thank my lawyer enough for hanging in with us. It's not a criminal conviction, but for Lynn's mother and brother, Marguerite and John Rafuse, it's one critical victory in their fight to put Stryker behind bars.

33:19I think this was based upon a lot of emotion, and so it will definitely be appealing.

33:25Richard Schlesinger:Nobody was surprised that Stryker said he would appeal, but everyone was surprised when nine months later, he and his lawyers announced they had found a brand new witness who could make this a brand new case. What he was swearing to was that on the night of September 30th of 1993, he saw someone in that sob with Linda Gowdy who looked nothing like Stryker.

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35:00Dr.

35:01Richard Schlesinger:Timothy Stryker was suddenly facing the possibility of losing everything. His home, his money, his reputation. It's been obviously very difficult because I'm sitting here with this potential financial disaster over my head. After a civil court found him responsible for the death of Dr. Lynn Gowdy, he was ordered to pay her family$15 million. But that could all change, and quickly, because Stryker says from out of the blue came a phone call from this man, who according to Stryker, was in the parking lot the night Lynn was killed. He called me on the phone at my office and apparently he had seen all this publicity and he realized when he saw my face on the screen that I wasn't the person that he saw with Lynn Gowdy that night.

35:57Richard Schlesinger:Craig Pisano was 18 at the time of the murder and Stryker says Pisano told him one heck of a story. He told me that he just went to a bar out drinking with his friends, picked up a girl, took her over to this parking lot or at the hospital. Pizano said when he arrived at the hospital parking lot around 1 a.m. there was only one other car there, Lynn Gowdy's sob. He happened to pull up next to their car and things started to get hot and heavy between him and this girl. He picked up and he walked over to their car to actually ask for a condom. He saw them engaged in sexual activity. According to this deposition obtained by 48 Hours, Pizzano said when he knocked on the car window to ask for a condom, he got a good look at who was inside.

36:47Richard Schlesinger:But he said that he clearly saw Lynn. Yes. And he clearly saw the man she was with. Correct. And how did he describe the man she was with to you? Over six foot tall, over 200 pounds, you know, a big man with blonde hair. In other words, Pizzano said the man looked nothing at all like Tim Stryker. It's a wacky story, to put it politely. Yes. No. And that's why I asked him a number of questions at the time, to see if I could verify his story. And he also seemed to have information that clearly he wouldn't have had if just from reading the newspapers. Pisano's story was just the break Stryker had been hoping for.

37:27Richard Schlesinger:And it was also a break for District Attorney Jerry Leone. When someone comes forward for the first time, 15 years after an incident which was as very public as this one was, and provides what on the face would be significant information, which relates to a homicide, if true, caused us to look at this in a very meaningful way. As soon as he could, Stryker asked for a new trial in an attempt to clear his name and get out from under the crushing$15 million court order. Well, let me ask you, because skeptics will ask, I mean, did you know this guy? No. You'd never met him before? Never met him. Have you given this fellow any money at all?

38:15I have not given Craig Pisano any money or anything else that would anyway encourage him to come forward.

38:21Richard Schlesinger:Were you involved in him coming forward at all? In no way. And that is an outright bald-faced lie, according to the prosecutors here. In fact, they say Pisano was never in this parking lot that night, never saw Lynn Gowdy, never saw a tall blonde man, even though he said he did in a sworn affidavit. So now there's a whole new chapter in this case. The affidavit is an utter and complete lie. It's a story. It's a story that was created by Tim Stryker. Leone says investigators began pulling apart Pisano's statement soon after they read it, and they discovered cell phone records that showed the two men had started talking months earlier.

39:06Richard Schlesinger:When prosecutors confronted Pisano, he admitted he lied. He refused to talk to us, but told Leone Stryker put him up to it. Pisano got immunity from prosecution. Stryker was not so lucky. He was arrested and hauled into court. In the case of the Commonwealth v. Timothy Stryker. He was charged with perjury. It's not murder, but it is a felony. He could get more than 20 years. Charging conspiracy to convince someone to use the prejury. And this time it wasn't civil court. It was criminal court. How do you plead, sir? Leoni says Stryker made up the story and recruited Pisano through a middleman, one of his patients, named Richard Chambers.

39:52All the facts of this story were provided by Stryker through Chambers.

39:56Richard Schlesinger:Chambers was also arrested, and at a pre-trial hearing, Leone laid out the details of an elaborate scheme. Chambers continuously met and talked with Pisano. During these meetings, he would show maps and diagrams, which would show how he supposedly went from a bar drinking the night of September 30th to the parking lot. And in return, Pisano and Chambers get what? The initial promise is that Chambers and Pisano will receive several thousands of dollars. However, that comes with a pretty tight caveat, and that is Stryker tells them, you'll get your money, but only when I'm out from under the civil judgment, because my money is tied up in the civil judgment, the civil suit.

40:43Richard Schlesinger:Leone charges Pisano and Chambers also got prescription pain pills and antidepressants in return for their help. Pisano has provided those drugs to authorities, and the lot numbers on those drugs are tracked from a salesman to the pharmaceutical company to Dr. Timothy Stryker. Stryker says the DA threatened Pisano with a lengthy prison sentence to get him to change his story. Leone denies that and says Pisano volunteered to tell him what prosecutors now believe is the truth. How do you know when the guy's lying? Well, ultimately, Craig will swear to tell the truth, and he'll tell the truth, but he'll also, in swearing to tell the truth, tell the fact that he lied as well.

41:28Richard Schlesinger:But Pisano never took the stand. On April 16, 2009, Timothy Stryker pleaded guilty to multiple counts of perjury and was sentenced to four years in prison. For the Rafuse family, justice for Lynn's death could now be within reach. We are hopeful that Dr. Stryker will spend the rest of his life in jail, not just four years, and that an indictment for homicide will be forthcoming sometime in the future. Whatever happens to him, Stryker will face the future without the one person who stood by him and believed in him. His wife of 14 years, Mikhail, she has filed for divorce. ... Timothy Stryker caused the death of Lynn Gowdy.

42:21Richard Schlesinger:Jerry Leone made a promise to Lynn Gowdy's family 16 years ago when he was the young assistant district attorney. He promised he would get the person who killed her, and he still stands by that promise. This plea today by Tim Stryker may close a chapter, but the book remains open in this case, and I will continue to handle the homicide investigation personally.

42:58In 2011, Timothy Stryker died of pancreatic cancer while serving his four-year sentence. It is my great honor to welcome you all to Starfleet Academy. There's never been a better time to enroll in Star Trek. It's our job to prepare you for the unimaginable. To the night, cadet! In high-pressure situations, positive reinforcement is crucial to one's success. You're doing a great job. This is what we train for. These friends of mine, they all live for something bigger than themselves. And that's Starfleet. Starfleet Academy. New series now streaming on Paramount+. Can you keep a secret? Now streaming on Paramount+.

43:40The money from your dad's life insurance finally came through. A new original series. Dad, it turns out I hadn't died. Can You Keep a Secret? New series, now streaming on Paramount+.