I Am a Killer Season 2, Episode 4 recap: The Linda Lee Couch story

Episode 204 of Netflix and Crime+Investigation UK’s I Am a Killer examines the tumultuous life of Linda Lee Couch. Did she kill due to abuse?

I Am a Killer previously looked at the murder of Christopher Chavez in Texas. Viewers were inevitably left pondering if his murderer. Leo Gordon Little had changed. The question literally was, had little changed or had Little changed?

This time, I Am a Killer looks at a woman named Linda Lee Couch, who insists that the death of her husband, Walter Couch, was an accident. Originally from the Cincinnati, Ohio area, Couch now resides in a women’s prison for the October 13th, 1984 act, which was ultimately ruled as a murder by the court.

It probably didn’t help that she buried her husband in her backyard rather than report the death to the police! Yes, this is one of those kinds of cases and, no, not all questions of what happened have been 100% resolved.

The marriage

Linda Lee Couch had been married to Walter for 14 years before his death and the issuance of her life sentence (with a possibility for parole). She tells “I Am a Killer” that they originally met at a wedding reception. While it seemed like love at first sight, she says she wishes she never met him now.

She says that her first pregnancy changed him, alleging that he even pushed her down the steps while still pregnant! He also says that he hated their first daughter, Roxanne, beating her with a belt. She also claims that, on numerous occasions, she took beatings that would have otherwise gone to their daughter. If that’s not enough, she says Walt’s friends occasionally gang-raped her as he watched.

As is true of many cases, it’s virtually impossible for these matters to be investigated now. However, Roxanne herself does back up some of these claims, while denying others (more on that later). Linda Lee Couch paints a picture of a woman fed up, who strove for more independence, but whose life was in danger as a result. She had enrolled in college to be a nurse, and she swears this made Walter’s eyes go from blue to black.

As she hid some money away to possibly escape from abuse, she says she was increasingly worried he’d kill her and Roxanne with his gun. Did this come to fruition on that fateful night? Did she actually shoot Walter in the back of the head why struggling to wrest the weapon from his hands? She stood trial 3 months later, and the trial led some to doubt certain aspects of the story.

The Prosecutor

I Am a Killer also shows us Prosecutor Patrick Dinkelacker who seems to severely downplay the abuse allegations against Walter Couch. In fact, he says she just didn’t want Walter around. The claim comes across like a possible cop-out, though, and for some very simple reasons.

If Walter wasn’t abusive and she merely wanted to end the relationship, why would she wait 14 years? To many people, her feeling trapped in the relationship would make more sense than the other scenario. Also, even though he says nothing justified her actions, one wonders if it’s a classic case of “Battered Wife Syndrome.”

Dinkelacker counters the abuse accusations, noting that she didn’t mention black eyes, beatings or rape in 1984, during the trial. However, let’s be real here: That doesn’t necessarily mean such things did not happen, or that there is absolutely no truth to any of her claims.

Good guy? Prior calculation and design?

The really iffy moment is when Dinkelacker refers to Walter as a “good guy.” This is an awkward thing to say for a few reasons. First, did he know Walter? If he did, he should have been recused from the trial. If that’s not the case, then how does he know that Walter was, in fact, a good guy? Also, plenty of people who outwardly appear to be “good” are not.

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Or, at the very least, they have flaws that they wouldn’t want being in public view. This is a pretty common tactic among lawyers, to heighten emotion regarding something terrible happening to a generally good person.

However, just as a case never truly has to establish motive, no case ever truly needs to determine whether a person was generally good or not. The main point is whether someone can be deemed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This is where the case gets trickier. Walter was shot to the back of the head, which Dinkelacker calls “an execution shot,” The question is, can someone accidentally get shot in the head in the middle of the struggle. It seems like a matter that even a forensics expert might grapple with, as some truly bizarre things can happen in life. However, the Prosecutor also mentions that a house deed figures into the case, alleging that she had changed the deed to benefit her.

As a further sign of premeditation, he says that she arranged to have their kids at their grandparent’s house, then bought a gun, not very long before the murder. “I Am a Killer” does not provide that many specifics on what this meant for the actual trial (or all the evidence used), but it no doubt made her look like less of an unwitting victim at the time. It apparently demonstrated “prior calculation and design.”

Roxanne

All these years later, Roxanne now lives in Ghana, West Africa. Her story is a bit complicated. She says that Walter indeed had a temper and that she was beaten every day. She likens Walter’s “good guy” image to a magic trick or an illusion.

She adds that she did see him throw her mother to the ground, adding that she regularly saw bruises, and also hand marks on her throat. In other words, Roxanne does not deny that Linda Lee Couch was a victim. Roxanne says her mom was hiding money for a future life and it would have been bad if Walter found out.

So, what about the creepy backyard burial? Lawerence Whalen, Assistant Police Chief at the time, notes that Linda Couch did not report the murder. Juror Clint Eckberg says that Linda had her kids help her dig Walter’s shallow grave, which Roxanne discusses only slightly in this episode.

One interesting aspect of the case: Roxanne testified for the Prosecution, saying now that her mother never actually stood up for her. While Roxanne agrees that the beatings happened, she fully disbelieves the rape story, maintaining that it just didn’t happen.

Could the truth be somewhere in the middle? Might Linda Lee Couch have told the truth about certain things while lying about others? Could she also simply be misremembering certain details, however crucial they are? Such possibilities are often denied in cases like this, but the mind is a very complex thing.

The episode ends with Linda Lee Couch addressing Roxanne’s claims. She notes that her attorney advised her not to discuss the abuse (which actually sounds plausible, as such claims may be difficult to prove and which a skilled Prosecutor might use to undermine the defendant overall). Linda says Roxanne is lying about her never taking her beatings.

She also says Roxanne’s testimony was rehearsed, and that her kids didn’t do any of the gravedigging but played around in the yard as she dug the grave (Whew!  What a relief). Linda has been denied parole 7 times, most likely with the gravedigging as a key factor.

What are your thoughts on I Am a Killer and the Linda Lee Couch case? Let us know in the comments!