A detective who led the investigation into the murder of an Iowa mother has spoken out for the first time and hinted that he believes her son may not be innocent after all - just days after the accused was order to pay her estate $10 million for causing her wrongful death, despite his acquittal of first-degree murder.
Shirley Carter, 68, was found dead on the floor of her Locona home back on June 19, 2015, having suffered two fatal gunshot wounds to the chest.
Discovered by her husband of 52-years, Bill, the grief-stricken father pointed the finger of blame towards his youngest son Jason, 46, who reportedly told him at the scene that the family home had been burglarized and Shirley was killed in the process.
However, on NBC’s upcoming episode of Dateline on Friday, Special Agent Mark Ludwick speaks out for the first time about the case, insisting the Carter home hadn’t been burgled – rather that a crime scene had been staged.
Shirley Carter, 68, was found dead on the floor of her Locona home back on June 19, 2015, having suffered two fatal gunshot wounds to the chest
Discovered by her husband of 52-years, Bill, the grief-stricken father pointed the finger of blame towards his youngest son Jason (right), 46, who reportedly told him at the scene that the family home had been burglarized and Shirley was killed in the process. Special Agent Mark Ludwick (left) believes the burglary was staged
Ludwick says though it first appeared the home, around an hour from Des Moines, had been ransacked, a closer look at the finer details disproved Jason’s claim.
He said on a kitchen chair say Shirley’s purse, which Ludwick said would ‘be a key item for a burglar,’ but the bag remained entirely untouched.
‘Money in it. Cash in it. Credit Cards in it. Gift cards in it’ Ludwick listed. ‘It was not touched.’
Even more strangely, a look upstairs in Shirley and Bill’s bedroom found that drawers had been pulled out and clothes and paper had been strewn across the floor.
The slain mother’s valuable jewelry, however, was still on her bedside had not been interfered with.
In a previous episode of dateline that aired last year, an emotional Bill Carter, 71, described the moment his life was torn asunder when he walked into the kitchen to find a lifeless and bloodied Shirley prone on the kitchen floor.
Bill says he got out of his truck and made his way to the front door, running past his son Jason, who was pacing in circles while talking on the phone.
As he entered the kitchen, he saw his wife, dressed in bluejeans and a T-shirt, lying motionless next to the wooden dinner table.
Ludwick says though it first appeared the home, around an hour from Des Moines, had been ransacked, a closer look at the finer details disproved Jason’s claim
Even more strangely, a look upstairs in Shirley and Bill’s bedroom found drawers pulled out, clothes and paper strewn across the floor – but the slain mother’s valuable jewelry on her bedside had not been interfered with
He said on a kitchen chair say Shirley’s purse, which Ludwick said would ‘be a key item for a burglar,’ but the bag remained entirely untouched
'She looked like she was asleep,' Bill recalled with tears running down his face. 'I couldn't get a pulse, and I kissed her forehead, and it was cold, and I knew she was dead.'
At first, Bill could not figure out how Shirley died, but then he says his son walked into the house and pointed out to him a bullet hole in the refrigerator and another in the floor.
Jason also told his father that their house has been burglarized, with papers and personal belongings littering the master bedroom and the office.
When paramedics arrived on the scene, they found Bill hunched over his wife's body in the kitchen.
'He [EMT] said, 'Bill you got to come out outside,"' the widower said.
In an interview with the local station WHO-TV in 2016, Bill said that the last time he saw Shirley alive, he had just dropped her off at the house after getting coffee and told her that he would see her at around 11 or 11.30am.
‘Money in it. Cash in it. Credit Cards in it. Gift cards in it’ Ludwick said of Shirley's purse. ‘It was not touched.’
Bill says he got out of his truck and made his way to the front door, running past his son Jason, who was pacing in circles while talking on the phone the night he found his wife of 52-years-dead
As months went by after Shirley's shooting death and no arrest was made, Bill decided to take matters into his own hands and hired a private investigator who turned up evidence that allegedly implicated Bill and Shirley's son Jason in her killing.
Bill Carter's attorney Ron Danks said at the time that Jason's motive was to cover up an alleged affair that would have led his father to stop supplying him with money if he found out.
'Jason was having an affair. We know that his dad didn't know about the affair and his dad would have been very upset. We also believe that Jason was in financial difficulties and would need his dad to bail him out as he did in the past and his dad would not have bailed him out if he had known about the alleged affair,' Danks told WHO-TV.
In January 2016, Bill and his two other children, Jana Lain and Billy Carter, filed a civil lawsuit accusing Jason Carter of wrongful death, but Jason blamed his father for the crime.
His lawyer argued in court that it was Bill who killed his wife because she wanted to leave him and for financial gain.
Suspicious: Shirley's jewelry boxes sit untouched on her dresser in the alleged burglary gone wrong
Bill Carter said at the time that Jason's motive to kill his mother was to cover up an alleged affair that would have led his father to stop supplying him with money if he found out
Jason also told his father that their house has been burglarized, with papers and personal belongings littering the master bedroom and the office
A criminal investigator testified during the lawsuit that the home had been ransacked to look like a robbery, but police noted Shirley Carter’s purse, prescription drugs and some checks were found near her body.
On December 15, 2017, a Marion County jury found in the plaintiffs' favor, ordering Jason to pay $10million to his mother's estate, and just two days later the 46-year-old man was arrested on a count of first-degree murder.
However, on March 21 a jury deemed Jason not guilty of causing his mother’s death, stunning Bill and the rest of the Carter family, whose emotions were made abundantly clear from the gallery.
Jason collapsed his head into one of his attorney’s arms as the verdict was read out. Bill cried quietly surrounded by family members.
Throughout the proceedings, Jason’s defense team accused investigators of failing to chase down all leads in the killing of Shirley Carter, describing the state's evidence as thin as they pointed to other suspects. Jurors seemed to agree.
‘There’s no winners in this case,’ Marion County Attorney Ed Bull said outside the courtroom. ‘Shirley Carter's still dead. Bill Carter still every day wakes up, and his wife isn’t there next to him.’
On March 21 a jury deemed Jason not guilty of causing his mother’s death, stunning Bill and the rest of the Carter family, whose emotions were made abundantly clear from the gallery. however on Monday he was ordered to pay the family $10million for causing her wrongful death, upholding
When asked if his office would now turn their attention to other suspects, Bull told reporters that was up to law enforcement.
He did however say that he ‘firmly convinced that [Jason’s] the person who committed the offense.’
Despite the ruling, on Monday Judge Martha Mertz ruled that Jason would still be required to pay the $10million in restitution to the rest of his family, saying that just because he wasn’t proven guilty, he wasn’t proven innocent either.
‘This situation is a good example of dissimilar trial results when there is a different burden of proof,’ Mertz wrote in her ruling.
‘The burden of proof in a civil case is by the preponderance of the evidence, meaning the greater weight of the evidence,’ she wrote. ‘The burden of proof in a criminal case is beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a substantially heavier burden.’
Jason’s attorneys said they would be filing an appeal against the decision within the next 30 days.
David Fautsch, an attorney for Bill Carter, said in a written statement Monday that he believed the civil verdict was ‘fair and just.’
‘As Judge Mertz explained, the verdict in the criminal case does not exonerate Jason, and it does not change the validity of the civil jury’s determination,’ said Fautsch, who said he plans to continue defending the civil jury's verdict if the appeal process continues.
The Dateline episode exploring the Shirley Carter murder is airing Friday at 10pm Eastern Time on NBC.
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