Linda Stermer has been convicted twice for the gruesome death of her husband leaving their children without a father forever in the most horrific of ways
Todd and Linda Stermer were married for more than 13 years. They first met in 1989 when they were both 25. Stermer was a single mum going through a divorce, with two toddler daughters. The couple went on to have two sons, Trevor and Trenton, before they married in August 1993.
Todd was a keen family man and they even took in Stermer’s two-year-old nephew, Cory, when he needed a new home. Todd proudly treated all the children the same. He was active in their hobbies and a skilled handyman, working hard to complete the construction of their home in Michigan.
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By early 2007, Stermer was working for a trucking company, while Todd had his own business selling gloves and hunting gear. Stermer’s grown-up daughters had moved out and the three sons were still at home. But Stermer and Todd’s marriage was in trouble. Stermer had been having an affair with a truck driver at work and on the night of 6 January, the three boys could hear their parents having a huge argument.
It wasn’t just Stermer’s infidelity they were fighting about. Money came into it too. Todd thought Stermer’s obsession with horses was a costly mistake – she had about 30. Stermer thought Todd wasn’t doing enough to contribute to the finances.
The next afternoon, on 7 January, the emergency services were called to a fire at the Stermer home. When they arrived, flames had overwhelmed the property. Stermer was distraught, but unharmed.
Todd, 42, was in a bad way. He’d been badly burned and was lying on the ground outside the house. Paramedics tried to save him, but he died from his injuries. Thankfully, their three sons were not at home.
A tragic accident?
At first it appeared that a tragic accident had taken Todd’s life, but an examination of his body revealed he had lacerations to the head, as well as a blunt force injury to the head and rib fractures. He also smelt of accelerant, as though he’d been doused in something like petrol. The police discovered blood on the bumper and undercarriage of the van Stermer had been trying to flee the fire in and came to the horrifying conclusion that it had run over Todd.
Stermer was questioned about what happened. She said she was doing the laundry at around 3pm in the basement when she heard Todd scream. She ran up and saw the living room on fire. She ran out the front door and jumped in the van, knowing the keys were inside, and expected Todd to follow. She said she’d been unable to grab her mobile to call 911.
Struggling to get traction in the mud, she alleged that she drove to the other side of the house and saw Todd had managed to get out of the house but was badly burned. In the chaos, she hadn’t realised she had run him over. Neighbours appeared at the scene and found Todd, mostly naked, on the ground. He was alive but couldn’t talk.
Their sons were instantly suspicious. Todd had been sporty and fit – how had Stermer survived the fire and he hadn’t? Stermer was also unable to explain how she had run Todd over and her story to friends and the police kept changing.
The police discovered that on the morning of the fire, Stermer went to a local petrol station. She told officers she’d been out of milk, but records showed she also bought fuel. The attendant said it had looked like Stermer was pumping fuel into a gas can, not into her car. A gas can was later found in the front garden at the crime scene.
Stermer’s sons told the police about the argument between their parents the night before the fatal fire. They said Stermer had told them to go to the cinema on the morning of the fire because she didn’t want them to hear her and Todd arguing and she was planning to move out. They usually said goodbye to their dad, but she’d blocked the way and insisted he was sleeping, which was unusual at 11am.
Suspicious sons
The police determined that Todd was already unconscious when his sons left as a result of Stermer hitting him over the head with a blunt object, possibly a frying pan. She then doused him in gasoline and set him on fire. As he tried to flee, she ran him over with the van to finish the job.
But Stermer continued to deny being involved and told the insurance company Todd had an oil lamp and candles all over the house and that’s what caused the fire. It would take two years to build a case but in June 2009, Stermer was arrested on charges of arson and murder. Her sons now refused to call her Mum, while her daughters supported her and said she was innocent.
In January 2010, Stermer went on trial. Her sons testified that she had insisted they go to the cinema on the morning of the fire and stopped them from saying goodbye to their father. A former friend and colleague, Kate Fox, testified that Stermer had discussed ways of getting rid of her husband and mentioned running him over with a car.
The defence disputed the reliability of Kate’s testimony due to mental health issues and insisted the fire and running Todd over were accidents. The jury disagreed and found Stermer guilty. She was sentenced to life without parole.
For several years, Stermer filed appeals. She insisted her defence should have called a fire expert to testify – who would have shown there wasn’t enough evidence to show the fire was started deliberately.
In 2018, the conviction was overturned. A judge agreed she didn’t get a fair trial. They said a fire expert should have been called and Kate Fox’s testimony had been unreliable. After nine years, Stermer was released from prison and in 2020, a federal appeals court granted her a new trial.
In May this year, Stermer, who had remarried, was retried. Her son Trevor testified again that the argument his parents had the night before the fire was “the worst argument that we had witnessed”. He said that after the fire, Stermer told him and his brothers to lie and say the fight wasn’t bad – and to tell the insurance agent it was a chimney fire.
Stermer’s defence said insurance investigators rushed to blame her for the fire and went on a witch hunt against her. For a second time, Stermer, now 60, was found guilty of murder and she was taken back to prison. At the sentencing, she continued to insist she was innocent.
Todd’s family gave victim impact statements. His mother, Sandra, told the court it broke her heart that Todd didn’t live to see his sons become adults or meet his six grandchildren. Stermer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Murder is by its nature a monstrous deed,” the judge said. “But the one you’ve committed is more gruesome than most. I cannot fathom the suffering he endured in his last moments of life.”