Fatal Affairs Season 1 Episode 6 Murder She Wrote
Fatal Affairs S01E06
Transcript
00:00You
00:08The two of them looked on paper to be a really good match Liz loved her children, but she hated being a mother
00:17She had created an alter ego on tinder she would go on dates with bad boys. She was drawn to them
00:24I
00:28Seem to be very much in lust certainly
00:34She was a hot mess at times
00:47It seems like a recipe for disaster to me
00:51When you play dangerous games, there are dangerous consequences
00:56It ended up being more serious than I thought it was going to be
01:03I can't see my life without you
01:08My god
01:13The scene was who would have a motive who is the killer does she love you enough to kill
01:20In stories like these
01:23Fairy-tales rarely come true
01:37I can remember at my lowest
01:40feeling the weight of exhaustion
01:42Sleeping within the dream that some white knight would reach down from his horse
01:47Pick me up and carry me away
01:49Liz was a writer Liz loved to write and then there was Brooks
01:53Promising me all of those things. I remember this one occasion. She wrote this story for a magazine somewhere out of LA
02:00and then there was Amelia like the tiniest little star that opened the entire sky up to me and
02:07For the first time it was filled up with love
02:10Her writing was raw it was real it was based on things from her life her experiences
02:17The world can take everything else your happiness your purpose your soul, but it never takes away the pain
02:29Affairs can be about escaping your current existence
02:33About pretending to be someone else for just a brief seductive moment
02:38But what happens when that desire to run and hide comes face to face with brutal reality
02:53Norfolk, Virginia, it's a Navy town
02:57You know when you arrive as a 20-something with short hair the ladies all know you're a Navy man
03:09Matthew Sullivan served 12 tours in the Indian Ocean in the Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean in the Middle East
03:17He was the recipient of the Navy Medal of Freedom
03:23Matthew was a supply officer, so he didn't have the shiny uniform
03:30He likes to fish and he likes to ride dirt bikes
03:33He likes to play sports
03:36He's pretty much a regular American white guy
03:44Liz Sullivan always had a big smile. She had these bright eyes. She loved excitement
03:52She loved to talk she loved people she could make conversation with anybody
03:59You know she was very magnetic
04:01Liz
04:03Was a free spirit you knew Liz was in the room, you know you knew Liz was in the same state as you
04:11She was definitely the headliner of the Liz show and it was great it was a great show
04:20Matt was living in a home with four or five other Navy recruits and Liz lived across the street
04:27Liz had recently by this point got out of a really pretty bad relationship with someone
04:36It was pretty intense
04:40She was drinking and she needed a change
04:49Matt was this guy that came over and they fooled around and they had fun
04:56She just you know, I'm 25 you're 25 we're sort of living and partying in the same atmosphere. I
05:05Remember her telling me that Matt had called her saying, you know, oh I have talked to you about something
05:14And Liz said what if he asked me to be his girlfriend
05:17Just kind of throwing it off like that
05:20And of course that wasn't exactly what he asked me to do
05:23And of course that wasn't exactly what he asked her
05:28He asked her to marry him
05:33And she said yeah
05:37She kind of jumped into this marriage with Matt and the next thing, you know, she's being swept off across the country to San Diego
05:46Suddenly she's pregnant
05:52They had the first child he deployed and then he came back and they had the second child and he deployed
05:59Suddenly she's this mother and she didn't know how to handle that she didn't have any family out here. So
06:06she was very frustrated and
06:09Frantic and she was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know what I'm gonna do
06:13She was very frustrated and frantic at times about it
06:23The relationship between Liz and Matt did begin to deteriorate during the time period after the children
06:30When Matt was gone, you know, she obviously didn't get out much. She was the one that had to watch the kids all the time
06:36She had developed a regimen without Matt
06:40So when Matt came home it totally threw everything off
06:46You have two young daughters your family's across the country her friends are across the country
06:52So there was this feeling of being lost
06:59Liz's life has changed beyond recognition. So she's very lonely and isolated right now
07:06There's a real danger to her mental health I
07:11Found out she was in separate bedrooms with her husband day one
07:18I was working at an eyewear store
07:21And she comes in she's wearing this red flannel that's three sizes too big
07:26It's just draping off of her and she had these two babies in the stroller. It was like the last person
07:32I wanted to see so this woman's gonna be high maintenance and before I knew it
07:35She just gave me like her life story right there
07:38Like I knew so much about her within I swear like an hour from almost birth to to that point
07:48Liz was very candid about her marriage almost embarrassingly so at times
07:56Liz told me that her was out of order because it was now a baby machine
08:02That it just she was like there's nothing sexual there. It is for babies now and my breasts are for feeding and
08:10She's like I'm sexually dead down there now
08:14That was one thing. I know that bugged mad a lot
08:20It was primarily the weekend where you know, she was having a baby and she was like, oh my god
08:24We're you know, she could go out and spend some time away and I think she
08:30She needed that
08:33whereas I
08:35Don't think Matt needed that
08:37He could go to work. He could come home crack a beer have dinner go to bed
08:42I think Liz kind of felt that that was cool, you know, like well, you're gonna be home anyway
08:49I'm gonna go out with my friends
08:51I
08:54When we would plan on going out
08:56She would show up at my apartment
08:59Usually with a bottle of red
09:03And I was always running late and we would have a drink
09:09And we'd have a drink and another drink and another drink
09:14And she got us kicked out of I think two bars it was a lot of fun
09:22I
09:27Don't think Matt understood what was going on with Liz
09:32Liz loved her children, but she hated being a mother
09:39And I think the more she tried to force herself into the role that the more the other Liz kind of rebelled against it
09:51I was on my phone one day and I was I was going through Grindr if you don't know what Grindr is
09:57Grindr is the gay tinder
09:59Swipe swipe swipe swipe swipe swipe swipe, you know, what's that?
10:04So I'm this is Grindr Liz Grindr Grindr Liz and she was like, well do they have that for like straight people?
10:13Yeah, yeah, it's called tinder
10:17And the next thing I know
10:20She's telling me oh this guy met on tinder I went out and blah blah blah and it happened quick
10:28So, I guess her baby-making factory was suddenly open to new business
10:36She was an avid yeah, I have a user
10:41She would go on dates with like these these
10:45Bad boys, I guess
10:50Cuz she she was drawn to them
10:57How'd I find out about Steven the conversation kind of started out like oh so, you know, oh tinder what do you think of this guy?
11:05Always cute. He's really cute. Well, that's cool
11:09Okay, so I've been on two dates with him Nathan
11:14Liz just thought Steven just drop-dead gorgeous
11:20Now I'm naked nothing but an animal but can you fake it for just one more show I
11:29Found out that she was going up to Steven's house not just for the day but for like the weekend I
11:38Don't know I don't know how she
11:42Convinced Matt if she even did convince Matt, maybe she said she was hanging out with me
11:46I don't know. Maybe by that point. She just didn't care
11:53And what do you want I want to change and what do you get when you feel the same
12:01It boggled in my mind
12:05To be that flagrant just seems like a recipe for disaster to me
12:17I
12:20Won one what is your emergency? There was some skeletonized parts, but there was also some mummified parts of the body
12:29We were able to pull up the carpet and
12:32Found a large bloodstain
12:36This is a murder investigation
12:39We don't know whether this was something very premeditated
12:44Or a crime of passion
12:47You
12:52Liz had two very different parts of her life that had no idea about the other side
12:58She had the husband with the daughters
13:01She had an affair. I
13:05Have seen videos of her in limos with Steve Sutton and their friends and they're doing shots. They're partying
13:11They're carrying on the way you would with your hot new girlfriend and your sexy new man
13:16They seem to be very much in lust certainly
13:21Steven Sutton offered things that she wasn't getting from Matthew
13:26Steve Sutton is a Callaway golf executive when John Daly or Tiger or somebody needs a new club
13:32They have guys who meet with their
13:35Members of their media teams and say hey
13:37Would he consider swinging a Callaway at the next open for us and that was Steve Sutton's job
13:45Then she really got to know him and she then started telling me all these wonderful qualities
13:52Steven liked outdoor things
13:54surfing he likes to go places go to museums and all these things that Liz wanted to do that Liz was interested in and
14:01Liz really found his ambition attractive his desire to better himself to be
14:07Quality that she really admired because she had that same quality. I
14:11Think she took the relationship a little more seriously than he did
14:15She had kind of created an alter ego on tinder, you know, it didn't have her name
14:20It didn't have a picture that said Liz Sullivan on it
14:22That's not what happens when you're married and you're on one of the apps and what was her profile name? Oh my gosh. It was
14:30One of Andy Warhol's models it was Edie. That was her profile name
14:35Steven didn't know her real name for a while
14:38Steven didn't know she was married had kids and she didn't want to tell him the truth
14:46He goes without saying that not telling the truth in a relationship is a huge problem and unfortunately for Liz
14:53She's been lying to everybody about everything. It's only a matter of time before
14:59Her world comes crashing in on her
15:01She felt that if she
15:03told Steven then it would be over and she'd have to go back and just live boring Point Loma life with Matt and
15:10so
15:13We did get into a fight about that and we didn't talk for a little bit but she was really head-over-heels for this guy
15:31Rosalyn
15:36Was a friend of Steve Sutton social circle
15:39She was in on a lot of these limousine parties and you know out to the coast on the party cruises
15:44She was part of their social circle
15:46Steven's roommates girlfriend and Liz didn't get along very well
15:51Liz was blunt and loud and if she didn't like something
15:55Sometimes she lacked a filter
15:57She didn't beat around the bush and she had no problems calling things out like they were
16:02She didn't have much. You didn't have that many friends at all
16:06Period but especially with girls and especially with girls that would be threatened by Liz
16:11big problems
16:19She went out to the parking area while they were partying and
16:23Noticed that Elizabeth had two empty car seats in her car
16:27Hmm. I wonder if that means she's got a family that she's not telling us about
16:34And of course use that opportunity to rat her out
16:40She called CPS Child Protective Services and said I don't know where this woman's family or children are but she's got two car seats
16:47It's 4 in the morning. And maybe you guys want to look into this and CPS opened up an investigation into Elizabeth Sullivan
16:57Child
16:59Protective Services came down to Liz's house during the week looked at the kids. Everything's fine good
17:05You're not abusing them, but we have to notify Matt. It's the law
17:13I told her you got to tell Matt before he hears some Child Protective Services
17:18And that's how Matt found out about the affair with Steven
17:24And so Matt got mad
17:29This whole double life that she was leading just kind of blew up in her face
17:41Steven's name came up in the investigation. And so CPS comes and interviews Steven's son
17:49And that's when Liz has to confess, oh
17:55I'm married and I have two daughters
18:00None of this is what Steve bargained for he thought he was having a good time with someone and now these
18:06Finds out she's married. She's got kids. So now Liz is starting to look like she's becoming a bit of a liability
18:13Now the husband knows about the boyfriend the boyfriend knows about the husband CPS is involved this is going really bad really fast
18:28Liz told me that Matt was gonna move his family in
18:34Matt must have contacted them and said hey Liz isn't doing a good job with my kids
18:39I need you to move from Minnesota into my house
18:43to help watch him I
18:47Believe 100% that his decision to move the family in was the straw that broke the camel's back
18:57Liz believed that none of his family liked her and that she was concerned about
19:02How they would maybe turn her kids against her or how they would treat her kids and treat her
19:10And that's when she called me frantic
19:14Freaking out just didn't know what to do. Like I'd never seen like this before it was
19:19Weird, it was just not Liz. It was not Liz her reaction and it freaked me out
19:29I told this to come over to my apartment and we'll talk about it and see what her options were
19:35She wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote
19:41In the morning she had the plan that what she was gonna do
19:47She was gonna finally start the process of divorce
19:53In the morning she literally left my apartment skipping she was so happy
20:00I'll call you tomorrow
20:05You
20:07Matthew said that she came home
20:09She grabbed together a bunch of things shoved him in a bag including a laptop
20:13Maybe a phone and she left and then he noticed later that she had withdrawn about a thousand dollars from their joint account
20:24Sometime Monday, October 13th 2014
20:28Matthew gets a notice from his bank saying
20:31Transaction, you know, whatever law firm it is has just charged your card
20:36$2,600 and he was like, huh? That's a quick little Google search. Who is this law firm family law lawyers?
20:41Huh? All right
20:42You just entered the account and gave it to a family law lawyer light bulb
20:45You're trying to leave and or take the kids and so he called 9-1-1
20:51Hi, I
20:54Have concerns. My wife is trying to take my children away from me. I
20:59Mean I mean she took my personal credit card used it to hire a lawyer against me
21:06She took all the money out of your shared bank account
21:09Maybe 15 cents left
21:13I'm still here with my children and I don't know
21:18What she's doing if she comes back and there's some problems or you can call us back when she's there, okay
21:30I
21:35Monday she was supposed to meet with the attorney
21:37Tuesday the in-laws were landing
21:39So Monday, I didn't hear from her. We're right around midnight
21:44Monday into Tuesday, you know, I left a message Liz what's going on blah blah blah and then I called Matt
21:52And I asked Matt, you know, have you heard from Liz and
21:55He told me oh, well, I'm worried too. I haven't heard from her. I haven't seen her since yesterday
22:01You know, I kept telling myself nothing bad happened to her. There's got to be some logical explanation where she is what she's doing
22:07and
22:09But I called the cops
22:13Nathan was concerned because it was unusual that she wasn't communicating with him. And so he made a missing persons report
22:25The following day detective Parga comes to the house and says do you mind if I look around your house Matt Matt says knock yourself out
22:33At some point she asked Matt for a DNA swabs and Matt agrees, you know, he can say no
22:39Yeah, call my lawyer get lost, but he's no no
22:43She's missing swab away
22:46please let me know how I can help and
22:48Allows detective to stay there as long as she needs to
22:52Please investigate kids need moms
22:55He also indicated that there was a suitcase missing that she had started an extramarital affair
23:01she was going to start a new life and
23:04That that life did not include him and and their children
23:13A month after she went missing
23:16Matthew gives an interview to People magazine where I worked and was telling us that you know
23:22He was at at the end of his rope that he'd never been apart from her for this long
23:27You know, he was this frantic husband who was looking for his unstable wife who probably ran off with somebody else
23:35A
23:43Couple days later somebody reported seeing Liz at a soccer field quarter mile from her house
23:51Looking dazed confused. I remember that there was a sighting of a woman who looked like her
23:59boarding a Greyhound bus
24:01for
24:02North Carolina
24:06And then there's another sighting at the airport
24:14And then
24:18That it was nothing I
24:24Definitely felt that Liz could have left
24:30Liz wrote the story
24:32About a woman who couldn't deal with motherhood and being a wife and left
24:41I'm a failure a
24:44Lifetime movie I left Brooks. I
24:48Left my little girl and walked out of that nightmare. I walked out of my life
24:54This
24:59Is a woman who's trying to process the life that she's in now
25:03It shows you that she was a woman in turmoil. She was a woman who
25:08Wanted to be happy and yet she wasn't
25:13I'm so sick of it. I'm so sick of everyone but mostly completely and entirely sick of myself
25:25Even my thought was she she yes, she could have committed suicide. Definitely. That's that was a possibility
25:34She had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder
25:39Borderline personality disorder is a condition that affects how you think feel and interact with other people
25:46symptoms of borderline personality include being emotionally unstable having upsetting thoughts and
25:52Acting without thinking
25:55Oftentimes people with BPD resort to substance abuse in order to self-medicate
26:05She drank a lot of wine a
26:08Lot of moms drink a lot of wine that that is not necessarily a problem
26:13But then you started hearing rumors of you know, maybe there was drug use
26:17And
26:21That's a red flag
26:25Most of her drug use consisted of prescription drugs
26:29Most of it
26:33She was what was known as a cutter
26:37She had cut herself pretty deep a couple times accidentally accidentally and
26:43I remember the last time
26:46And her arms were bandaged
26:51This coming from a girl who you know had previous suicide attempts
27:02Liz is a very vulnerable woman. She's desperate for love
27:06She's been dealing with really serious mental health issues and substance abuse issues. And when people are in that state
27:14They're really capable of anything
27:28It's one thing for Elizabeth Sullivan to be missing for three days five days a week
27:34two weeks
27:35But then you know a month turns into two months into six months into a year and at some point
27:41Everybody's like, okay. She's dead
27:43and
27:45You're more likely to be murdered by someone, you know
27:49When you think about it, they're like, you know three people
27:52Matt myself and Steven to really investigate
27:59One day I walked into work and there are two detectives there I felt like I was a suspect
28:06It made me angry because I was you know, here I am. I'm saying I'm the one that called you people
28:13It was really unnerving
28:22Matthew Sullivan did agree to be subjected to a polygraph examination
28:30Ultimately at the end the polygraph examiner concluded that he was not being deceptive
28:38We knew that Liz was having an affair with Steven Sutton
28:43I believe we contacted him at his work and he shut us down right away
28:47and then we tried it again and re-interviewed him at his home or
28:52Told him why we were interviewing him and he chose not to talk to us
28:57He chose to have his lawyer contact us
29:02Steve lawyered up immediately
29:06Steve Sutton like all good Americans is on his phone all day
29:11Texting people clicking people GPS in things
29:15Using his apps making phone calls. There was a 24-hour period
29:20from about 730 on the night of the 13th that extended to 730 on the night of the
29:2614th the exact window of time where Elizabeth disappeared where Steve Sutton's phone goes completely silent
29:41He does not receive a text or phone call or use any data during that 24-hour period and he did not work that day
29:53We ended up getting a search warrant to search Steven Sutton's house and his car
30:01They did find some kind of human remain they weren't sure if it was a blood sample a skin sample whatever
30:07But there there was something in the car
30:09There was also a tarp in the back of his car that their analysis said and had been
30:14Exposed to some kind of a bleaching agent
30:24At that point our case had gone cold
30:28And then a dog walker was walking by San Diego Bay and
30:33Saw her body on the rocks
30:38He called 9-1-1
30:43San Diego police officers noted that the body had been deceased for quite a while
30:48but it wasn't until the medical examiner's office was able to confirm her identity through DNA and through dental records that we
30:56Officially knew that it was Elizabeth Sullivan
30:59Detective Collier contacted me
31:14I
31:16Knew I mean, you know, I
31:19her number came up on the screen and
31:22I
31:25Her number came up on the screen and
31:32And she's like Nathan I was like, I know I
31:41Know I
31:49Remember thinking I wonder what the condition of the body was
31:53Because that'll tell us a lot
31:57There was severe decomposition
31:59But ultimately the medical examiner was able to determine that she had at least five stab wounds
32:06Around her middle of her torso that was caused by a sharp object
32:10Presumably a knife and we knew that she had been murdered
32:15You
32:20Elizabeth Sullivan showed up on these rocks in the bay almost two years to the day that she went missing
32:34Basically when she's found we start from square one we go back to ground zero of the investigation
32:44We knew that she had been murdered and dumped in the bay
32:49Everybody is a suspect. We're looking at who might have a motive Matthew Sullivan or Steve Sutton
33:05Matthew did move on he did take on a new woman who did move into the house
33:11He moved in Kayla just a few months after an Elizabeth was missing
33:17He started a family with Kayla. So it was concerning to us. It was very it definitely we're raising eyebrows about that
33:27You can't simultaneously give interviews about how I miss my wife. I need her back and then you're trying to find another partner
33:34That's a red flag
33:41You
33:49We found out through an investigation that there was a parent blood in Stephen Sutton's car
33:55But it was not determined to be Elizabeth's blood. The evidence just did not support him being involved in her disappearance
34:03We
34:05Learned also in the same time frame that Matthew had moved his family across the country to Maryland
34:12It was very very evident to us that Matthew had
34:16Possibly a lot more to do with this than he was leading us to believe
34:20Our focus now was solely on Matthew Sullivan as the person of interest
34:25The theory that we started working on is that he discarded the body because he was moving across the United States
34:40He had plenty of probable cause at that point to research that home
34:47In Liz's room
34:49We were able to pull up the carpet and found a large bloodstain on the subfloor underneath the carpet
34:58And now we believed that that was Elizabeth's bloodstain and we believe that is where our crime scene happened
35:04And now we believed that that was Elizabeth's blood stain and we believe that is where our crime scene happened
35:20We found that some of the rafters in the attic were broken lo and behold, we made the discovery of the case
35:29we peeled back with the insulation and
35:32and found a military-looking knife.
35:37Our lab was able to determine that Liz's blood was
35:41on the shaft of the knife, and that Matthew Sullivan's DNA was
35:46in the handle of the knife.
35:48We found our murder weapon.
35:49We believe that on the night, October 13th of 2014,
36:07Matthew and Elizabeth had a fight.
36:09She was filing for divorce, that she was leaving him.
36:13He was acting violently, and she was afraid of him.
36:20We believe that Matthew entered her room
36:24and that he stabbed her to death.
36:34He wrapped up her body in some very thick plastic
36:38and put her into a freezer, and he continued on with his life.
36:44He moved her from the freezer or to the attic,
36:47Matthew Sullivan's family moved in, then the family moved out,
36:50and Kayla moved in, and they started their own family.
36:53And we believe that over the two years that she was missing,
36:56that Elizabeth was stored in that home, dead.
37:03And once it was evident that he was going
37:06to be getting out of the Navy and moving back east
37:08with Kayla, we believe that he felt that he
37:11needed to get rid of that body.
37:12We believe that he put her into the trash cans that are provided
37:16by the city of San Diego and rolled her down the street
37:19and discarded her body in the bay.
37:26He got arrested.
37:28From that point on, it was just this, let's go to trial,
37:31let's convict him, let's do this, you know?
37:34We believe that she was a victim of domestic violence
37:36for some time, where he battered her,
37:40and there were a number that were unreported to the police.
37:42We believe that she was a victim of domestic violence for some time, where he battered
37:56her and there were a number that were unreported to the police.
38:05Separate bedrooms, domestic violence, infidelity.
38:12These are the hallmarks of a marriage in crisis.
38:16When you're going to trial in these murder investigations, you really never know.
38:20You never have a slam dunk.
38:21You are not going to see one piece of evidence in this case, ladies and gentlemen, that is
38:26inconsistent with the idea of a cutter married to a naval man who has secret life and who
38:35made erratic decisions.
38:38Liz was involved in risky behavior.
38:40She had an extramarital affair.
38:43And so all of these present challenges that could cause reasonable doubt in a juror's
38:49mind.
38:50But all of these things were presented in court and they have to be.
38:54It's part of the whole story.
38:56But it's also part of the whole story as to why he killed her, because she wasn't happy
39:01with him.
39:02And he was an abuser and he controlled her.
39:07And that is really what this whole thing boils down to, is domestic violence.
39:14And she fell victim to it.
39:18But all they need is one person on a jury to believe that there's reasonable doubt that
39:21he's the person who did it.
39:24We have a jury in the above entitled cause, find the defendant, Matthew Scott Sullivan,
39:29guilty of the crime of second degree murder.
39:38He had 16 years to life.
39:46So in California, you basically, you don't serve your whole sentence.
39:51And it's his first offense and he's a Navy guy.
39:57So what's he out in?
39:58Like another, what, 10 years he'll be out or something?
40:08The Liz I knew wanted to make her mark and she wanted her, she wanted to be known.
40:16She wanted her story to be known.
40:19She wanted people to know that she was here, you know, and as hard as it is, you know,
40:34to talk about this, the Liz, I know, would have wanted people to know what he did to
40:42her and what kind of person she was, you know, in a simple sentence, she was just the coolest
40:53chick ever, you know.
41:02You want to know the cold, hard facts?
41:07My husband is an abusive psychotic.
41:12I had an affair and now I've left everything I wanted to forget behind, except Amelia.
41:19I could never forget her.
41:26The end.