48 Hours - The Death of an Officer's Wife

Officer Seth Perrault said his 44-year-old wife, Amanda, shot herself right in front of him. The unusual position of her body, however, didn't add up with Seth's story of what happened. Suspicions arose further when Seth's abusive history was uncovered. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 1/29/2023.

Duration: 41m
Broadcast on: 05 Nov 2023
Audio Format: other

Get 48 Hours Podcasts ad-free when you subscribe to 48 Hours Plus on Apple Podcasts. Start your uninterrupted listening today for just $2.99 a month. This is so frustrating because you didn't look back and you wish you didn't move. Maybe my sister was scared to go to the law because her husband was a police officer. I believed Seth Peralt was an individual that had a lot of people full. I think he hid behind a badge and more masks every day. Nice house, nice car, law enforcement, but behind that door to that house he was pretty abusive. She was scared to get out. It's February 3rd, 2020. Set the scene for me. What happened? I'm sitting at my desk at my office and the phone rings and it's the police chief. They said I got Seth Peralt on the phone. He's told me his wife had killed herself and I knew that we needed to get there and get this man investigated and do it right. Describe what you saw when you got to the scene. With Peralt sitting on the front steps, he's sitting in their hands holding over his face. I asked her to go inside and search the house and he gave consent for that. Have you ever seen a suicide that looked like that? I don't see anything like that. Her body is flat on the back. Her legs are almost together and her arms are tucked against her side. Her hands are cut. This wasn't right. He's worked a lot of cases. He told me he said the scene is not right. There's something not adding up. And the more we investigated the otter it got. Obviously we have a definite investigation here. I asked him would he come downtown to talk to us further? I don't know how this happened. He said that they weren't bad and they were arguing. All I noticed my wife was upset. She poked at me and said I can't do no more. He loved her. She was his world. He'd never done anything to harm her ever. My wife looked at me and executed herself and if you look at the logistics of it, you're going to see that I have nothing to do with it. We all called Sheriff Sills that night and said we know our sister didn't do this. We know she didn't take her own life, that he had something to do with us. While looking at her face as a law enforcement officer, I did not do me. I had nothing to do with it. Seven months later, the medical examiner's report comes out and what does it say? True or not? Well, I was astounded. Dr. Darisell is a renowned medical examiner. So her certification of suicide, we thought, was basically an open shot. Maybe I have to remember she works for the state.

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