Episode 294

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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

My children, oh my god.

Oh no.

This one was produced by one of our longtime producers, Mish Barbara Way.

This is season 12, episode 294 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters

are real.

So, when I started this podcast, I didn't realize I was actually starting a small business.

Yikes.

There's nothing small about a small business.

You're working all of the time.

Thankfully, though, I have a partner with all the tools that I need to be successful.

You may have heard of them.

Their name is Shopify.

Shopify's point-of-sale system is a unified command center for your retail business.

It brings together in-store and online operations across up to a thousand locations.

Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient.

Endless aisle, ship to customer, buy online, pick up and store.

All these things are made simpler to customers so they can shop how they want.

And staff have all the tools to close the sale every time.

And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive.

With Shopify POS, you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experiences and first-party data that give marketing teams a competitive edge.

In fact, it's proven.

Based on a report from EY, businesses on Shopify POS see real results, like 22% better total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average relative to the market set surveyed.

So if you have a retail or online business, then I'll tell you what.

Shopify is a fantastic partner to have on your side.

Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify.

Sign up for your $1 a month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/slash sword and scale.

All one word.

Just go to shopify.com slash sword and scale and sign up.

You'll thank me later.

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It's Thursday night, 9:58 p.m.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,

my home is where you're coming on.

Oh my god,

give me your address.

My home, one three two nine North Jamaica Way, Gilbert, Arizona.

All right, one three two nine North Jamaica.

Oh Jamaica Way, we have children in in the house.

I just saw my wife.

I think she's dead.

What?

What happened to nine North Jamaica?

What happened?

I don't know.

I don't know.

Is she breathing?

No, you look dead.

Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Let me just

get you over the fire.

Hold on.

Oh, my God.

In a tan, two-story house adorned with palm trees and cacti, 36-year-old Mark Eric Pansati crouched next to his unresponsive wife, 33-year-old Sherry Pansati.

Oh my god, my children, my children, my children.

Mark was hysterical.

He kept repeating that he and Sherry's children were home.

He didn't know what happened.

All he saw was a wet bathroom and his beautiful wife lying naked in a mess of blood and liquid soap.

I just found my wife.

Okay, sorry.

She's in the middle of the water.

I'm in shock, I think.

Okay.

Okay.

Alright, I understand, sir.

I'm in my house.

Okay, okay.

My wife is on the bathroom floor, unresponsive.

Look, I'm EMT certified.

I am in the military.

I'm a soldier so I am used to this but not with my wife

and okay she's unresponsive

okay can you do me a favor let's start CPR okay how old is your wife my wife is 33

my god I'm telling you there's not everything that you know there's no moonlight

there's no problem there's no function

Mark was a certified EMT and a military man.

But to see this much blood pooling around the woman he shared his life with was

unbearable.

Was she underwater or what did this happen?

Do you know?

Okay.

Alright, so my understanding is you were with her earlier, you guys were in the bath, you went to take a nap, and then you came back and she is not responsive to you.

Right.

Do me a favor, let's get her flat on her back.

What?

She's in her back.

She's in her back.

She's in okay.

There's a big MSOB on her fucking head.

I think she oh my god.

I think she slipped.

I know.

She hits a fucking corner.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

She fucking slipped and fell.

Son of a fucking ancient motherfucker.

I'm fucking chilling.

Okay, let's let's have a CPR, okay?

Alright, if you're in the MTV,

okay?

I don't know how to deal with this with them.

I don't want them to be traumatized.

They fucking want their mother.

Do me a favor, maybe have them leave the room, and then you can start saying

that.

Okay.

Six-year-old Maddie and her baby brother, 18-year-old Max, were asleep in their bedrooms down the hall.

Mark continued to cry and struggle as he talked to 911.

Do me a favor.

Get the heel of your hand in the center of her chest.

Put your other hand on top, and let's start CPR, okay?

Sir, she's purple.

She's fucking...

I'm telling you, I know what guys looks like.

I'm an Afghanistan war veteran.

Okay.

Okay.

She's gone, sir.

Mark had seen death overseas.

He assured the dispatcher that Sherry was long gone.

I'll tell you what, let me me get your name and do me a favor.

Step outside so that you can talk to the medics, okay?

Okay, okay, okay.

Alright, sir, let me get your name.

Don't go with fucking sirens blaring, okay?

I don't want my kids to be fucking traumatized, okay?

Okay, what is your name?

Mark Erickson, Saudi.

Oh, my God.

Okay,

may I call?

Yes, may I cover her with a she's naked.

May I cover her?

Let's not do that.

Let's let medics get there ourselves.

I don't have my children to fight fighter like this.

Okay, boy, you said they're in bed, right?

No, I'm the best from now.

Okay, I thought you said they were in bed.

So let's go.

They're in bed.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Yes, they're in bed.

They're in bed.

Perfect.

Okay.

So do me a favor.

Fuck, I'm losing it.

I'm sorry.

I'm losing it.

I understand.

Take a deep breath.

Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

Go outside.

I got it.

Talk to the medics, okay?

Go outside.

Okay, I'm going outside.

Okay, perfect.

They're almost on scene for you.

Okay.

Okay.

Fire P V is on their way out.

Okay, perfect.

We're arriving on scene.

Okay.

Sir, do you see the uh police officers?

Mark ran outside the front door to meet the officers as they quietly pulled up the short driveway.

He was in a frenzy as he explained what happened and pointed towards the upstairs master bathroom.

The police rushed inside.

Mark made sure his children were still asleep and begged the first responders to be quiet.

He was terrified of traumatizing the kids.

Officer Mike Bishop was one of the first on the scene.

He found Sherry in the bathroom and immediately bent down and started doing chest compressions.

The knees of his pants soon became wet with crimson suds.

After 20 compressions, he got up and let the EMTs take over.

Sherry was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors assured Mark that she was in good hands.

They would do their best to save her life.

Mark called Sherry's aunt and uncle to come pick up the kids before he went to the police station.

With his head buried in his hands, Mark sat across from the detective in his cargo shorts and flip-flops as his leg bounced up and down while he wept.

This is a digital recorder.

You mind if I run it while we're talking?

That way I can don't have to take such

so many notes.

Mark nodded and also allowed the police to search his home.

He said he wanted all the help they could get.

He wanted to know why this happened to his wife.

Why don't we start with

a general history of your family and what's been going on in your life and stuff like that?

Okay.

I'm here.

I met my wife in Wisconsin when I was attending law school.

Mark and Sherry had met on a dating app back in 2008.

when Mark was finishing with his legal degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ever since we've been together,

she was born um

at the same time the tsunami was hitting the island.

So the whole time there was like the uh alarms going off because she had uh contractions and stuff.

So

Fortnite Army Hospital.

Yeah, Tennessee, Triple Army Medical Center, the Bing Palace.

The Panzatis had lived all over the U.S.

Alabama, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Georgia.

This was due to Mark's career in the Army and his higher education pursuits.

So I was with the 25th Infantry Division.

And then I deployed with

CAB, Combat Aviation Brigade, to Ganahar.

and uh my wa my wife stuck with me.

Was that pretty pretty qu pretty soon after the baby was born that you went you were deployed?

That's tough.

Yeah.

So Maddie was uh fourteen months old.

I um I deployed for seven months, it felt a lot longer.

Anyways, uh

very

strong experience, but my wife was there throughout.

I g I came back and anyway, so we worked together and tried to buy a house in Hawaii, didn't work out.

We moved to a different place.

Anyways,

we traveled.

We went to the big island.

My cousin from Spain that came to visit.

We went to Japan where my daughter was treated like a star.

A little blonde girl and stuff.

I mean, the Japanese are such cute people and stuff.

And then I was

approached by Society Aviation helicopters, so I was approached by a Sikorsky attorney.

Who offered me a job in civilian, so I went to the reserves, and then we moved to Connecticut.

We were there for about a year and a half, freaking 15 months.

Doing civilian legal for Sikorsky and

still in the reserve?

Correct, correct.

So I worked with Cyber Warfare Command, Fort Hamilton, in Brooklyn.

I assume you're an officer?

I am.

I'm a captain and was just elected for major.

All the while, Mark was thriving in his Army career and working his way up to major.

Sherry had gotten her degree in social work and was pursuing her own talents and income.

Sherry had even published a children's book and was working on a second for her publisher.

They were flourishing.

But after a few months in Arizona, Mark lost his job.

Yeah, and then for the remainder of the year, I've been unemployed in the civilian side.

So I've been

this year, yes, sir.

And I was just offered a job in Kentucky.

Great job.

Super happy.

Finally, after all these months, my wife really

stepped up.

I mean, she was the breadwinner.

Anyways, we've found a home together.

that we like.

We've got new furniture for Max.

Because his furniture is kind of, I don't know if he saw it, but your son.

My son, how old is he?

18 months?

18 months.

Mark and Cherry had a role reversal when he was unemployed, and she stepped it up as the family's primary earner.

Mark told the detective that he was proud of his wife for doing that.

He was grateful and embraced his role as the main parent.

Anyways, everything's been going great.

I've been selected for major, BDZ below the zone.

I'm ranked really high, I think, among my, you know, I haven't had the appraisal yet, but I think I'll do really well.

She's been like super supportive, like moving to Kentucky.

She likes the job she has here, but she's been supportive.

Like, she knows we have to pay off our debts and everything.

Like, it's very

positive and strong.

It's a good school for Maddie and

Mac is starting to talk.

He should have been more attacked.

My wife's been supportive.

Do we have a routine and stuff?

Like, it's beautiful.

Anyways, and so I'm just...

That's what's happening right now where we are.

And

my wife was...

She was...

What's the word?

Anyways, she was ready to have a third child, essentially.

Even though Sherry liked Arizona and her job there, Mark had been offered a new position in Kentucky, and it made sense to move.

Sherry had posted on her Facebook page just before her death,

We've been in Arizona for a year now, so guess what time it is?

Time for another cross-country move.

Never a dull moment.

Mark said Sherry had been ovulating, and they were trying to have another baby.

According to him, things were looking up.

And yesterday she had a headache, and so she has heart issues, she has vision issues, she had a piercing headache.

Anyways, so yeah, so yesterday she wasn't feeling good too good.

And then

I've been juicing, you know, the juicer,

liquid diet, whatever, the Australian dues, you know, like I'm familiar with all that stuff, you know.

And so she's been eating healthy, I mean, making her breakfast and the family and flossing for my daughter.

And

my son is starting to talk, and everything's going so, so well.

Mark just couldn't understand why it all had to fall apart now.

Things were just perfect.

I do need to know what happened tonight so I can understand what I see at the house.

Okay, so we'll go on into that.

All right.

Okay, so I'll focus on tonight.

So she came home at like 5.15.

Mark explained that after Sherry got home from work, he cooked the family a healthy dinner, watched some movies, put the kids to bed, and then decided to spend some quality time together.

We were trying to have like a romantic night, like a together night.

And so I uh I drew a bath for us.

And so, uh, anyways, I was in there and I was putting uh

this this deto, the music on

my cell phone.

And so

anyways, by the time

my wife came, she was

pretty excited, I guess, or relaughing or whatever.

Then she put her clothes and other clothes downstairs

in the wash.

Came back upstairs, and then we kind of hung out in the bathtub.

We cut her nails, her toenails,

washed her hair, you know, I was kind of massaging her and stuff, and we just had a beautiful evening, just a very,

I don't know, like a positive

evening.

It wasn't necessarily going through sex or anything like that either.

It was sort of just to

be happy, you know.

The past eight months was really stressful, like difficult with the bills, with everything.

Now I have a job and the house we like.

We just bought a bedroom set for Max.

Like everything is coming together.

Everything's so wonderful.

As romantic as it was, Mark soon needed to get out of the tub.

It gets warm, you know?

So I got out and I went to bed essentially.

And uh

I take sleeping pills and the rise of ham for anxiety.

I I've had to do this since my deployment.

And so anyway, so I slept

and uh what do you take to sleep?

Um, simply, simply sleep.

So it's over the counter.

Yeah, I take three of those.

I'm trying to lower my amounts.

I used to each take four.

Lately, I've been taking three.

I'm trying to weed myself off.

Mark took his antidepressant and then three of his over-the-counter sleep meds, a diphenhydramine-based medication.

Basically, it's like taking a handful of allergy medication like Benadryl.

You know how much I love Benadryl.

It can make you really sleepy, knock you out for the whole day.

It was around this time that the detective got a phone call, and he excused himself and left the room.

When he returned, he had some bad news for Mark.

I never want to be the person to have to tell somebody this.

Mark, but your wife has passed away.

I'm gonna have the officer outside the room call counselor.

Would you be able to talk to a counselor?

Would that be helpful?

I can talk to you, man.

All right.

We'll keep talking, but

I want somebody here that has good resources for you, okay?

So I'm going to have them come.

And you can

calmed down and stopped crying, the detective made sure to to get one thing straight.

I want to make sure you fully understand

any news,

anytime there is a

serious injury, we're there.

And you're a lawyer, so I assume that you understand all the...

You're here voluntarily, so

for me to ask you questions about what happened tonight, I'm just trying to get enough information to determine what's going on.

I got you.

So I don't want you to feel like

a suspect.

Well,

you're not a suspect.

You're the only source of information I have.

If you were a suspect, I'd reach Miranda.

I would take you into custody, that kind of thing.

You're free to leave.

Okay.

Mark was the only source of information.

And being a lawyer himself, the cops knew he wouldn't be talking with them unless he had nothing to do with this.

I mean, why would he?

Unless he's an idiot, of course.

Everyone was just trying to understand the mysterious way that Sherry had died.

Mark may have been the only one the cops knew to talk to.

But as news of her untimely death spread throughout her friends and family, others would come forward, and the investigation would change from an accidental death to something

much,

much worse.

So when I started this podcast, I didn't realize I was actually starting a small business.

Yikes.

There's nothing small about a small business.

You're working all of the time.

Thankfully, though, I have a partner with all the tools that I need to be successful.

You may have heard of them.

Their name is Shopify.

Shopify's point-of-sale system is a unified command center for your retail business.

It brings together in-store and online operations across up to a thousand locations.

Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient.

Endless aisle, ship to customer.

buy online pick up in store all these things are made simpler to customers so they can shop how they want and staff have all the tools to close the sale every time.

And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive.

With Shopify POS, you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experiences and first-party data that give marketing teams a competitive edge.

In fact, it's proven.

Based on a report from EY, businesses on Shopify POS see real results, like 22% better total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average relative to the market set surveyed.

So, if you have a retail or online business, then I'll tell you what, Shopify is a fantastic partner to have on your side.

Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify.

Sign up for your $1 a month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/slash sword and scale.

All one word.

Just go to shopify.com slash sword and scale and sign up.

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You will shopify.com slash sword and scale.

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Lawyer and Army Major Mark Eric Pansati had found his wife Sherry Pansotti dead on their bathroom floor from what appeared to be an accidental fall out of the tub.

The couple's young children were still sleeping down the hall when Mark called 911 in hysterical tears.

Now he found himself alone and terrified as to what the future would hold for his family.

Mark told the police that he had a happy marriage.

He had just received a new job offer in Kentucky, so the family was preparing to pack up and move yet again.

They were trying for a third baby and enjoying every day as it came.

Very hallmark, you know?

But now, suddenly, Sherry was dead, and the police had to figure out what happened on the night in question.

Despite his emotions, Mark composed himself and continued speaking with the detective.

Which is surprising because usually when I take the pills and stuff, I wake up later.

One o'clock, maybe, or something, two o'clock.

There's a kind of a pattern, like a cycle.

And this time, it was something different.

Like I kind of woke up.

Which bed were you in?

Upstairs.

And uh

I was kind of listening and I could hear the TV still playing downstairs.

And uh

I said there was still a light in the bathroom.

So I'm like, she's still in the bathroom.

So I was gonna tell her to come over.

And I tried to open the door and I couldn't.

Something was blocking it and I pushed.

And I can fucking see her face.

And your feet are like really white.

And uh,

and so I call out for her.

I'm like, what the fuck?

Like, Sherry?

And finally, I push.

I had to push quite a bit.

And I was like pushing her body like with a door.

Like her legs were going sideways.

Mark said he was groggy from the sleep medication, but after he saw his wife's cold, white feet on on the floor, his adrenaline kicked in.

And then I noticed her head.

It looked fucked up.

It looked, there was blood.

And she had like hematomas and stuff.

And I recognized that after the injuries.

Was she face down or

she was on her back?

She was on her back, sir.

And was her head towards the door or her feet towards the door?

The feet were toward the door.

The feet were blocking.

The legs of feet were blocking.

Inside moved.

So I don't know, because I did push her, so I'm I'm not sure how she was originally.

Like,

I were thinking.

You said you saw Hematomas.

Where were they?

Yeah, it was the first thing I noticed was the blood on that fucking corner.

God damn it, the fucking corner.

I thought about it several times with with Maddie and stuff.

She always made everything so wet, you know, was I have to put towels in the ground and stuff.

And slipping stuff in that fucking corner.

Like I put it.

Like the corner of the sink or?

No, the corner of the, like between the shower and the bathtub.

There's a really dangerous freaking corner right here.

Mark said there was a sharp, dangerous corner between the bathtub and the sink.

When they bathed the kids in the bathtub, you would put towels down to cover it.

He was convinced that Sherry had hit her head on that.

And I noticed there was blood all over that fucking thing.

And uh,

and anyways, I freaked out.

I fucking call her a name.

And uh, and I I slipped.

It was like slippery.

You went in though?

Yeah, oh yeah.

Yeah, I went in there.

Were you wearing any clothes or were you naked?

I think I was wearing these clothes.

I was wearing these clothes.

And I did the I'm CPR certified and stuff, you know.

So I did the, I was observed, listen, all that stuff.

It didn't look good, the face colors, the discoloration there, there was the patches, and I got

and she had like her, and she didn't look good.

And

I freaked out.

I noticed her lungs weren't moving.

I immediately called my mom.

Mark was an Army major, a trained EMT, and a lawyer.

If anyone would be useful in this situation, it was him.

Mark said he didn't remember much after he got on the phone with 911.

His memory was just a blur of chaos.

I remember the rest, honestly.

It only to do like mouth-to-mouth, but I knew that was not.

It was too too far for that.

I could tell.

Like, it was blood and, like, it was purple and stuff.

So, did you ever do the mouth-to-mouth?

No, no, sir.

Okay, no, sir.

Now, let me ask you a question.

If your wife, the mother of your children, was lying unresponsive on the floor, cold, white, you know,

don't you think you would maybe,

oh, I don't know.

Um.

Attempt, maybe?

Possibly?

To

save her life somehow?

I mean,

am I the only one who would actually do that?

I don't think so, right?

But apparently, Mark is one of the other types.

But did you ever do any compressions?

No, sir.

Okay, so you just you just evaluate and I did.

I did.

And I did touch and touch her.

I did touch her.

You've been through the same military training.

Exactly.

So I did the arteries and all that stuff, like the legs.

So you stretch for a pulse,

listen and feel for

writing and stuff like that.

Well, I could tell she slipped.

I mean, it looked like she fucking slipped in that son of its corner.

And I noticed water and soap and all that stuff.

And then the carpet was all like.

So was the bathtub overflowing or was it just from like getting out of the water?

Flashing.

Yeah, no.

So there was no water.

You didn't have to turn the water off.

No, no, no, no.

So, the tub was not overflowing.

Mark did not do chest compressions or try CPR on his wife.

Mark's theory was that Sherry got out of the bath, slipped, fell, and hit her head.

This was all feeling a little off.

Mark had painted a picture of a happy marriage and a family life, but Sherry's best friend Danielle had something different to say about Mark.

Danielle actually refers to Mark as Eric.

He went by Mark Eric professionally, but sometimes just Eric to his family and friends.

Her husband Eric,

how do I say it?

Looks really great on paper.

So he's a lawyer, he's charming, he's well-liked, he's good-looking,

he likes to cook all of these different things.

Things were good in their beginning of their relationship.

But then things kind of took a turn.

So there's some information.

He was in the military.

He was stationed in Alabama.

They were in Hawaii.

Then they were in Connecticut and then Arizona.

Danielle's tale lined up with Mark's.

But she knew some much darker things.

There's been some things that have happened in the past.

He has...

very mentally unstable.

So he's

had a lot of

instability regarding suicide.

I know this was more in Connecticut.

He sought treatment.

He was on medications.

There was times where he would just take a dose of medicine and not be able to wake up or she'd find him with the kids running all over the place.

He'd be out of it.

And there was more.

I guess what we labeled him as, and I don't know, he did see a psychiatrist as a sex addict.

So he was constantly looking at porn.

He had been always doing porn websites, porn, porn, porn.

He had a job where he traveled a lot.

He was in Turkey at one point.

He had solicited prostitutes there and she was pregnant with her second son.

So she, I remember when he came back, she found out about this, I think, beyond his phone and computer, and she had gone into the doctor and had all kinds of STD testing to make sure that you know she was pregnant and things like that.

He also has had

issues maintaining the job.

So I think

something happened in the military where he was also walked in on looking at pornography and things like that.

But anyways,

please let me know if you have questions or anything.

You can say that again.

Danielle was like a floodgate of information.

And the detective was dumbfounded by this seedy side of Mark.

That couldn't have been further from the composed, kind, and well-spoken man he consoled at this very same police station.

Danielle said that Mark's porn and cheating loomed all throughout the time Sherry was pregnant with their second child.

Then things hit a breaking point while they were in Connecticut.

I do know Sherry does have evidence, and I don't know where it is, of some child pornography.

There was one time she walked in on him.

This was in Connecticut, by the way.

This is probably in the last three years.

She walked in on him masturbating to

a

five or six-year-old girl, getting anally raped.

After catching Mark in the act with violent child porn, Sherry had had enough.

She left him.

Her uncle, Joe, who has the kids right now, he came to Connecticut to get her out of there.

And he left when

he was at home and

he drove her and she came here.

Her goal was, was to leave him.

And she didn't have any money.

And when she came here, he pretty much put all the, you know, I mean, he controlled the money.

He did not give her any money.

She stayed at her mother's house.

I tried to help her out as much as possible.

I invited her to stay at my house, groceries, you know, things like that.

Danielle tried her best to help Sherry get out of her marriage, but Sherry wanted to make it work.

She had no money, and leaving Mark wasn't financially viable right then and there.

Yeah, so things were worse.

I know in Fanatica, when she went back, they had agreed Eric was going to seek help.

They sought help.

Sherry was not religious, but he said, well, let's, you know, go talk to a priest.

And so they were kind of doing some type of marital counseling with a priest in Connecticut.

And

Eric also was getting on meds.

He was seeing a psychiatrist.

They wanted to have him go to a treatment center.

He didn't want to.

And I know the priest, I remember being surprised because the priest told Sherry to leave him.

And I was surprised at that.

I was raised Catholic, so I thought, oh my gosh, that's interesting.

It's like last resort type stuff.

Exactly.

Being a Catholic herself, Danielle figured things were really grim if a priest had agreed that Sherry should leave Mark.

And so that was that.

And then things just kind of got worse.

Max was born.

And that's kind of ensued.

After Max was born and Mark was seeking help, the family relocated to Arizona, where things didn't really get much better.

The family was dwindling their savings and between Mark's high student loan payments and cost of living, they were drowning in debt.

When they moved from Connecticut to Arizona, they had to take out a loan of $45,000 for closing costs, which put an even bigger strain on their marriage.

So he's had higher-up jobs.

And unfortunately, authorities figures haven't it's been issue

habitual issues with him because he's really lasted a job a year or less.

He's often fired from jobs.

The recent one, he was fired in Arizona.

He's been unemployed for nine months and

shares did not work until the last three months.

So they've been living off of savings.

He borrowed money from someone in Florida.

I do know because she confided in me about everything.

So I know they were really in financial ruins.

She, and I haven't seen the text message, she said they were probably about $140,000 in debt.

Then Sherry got a job, which felt like a glimmer of hope, but it only made Mark worse.

Sherry got a job three months ago.

It was her first job.

That's a being, you know, a stay-at-home mom.

Eric has always been very controlling.

They got into a lot of fights about cleaning, ironing his shirts.

That was her job to iron his shirts.

If he was going to go anywhere, she had to pack a bag.

She had to wake up in the morning and, you know, make him bright, you know, that kind of thing.

And so since he lost his job, I know he was working out a lot.

That was his thing.

He'd go to the gym.

He lifted weights.

He worked out a lot.

And he really did his own thing.

Now, since Sherry was working, for the first two months she was working, I feel like she was working for about 90 days.

For the first two months, he was home with the kids by themselves.

And then Maddie, Maddie, who's six, started school about a month ago.

And so that was a huge change.

Sherry would go to work.

She was very worried for the safety of her children.

She confided in me that Max, her youngest son, who's almost 20 months, had fallen down the stairs a couple times because Eric was on the computer the whole time.

With his oldest daughter in first grade and just baby Max to take care of, Mark started slipping back into his old online addictions.

Mark was a negligent, resentful father who did not want to be at home with his kids while his wife earned money for the family.

I believe it was about a month ago, she took in Max, maybe two months, took in Max for his 18-19 month appointment.

Joseph went to the doctor and Maddie, the daughter, had told the doctor that Max fell down the stairs due to.

And I don't know if the doctor was asking questions or anything,

but

he got very angry and said in front of the doctor, Maddie, you get over here.

I'm going to smoke you.

And that was something interesting because I had never heard Sherry ever say anything about that.

And I asked Sherry, did he ever thank Maddie?

And she said, no, not that she was aware of.

And then the doctor appointment was done.

He was waiting in line to, you know, for paperwork.

And he lost it in the doctor's office.

He, you you know, punched it, threw down the paperwork, walked out from the door.

It was like this big ordeal.

Danielle said that Mark had really been going downhill since Sherry became the breadwinner.

And his emotions were off the charts.

I want to say it was maybe four to six weeks ago.

They had gone somewhere in Arizona, maybe for a hike or something, and he had lost it in the car over, I don't recall.

He took a phone.

He said he was going to throw it out.

Kids were screaming in the background.

he was stopping the car.

It was a very, you know, dramatic,

you know, something had happened.

The thing about Eric was that he could turn his mood like that.

And so Sherry was kind of

eggshell, like sitting on eggshells.

I know he, you know, punched a wall, you know, a hole in the wall in their house in Connecticut,

that kind of thing.

He was very hot-tempered.

Mark was an angry, emotional guy, and Sherry felt stuck.

But to the outside world on social media, the couple were very active and presented only the very best parts of their family life.

Sherry would post pictures of their hiking trips to the Grand Canyon.

She'd boast in videos about her daughter going off to school, and she'd give her friends updates on the forts that kids would build when it was too hot to play outside.

Mark did the same.

He showed off being promoted to major and had recently posted a picture of a meal a civilian bought him at a fancy restaurant after she thanked him for his service.

Thank you, ma'am, he wrote.

I feel humbled and grateful.

To the world, Sherry and Mark looked like a happy, loving family of four.

But inside, they were bubbling over with secrets that all stemmed from Mark's disgusting porn habit.

She had found a picture of a girl or something, a woman on his phone and asked him about it.

And he said, oh, she's from some pornography website.

And so she said to him, well, show me, show me the website.

And he couldn't.

And he got very, very upset about that.

And she told him that.

She was down for the kids and that she really wanted nothing to do with him sexually

that

he could do whatever he wanted, that he was there for the kids, and he, like that, completely blew up.

Now, I don't, that was the only time we talked about that.

I don't know anything about that.

But what Danielle did know was that Mark's issues with violence and sexual perversion all stemmed from one person.

His dad was,

so you should tell me about how he was in, he was in prison.

He used to have a lot of money.

And Eric had told Sherry that he had introduced Eric to pornography when he was seven or eight years old.

Your dad is always trying to get mail order bright, things like that.

I don't know anything more than that.

Oh, and the reason his porn-peddling dad was in prison was no big deal.

Just for, you know, killing someone in a fit of rage.

So Eric's dad was in prison for killing a man in Spain.

It was a Dutch tourist

over road race.

Just chew on this for a second.

Things in Arizona were bad, but then Mark got a job offer in Kentucky and the family was set to move again.

Remember, Sherry had written on her Facebook page just four days before her death, We've been in Arizona for a year now, so guess what time it is?

Time for another cross-country move.

Never a dull moment.

Hints of resentment hung in her post.

And behind closed doors, she told Mark she was sick of the instability in her family.

But she agreed to go to Kentucky because of one reason.

And Kentucky came up, and she wasn't thrilled about it.

But her main thing, because I was always trying to be positive with her, was that she was going to be closer to Wisconsin.

Her main dream was she wanted to get back to Wisconsin.

She had family and friends here.

She wanted just kind of down-to-earth life for her family.

And And she was only going to be a couple hours away, eight hours away.

Now, I know this last week she texted me and said, oh, my gosh, Eric got a call from a job in Oshkosh.

Oshkosh is an hour and a half away from her parents' home.

And I said, oh, my goodness, wow, that's excellent.

But she said at that point.

that Eric said absolutely not, that he had already signed the contract for this new job in Kentucky.

The idea of moving to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was a dream come true for Sherry.

Finally, she would be closer to her family and friends.

The possibility of leaving Mark was in bloom.

But he stomped out that dream.

Of course he did.

If Sherry was closer to the safety of her family and friends, then she would surely leave him.

Mark may have been sick, but he was not stupid.

But Danielle and Sherry talked every day, like best friends do.

Sherry had an exit strategy and she told Danielle everything.

And her plan was that she wanted to leave in a couple of years.

She was very fearful for her children.

She was fearful to leave the house and have 50-50 custody and have him taking care of the kids when he couldn't even take care of himself in that regard.

Right.

So

no discussion with her about having more children?

Absolutely not.

She said, the thought of a third child sounds really great to me if I had a different life, if I was with someone else.

Danielle had spilled the tea, as they say.

And boy, was it potent.

Mark had put up an excellent front for the police.

He'd come across as believable, kind, and caring.

But that,

if you haven't guessed it already, was all a lie.

Even Sherry's mother, who knew less than Danielle, knew that Mark had made unthinkable threats to his daughter.

Well, Sherry and Erica had issues with their marriage ongoing for, I would say, probably the last three years.

And

last year,

last March,

she asked me

to come visit, and I did.

And when I got there, she said that things weren't going well, that they weren't getting along, that she wanted to come back to Wisconsin.

She told me

Sherry's mom broke down into inaudible sobs.

Try to relax and

that way I can clearly understand what you're saying.

It sounded like you said that she had concerns that he was going to kill her.

She told me that he threatened to kill her.

But Sherry wasn't ready to leave Mark yet.

She made a point of repeating that over and over.

She stayed with him for one reason and one reason only.

She never said that she was looking to divorce Eric right now.

She never said anything like that to me.

But I remember her saying, I would say in the last month, she said,

something about my kids are legal residents of Arizona.

And that's when, you know, she had said something about, well, you know, I might stay, work my job a little bit.

Maddie's just started school and whatever.

And then, you know, that's all I know.

So she wanted a more stable life for the kids

as far as

school.

Absolutely.

And what I can tell you,

the only reason, and she told me this over and over again, the only reason why she never left Europe was because of her children.

If it wasn't because of her children, she would have been gone a long time ago.

She was

the best mom, never complained, just did everything.

And even though her life at home was horrible with her husband and all of that,

you know, she was definitely the rock for her children.

Meanwhile, the detectives had an autopsy performed on Sherry's body and began examining the scene in a new light.

Detective Bishop noticed many physical pieces of evidence that did not line up with Mark's story.

Mark was now their prime suspect, and He was going to have to face the truth.

Maybe Mark had been able to keep Sherry physically away from her friends and family.

Maybe he was able to make sure she held a brave face to the world, but he couldn't stop her from confiding in the people that she loved and revealing all of his dirty, disgusting secrets.

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After speaking with Sherry Pansati's best friends and other family members, Maricopa County detectives now realize that the image Mark painted himself as was a far cry from reality.

Mark was a porn, addicted, violent, angry, jobless man in debt and on the brink of losing his sanity.

I think that describes most men these days, actually, but I'll leave it at that.

Anyway, Sherry had caught him with child porn, and that's a crime that she should have definitely turned him in for.

But she didn't.

Sherry had plans to go.

She had to think of herself, and the couple was in a ton of debt.

She had to be strategic.

Sherry's aunt and uncle had taken the Pansati's children after she died, died, and they had overheard Mark on the phone telling a different story than the one he told detectives.

I thought that he told the coroner that they had been watching Netflix downstairs,

that she hadn't come back, and he, I think he used the word to the coroner that he was maybe frustrated and annoyed.

I'm pretty sure he used the word annoyed.

So he went to look for her and she wasn't in the bedroom.

And Sherry's brother confirmed that all the things Danielle had said about Mark were true.

He also revealed a little more.

She was afraid of Eric and that Eric literally told her that if she filed for a divorce against him, that he would kill her family.

And that's something she told you, he said?

Yes.

Or did she tell your mother and your mother told you?

No, she told me that directly.

And she had told me that if anything ever happened to her, like if she died unexpectedly that we should suspect that Eric was the cause.

Informed with this new information detective bishop began to examine the scene differently and came up with a new theory about how Sherry died.

I believe she was killed in the master bathroom of her home.

I believe that

she received multiple injuries to her upper back and neck and head

through a

physical altercation.

Also, her nose and upper lip were injured.

I believe she succumbed to those injuries and her body was staged in the master bathroom for police to find.

Well, my theory, and if the prosecutors are okay with me giving my theory, is that

The

linear injuries on her back and upper neck and head

were probably a result of being forcibly thrown against the tile ledge at the back of the bathroom, bathtub rather.

The blood that was visible to me on that night was diluted with water and appeared to me like

maybe a head that was already bloody had been placed there.

Detective Bishop believed that Mark killed Sherry in the tub, using the sharp edge of the tile between the tub and shower to repeatedly bludgeon her head and back until she bled out.

Remember, Mark kept saying he thought that corner was dangerous?

He relentlessly repeated that he was sure Sherry slipped and hit her head on that tile.

I found out later that not only had he

pushed the

thought or tried to convey clearly the dangerous situation in the bathroom with the ledge and how he had pointed it out before and he knew that this ledge was going to hurt somebody at some point.

He passed that along to other people as long as me.

I felt like when I found out that this was included in his conversations to almost everybody, that that was an indicator that

there was more to the story than this slip and fall that he had portrayed to me.

If she had slipped and hit her head on that ledge, the ledge would have caused the bleeding to start, but her head would already be gone.

It would be down on the floor.

So that's why I would expect more blood on the floor than

I wouldn't even expect to see much or any blood on

the ledge itself.

Sherry's blood was telling a new story.

Not only did luminol testing reveal that more blood had been cleaned up, but it had also been moved around.

This sick fuck

moved around his wife's blood to stage the scene.

There was a lot of blood that just wasn't at the scene and I did notice that and I did make that

statement in my first first or second

supplement to the case is that there was just not enough blood on the floor to account for the stains and for the injuries.

But I wasn't fully aware of the injuries at that point.

You have to understand that

I never saw the body until the autopsy.

And that was after the fact.

So I gained more information and more suspicion and more knowledge about her injuries after the fact that let me know that this top where there was no blood visible

should be checked for blood that wasn't isn't visible and that's what luminol is used to do or blue star or whatever chemical she used that used to see blood where there is no visible blood.

The autopsy showed that Sherry had injuries to her head and back, which would not have been possible if she just slipped.

She had bruising on her spine consistent with violent shaking, and strangulation could not be ruled out.

She had multiple blunt force injuries to the back of her head, upper neck, and back.

That would have been one violent thrashing and repeating fall.

And there were other physical details that Detective Bishop noticed were suspicious.

Mark had planned this all out very well, and he was using his legal training to cover his tracks, feeding the same believable story about Sherry slipping on some soap due to her own negligence.

Blaming the victim, they call it.

I don't think people like it these days.

Anyway, here's Sherry's brother describing what Mark told him after she died.

cooking oil out and not put the cap on it and things like that.

And Sheriff was really particular about that kind of stuff.

And he said he would always nag at her about it, which I can totally totally see that and he said that sherry would do it so often that eventually he stopped nagging at her he said one of the things that she would do is in the bathroom she wouldn't put the cap on like the bubble bath and stuff like she'd give the kids a bubble bath right and i and honestly i i could i totally believe that she

i could see her doing that because i mean i live with her too

And he thinks that she didn't put the cap on the bubble bath and somehow it got kicked over when she was in the bathroom.

And when she went to get out of the shower, you know, the ground was completely soaked in soap,

and uh, she slipped.

Mark even told this story to his six-year-old child, believe it or not, who then relayed it back almost verbatim to the police psychologist.

Guess what?

He was sleeping when that happened, and then guess what?

Just

woke him up, oh God, woke him up, and then guess what?

What?

He didn't know where to find him

little peep he what he didn't know where to find his sheep like a little old peep oh okay like my mom okay

guess what and she pulled in the bathroom

oh window

there he saw the blood on her head of death

did you see that blood with your very own eyes no

i didn't see any of that only my bad didn't come anymore oh here we go

Detective Bishop believed that there was no way the soap could have landed the way it did if Sherry slipped on it.

Mark's story was good, but gravity's way better.

Yeah, the soap especially was odd because the soap container was found in a tipped over

position on the floor.

And

if you I think you probably got the gist from our experiment that if you

if you knocked over a bottle of soap, the soap would be emanating from the area where

the container is.

The officers that were first on scene,

and from my recollection, there was visible blue soap on top of the bath mat.

And

throughout the scene, that I don't believe it would have been possible for the soap to emanate from the area where the bottle was on top of the

to get up onto the

bath mat.

And I don't think that

the amount of soap that was missing is physically possible from turning that container over.

So if you knock over a container of blue soap, it's only going to drain to the area where the lip of the spout is.

It won't drain an inch and a half, two inches below that spout because gravity won't allow it to flow upwards and out of the bottle.

Mark did his best to cover all those tracks.

He had a carefully thought-out plan, like some demented version of Gone Girl.

But even with his law degree, military background, EMT training, and perfectionism, or autism, Mark could not get one over on the detectives.

They were too thorough, and only a week after Sherry's death, Mark was arrested for murder.

His bail was set at $1 million.

When it came time to pull Mark in front of a jury of his peers, he stuck to his story.

He took the stand and added some more elaborate details about how he tried to save her life before he called 911.

He said that his EMT training kicked in and he did try to give her mouth to mouth, but there was so much blood and, you know, you just couldn't, you know.

It's just some people are so stupid.

And they think you're stupid too.

They think they can get away with things because they think you're just as stupid as they are.

He even said that he thought about getting a turkey baster to suck the blood out.

He said this on the stand.

I swear.

He also tried to justify the injuries to her face by saying he slipped and fell on her.

but he didn't admit that to the police.

He never said that until that moment.

So he claimed that was why he refused to try CPR or chest compressions when the dispatcher asked him to.

He claimed that he felt like a bull in a china shop after his fall and that he would only make things worse.

I mean, his wife was dead, but he would only make things worse.

That's what he said.

I wanna wake up, man.

I'm just gonna fucking make me wake up, please.

Oh my god, her father, her brother.

Mark Eric Pansati presented well to the world.

He was handsome, fit, accomplished, and successful.

On social media, he bragged about his career advances and his happy family.

But But behind closed doors, he was a porn-obsessed cheater and a pedophile who slept with prostitutes and threatened his wife.

He masturbated the child porn, and he was such a negligent dad that he let his baby fall down the stairs multiple times under his watch.

What a piece of shit.

He knew that Sherry was going to leave him.

I mean, why wouldn't she leave him?

I'm sure that he thought that if he were Sherry, he would leave him too.

But he was afraid of this, and he wanted control over the situation.

Mark had to control his wife like he couldn't control his own life.

What he didn't have control over was the people in her life and who she chose to share her secrets to, and his disgusting secrets too, as well.

They knew everything.

Sherry may have been sickened by her husband's perversions, but she wasn't too embarrassed about it to let everyone around her know who was actually hiding behind Mark's smile.

So when his perfect little murder plan was missing a few important pieces, the humiliating confessions Sherry had made about her husband became the most powerful ammo for cops.

Now, Mark Pensati will be in prison until September 7th, 2042.

He received the maximum sentence for second-degree murder.

When he gets out, his daughter will be 31, and his son will be 26.

I'm sure they will want nothing to do with him.

He will be alone, left to sink deeper into his porn addiction and drown in his own loneliness.

But I think there's a better way to end this story.

There's a lesson to be learned here.

Perhaps a little safety PSA.

If you can hear my voice right now, and you're thinking that maybe some of your traits are similar to Mark's,

maybe

rethink your life.

Maybe

rethink a lot of things.

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