National Debt Relief Advertiser (7:29)

Confronting high credit card debt can feel scary, but the good news is if you owe $10,000 or more in credit card debt, financial relief options are now available. National Debt Relief is currently offering debt relief designed to reduce what you owe and put you on the fast track to becoming debt free. If you qualify for debt relief, you may be able to back less than what you owe and save thousands of dollars. Just Visit National Debt Relief.com Imagine only paying one low monthly program payment you can afford and saving money as you become debt free. National Debt Relief has already helped bring debt relief to over 550,000 US consumers earning thousands of five star reviews and an A rating with the Better Business Bureau. You're stronger than your credit card debt. Let today be the day you start turning things around. Take the first step and Visit National Debt Relief.com to see what debt relief you may qualify for. That's National Debt Relief dot com.

Katie Ring (8:27)

On June 25, 1999, after six weeks of testimony, the jury in Scott Filador's murder trial convened for eight hours. In the end, Scott's emotional outpouring didn't sway the jury and he was found guilty of first degree murder. Post trial interviews with jurors showed that while some thought it was possible Scott began stabbing his wife while sleepwalking, they couldn't believe he remained unconscious through the entire sequence, especially the drowning and staging of the scene. Scott knew the probability of his trial ending this way was very high. But there was still a surprise in store. For weeks, the judge had received dozens of letters from Scott and Yarmoula's friends, family and congregation testifying to his good character. Yarmila's mother even asked that his life be spared. But what influenced the judge the most was Megan and Michael's pleas to save their father's life. Scott avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to life without parole. Over the years, his lawyers filed multiple appeals, arguing that new developments in sleep science could offer more proof that Scott had no control over his actions. But it seems like the court system has maintained the belief that Scott is a danger to society because every request for an appeal has been denied. Decades after his conviction, Scott Filleder maintains that he has no memory of the night Yarmila died. In a Rare interview in 2021, he told 2020 that he never planned the attack and that he had nothing to gain from it, insisting that the responsibility was his alone, even if he didn't recall committing it. Scott said he thinks about what his wife endured that night and he doubts he will ever forgive himself. Today, Scott remains at the Yuma prison complex in San Luis, Arizona, where he teaches professional development courses to his fellow inmates. He even created an anti recidivism program which helps incarcerated people prepare for reintegration into society. His children, Michael and Megan have gone on to lead fulfilling lives. Megan is a respected historian, serving as an awards chair for a well known historical association. And Michael is a successful attorney in Nevada. He has also spoken to the press a few times, expressing how much he misses his mother and says he wishes she could be with the family today and meet her grandchildren. The case of Scott Flater is a haunting one. It forced us to consider what our own minds are capable of. If it's true that Scott was asleep when he killed his wife, it means that the boundary between our waking selves and our unconscious minds might be thinner than we ever believed or that monsters can exist anywhere, whether we realize it or not. Long before Scott Filleder's trial forced Arizona jurors to confront that fear, courts elsewhere had already wrestled with the same question. Whether sleep could excuse the unthinkable or whether responsibility must always follow bloodshed. More than a decade before Scott Flater stood trial, a man named Kenneth James Parks was one of the first defendants ever to use the sleepwalking argument. In the early morning hours of Saturday, May 23, 1987, Kenneth Parks rose from bed inside his townhouse in Pickering, Ontario, a quiet suburb east of Toronto. His wife, Karen Parks, and their infant daughter were sleeping peacefully in the house. There were no reports of arguments, raised voices, or disturbances noticed by neighbors. And Kenneth had also gone to bed believing it was an ordinary night. But sometime after midnight, he got up, left the house, got into his car, and began driving to his in laws house. Their house was roughly 14 miles away, and it was a drive he had made many times before. After parking outside, Kenneth entered the home of his mother and father in law, Barbara and Dennis Woods. What happened next was sudden and violent. Using a tire iron, Kenneth attacked both Barbara and Dennis Woods. Barbara suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. Dennis survived, but sustained serious head trauma and required extensive medical treatment. There were no signs of force entry, the home was not ransacked and nothing appeared stolen. Then, just as abruptly as it began, the violence stopped. After the attack, Kenneth got in his car and drove to a Toronto police station at Finch Avenue East. He parked his car and walked inside. His clothes were soaked with blood and his hands were severely injured, with deep lacerations and exposed tendons. Kenneth approached the front desk and spoke to the officers on duty, according to police testimony. He said, I think I have killed some people. My hands. Officers initially believed Kenneth was in shock. He appeared confused, but calm, cooperative, and deeply distressed. He did not resist arrest. He did not deny involvement. Instead, he repeatedly asked for medical attention and tried to understand what officers were telling him. Toronto homicide investigators later testified that Kenneth repeatedly told them that he had no idea how he ended up in his in law's home and insisted he had no no reason to harm them. Paramedics were called and Parks was transported to the hospital under police supervision. Investigators noted that his behavior did not resemble that of someone attempting to evade responsibility. As police pieced together the events of the night, they encountered a problem that would shape the entire case. There was no obvious motive. Kenneth Parks had no history of violence toward his in laws. Friends and family described his relationship with them as stable and generally positive. And there were no documented disputes, threats or arguments that could explain such an attack. What detectives did uncover was that Parks had been under extreme personal stress. In the months before the killing, Parks had developed a serious gambling addiction. He had accumulated significant debt and had withdrawn large sums of money from his bank account. He was struggling financially and emotionally, but there was no evidence that his stress was directed towards his in laws. Instead, medical experts would later argue that stress played a different role altogether. Not as a motive, but as a trigger. As the case moved forward, Parks defense team began focusing on a condition that had followed him since childhood. Kenneth Parks was a longtime sleepwalker. Family members testified that Parks had experienced episodes since he was young, including wandering the house and performing routine actions while asleep. His wife Karen, confirmed that she had witnessed similar episodes during their marriage, sometimes involving Kenneth leaving the bedroom or attempting tasks without waking. Medical records and testimony supported these accounts. This was not a diagnosis that appeared after the crime. It was a long standing condition. Parks trial began in 1988, drawing intense media attention across Canada. The legal question was not whether Parks had caused Barbara Wood's death. He did not dispute that fact. The question was whether he had done so consciously. His attorneys raised a defense rarely seen in criminal court. Non insane automatism. Under Canadian law, automatism refers to involuntary conduct carried out without conscious awareness. If proven, it negates criminal intent and responsibility. To support this claim, the defense called Dr. Roger Broughton, Director of the sleep disorders clinic at the Ottawa Civic Hospital and one of the world's leading authorities on parasomnias. Dr. Broughton testified that Parks was suffering from a rare but documented condition known as violent somnambulism, a form of parasomnia. He explained that during certain stages of deep sleep, the brain's motor systems can activate while areas responsible for consciousness, judgment and memory remain offline. In that state, a person may be able to walk, drive nice, navigate familiar spaces, and even interact with objects, all without awareness. Dr. Broughton emphasized that Kenneth's behavior fit this pattern. He showed no signs of planning, no effort to conceal the crime, and no attempt to escape. His injury suggested he was unaware of pain during that episode. Most significantly, his immediate surrender to police indicated that his awareness returned only after the violence had ended. Prosecutors dismissed the sleepwalking defense outright, calling it implausible and arguing that Kenneth must have been aware of what he was doing, even if he later blocked out what they described as terrible events. The prosecution argued that driving 14 miles required conscious intent. But Dr. Broughton countered that familiar routes can be navigated automatically, much like habitual actions performed without thought. After weeks of testimony and no nine hours of deliberation, the jury delivered a verdict that would shock the world.

Vanessa Richardson (17:24)

What drives a person to kill? Is it uncontrollable rage? Overwhelming fear? Unbearable jealousy? Or is it something deeper? Something in the darkest corners of our psyche?

Dr. Tristan Ingalls (17:37)

Every Monday and Thursday, the Crime House Original Podcast Serial Killers and Murderous Minds dives deep into the minds of history's most chilling murderers. From infamous serial killers to ruthless cult leaders, deadly exes and terrifying spree killers. I'm Dr. Tristan Ingalls, a licensed forensic psychologist. Along with Vanessa Richardson's immersive storytelling full of high stakes twists and turns. In every episode of Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, I'll be providing expert analysis of the people involved, not just how they killed, but why.

Vanessa Richardson (18:14)

Serial Killers and Murderous Minds is a Crime House Studios Original new episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.

Katie Ring (18:28)

On May 18, 1988, after nine hours of deliberation, the jury found Kenneth Parks not guilty of first degree or second degree murder in the case of Barbara woods, and the judge also acquitted him of the charge of attempted murder of Dennis Woods. The verdict stunned the public and ignited widespread debate. Prosecutors appealed, and the case eventually reached the Supreme Court of Canada. At the heart of the appeal was a single legal question. Should sleepwalking be classified as a non insane automatism, a state where actions are involuntary and free from criminal intent, or as a disease of the mind which carries its own legal implications? In its ruling, the court upheld Parks acquittal, concluding that the evidence supported a finding of non insane automatism? The decision confirmed that criminal liability requires conscious, voluntary action. Kenneth Parks walked free. It was one of the first times a court had formally recognized that a person could commit homicide while asleep and not be responsible criminally. Prosecutors warned that recognizing sleepwalking as a path to acquittal could open the door to abuse, allowing defendants to explain away intentional violence as unconscious behavior. But in the years that followed, the fear never fully materialized. Successful automatism defenses remained rare, scrutinized more harshly than almost any other claim in criminal court. But that precedent would travel far beyond Canada, including Arizona. By the time Scott Filleder went to trial in 1999, Sleep Science had advanced, but not enough to answer the question jurors cared about most. Brain scans and sleep studies could identify risk factors and vulnerabilities, but they could not reconstruct consciousness during a specific act of violence. There was no test that could say whether or not Scott was asleep when he stabbed his wife or awake when he hid the evidence. Afterwards, science could only describe possibility, not intent. And so the burden shifted back to the jury, forced to interpret behavior, sequence and credibility where medicine reached its limits. When Scott Flater went on trial, Kenneth Park's case loomed in the background. Once again, a defendant claimed he had killed a loved one while sleepwalking. Once again, the defense invoked no non insane automatism. And once again, Dr. Roger Broughton testified. On paper, the similarities were striking. In practice, the differences would prove decisive. Kenneth Parks turned himself in immediately, while Scott Falator did not. Kenneth arrived at the police station injured and confused. Fileter was found inside his home after his wife, Yarmila Falator had been stabbed 44 times, drowned in the backyard pool and left at the scene. Kenneth made no attempt to hide evidence, while Scott's prosecutors argued that he had changed clothes, washed up, hid blood stained items in his car and returned to bed. To jurors, these differences mattered. In both trials, experts agreed that sleepwalkers can perform complex actions. Where the cases differed was interpretation. In Park's case, behavior after the crime reinforced the medical explanation. In Scott's case, behavior after the crime undermined it. The Arizona jury was not asked whether sleepwalking exists. They were asked whether Scott filled actions fit that explanation. They decided it did not. Scott Fileter was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. Kenneth Parks was acquitted. Kenneth Parks case remains a touchstone in debates about sleep, consciousness and culprit ability. It stands as proof that the human mind can act without awareness. But it also stands as a warning because once courts accept that sleep can absolve responsibility, they must decide where that acceptance ends. Taken together, the cases of Kenneth Parks and Scott Filleder do not resolve the mystery of sleepwalking and violence. They deepen it. They force us to confront a possibility that is deeply uncomfortable. That under the right conditions, the mind can betray the body entirely. And that justice may hinge not just on what someone did, but on whether they were truly awake when they did it. In the end, these cases do not ask whether the men were sleeping or awake. They ask something far more unsettling. How much control do any of us really have once we close our eyes? What did you think of part three of our series on the sleepwalk walking murder? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time if you haven't already. Make sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe to our YouTube channel at night Watchpod. Your support means everything.

Vanessa Richardson (23:24)

What drives a person to murder? Find out from a licensed forensic psychologist on serial killers and Murderous Minds A Crime House Original Podcast. New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.