BONUS: Father Knows Death (Accident, Suicide, or Murder)

Summary

Snapped: Women Who Murder

Episode: BONUS: Father Knows Death (Accident, Suicide, or Murder)

Host/Author: Oxygen

---

Introduction

In this gripping bonus episode of "Snapped: Women Who Murder," Oxygen delves into the harrowing story of Carl Carlson, a man whose actions led to the tragic deaths of both his wife and son. Spanning nearly three decades, this case intertwines elements of deceit, suspicion, and relentless pursuit of justice.

---

Background: The Carlson Family

Carl Carlson was married to Christina Carlson, and together they had three children: Erin, Levi, and Katie. In 1991, a devastating house fire claimed Christina's life, marking the beginning of a dark journey that would later implicate Carl in another tragedy.

---

The First Tragedy: Christina Carlson's Death

[02:02] The episode begins with a narration of the family's loss when a fire engulfed their home in Murphy's, California. Carl Carlson managed to save his three children but tragically failed to rescue his wife, Christina.

• [06:04] Carl Carlson: "At that time, he tries to save Christina, but the thickness of the fire stops him from being able to access the hallway where he could save his wife."

Suspicious Circumstances:

• The house was an old miner's bunkhouse with inadequate heating systems.
• [07:03] Fire officials noted that the deepest char was near the bathroom door, where Christina was found.
• [07:42] The window to Christina's bathroom was boarded up from the inside with heavy nails, preventing her escape.
• A strong odor of kerosene was detected near the bathroom, raising questions about its presence and possible role in the fire's ignition.

Family's Doubts:

Christina's family began to suspect foul play due to the combination of the boarded window and the kerosene spill.

• [09:16] Carl Carlson: "On its face, it looks like it could be an accident, but when someone dies, the default is to consider it suspicious until you know better."

Despite their suspicions, the authorities initially ruled Christina's death as an accident in March 1991 due to insufficient evidence.

---

The Second Tragedy: Levi Carlson's Death

[20:31] Seventeen years after Christina's death, in 2008, tragedy struck again when Carl's son, Levi Carlson, was killed in a workplace accident involving a truck collapsing on him.

• [23:16] Carl Carlson: "The truck fell on my stepson Cindy."

Investigation and Initial Rulings:

• Levi's death was swiftly classified as an accident, with no autopsy conducted.
• [27:05] The case was closed, leaving the family with unanswered questions and deep grief.

Family's Growing Suspicion:

Christina's family couldn't shake the feeling that Carl was involved in Levi's death as well.

• [27:43] "I felt really bad, but I didn't think it was an accident. I thought, it's happened again. It looked like Carl could get away with murder a second time."

---

Connecting the Cases: Reopening the Investigation

[28:22] In February 2012, a pivotal breakthrough occurred when Jackie Jaimal, a cousin of Levi, contacted investigators with allegations that Carl had a history of suspicious deaths.

• [29:27] Jackie revealed that Carl had taken out significant life insurance policies prior to both Christina's and Levi's deaths, with Carl being the sole beneficiary.

Insurance Fraud Exposed:

• [31:01] Investigators uncovered that Carl had secured life insurance payouts of approximately $215,000 after Christina's death and over $700,000 before Levi's death.

Cindy Carlson's Testimony:

• [32:34] Cindy, Levi's mother and Carl's second wife, described Carl as emotionally abusive and revealed that Carl had confessed to her about killing Levi to benefit from the insurance money.

---

The Arrest and Conviction

[35:09] Armed with Cindy's cooperation, investigators orchestrated a strategic interview with Carl.

• [36:19] Carl Carlson: "Why would you do that? What parent considers the death of their child an opportunity?"

During this intense interrogation, Carl initially denied involvement but eventually admitted to pushing the truck onto Levi, leading to his arrest.

Charges and Sentencing:

• [41:10] Carl was indicted on two counts of second-degree murder and insurance fraud.
• [41:26] Facing a plea deal, Carl conceded to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

---

Justice for Christina Carlson

[42:07] Despite Carl's conviction for Levi's death, questions lingered about Christina's tragic demise. Determined to seek full justice, investigators revisited the original fire case in California.

Reconstruction of the Fire:

• [43:59] New forensic evidence indicated that a fresh pour of kerosene was deliberately placed near the bathroom just before the fire, contradicting the accidental fire theory.

Formal Charges:

• [45:36] In 2020, nearly 29 years after Christina's death, Carl was extradited back to Calaveras County to face first-degree murder charges.

Final Verdict:

• [46:15] A jury found Carl Carlson guilty of first-degree murder for Christina's death, sentencing him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

---

Conclusion: A Legacy of Tragedy

Carl Carlson's actions not only shattered his own family but also served as a chilling reminder of how trust can be manipulated for personal gain. The relentless efforts of Christina's family and dedicated investigators ultimately brought closure to two decades-long mysteries, ensuring that Carl Carlson would no longer evade justice.

• [47:25] Christina's Family Member: "Carl Carlson was an evil man doing evil deeds."

---

Reflecting on Justice Served

After years of pain and uncertainty, Christina's family found solace in Carl's conviction. Their unwavering pursuit of the truth underscores the profound impact of determination and resilience in the face of unimaginable loss.

• [46:24] Christina's Family Member: "When you heard it, it was finally the end of a journey. Took 30 years to accomplish, but we got the result we wanted."

---

Notable Quotes

• [07:03] Carl Carlson: "Well, she couldn't get out."
• [11:47] Expert/Analyst: "The autopsy report is telling us that Christina Carlson died from smoke inhalation. And it shows that we have a death caused by the results of a fire, but it doesn't give us clear direction whether this death is an accidental death or it is a homicide."
• [33:12] Expert/Analyst: "Carl took him to the insurance agent. Carl paid cash for the policy, and Carl was the sole beneficiary of that policy."
• [35:50] Expert/Analyst: "What's going on? The truck's now on my stepson and I don't think he's alive."
• [37:05] Expert/Analyst: "Ultimately, Carl doesn't come out and give us the direct confession that we want, but he gives us enough of an admission that it is time that we now pick up Carl Carlson and we bring him to the Seneca County Sheriff's Office for an interview."

---

Key Takeaways

• Persistence Matters: The tenacity of Christina's family and investigators was crucial in uncovering the truth behind both deaths.
• Insurance as a Motive: Significant life insurance payouts were a driving factor in Carl Carlson's alleged crimes.
• Long Road to Justice: It took nearly three decades to secure justice for Christina Carlson's death, highlighting challenges in cold case investigations.

---

Final Thoughts

"Father Knows Death" serves as a powerful narrative on the complexities of domestic crimes and the enduring pursuit of truth. Oxygen's detailed recounting ensures that listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the events, motivations, and eventual justice meted out in this tragic saga.

---

Timestamp Reference: The summary incorporates key moments from the episode, marked with their respective timestamps, to provide context and highlight significant statements made by involved parties.

Transcript

[Narrator]

I'm a big believer in dreaming big and discovering new goals. And what better way to unlock your imagination than through powerful storytelling? Audible is the home of inspiring audio titles. There's more to imagine when you listen, from bestsellers to thrillers to romance. No matter what you're into, Audible's got it. I'm currently listening to Verity by Colleen Hoover and it's been so fun having a title spark my imagination again. Trying to figure out how the web of characters will play out, picturing how they dress, the environments they inhabit. As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from their entire catalog. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com snapd or text SNAP to 500500 that's audible.com snapd or text snap to 500500.

[Carl Carlson]

Start working out right at home before the end of the year and you have a chance to win $10,000. I'm Carl, the CEO of bodi.com that's b o d I.com and the first step is to join our incredible Bodi community. Right now you can get our fall special for as low as 49 cents a day and if you don't lose between 5 and 10 pounds in your first month, you can get your money back. And the second step? Log those workouts with our workout to win $10,000 challenge. Every body workout you do before the new year gets entered into a drawing for $10,000. A quick half hour workout can scorch 3 to 400 extra calories and build your metabolism and can be your chance to win ten grand. Go to bodi.com now to get our 49 cents a day offer. It's free. To enter the challenge just go to bodi.com for details. That's b o d I.com/snap Listeners, we.

[Narrator]

Are bringing you a special bonus episode today from Oxygen's hit series Accident, Suicide or Murder. You can also watch full episodes live or on demand on the free Oxygen app or on Peacock by clicking the link in our description. Enjoy.

[Investigator]

A family suffers a tragic loss after a fire engulfs their home.

[Carl Carlson]

Carl Carlson saved his three children from inside of the burning home, but he.

[Firefighter]

Wasn'T able to get inside to save his wife, Christina.

[Christina's Family Member]

Well, she couldn't get out.

[Investigator]

Loved ones look to make sense of the horrific event that might be fingernails.

[Expert/Analyst]

Why is that window boarded up?

[Investigator]

Years pass without answers.

[Carl Carlson]

It's down as an accident and she said you might want to look into that further.

[Expert/Analyst]

This is just all hearsay.

[Firefighter]

There just wasn't Enough hard evidence to prove otherwise.

[Investigator]

Until another grim incident brings to light the unthinkable.

[Carl Carlson]

Oh, my God.

[Expert/Analyst]

Do we want to see? This is a coincidence that these are accidents. What really happened.

[Investigator]

On New Year's Day, 1991, at 2:26pm Fire Emergency Services are called to a structure fire in Murphy's, California.

[Expert/Analyst]

Murphy's, California, is a very rural area in the Redwood Forest region.

[Firefighter]

It's very isolated from other towns in California. And when firefighters finally arrive at the house, they find a structure that's almost fully engulfed in flames.

[Carl Carlson]

They're confronted by a frantic man who identifies himself as Carl Carlson. Carl said he just saved his three children from the side of the burning.

[Firefighter]

Home, but he says that he wasn't able to get inside to save his wife, Christina.

[Carl Carlson]

Fire crews aggressively attack the fire, and after an hour, they're able to extinguish it.

[Expert/Analyst]

They enter the home. They know that Christina Carlson is reportedly inside the house.

[Firefighter]

They find a lifeless body in the bathroom. It's a woman, and she is in a prone position in the shower.

[Carl Carlson]

The woman appeared to be Christina Carlson, the wife of the man that they had spoken to outside of the home.

[Investigator]

First responders inform Carl of their fatal discovery.

[Carl Carlson]

Carl was the man who just lost his wife. He appeared to be emotionally distraught over that, but he was able to give first responders a synopsis of events leading up to this fire.

[Firefighter]

Carl said that a few hours prior to the fire, the children had been put down for a nap. Christina was taking a bath. They were in a house that wasn't properly heated. It was pretty cold.

[Carl Carlson]

The home is an old miner's bunkhouse dating back to the gold rush.

[Expert/Analyst]

There was a fan that carried heat from one part of the house to the other up in the attic.

[Firefighter]

So Carl says he actually went up into the attic to redirect the heat for her because it wasn't warm enough. And while he was up there, he brought a work light so he could see up into the attic.

[Expert/Analyst]

Upon coming down from that attic, he placed his work light on this cabinet that was in the hallway just outside that bathroom where Christine was. And he went out to the garage to retrieve tools.

[Firefighter]

And it was while he was in the garage that he heard his wife screaming, carl, get the kids. He runs to the house, but by the time he gets there, the fire is already too advanced for him to make entry. So he runs around to the children's windows, and he breaks the windows, and he pulls out his two daughters. And then he runs and pulls out his son Levi.

[Carl Carlson]

At that time, he tries to save Christina, but the thickness of the fire stops him from being able to access the hallway where he could save his wife.

[Firefighter]

He says he then went and tried to make entry from the outside, but.

[Carl Carlson]

He could not help her. So he he watched helplessly as the fire continued.

[Firefighter]

Without a phone, he had to leave his wife inside and put all the kids in the car. And together they drove to a nearby house to call 911.

[Investigator]

Carl discloses to investigators he has suspicions about how the fire began.

[Carl Carlson]

According to Carl, the utility light that he had been using to do some work may have dropped down on the rug right in front of that bathroom area. And then the heat from the bulb could have started the fire.

[Investigator]

By 4:30pm the county sheriff's office and a fire investigator arrive on the scene.

[Carl Carlson]

Fire officials found the deepest char appears to be near the door of the bathroom.

[Expert/Analyst]

From the burn patterns, it was pretty clear that the origin of the fire was directly outside of that bathroom where Christina Carlson was taking a bath.

[Carl Carlson]

Also in the hallway was the work light that Carl mentioned may have started the fire. It's laying on the floor. There was also some red flags that stood out. The window to the bathroom where Christina died was boarded up with plywood. It was nailed on from the inside.

[Expert/Analyst]

There's enough nails in that plywood that it wasn't going to come off easily. And that's why Carl apparently couldn't get his wife out of that house. There was also a heavy odor of kerosene in that area.

[Carl Carlson]

Kerosene is flammable. Kerosene will start fires. If a light falls on kerosene and ignites, it can burn down your house.

[Expert/Analyst]

Why would kerosene spill right outside the door where Christine is taking a bath? Why is that window boarded up?

[Investigator]

This dark convergence of events has investigators returning to Carl for answers, starting with the boarded up window.

[Expert/Analyst]

Carl tells us days prior, Christina broke the window. They couldn't afford to fix it.

[Carl Carlson]

His wife was complaining about the window making the bathroom too cold, so he boarded it up with plywood.

[Firefighter]

Another question they had for Carl was how had kerosene gotten spilled outside the bathroom door?

[Carl Carlson]

Carl said the house is so old that it's heated by kerosene. And because the pipes had been frozen in the dead of winter, Carl and Christina Carlson were bringing water in in order to use the facilities.

[Firefighter]

Christina had mistaken a jug of kerosene for a jug of water and brought it into the house.

[Carl Carlson]

One of the pets inadvertently knocked the kerosene over. A few days before the fire.

[Firefighter]

It had seeped into the carpet and the kerosene smell never really went away.

[Carl Carlson]

On its face, it looks like it could be an accident, but when someone dies, the default is to consider it suspicious until you know better. The kerosene that was spilled in front of the door to the bathroom, the boarded up window, by themselves maybe didn't mean much. But when you put them together in context, it gave us some uncertainty whether this really was an accident.

[Investigator]

News of the blaze quickly travels through this small rural community, reaching Christina's nearby family.

[Christina's Family Member]

Christie's sister pulled up to the house and came in, and as soon as I saw her face, I started screaming because I knew then that I had lost a precious child. Arlene just went ballistic. It was. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It's a time I'll never forget in my whole life. Christina was a very bright little child. She grew up in Oklahoma, and she moved up to Murphy's, California, and finished growing up there. She could bake, she could cook, she could dance. If you could watch her dance, it was awesome. It's just such a terrible thing. I lost a child. I lost a daughter. That's awful.

[Investigator]

As Christina's family begins to search for answers the morning after the incident, investigators still have doubts regarding the cause of the fire.

[Expert/Analyst]

The investigators weren't going to just accept that this was an actual fire based upon Carl Carlson's story. So the autopsy was performed the following day, and investigators are looking for leads on the cause of the fire.

[Firefighter]

Christina had soot covering most of her body. She had soot inside of her lungs, but her hair wasn't charred. Her body wasn't burned in any places.

[Carl Carlson]

The physician found no evidence indicating she was injured or incapacitated in that bathroom.

[Expert/Analyst]

The autopsy report is telling us that Christina Carlson died from smoke inhalation. And it shows that we have a death caused by the results of a fire, but it doesn't give us clear direction whether this death is an accidental death or it is a homicide.

[Carl Carlson]

What was the actual cause of this fire? And were we looking at an accident or something more sinister?

[Christina's Family Member]

Carl left that very next morning.

[Expert/Analyst]

It became kind of a shock. Why is this quick escape from this area?

[Firefighter]

Carl's trying to move on, and he meets this new woman.

[Expert/Analyst]

But this guy had a lot of.

[Investigator]

Suspicious things that happened around him.

[Carl Carlson]

911. Yes, I think I need an ambulance.

[Investigator]

Less than 24 hours after a house fire cost Christina Carlson her life, investigators in Northern California are dealing with a series of suspicious circumstances surrounding the inferno.

[Expert/Analyst]

Carl Carlson, the husband, basically comes out unscathed he gives this horrific story about how light might have fallen. It probably ignited. He saves the three children. But ultimately, Carl could not rescue his wife from the burning house. Investigators wanted to know where is the truth? Is this an accident? Could this be a murder? So they start to have conversations with neighbors, family members.

[Investigator]

Meanwhile, Christina's family meets with her husband Carl to hear his firsthand account of what happened.

[Christina's Family Member]

Carl said the house caught fire because the kerosene lantern fell over. Carl was talking about how the fire had burned his face and he said, look at these burns. We didn't see any burns on his face. Nothing added up. Kept saying, no, it was an accident. No, it wasn't. I know it wasn't. I for one was really letting it be known that I did not believe him. If you didn't know Carl the way we did, if you didn't know the circumstances of how he wanted to keep her under his thumb, then you could be easily surprised that this happened.

[Firefighter]

Christina and Carl met when Carl was stationed with the Air Force and they met at a military dance. Christina and Carl got married in 1984 and moved to New York where they were close to Carl's family.

[Christina's Family Member]

The first child was Erin, and then there was Levi and then there was Katie.

[Firefighter]

While they were living there together as a married couple, they were having really serious money problems. And so Christina wanted to move closer to her family in California.

[Christina's Family Member]

She was raised in the country and loved the country and she thought that would a better life for them.

[Firefighter]

The family moved to Murphy's where they started renting a decades old house.

[Carl Carlson]

Christina Carlson is taking care of the home and taking care of the children. But maintenance is constantly required on this home to make it habitable.

[Christina's Family Member]

We talk once in a while and I was learning that Carl would not leave her alone at any time. We all began to notice that strangeness there. Last time that I got to see her, he made it extremely uncomfortable for me to be there and she wasn't being treated right. And I knew right then that there was something bad, something real bad going on. And unfortunately we didn't quite gather, but it was starting to unravel.

[Investigator]

As concern mounts in Christina's family, Carl makes a surprise announcement. On the day following the fire, Carl.

[Christina's Family Member]

Started letting everybody know he was taking the children back to New York and he left that very next morning.

[Carl Carlson]

Carl moves 3,000 miles away, doesn't stay for any funeral services, doesn't purchase a headstone, he just packs up and leaves.

[Expert/Analyst]

It's still very early on in the investigation. It became kind Of a shock to the people looking into this fire. What is he running from? Why is this quick escape from this area?

[Christina's Family Member]

And that was even more confirmation that there was something wrong.

[Firefighter]

Christina's family was so suspicious that they decided to collect their own evidence.

[Christina's Family Member]

About a week after the incident, we went out to the property and shot a video of what the house looked like after the fire. This here is a bit bathroom where Christina was found. Kerosene got spilled here.

[Carl Carlson]

That's where the presume started.

[Christina's Family Member]

I could see what was left of that building, and there was nothing except plywood and the window. Why he didn't knock this out, there's no reason he couldn't have got to that bathroom. No reason.

[Firefighter]

There were indentations or scratch marks that could have indicated that Christina had possibly tried to pull the board off of the window.

[Christina's Family Member]

That might be fingernails. This is what's really hard for me. I knew that window was nailed shut. So she couldn't. She couldn't get out.

[Investigator]

The family turns over their video evidence and continues to voice their concern to the police. But investigators find following the Meltzer's lead is easier said than done.

[Carl Carlson]

Investigators in Calaveras county felt that there was something to this. But it's an area that's rural. It doesn't have a lot. Carl's in New York now, and he had already made a statement. It's going to cost a lot to send people to New York. They don't have a lot of resources to build a case to charge Carl Carlson.

[Firefighter]

On March 3, 1991, Christina's death was officially ruled an accident. There just wasn't enough hard evidence to prove otherwise.

[Carl Carlson]

Unless you have a witness, it's hard to prove arson. It's basically a fire investigator's word against Carl's word.

[Expert/Analyst]

At that point, State Farm insurance paid out a life insurance policy of approximately $215,000 to Carl Carlson.

[Christina's Family Member]

When we found out the insurance company had ruled that it was an accident, and with all the facts the way they were, with all the information that was available to them, we were flabbergasted. We were shocked.

[Carl Carlson]

I've worked with insurance investigators. If an arrest is not made, insurance policies are not going to deny the claim.

[Investigator]

Investigators are left only with questions. Was the money the motive for this crime? Or is it a little solace to a man who just lost his wife and the mother of his three children? The answers aren't readily apparent in the years following the incident, as Carl distances himself from the tragedy.

[Firefighter]

Carl's living back in New York in his hometown, and he's trying to move on.

[Christina's Family Member]

We stayed in contact with grandkids. We never were able to visit them after they moved back there.

[Carl Carlson]

Carl purchases a section of farm from his parents and he gets involved in different farming events.

[Firefighter]

A year later, he meets this new woman. Her name's Cindy Best. They meet while they're line dancing and their relationship just takes off. Cindy just immediately falls head over heels for this guy. She sees a man who is a single father and a widower, and he's doing the best he can for his three children. On November 20, 2008 at 03:50pm, 17 years after Christina's death, the local sheriff's department gets a call from very frantic Cindy.

[Carl Carlson]

Nine one, one. Yeah, I think I need an ambulance.

[Expert/Analyst]

Okay.

[Carl Carlson]

What's going on? The truck's now on my stepson and I don't think he's alive.

[Narrator]

If you've been worrying about the safety of your home and family, there is no better time to act than right now. You can get 60% off a new Simplisafe security system. It's their best deal of the year. Simplisafe is the home security system I trust and use. Our listeners can get 60% off today just by visiting simplisafe.com snapd Another way my family loves to use Simplisafe products is to help make taking care of our family's senior dog a little easier. We have a smart lock on the door so we can let anyone in who needs access to walk buddy. We also have cameras inside if we leave for errands and we want to check up on him. We also, of course, have cameras outside that let us know if there's any animals visiting before we go out for a late night walk. A deer, raccoon and frog have all made their appearances. Simplisafe is offering our listeners exclusive early access to their Black Friday sale this week only. You can get 60% off any new system with a select professional monitoring plan. This is their best offer of the year. Head to simplisafe.com snapd that's simplisafe.com snapd there's no safe like Simplisafe. To me, fall is all about cozying up with either a pumpkin spice latte, maybe tailgating a football game, or apple picking as the weather gets cooler. The best pairing is a cozy sweater from Quince. Quince is known for their Mongolian cashmere sweaters. Starting at just $50, all quince items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. This includes beautiful leather jackets, cotton cardigans, soft denim and more. Quintz partners directly with top factories and cuts out the cost of the middleman, which passes the savings onto us. My favorite part is Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices. I love my bags from Quince because they go with every season and even though I use them almost every day, they look brand new because they're made with premium leather and finishes. It's luxury items without the price tag. My classic Italian leather tote goes with everything and fits almost everything too. Get cozy in Quince's high quality wardrobe essentials. Go to quince.comsnapt for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q U I N C E.com snapd to get free shipping and 365.

[Investigator]

Day returns 17 years after Carl Carlson loses his first wife Christina in a freak house fire, tragedy strikes again. This time in Seneca County, New York.

[Carl Carlson]

The truck fell on my stepson Cindy.

[Expert/Analyst]

The second wife of Carl Carlson, calls 911 to say that their truck had fallen off the jack and their son Levi was pinned underneath it.

[Carl Carlson]

He's not alive. Is he breathing? No.

[Expert/Analyst]

The 911 operator wanted them to start CPR.

[Carl Carlson]

You could hear Carl actually in the.

[Expert/Analyst]

Background of the call.

[Carl Carlson]

Carl, do you know cpr? Justice Pratt Both Carl and Cindy are just out of their mind, borderline hysterical at that point when she calls. Oh my God, this is horrible.

[Expert/Analyst]

Upon receiving this call, Seneca county sheriffs and other emergency personnel respond to the scene. The house of Carl Carlson is a farmhouse located in a very rural area.

[Firefighter]

When first responders arrived at the scene, Carl and Cindy showed them the body.

[Expert/Analyst]

Just off the main house in this garage type barn was the body of Levi Carlson. Next to him was a half ton pickup truck that Levi had apparently been working on. His injuries were to one central area of his chest. He had a crushing compression type wound, 2, 3, 4 inches wide and deep. He was a very bluish purplish color, all indication that he had perished hours ago.

[Investigator]

Sheriff's deputies question the grieving parents of the 23 year old victim to find out what they know about the tragic scene.

[Carl Carlson]

According to Carl and Cindy, Levi had been over that day. Carl asked Levi if he could help work on the brake lines underneath this farm truck that used to haul stuff around, used to plow.

[Expert/Analyst]

The vehicle had been jacked up by Carl Carlson with a single post railroad jack.

[Carl Carlson]

Farmers around here use those. They're common around here. The bad part of them is they're pretty wobbly because they're tall.

[Expert/Analyst]

According to Carl, it was around noontime.

[Investigator]

Levi was alive and working on the truck, and Carl and Cindy went to attend a funeral. A relative of Cindy's had passed away. They went to a reception after the funeral.

[Expert/Analyst]

They came back home approximately four hours later.

[Carl Carlson]

When he went into the garage to check on Levi, the truck had come down off of the jack. Levi was underneath it. He's cold to the touch, Carl said. He then jacks up the truck, pulls Levi out, and he yells to Cindy to call 911. A devastating turn of events.

[Investigator]

Levi's father and stepmother are left to mourn a life beset by tragedy.

[Carl Carlson]

Levi Carlson was the son of Carl Carlson's former wife, Christina, who had died a decade and a half earlier. All the kids were less than 5 years old when Christina died and Carl rescued them from the house.

[Investigator]

Growing up without his mother took its toll on Levi's relationship with his father.

[Carl Carlson]

They fought a lot. They were very different personalities. Levi, from everything I know, was introverted, quiet, had trouble in school, had financial difficulties.

[Firefighter]

Levi was a very young father, starting his own family and trying to move his life in another direction. And over the past couple years, it seemed he was doing just that. He had gotten a job and he overcame a lot of challenges that he'd had in his life so far.

[Expert/Analyst]

It clearly looked like an accident to everyone.

[Investigator]

A young man working underneath the truck, and the truck fell off the jack on top of him.

[Carl Carlson]

The family doctor signs off and the death is accidental. There's no autopsy done.

[Expert/Analyst]

Basically, the case is closed. Any further investigation into the death of Levi Carlson is ended at that point.

[Firefighter]

And the family just has to live with that reality that they'd lost their brother and their son.

[Investigator]

Members of Carl's family, they reach out to Levi's grandparents 2,000 miles away in Northern California to inform them of the news.

[Christina's Family Member]

I felt really bad, but I didn't think it was an accident. I thought, it's happened again. It looked like Carl could get away with murder a second time, but we couldn't do anything about it. We just had to roll the punches and believe that eventually Carl would have to pay for the crime that he committed.

[Investigator]

Four years pass, and Carl Carlson and his family continue to move on in New York until a call comes into the Seneca County Sheriff's Office that could crack open the mysteries surrounding these accidental deaths once and for all.

[Carl Carlson]

February 2012. I received a phone call, and it's a woman who says she has information about a death that occurred in our county. She asked me first, did you investigate the death of Levi Carlson back in 2008. So I looked it up on the computer and I said, yeah, I see it here. It was never turned over to investigations. It's down as an accident. And she said, you might want to look into that further because there's a good chance he was murdered by his father.

[Investigator]

In February 2012, investigators in Seneca County, New York are blindsided by a huge lead claiming that Carl Carlson had a hand in the tragic death of his 23 year old son Levi, four years prior.

[Carl Carlson]

She says her name is Jackie Jaimal and she's actually Levi's cousin. I asked her why she felt that this was more than an accident. She said she had some reasons.

[Firefighter]

She had been in touch with Cindy and the Carlson kids over the past couple years Based on conversations with them. She had heard some things that had raised her suspicions.

[Expert/Analyst]

According to Jackie, this guy had a lot of accidents.

[Investigator]

There's a lot of suspicious things that happen around him.

[Carl Carlson]

She goes on to explain that there was a suspicious fire in California where his first wife died.

[Firefighter]

She talks about the fact that Carl had made money off of Christina's death and that Christina's children had never seen any of that money.

[Investigator]

No one in Seneca county had any idea about Carl Carlson's past, why he was living here after he had moved here from California. But the biggest revelation from Jackie involves her cousin Levi.

[Carl Carlson]

Jackie had told us Cindy had told her that she believed Carl had killed Levi for insurance money by dropping a truck on him. So Cindy and Carl were estranged and Cindy had moved out a month before. At that point, I promised her I'd look into it. So we did.

[Expert/Analyst]

At this point, this is just all hearsay. We as investigators now, this is where we step in and we want to investigate every aspect of Carl's life.

[Carl Carlson]

We started collecting data. What really broke it open for us was when we got some of the insurance information.

[Investigator]

Everything Jackie said to Lieutenant Clear we found out to be accurate.

[Expert/Analyst]

We find life insurance policies that were taken out a short time prior to the death of both Christina in the short time prior to the death of Levi Carlson for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In both cases, the recipient of this big cash reward is Carl Carlson.

[Carl Carlson]

There was something going on here.

[Investigator]

The unthinkable question remained, could Levi's accidental death truly be a cold and calculated murder for money?

[Carl Carlson]

I make the decision to reopen the case into Levi Carlson's death. What are we going to do with this? Right. We've got some circumstantial evidence here, but we still don't have anything concrete. We need somebody on the inside that knows Carl. So on April 9, 2012, we took a chance. We made a cold call to Cindy Carlson. It was a little bit of a risk. We knew from Jackie that she was estranged from Carl, but we weren't sure what the relationship actually was, what state it was in. And after I introduced myself, I said I had reopened the investigation into her stepson's death. Levi, she said, thank God you called. She agreed to come down. And that began a series of many interviews with Cindy that occurred over the coming months. Cindy starts describing to us a person who's extremely narcissistic. She said, I was more like a mother to him than a wife. Carl would want me to take care of him, and that he was very emotionally abusive.

[Investigator]

Given Cindy's level of cooperation, investigators zero in on the events surrounding Levi's death and what would possibly drive Carl to murder his son.

[Carl Carlson]

According to Cindy, Levi and Carl had been at odds for quite a while. Carl did not approve of the woman he married or the house that he bought, she said. Recently, though, they had started to get along. It seemed that Carl was making some overtures to Levi to fix their relationship.

[Expert/Analyst]

It was Carl's idea to get the life insurance policy, and he kind of.

[Investigator]

Dragged Levi there to go along with it. Levi didn't make much money.

[Expert/Analyst]

Carl took him to the insurance agent. Carl paid cash for the policy, and Carl was the sole beneficiary of that policy.

[Carl Carlson]

The policy was taken out 17 days before Levi's death, and he got over $700,000. She said she didn't find out about it until after Levi was dead and that Carl had pretty much blown most of the money. On a get rich quick scheme.

[Investigator]

Cindy reveals how her relationship with Carl spiraled in the days prior to leaving him.

[Carl Carlson]

So Cindy Carlson has become suspicious of her husband, so she hires a private investigator. The private investigator looks into the insurance matters, calls her back, and drops a bombshell on her. There's an insurance policy on her for over a million dollars. The private investigator says, I think you might be next.

[Investigator]

Cindy Carlson claims her estranged husband Carl killed his son Levi and his first wife Christina for insurance money, and she fears she may be next. But outside of damning allegations, police in Seneca County, New York, have little proof that this is true.

[Expert/Analyst]

We have filled our files with information, but not of the truth of what happened.

[Investigator]

Lacking jurisdiction in California, where Carl's first wife, Christina, died in a suspicious house fire, investigators in New York focus on the accident that took the life of Levi Carlson.

[Expert/Analyst]

This was a four year old case that most of it had been expunged, destroyed. And Cindy Carlson was now working with us on a daily basis.

[Carl Carlson]

Cindy came in one day and says, I can't believe it. He told me he killed Levi. He said he pushed the truck over on him because Levi was a burden to the family. Before, we heard lots of rumors, but nothing substantiated. But now Carl's admitting he killed Levi. I asked her why, why Carl would admit to killing anybody. And she said, well, he's trying to get back together with me. He wants to meet with me. I felt that this is an opportunity that we should take. We have a weakness that can be exploited. He wants her back. What we decide to do is wire her up with professional equipment. She meets Carl at a restaurant.

[Expert/Analyst]

There's several investigators inside acting as customers. And we just let it play out and we let Cindy have that conversation.

[Firefighter]

Can you just tell me how things went that day?

[Investigator]

Part of me feels like I'm walking into a movie trap.

[Carl Carlson]

Carl is suspicious. Right off the bat, he comes right out and tells her he feels like he's getting set up. A trap? Like what kind of trap?

[Firefighter]

I get irritated because I want this to work.

[Investigator]

Just tell me.

[Carl Carlson]

I said, all right, I'll drag it up.

[Narrator]

And it was wobbly.

[Firefighter]

When was this?

[Carl Carlson]

Before we left.

[Christina's Family Member]

And then one thing just led to another.

[Firefighter]

And that's not what you told me.

[Christina's Family Member]

No, it hasn't. I asked you if you pushed the.

[Carl Carlson]

Truck and you said yes after it had happened.

[Investigator]

Then I panicked and saw the opportunity. I took advantage of the situation that once it happened.

[Carl Carlson]

What parent considers the death of their child an opportunity? At that point, I knew he was what we thought he was.

[Expert/Analyst]

Ultimately, Carl doesn't come out and give us the direct confession that we want, but he gives us enough of an admission that it is time that we now pick up Carl Carlson and we bring him to the Seneca County Sheriff's Office for an interview.

[Carl Carlson]

I think part of you knew deep down that this day was going to come. No, because I never. I didn't have anything to do with it. I really did not. Carl is an interesting individual with a lot of issues, but one issue he does not have is a reluctance to talk. He likes to talk. What we know to be true is you pushed that car over. I did not. Well, you confessed to your wife. You have her wired. Yes, we do. I thought he did. It's all recorded. I lied my wife. Okay, you guys don't know what happened that day. He's pretty confident at the beginning of that interview, and Carl tells his first version of what happened with Levi. The day that my son died, we had a funeral. Come back a little after four and went out there and I found him dead. Carl sticks with that for a while. I think there's no way I could kill my son. There's no way. I stuck up for him and did everything. What did you mean? You told Cindy that. That one of the reasons that you took the opportunity to do it was because he was a bird. I don't know. I did not kill Levi. There's no way I could have. But he was dead when I went in there. Carl switches gears at one point and says, okay, he was dead before I left. When I walked out there and seen that, it was like disbelief, Disbelief.

[Christina's Family Member]

And I walked out, went to his funeral.

[Expert/Analyst]

He said he sees Levi underneath her. And he walks out on his son who's being crushed and walks out of the garage, gets in the car where his wife is sitting in the passenger seat, goes to his wife's aunt's funeral.

[Carl Carlson]

He was dead. And I creeped. I just like. I mean, it was an accident. Now, that's a bombshell for us, right? Because right away, we know that nobody is just going to walk away and leave their son dead lying on the floor, and then go to dinner and go to a funeral. So I would say that metaphorically, the gloves kind of come off in the interview. It gets a little more intense. Well, stop and please. Doesn't make sense what you're telling me.

[Christina's Family Member]

I know what it looks like.

[Carl Carlson]

Yeah, you do. At this point, he breaks down, starts version 3000, truck door. Okay. When they did it, he says that he stepped into the truck and caused it to fall. And then he freaked out and he left. And I just, like, left him there. Yeah. Now, I don't believe it for a second that he accidentally dropped the truck on his son. But for legal purposes, it doesn't really matter at that point because under New York state law, that's depraved indifference murder. That's murder sex. So the truck fell on your son and instead of jacking it back up, you ran. I'm scared.

[Expert/Analyst]

Had he lifted the truck off Levi, the likelihood is Levi would have lived and been fine.

[Carl Carlson]

So your son was still very much alive and you could have saved him. Carl didn't really stop the interview. We did it. Gone nine and a half hours. So we felt it was time to put to call in. All right, well, come with me. You're under arrest. After the interview of Carl Carlson.

[Investigator]

Within days, I indicted him on two counts of murder in the second degree and insurance fraud.

[Firefighter]

At that time, Carl realized that he had been caught and that he had no other choice but to take a plea deal for second degree murder.

[Expert/Analyst]

As a consequence, Carl Carlson was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 15 years to life.

[Christina's Family Member]

When Carl pleaded guilty to second degree murder and showed who he really was, we were very, very happy and thankful he would be convicted and he would go to jail. I cried how he could do such things to his own children.

[Investigator]

New York investigators have revealed Carl's role in the murder of his son Levi. But questions still remain regarding his involvement in the fire death of his first wife, Christina.

[Carl Carlson]

This is someone who is a killer and a planner and a very greedy man. We need to use what we now know from New York to charge and convict Carl Carlson of killing Christina Carlson in 1991.

[Investigator]

Investigators in New York have successfully convicted Carl Carlson for the death of his son Levi. But justice proves more elusive when it comes to his involvement in his first wife Christina's mysterious fire death in 1991.

[Carl Carlson]

At this point, investigator Jeff Arnold from the state police is really digging into the information out in California.

[Expert/Analyst]

All the evidentiary material, all the documents had been pretty much expunged in California, But I learned of this. One investigator was hired to do a forensic investigation. So I called, and I got this man on the other end of the line. He said, but I can't believe this day has finally come. It was like this praise God moment. He was just almost in tears, elated. The original arson investigators didn't view it as an accident, however, Carl left the state within three days of his wife dying.

[Investigator]

And the investigation kind of didn't go.

[Expert/Analyst]

Anywhere out there because of that. Thankfully, this miracle in investigator had photocopied every document of that investigation, and he had it in a box in his basement. Now we can rebuild the California investigation.

[Investigator]

As authorities piece together the information and missing reports, the true cause of the fire finally becomes clear.

[Expert/Analyst]

We learn at that point that there's clearly evidence that there was a second fresh pour of kerosene poured just moments before the fire was lit.

[Carl Carlson]

They determined that by testing the carpet for how far the kerosene had spread. There was also a U pattern in the hallway indicating that it had been deliberately poured shortly before the fire and not accidentally spilled. The fire investigator was able to test the work light that Carl mentioned may have started the fire.

[Expert/Analyst]

There wasn't even power to the light, nor was the filament broken. That could even cause the fire. So a person clearly lit the fresh kerosene. It wasn't accidental. What's the alternative? Carl said it.

[Carl Carlson]

At the time. Back in 1991, Calaveras county didn't believe that they had enough evidence in this case to get a conviction. But now, through the lens of what we now knew in New York, we felt we could get this case into a courtroom in front of a jury.

[Expert/Analyst]

I took it upon myself to write a basically 100 page document and put together the piece of the investigation. And I emailed the District Attorney in Murphy's county to say, please, please don't let this guy get away.

[Firefighter]

On December 8, 2011. In 2012, the Calaveras County District Attorney's office officially reopens the investigation into Christina Carlson's death. After eight years of building their case against Carl Carlson, he was charged in the death of his wife, Christina.

[Christina's Family Member]

Arlene and I looked at each other and said, you know, it's about time, but thank God that it is happening. We're going to take care of them.

[Firefighter]

The trial finally comes to fruition in 2020, nearly 29 years to the day after Christina Carlson's death, they decided to extradite Carl back to Calaveras county to face judgment for her murder. And on February 3, 2020, a jury finds Carl Carlson guilty of first degree murder and the death of Christina Carlson.

[Carl Carlson]

Carl Carlson is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his wife Christina.

[Christina's Family Member]

A heaviness, I felt it lifting off of me. Arlene just started crying with jubilation, uncontrollably. We had to hold her up. She was about to collapse when she. When you heard it, it was finally the end of a journey. Took 30 years to accomplish, but we got the result we wanted. Had they investigated and done what their job would have done, Levi would be alive today. That's the hard part. I carried that pain in my heart. Oh, all those years I missed. Mama misses you. Christina did not deserve what she received. Levi did not deserve what he got. Carl Carlson was an evil man doing evil deeds.

[Investigator]

Did you know that after World War.

[Expert/Analyst]

II, the US government quietly brought former Nazi scientists to America in a covert.

[Investigator]

Operation to advance military technology? Or that in the 1950s, the US.

[Expert/Analyst]

Army conducted a secret experiment by releasing bacteria over San Francisco to test how a biological attack might spread without alerting the public. These might sound like conspiracy theories, but they're not.

[Investigator]

They're well documented government operations that have.

[Expert/Analyst]

Been hidden away in classified files for decades. I'm Luke lamanna, a Marine Corps recon vet and I've always had thing for digging into the unknown. It's what led me to start my new podcast, Declassified Mysteries. In it I explore hidden truths and reveal some eye opening events like covert experiments and secret operations that those in power tried to keep buried. Follow redacted Declassified Mysteries with me, Luke.

[Investigator]

Lamanna on the Wondery app or wherever.

[Expert/Analyst]

You get your podcasts to listen ad free.

[Investigator]

Join Wondery plus in the Wondery App.