Transcript
Lynn Vincent (0:08)
It's March 18, 2005 in Clearwater, Florida, and Michael Schiavo is in maybe the last place he expected to be. Clinging to the top of an eight foot fence, Michael is balanced precariously peering over the far side. His brother in law, John, is standing below. Michael gulps a little, laughing, nervous. He's a big guy, but even for him it's a long way down. It's a blue skied spring afternoon in Clearwater. Michael lives in a plain bungalow style house with shade trees and a quiet cul de sac. At least it used to be quiet. Now, though, it's a media circus. A bunch of reporters are camped out front, practically on Michael's front lawn. A dozen cameras lined the sidewalk, all waiting to catch a glimpse of Michael Scheibo, the man at the center of the biggest news story on the planet. The media had been clogging his street for days. When Michael finally got the call. The feeding tube was out. Michael's wife, Terri Schiavo, was finally going to die. Michael didn't want the reporters to see him leave the house, so he sneaked out the back door, climbed a ladder to the top of his own fence. And now he's hesitating, eyeing the drop from the ground. John whispers, go, go, go. Michael takes a breath, then jumps. He lands with a thump in the soft grass and feels his right knee pop. He staggers, then limps through the neighbor's yard. Unmarked police cars are waiting for him. They whisk him away to Florida, Hospice of the Suncoast. There, in a small dark room, Michael bends over a narrow hospital bed. He gathers his wife Terry into his arms and begins to cry. From world radio and the creative team that brings you the world and everything in it, this is Lawless.
Unknown Singer (2:29)
I see a wicked man walking down a broken road. I see a ransomed man in the storm Trying not to fall for gold Devil's at the door trying to take control but the Lord's gonna scatter his bones.
Lynn Vincent (2:51)
I'm New York Times best selling author and World Magazine senior writer Lynn Vinson. Lawless is a new true crime podcast that examines a frightening fact of American life, that not every crime is against the law. In today's America, the essential value of being human has eroded to the point that what once would have been prosecuted as a crime is now unexceptional, even celebrated. In season one of Lawless, we'll investigate the Terri Schiavo story, a case that in 2005 shocked the world. This is episode two ballerina. It's February 25th, 1990. Fifteen years before Michael Scheibo found himself forced to sneak out the back of his own home. It's before dawn in St. Petersburg. Suddenly, Michael awakens in the dark. He's not sure what time it is. 4:30 in the morning, maybe 5. As he gets out of bed, he doesn't notice that Terry's side of the bed is empty. Then Michael hears a thud. And the Schiavo's lives are about to change forever. Michael says his first thought is that maybe Terry has fallen. He bolts out of the bedroom into the hallway of their tiny apartment and finds his 26 year old wife, young and healthy, lying on the floor outside the bathroom. Michael will later say he found Terry lying on her side, one arm flung up over her head like a ballerina. She isn't moving. Michael drops to his knees, turns her to face him and gathers her into his arms. He tries to rouse her, but. Terry. Terry, he says. Are you all right? What happened? Terry's breath sounds strange and ragged. Michael remembers becoming frantic, says he dashed to the living room, called 911. Michael tells the dispatcher that his wife is unresponsive, that he doesn't know what's going on or. Or something. He doesn't remember exactly what he said, but he remembers hanging up, running back to Terry and scooping her up again, cradling her against his chest. Sunstar Paramedics gets the call. Lights, sirens, two paramedics, one named Ridgeski and the other Eisenbrandt. One of them writes down the time on the ambulance run sheet. It's 5:40am Back in the Schiavo apartment, Michael remembers lowering Terry to the floor again. He says he sprinted back to the living room and called Terry's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Bob and Mary live in isla del Sol, 15 minutes away. Again, Michael runs back to Terry. He remembers, then back to the phone again. Terry's brother Bobby lives in the same apartment complex, less than two minutes away. Michael calls Bobby and tells him, your sister's collapsed. She's on the floor. Then Michael hangs up, rushes to Terry's side again, scoops her up and cradles her in his arms. Experts say that in times of extreme trauma, events often burn into the human memory with sudden and unalterable clarity. The entire family was traumatized in those dark hours. Michael, Bobby, Bob and Mary Schindler. But somehow that burning clarity of memory would become blurry. The timeline of events, who called whom and when. Even the position of Terry's body and details that should have been easy to Remember would change. Bobby Schindler remembers receiving a phone call that night. Not from Michael though, from his father, Bob. He leaps from his bed and runs out of his apartment, pulling on his shirt as he goes.