Murder or Accident?

Either this was a horrendous crime or it was a horrendous accident. And a mystery that kept Rhode Island and the rest of the country guessing for years. It was huge news throughout the nation. It was the high society trial(s) of the century. It was like something out of a Hollywood screen play only this was real life. The time is December 21st 1980. The place is Newport Rhode Island.

Sunny Von Bulow, a wealthy socialite and oil heiress is rushed through the doors of the Newport Hospital . She was motionless on the stretcher, in a coma, and ice cold to the touch. Her pulse was quite slow and Doctors find traces of sedatives but not enough to cause a coma. But there is something else suspicious on the heiress' toxicology report... a significant amount of insulin. A battery of tests is run and the question becomes does she have an insulin producing coma or was there another reason for her coma.

Then the staff takes a look at her medical history. They learn that this isn't the first time Mrs. Von Bulow has been to the hospital. She had been hospitalized a year earlier for being comatose. That time, however, she had made a full recovery. But there is something else that makes this diagnose curious.. when she was hospitalized the last time there was also a high level of insulin in her system. Her husband, the Count Clouse Von Bulow tells Doctors that his wife had begun to feel ill the previous evening.

After not feeling well the night before, she had gone to bed and the following morning Clouse had gotten up to walk the dogs and when he returned he noticed Sunny had not come down for breakfast. When he went upstairs he found Sunny lying face down in the bathroom with her head lying unerneath the toilet unconscious. It appeared that she had vomited. EMTs that arrived on scene initially thought it was an overdose. Apparently she was doing a lot of self medicating with more than just aspirin. There were Valium and other barbiturate pill bottles on her nightstand. Within hours of her arrival, it's clear that there won't be a miraculous recovery this time. This was a prolonged form of coma. Over night the charmed life of Sunny Von Bulow had turned cloudy indeed.

Throughout the nation this was about to become known as the Von Bulow affair and there were more layers of secrecy about to be reveled than anyone imagined. Sunny Von Bulow was a very private person who had a lot of money but was also very unhappy. Money did not buy her happiness. Martha Sunny Crawford, daughter of millionaire oilman George Crawford had been raised in world of privilege and unimaginable wealth. She had absolutely no guilt about being enormously rich. The shy stunning heiress' first marriage to an Austrian Prince didn't last very long. Just a few months after her divorce she was swept off her feet by a Danish aristocrat named Clouse Von Bulow.

Clouse was very well read and a seductor. He was born Clouse Cecil Borberg but his Father had collaborated with the Nazis and ended up in prison after the war so he changed his name to Clouse took his Mother's maiden name of Bulow. He first called himself De Bulow and then changed it to Von Bulow. Unlike his wife he nor his mother had any money to speak of but he did have the aristocratic background and moved in all the upper eschelons of society. After marrying Sunny, Clouse dropped the European drawing rooms and moved to New York. Clouse made Sunny feel good about herself after her marriage went bust.

After the couple married Clouse quickly became a Father figure to Sunny's two children, Prince Alexander and Princess Anne Lorry, nicknamed Alli. By all accounts he was a very good companion to Sunny and a very good Father to the kids. The couple also had a child of their own, a girl named Cosoma. The family split their time between a 5th Ave. townhouse in New York and Claridon Court, a 20 room seaside mansion in Newport's Belleview Avenue. Belleview Avenue in Newport is known as Mansion row where people like the Vanderbuilts and the Astors live. Sunny and Clouse surrounded themselves with spectacular 18th century art, Chippendale furniture, and Waterford crystal chandeliers. Despite the opulence, Sunny preferred the simple family life whereas Clouse preferred the society circuit.

It is thought that Clouse married Sunny for all the wrong reasons. Although she was extraordinarily beautiful, Clouse never really loved her, nor her him. It was a marriage of convenience more than anything else. Sunny married Clouse because he was dashing, handsome and articulate and wanted him to be something of a lapdog for her. After the birth of their daughter Cosoma, they didn't have a sexual relationship. Sunny told Clouse that it was fine with her if he had an extra marital affair so long as he didn't throw it up to her and Clouse took her up on her offer. But Clouse's infidelity only seemed to do more damage. They were both very frustrated. They basically lived in a house that was based on lies. They kept up appearances, however, and as so many of the very rich do swept their troubles under their very expensive Persian rug. However no one knows the family secrets like the hired help.

Maria, the maid, was always suspicious after Sunny's first coma. When Maria found Sunny in bed immediately prior to her first coma, she said she had heard a rattle. Clouse pushes Maria off and tells Maria she just needed to sleep it off. Sunny was lying there for eight hours and Clouse do nothing. Not only did he do nothing but when Maria suggests taking Sunny to the hospital he says no. After Sunny recovered from her first coma, life at Claridon Court went back to normal but the high levels of insulin were never fully explained. Then, a few months later, Maria made an alarming discovery. She finds a black bag in Clouse's closet containing a vial of insulin. No one had a medical need for insulin so why is it there.

Maria reveals her findings to the children but when they try to share their suspicions with Sunny she quickly dismisses them. There is a lot of pressure on Sunny now from Maria and the children that her husband is up to no good but she fights it for all she is worth. But then again it must be very tough to admit that your husband is trying to kill you. For months the mysterious black bag and its contents are forgotten. The children think that their Mother will be mad at them if they report what they have found to the police. The mood at Claridon must have been a chilly as a Nor'easter in Newport harbor. Imagine the children at one end of the dinner table suspecting the man at the other end of trying to off their Mother. But without proof there isn't anything anyone can do about it.

As before there are high levels of insulin in Sunny Von Bulow but this time she doesn't wake up. Alex and Alli just didn't think any of it made sense and began a private quest to find out what happened. They hired Richard Queg, who is a lawyer to look into the situation for them. He recommends they hire a private detective and try to locate the black bag. Alexander and the hired private eye go to Claridon Court to see if they could find the black bag and anything that could incriminate Clouse. They do come upon the infamous black bag in a locked closet inside Clouse's dressing room. The vial if insulin is missing but in its place is something even more sinister. They find some drugs and what appears to be a hypodermic syringe with the needle encrusted in with some sort of mysterious powder.

When they send the needle to be tested, the families darkest fears are confirmed. A lab in California says that their are traces of insulin on the needle. Alli and Alexandria were more convinced than ever that there had been foul play at Claridon Court but they needed time to calculate their next move because once they went public there would be no turning back. They were by instinct horrified of publicity especially since they really didn't know for sure what had gone on. But three months pass and Sunny shows no sign of recovery. The children now decide that they must contact the Rhode Island State Police.

This is going to be a tough case to prove in court. There was no one who saw Clouse stick a needle in Sunny and the entire case was circumstantial at best. The needle alone isn't enough to make a case of attempted murder. But Investigators are compelled to take a closer look. They speak to Sunny's financial manager who tells them Clouse stands to gain $14 million dollars upon Sunny's death. Clouse had no money of his own. He essentially hadn't worked since he had married Sunny and even if he could get a job he certainly couldn't make the kind of money that would keep him in the lifestyle of which
he had become accustom.

Then Investigators uncover what appears to be even a stronger motive on Clouse's part. Before the first coma, Clouse had taken up with a soap opera star named Alexandria Ailes and they fell in love. She was more than a soap star. She was the daughter of the Danish aristocrat Count Bobby Von Molky and a good friend of Clouse's grandfather. She moved in the same social circles as the Von Bulows and Clouse became smitten. Clouse had the best of both worlds. The freedom to play the field and all the benefits of a wealthy wife. But Alexandria was different. She wanted a wedding and did not want to be the other woman. She gave Clouse an ultimatum, either he leaves his wife or she will leave him. Before the first coma Clouse had proposed to her. With the medical evidence, the money and the mistress the State of Rhode Island feels they finally have enough to go after Clouse Von Bulow.

In the summer of 1981 with his wife still trapped in an irreversible coma The grand Jury indicts Clouse on two counts of attempted murder. The indictments set off shock waves throughout the Rhode Island social community. Nobody had really seen that big of a problem in the marriage. But nevertheless this was front page news all over the country. It may have been the home of the rich and famous but no one really knew what went on behind closed doors. This story had it all.. a high society who done it, a snooping maid , and a husband trying to kill his wife with drugs. It was catnip for the press and they pounced. The trial was setting up to be pure scandal and everyone was already wanting a front row seat.

As anticipation of the upcoming trial approaches everyone begins to take sides. The community was split. There were those who were very suspicious and there were those who claimed that Clouse would never do such a thing. Even Claridon Court is a house divided. While Alex and Alli firmly believe that Clouse is guilty, Cosoma stand by her Father and splits from her half brother and sister. It is generally felt that she really didn't have a choice as he was her only real parent. Clouse arms himself with a top notch defense teams and prepares for a showdown. His Attorney was known as "high priced Farringer" a tall, distinguished looking gentleman. For the State there was a young Italian named Steve Tameyeti and the early sense was that Farringer was going to wipe the floor with the younger Tameyeti. It was going to be difficult to win a conviction against a man who had no prior record and was held in high esteem in the Newport area.

Every morning during the trial the Bellvue mansions would empty headed for the courthouse where for a buck or two the local kids would hold a place in line for you. There were cameras and reporters everywhere. I was like something produced out of Hollywood. On January 11th 1982 the trial began. The first witness for the State is the maid Maria who tells the packed court room about Clouses indifference to her attempts to waken Sunny immediately to her first coma episode. The prosecution maintains that Clouse induced both of Sunny's comas.

According to the prosecution theory he injected Sunny prior to both comas, has a change of heart the first time then says to himself oh what the heck and tries again. The motive as laid out by the prosecution was the money and his desire to be with his mistress Alexandria Ailes. While there are many people that fool around on their spouses, there are not that many that stand to inherent $14 million dollars from their wife if she should die. Then, the State calls the beautiful Alexandria Ailes takes the stand. She recounts telling Clouse that she had given Clouse a six month ultimatium to leave his wife or she would leave him. When asked if she still loved the defendant she replies "I don't know".

But the defense says it wasn't Clouse who was pushed to the edge it was Sunny. Her own Doctor testifies that she took exorbitant amounts of Valium, barbiturites and hundreds of laxatives to try and control her weight. Apparently Sunny had other weighs of staying thin and in the final days of testimony they call a witness to prove it. They call a surprise witness named Joy O'neal. She was a an exercise instructor in New York. She testifies that Sunny told her that what a person needed was a shot of insulin and that way you could have sweets and anything else you wanted to eat. This revelation shocked the gallery. It was blame the victim. Clouse may have been the one at the defendant's table but it was Sunny who was clearly on trial now.

In the end it takes the Jury six days to reach a decision. When the Forewoman got up to read the verdict there was an amazing amount of suspense in the air. The end result: Guilty. Clouse's face reddened but he was impassive. The drama was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. But the story was far from over. The trial Judge ruled that Clouse could remain free so long as he posted $1 million dollars bail. You would expect Clouse to hide away in Sunny's Fifth Avenue townhouse. But he actually became societies favorite felon. He surely didn't act like a man who was going to prison. On April Fools day a Lawyer by the name of Alan Dershowitz got a phone call from one Clouse Von Bulow asking him for his help with an appeal. Alan tell him that he will help but that he will investigate the case and if Clouse is guilty he will find out and the deal is off. Clouse says fine.

Alan Dershowitz is a professor at Harvard and an expert on constitutional law had been recommended to Clouse by a mutual friend. Dershowitz find the case more appealing than the client and quickly assemblies a dream team of attorneys and law students. He becomes convinced early on that there is more to this story than meets the eye. He starts by tackling the most damning evidence, the insulin encrusted needle. He sends it back to the same lab that tested it the first time and the results come back inconclusive meaning the lab had erred the first time around. Beyond that he has tried numerous medical cases and knows that with the encrustation on the outside of the needle that means that the syringe had been dipped but never injected. After months of preparation Dershowitz and his team urge the Supreme Court of Rhode Island to overturn the verdict and request a new trial. In April of 1984, two years after Clouse Von Bulow's conviction the Supreme Court agrees to a new trial for Clouse. The appeal is another big shock to the people of Rhode Island and to the Nation as well. It was big, big news.

Going into the new trial, everyone thought this trial was going to be a rerun of the first. Everyone except Clouse and his new defense team that is. After all everyone had heard all the witnesses and knew what they had to say. So what could be so different. But if anyone could keep the retrial from becoming a predictable rehash of the first trial it was the team of new Lawyers now on Clouse's payroll. There first move was to change the venue from Newport to Providence. This trial was shaping up to be even bigger than the first and once again everyone wanted a front row seat.

Clouse now has a new girlfriend named Andrea Reynolds who believes completely in Clouses innocence. This was the first trial to be covered by CNN which only adds to the fervor. No one expected the frenzy that everyone was in. Again it like something out of a Hollywood script. At one point Andrea is asked if the ring she is wearing was given to her by Clouse. "No" she answers, "it was her mothers". There was even such a media frenzy that there were articles in Vogue about it. Clouse's team begins with a makeover. They change Clouse's image to a more Fatherly figure complete with a new wardrobe. Alan also makes him more accessible to the press and he gives several interviews complete with all his charm.

As the attorney's begin battling it out in court, Clouse is busy wining and dining the press. The prosecution asks for a view of the scene of the crime and so everyone makes the hour long journey to Claridon Court complete with helicopters and several news stations in tow. It was like being on a Hollywood set with movie cameras and helicopters everywhere and cranes trying to get a better shot of the action. As they enter Claridon Court, two of Clouses dogs come up to greet him and a reporter makes a comment that if those dogs could talk there wouldn't need to be a trial one way or another. When Clouse sees the dogs he becomes very emotional and starts crying.

After the grand tour the circus returns to Providence. The prosecution is confident they will prevail. They assumed they would try the same case with the same results. But the defense says the crust on the outside of the needle proves it was never injected. The needle the defense says had to have been planted. The consistent narrative of the case was that the children who honestly believed that Clouse was trying to kill their mother planted the drug encrusted needle. Remember, it wasn't there the first time the bag was found after Sunny's second coma. Therefore they were trying to frame a man who they believed was guilty but was actually innocent. So how did the heiress test positive for insulin. The tests the defense said were flawed. The crust on the needle was inconclusive for insulin. So instead of the trial being about Sunny and Clouse Von Bulow it became about the lab and weather they had screwed up the testing the first go around. Without a clear connection between the needle and Sunny's insulin induced coma the States case loses its footing with the Jury and the gallery. For if there is no injection there was no crime. But prosecutors still had one weapon left.. The beautiful Alexandria Ailes.

Up against Clouse's multi million dollar defense the States case starts to hemmorrhage. There on last ray of hope is Alexrandria Ailes. But she is nowhere to be found. She was in Europe in fact and the prosecution makes an all out effort to find her. When they fail the children step in televising a spot on the evening news saying "We know how much courage it took you to come forward the last time and for our Mothers's sake we ask you to summon that courage again". In the first trial she had made a bad impression because it was so obvious she was trying to help him and when that happens the Jury thinks she is trying to hide something. In the final days of testimony she finally returns to Rhoad Island. This time she remembers more and when asked if it were true that if she really thought that Clouse was really trying to harm his wife in 1979 she wouldn't have stayed with him she replies "Have you ever been in Love? I doubt it but you do some pretty crazy things". No one else came near the dramatic power that Alexandria Ailes on the witness stand. After her testimony, Andrea Reynolds went to the press and bared her claws accusing her of all sorts of bad behavior.

After 12 hours a stone faced Jury returns to the Courtroom with their verdict. This time the verdict is not guilty. Afterwards when asked by the press what his plans were Clouse replies only "give up smoking". For Sunny's family it's a devastating end. In a statement issued aferwards by Alexander, he stated "neither the Jury's verdict nor Clouse can take away what are Mother is. He only succeeded in getting away with it". While Clouse leaves Rhode Island a free man a cloud of suspicion still hangs over Claridon Court. There is still great debate over Clouses guilt or innocence. There are many who feel he is guilty but probably many more who feel that he is a very innocent guy who got
trapped in a set of circumstances beyond his control.

Either this was a horrendous crime or it was a horrendous accident. And no one will ever know the truth except for Clouse and Sunny Von Bulow. Weather Clouse was guilty or not a woman is in a coma and didn't wake up for over 25 years. She died this past year and Clouse sent his regards from London where he now resides. For the first fifteen years Alli and Alexander visited Sunny on a regular basis at the private nursing home in New York City where she resided until the day she died, making sure her hair and nails were done. They have turned a heart wrenching tragedy into a cause by establishing the National Center for Victims of crime.