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This story initially aired on March 11, 2023.
Within the predawn hours of Could 8, 2014, Stephanie Fernandes was determined to be taught from police what had occurred to her fiancé, Andrew “Andy” Wagner.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES (crying): I — I do not know what’s gonna occur. Please.
OFFICER PERO: Stephanie, simply —
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Please, inform me if he is OK.
OFFICER PERO: Stephanie —
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Please, no
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: This is sort of a nightmare, a strolling nightmare …
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: …what occurred to him I can not take it.
OFFICER PERO: I do know that is, I do know this can be a traumatic night time, OK?
STEPHANIE: No, no. Please inform me Andy’s OK.
OFFICER PERO: We’ve to get by way of this, OK?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Oh, please inform me Andy’s OK, please …
At round 10:30 the night time earlier than, after a sudden bloody encounter with Andy at their residence in Worcester, Massachusetts, Stephanie says she could not discover her cellular phone, so she rushed to a neighbors’ home to get assist.
Angelina Fernandes (driving with Peter Van Sant to her former residence): It is developing on the left.
Peter Van Sant: Which home?
Angelina Fernandes: Proper right here on the left.
Stephanie’s daughter Angelina Fernandes now 20, was simply 11 years previous that night time.
Peter Van Sant: The place was your bed room?
Angelina Fernandes: Um, I do not know, upstairs.
Peter Van Sant: However can you continue to bear in mind.
Angelina Fernandes: Yeah, it is like footage.
Angelina Fernandes: So, I used to be sleeping, and I heard the door slam shut, and it woke me up. After which I simply heard my mother from outdoors, “Assist me, somebody assist me.” After which I simply hear my mother screaming and crying.
Peter Van Sant: Whenever you regarded from that balcony down and will see your mom and Andy –
Angelina Fernandes: Mm-hmm (affirms) … there’s blood all over the place.
Angelina Fernandes: After which I noticed them giving CPR on him.
Angelina Fernandes: I simply bear in mind my mother. … After which she noticed me upstairs and he or she pointed at me, and he or she was like, “Somebody get her, somebody get my daughter!”
Police took Angelina to a relative’s home. Andy was rushed by paramedics to the hospital. Police took Stephanie to the station, the place she was led into an interrogation room and interviewed for nearly three hours.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: No. No. Please inform me Andy’s OK.
OFFICER PERO: We’ve to get by way of this, OK?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Oh, please inform me Andy’s OK … I can not even speak. Like, he is my life. It would not even matter. Like, I really like him a lot …
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Please. I do not—no, no. I do not know what to do. Like,
I am gonna freak out …
OFFICER: Sit down for a second.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I do not wanna hear nothin’. I do not wanna hear nothin’. And if something unhealthy occurred to my household, no, please do not inform me. I do know I look psycho. Please.
OFFICER PERO: Stephanie —
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Please.
OFFICER PERO: — only for proper now, I simply wish to get some primary info.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: OK.
Detective William Pero led the questioning
OFFICER PERO: Earlier than we speak in regards to the incident that occurred tonight, I’ve to learn you your rights.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: OK.
OFFICER PERO: You may have the proper to make use of a phone to … contact an legal professional. Do you perceive this proper Stephanie?
OFFICER PERO: Proper now, we won’t speak to Andrew. I can speak to you, OK.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Why cannot you speak to him?
The officers press on, telling Stephanie that Wagner is within the hospital. Stephanie seems to cool down a bit.
OFFICER PERO: Effectively, one thing did occur. You are lined in blood.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I do know. No. Oh yeah …
OFFICER PERO: You may have a lotta blood on you and that is, I might assume that is Andrew’s blood?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Sure. That is Andrew’s blood.
Stephanie modifications right into a white coverall. And two hours into her interview lastly learns Andy’s destiny.
OFFICER PERO: Andrew is not with us. And there is a motive why that occurred, however we do not know that motive but.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Oh my God. Oh my God.
Stephanie is advised Andy is useless. She begins to disclose particulars of what occurred that night time.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: What occurred was we received into an altercation, and he was hitting me. And that is what occurred. And he pulled out a knife and weapons. … He began like choking me and hittin’ me and stuff.
An post-mortem would later reveal Wagner had bled to dying after being stabbed within the neck. Stephanie was later charged with first-degree homicide.
Stephanie Fernandes talked publicly for the primary time to “48 Hours” in regards to the dying of her fiancé Andrew Wagner.
Stephanie Fernandes: I by no means, by no means, and by no means would kill somebody, hurt somebody in that manner, on function.
Stephanie Fernandes: I’ll all the time love him.
However how did it come to this? Simply 5 years earlier Stephanie was smitten with Andrew Wagner.
Stephanie Fernandes: Blue eyes, very nice smile, … Good hair. … simply actually good-looking and
Um, actually enjoyable character, very talkative.
Peter Van Sant: And did you’re feeling an attraction to him straight away?
Stephanie Fernandes: Sure, I did. We had chemistry, so much.
On the time, Andy labored on the tire store of a Costco. He dreamed of working in regulation enforcement. At first, Angelina received together with him.
Peter Van Sant: What sort of issues would — did you guys do collectively?
Angelina Fernandes: We used to look at “Legal Minds” collectively.
Peter Van Sant: Did your mother ever inform you … “Angelina, I, I really like Andrew, I — I might wish to — I might wish to marry Andrew sometime?”
Angelina Fernandes: Sure. She wished that so unhealthy. … a steady household for me and her. … She simply — she wished that.
However what Angelina did not know on the time was that her mom’s life with Andy Wagner additionally had a violent facet, recalled Stephanie’s pal Danielle Lord.
Danielle Lord: She consistently had, like, seize marks on her arms. She had marks on her within her legs, like I’ve by no means seen in my life.
A VOLATILE RELATIONSHIP
Angelina Fernandes (referencing a photograph along with her mom): The little lady is me, and my mother is subsequent to me, Stephanie Fernandes. … so tender and loving and … She was excessive vitality and — I used to be like her little sidekick.
Angelina was simply 6 years previous when Andrew Wagner got here into her life. She remembers good occasions on the seaside, household gatherings and holidays.
Angelina Fernandes: We might truly go to Cape Cod each summer season to his dad or mum’s Cape home, which was enjoyable.
Angelina Fernandes: She cherished him. She wished a home with him. She wished to get married to him. She wished infants.
In these early occasions, Angelina says her mother by no means stated how she met Andy Wagner and by no means revealed what she did for a dwelling that stored her away at night time.
Danielle Lord: She was lovely. … she simply had these piercing eyes, first, that you just discover. And her hair was simply lovely.
Danielle Lord labored with Stephanie in a Massachusetts night time membership.
Danielle Lord: We each had been very intimidating. A variety of males would say that we had been intimidating, particularly collectively. That is engaging to males. … We simply turned this type of duo.
Peter Van Sant: What did you do on the nightclub?
Stephanie Fernandes: I used to be a topless dancer.
Peter Van Sant: Unique dancer –
Stephanie Fernandes: Unique dancer, stripper, yeah.
Peter Van Sant: And had you been skilled in dancing in any respect?
Stephanie Fernandes: I took dance courses after I was youthful, not in that manner.
Stephanie was a single mother. She says after she cut up up with Angelina’s father, she wanted to earn a paycheck.
Stephanie Fernandes: I might go in there, make a lotta cash, after which I might get out
And — and be there for my mother … and my daughter.
One night time, again in 2009, a brand new man on the membership caught her eye.
Stephanie Fernandes: I used to be on stage. And he was there
Stephanie Fernandes: We simply began speaking and talked for, like, an hour.
Danielle Lord: She was immediately drawn to him. She wished to be with him. She did not have a look at him like a buyer. She was like, “Oh, this can be a cute man. I like him.”
At first, Stephanie cherished the eye.
Stephanie Fernandes: I believed, “Oh he is simply into me. He simply actually likes me.”
Danielle Lord: I believe she simply had stars in her eyes.
Danielle says Stephanie and Andy’s relationship rapidly turned a bit obsessive.
Danielle Lord: A variety of alarms went off each time Steph met Andy. And — , alarms that she could not hear. … He was utterly … possessive proper from the start. Andy was calling her nonstop, messaging her … and displaying up on the membership proper from the start.
Stephanie and Andy moved in collectively nearly instantly in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Danielle says their relationship moved from obsessive to harmful.
Danielle Lord: I’ve by no means in my life seen bruises like that ever. And I do not — I do not even wanna consider what she went by way of to get the — these bruises. … We had been overlaying it with make-up. … when she had the bruising down there, there was nothing you might do to cowl it.
Quickly after transferring in collectively, Stephanie says, Andrew demanded some modifications.
Peter Van Sant: Did he demand that you just cease dancing?
Stephanie Fernandes: Oh, yeah. Sure. … His lady was not gonna dance at a membership. And I stated, jokingly, nervously, jokingly, “Effectively who’s gonna pay my payments?”
Peter Van Sant: And why did he need you to give up?
Stephanie Fernandes: Due to the eye, the lads … taking off my high in entrance of males.
Stephanie says she stopped dancing, however the violence continued.
Stephanie Fernandes: He is hit me in my head and my face. He is choked me …
Stephanie says she took this picture of her black eye, proven above, in 2010.
Stephanie Fernandes: Oh, physique photographs. In all places. My mouth. My eyes. In all places.
Peter Van Sant: Why did not you ever name the police and report this violence?
Stephanie Fernandes: I used to be advised that bullets can undergo paper. It could imply nothin’ with a restraining order. He would get to me manner faster than the cops would. And simply — I might die if I left him.
Danielle Lord: I can not clarify it. It’s extremely arduous to go away a home violence scenario. … You do not have your individual cash. You do not have wherever to go. … , you are damaged down utterly. … Your mind is like scrambled eggs, and you may’t assume for your self. And also you simply stroll round day by day like … you are in shock. … You simply wanna finish the day, and once you get up the subsequent day, it is simply one other day doing the identical factor. So … I believe she was simply caught in a scenario that she did not know easy methods to get out of.
Regardless of their unstable relationship, in 2012, Stephanie and Andy had been engaged. A short while later, Andy turned a corrections officer.
Peter Van Sant: You and Andy had purchased a apartment collectively. You had been planning a marriage, appropriate?
Stephanie Fernandes: Sure.
Peter Van Sant (palms picture to Stephanie): You appear joyful in that image. What went mistaken?
Stephanie Fernandes: Extreme jealousy.
However Stephanie admits it wasn’t simply Andy. Generally she antagonized him, teasing and tormenting him with texts.
Peter Van Sant: They’re fairly vicious.
Stephanie Fernandes: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: You admit that, proper?
Stephanie Fernandes: I do. It is embarrassing.
Van Sant requested Stephanie to learn a couple of.
Stephanie Fernandes: “I am gonna F your greatest pal.” “You need to kill your self.” “Hope a automobile falls on you.”
Stephanie Fernandes: I admit I am flawed. … Yeah, I can get upset.
She says Andrew would get upset too — particularly when she wore outfits that may make her engaging to different males.
Stephanie Fernandes: He is freaked out over … the tank high that I used to be sporting, grabbed me, after which threw me on my mattress within the room, and tore it off. Took out his gun, made positive I knew there was bullets it in, and jammed it down my throat.
Peter Van Sant: Did he threaten to kill you? Did he threaten to tug the set off?
Stephanie Fernandes: If I — throughout that point — it was if I did not take heed to him, sure that he was gonna kill me.
Angelina Fernandes: When he was mad, he’d flip into a unique individual. His complete face would get crimson. His pupils would dilate. It was like possession of demonic entity.
Angelina recollects seeing Andrew attempting to headbutt her mom.
Angelina Fernandes: He’d go like — like that (demonstrating a headbutt).
Peter Van Sant: Would he bump her? When he headbutt –
Angelina Fernandes: No.
Peter Van Sant: — would he actually make contact?
Angelina Fernandes: No.
Peter Van Sant: However it will go proper up in her face?
Angelina Fernandes: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: And –
Angelina Fernandes: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: And he or she known as {that a} headbutt, proper?
Angelina Fernandes: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: And did that hassle her
Angelina Fernandes: Mm-hmm (affirms).
By early 2013 Stephanie determined she and Angelina wanted a change. She left Andrew and commenced a brand new relationship with an previous boyfriend, Mike Laramee.
Stephanie Fernandes: I left Andy to get away from the abuse and quite a few issues.
Stephanie says each males knew about one another.
Stephanie Fernandes: What I did with Andy, Mike knew about. What I did with Mike, Andy knew about.
She says Mike handled her very properly.
Stephanie Fernandes: He spoiled me in each manner. … He would carry me into mattress if I fell asleep on the sofa.
And simply months after they received again collectively, Mike proposed, and Stephanie accepted.
Stephanie Fernandes: Mike introduced me to Niagara Falls. … he did take out … the ring and
requested if I might marry him. … And I did put on the ring.
Peter Van Sant: Each males knew that you just had been engaged to the opposite man?
Stephanie Fernandes: Sure.
A couple of month later, Laramee says he broke off the engagement. Stephanie received again along with Andy, however she says it was extra out of worry than love.
Stephanie Fernandes: If I did not return with Andy … he woulda killed Mike or undoubtedly myself if I did not return with him. He by no means woulda let me stay.
As soon as Stephanie was again, she says the cycle of abuse resumed. Simply three days earlier than his dying, Andy texted her.
Peter Van Sant: He stated, “I will f****** kill you.” Do you bear in mind him texting that to you?
Stephanie Fernandes: I bear in mind him texting that, saying that on a regular basis.
Then, on the night time of Could 7, 2014, every part exploded.
Angelina was upstairs in mattress. Stephanie says she was within the kitchen getting ready dinner when Andy began an argument about what she’d been doing that week whereas he was away at work.
Stephanie Fernandes: That is what began … the questions … what have I been doing all week, issues like that — simply escalated.
She says Andy wished to have intercourse. Stephanie did not.
Stephanie Fernandes: He was punchin’ me within the head. Tryin’ to pin me down. Tryin’ to take away my pants.
Then, she says, he pulled out a gun and tried to pin her towards the sofa.
Stephanie Fernandes: I used to be in worry of my life. I used to be attempting to get away.
Stephanie says she grabbed a knife to scare him. What unfolded would quickly finish one life and destroy one other.
Stephanie Fernandes: It simply was so fast. He simply charged at me, went to headbutt me, as he all the time would do.
Peter Van Sant: How are you holding the knife?
Stephanie Fernandes (holds a pen to reveal): Like this.
Peter Van Sant: Present me. So, you’ve it up. And he is coming at you, proper?
Stephanie Fernandes: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: And what occurs?
Stephanie Fernandes: That is after I’m like, “Keep away from me, avoid me” as he is screaming, “I am gonna f****** kill you.” He is on the opposite facet. And he goes to seize my hand. … and it will need to have nicked his neck, the one-and-a-half- or two-and-a-half-inch, no matter it was.
Peter Van Sant: You held the knife that reduce your fiancé’s artery and he bled to dying. And folks would assume, properly, you murdered him.
Stephanie Fernandes: My actions led to him dying. They did. However I did not decide to take his life. I didn’t need that to occur but when it wasn’t him, that might have been me within the floor.
WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT OF MAY 7, 2014?
As Stephanie Fernandes’ trial lastly approached, her authorized workforce ready her protection.
Maura Tansley: Home violence or intimate associate violence was central to all the case.
Maura Tansley was considered one of Fernandes’ attorneys.
Maura Tansley: It arrange the character of the connection between these two folks and I believe raised questions on what occurred … that night time that Mr. Wagner died.
The trial had been delayed by procedural arguments, after which the COVID pandemic.
Stephanie had spent these years in residence custody, sporting an ankle bracelet. In June 2022, eight years after Andrew Wagner was killed, the homicide trial of Stephanie Fernandes lastly started.
Andrew Wagner’s household was there. His mom Melissa, his father Tom, and his sister Jillian Cristaldi. They declined “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview. Surrounded by supporters, they had been hoping that by the tip of this trial, Fernandes can be behind bars.
In his opening assertion, prosecutor Terry McLaughlin stated Stephanie Fernandes stabbed her fiancé, Andrew Wagner, within the neck, reducing an artery and killing him. McLaughlin says that Stephanie advised totally different tales about what precisely occurred that night time. She stated, “He was waving a gun round, so I stabbed him.” And to a neighbor she stated, “He hit me, so I hit him.” And McLaughlin stated Stephanie had matches of rage and that she was the aggressor.
Lead protection legal professional Peter Ettenberg advised jurors that Andrew Wagner was quote “189 kilos of fury and frustration” who violently got here at Stephanie and stated, “I will kill you.” Ettenberg says Stephanie thought she can be killed, so she acted to guard herself.
Peter Ettenberg: We imagine that when he grabbed her palms and went to go and headbutt her, he pulled and that pulled the knife into his neck.
However prosecutors introduced witnesses who testified Stephanie has an extended historical past of violent outbursts.
ASSISTANT DA JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: What number of occasions did you see Ms. Fernandes strike Mr. Wagner?
DANIEL DISTEFANO: A number of occasions, ma’am.
Daniel DiStefano was a pal of Wagner’s and a former police officer. He says he noticed Fernandes hit Andy at a marriage reception again in 2010.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: And might you please inform the courtroom the place Ms. Fernandes hit Mr. Wagner?
DANIEL DISTEFANO: She very exactly struck him within the face and the top with a closed fist.
Peter Van Sant: Do you admit that, at occasions, you’ve hit males in your life with a closed fist?
Stephanie Fernandes: Hit?
Peter Van Sant: Hit them.
Stephanie Fernandes: No, I hit, properly, yeah, I hit Andy as soon as. … He punched me within the head I punched him again.
And Stephanie’s former fiancé, Mike Laramee, testified. He advised the courtroom that Stephanie pulled a knife on him at his residence. That is audio of Laramee’s testimony.
MIKE LARAMEE: Swiftly, I heard a ching of a knife popping out of the butcher block. And I got here inside, and I hit it out of her hand.
And there was one other knife incident.
MIKE LARAMEE: She went to my eating room desk. And he or she was gonna carve it up. And I used to be afraid for my life. I grabbed a chair. And I wasn’t gonna let her come close to me with it. … And he or she stabbed the chair with it like three or 4 occasions.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: After this occurred, what, if something, did you do?
MIKE LARAMEE: I grabbed all of the knives. And I removed ’em.
Stephanie Fernandes: The issues, that, like, Mike Laramee stated should not true.
Peter Van Sant: You by no means got here after Michael Laramee with a knife in your hand?
Stephanie Fernandes: I by no means did.
Peter Van Sant: You by no means broken his furnishings with a knife?
Stephanie Fernandes: No. I didn’t.
As Stephanie’s protection started, they known as an uncommon witness.
OFFICER PERO: My identify is William Pero … I am a Worcester police sergeant
The detective who interviewed her the night time Andrew died. The protection confirmed the jury that police video — a video the prosecutors had determined to not present. In that interview, Detective Pero factors out Stephanie’s bruises.
OFFICER PERO (police video): I have a look at the bruises on you, OK? They usually’re not previous —
STEPHANIE FERNANDES (sitting on flooring crying): Please inform me he is OK —
OFFICER PERO: — and so they’re not previous bruises. I imply, they’re contemporary.
Maura Tansley: The truth that there are contemporary bruises on her … that is per how she described Andrew Wagner grabbing her and coming in direction of her, I do not know what else … can be higher to put the inspiration that she was performing in self-defense.
OFFICER PERO (police video): You may have bruises in your face, in your arm, in your physique. … I can see them, Steph.
Prosecutors present Pero pictures taken that night time. He says he sees a bruise on her arm, however not on Stephanie’s face.
TERRY MCLAUGHLIN (displaying footage) And do you see any accidents to the defendant’s face on this {photograph}?
PETER ETTENBERG: Objection decide.
JUDGE: Overruled.
OFFICER PERO: I don’t.
TERRY MCLAUGHLIN: And do you see any accidents to the face of the defendant on this {photograph}?
OFFICER PERO: I don’t.
The prosecutor suggests that in that interview he could have been enjoying Stephanie.
TERRY MCLAUGHLIN: A few of your questions or feedback are designed to get the individual you’re interviewing to drop their guard and or speak to you, appropriate?
OFFICER PERO: To indicate empathy and to, to narrate to me.
PROSECUTOR: You need them to begin speaking, appropriate?
OFFICER PERO: I do.
Two folks fought that night time again in 2014 and just one survived. The protection determined they’d no selection however to place Stephanie on the stand.
Her protection attorneys walked her by way of the hours main as much as Andy’s dying.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: We tried bein’ intimate.
DEFENSE ATTORNEY MAURA TANSLEY: That morning?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Sure.
MAURA TANSLEY: OK. And did it occur?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: No.
She says Andy turned indignant when she made enjoyable of him.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I made the remark as I received outta mattress, walkin’ into my toilet. And he got here in there and smacked me a couple of occasions.
Later that night, with Angelina upstairs in mattress, Stephanie says Andy with a gun in hand, attacked her.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Hit me within the head with the gun. Choked me. And he wished … intercourse. By some means, we had been on the ground, and I used to be cryin’ and … I ended up gettin’ away … and I ran screaming and away, like, “Do not come close to me. Do not come close to me.” And he was screamin’, “I am gonna kill you, you f*****’ bitch.” After I ran and I stored on sayin’, “Do not come close to me. Do not come close to me,” I— I—
DEFENSE ATTORNEY MAURA TANSLEY: Did he, did he take heed to you once you stated that? Or did he hold coming close to you?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES (crying): It occurred so fast the place I ran to the kitchen … I picked up a knife and held it and stated, “Do not” like, screaming, in any case, the entire time, “Do not come close to me. Do not come close to me.” Andy, um, ran proper to me and stated, “Give me the knife, you f*****’ bitch”, and put his hand on my throat, and grabbed my hand, and went to headbutt me … and he went, “Steph, I believe I received stabbed.” I simply stood there I used to be in shock. I— we — I believe we each had been in shock.
THE CASE AGAINST STEPHANIE FERNANDES
After Stephanie Fernandes took the stand and advised her model of occasions, the prosecutors received their flip to problem her as Assistant DA Julieanne Karcasinas zeroed in on Stephanie’s historical past with males.
ASSISTANT DA JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: You declare that you just had been a loyal lady. Is not that appropriate?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Appropriate.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Now had been you loyal to Andy once you cheated on him with Mike?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I do not –
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Sure, or no?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I did not cheat on him.
Mike was Mike Laramee.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Now July twenty sixth, 2013, you had been in Niagara Falls. Is not that appropriate?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Appropriate.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: And also you settle for a $44,000 engagement ring from Mr. Laramee whereas on that journey. Is not that appropriate?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: That’s appropriate. … I put it on my finger, sure.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Do you get engaged to all of your man associates?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: No.
On Stephanie’s second day on the stand, the prosecutor tried to choose aside her account of the day Andy died.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Ms. Fernandes, what number of occasions did Andy choke you that day on Could seventh, 2014?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: That day?
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Sure.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Within the, within the morning and … on the nighttime of the occasion.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: After which how lengthy did he choke you for that morning?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I am unsure. I did not depend. I am unsure. It was fast.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: And also you had no marks in your neck?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I do not bear in mind.
Stephanie had described a battle across the sofa in the home that night time. However the Assistant DA says the crime scene footage do not present any signal of that.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: The espresso desk was in entrance of the sofa on then —
JULIANNE KARCASINAS: Sure.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: — at our home, sure.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Sure, and it isn’t pushed out of the way in which, appropriate?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I can not inform with that sofa and the way shut the sofa and occasional desk is, but it surely doesn’t look crooked.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Appropriate, it isn’t pushed to the facet or something like that.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: How was he choking you on the sofa?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: At one – it — all occurred so fast.
And Karcasinas tries to forged doubt on Fernandes’ recollection of the night time.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: So, you should not have a reminiscence of sure elements of that night, is not that appropriate?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: I might say that is appropriate, like, the time and stuff like that.
And eventually, Karcasinas questioned Stephanie’s credibility, particularly her claims that she had lived her life in worry of Andy Wagner.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: Have been you afraid of Andy Wagner once you advised him he was silly?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Sure.
JULIANNE KARCASINAS: Have been you in worry of Mr. Wagner once you stated to him, “I hope a automobile falls on you”?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: No.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: And had been you in worry of Mr. Wagner once you despatched him {a photograph} … of your self performing … intercourse on Michael Laramee? Sure or no, ma’am?
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: No.
JULIEANNE KARCASINAS: No additional questions, Your Honor.
STEPHANIE FERNANDES: Thanks.
JUDGE: Alright.
Each side known as in home violence consultants who interviewed Stephanie. Carol Ball testified for the protection saying that Andrew Wagner’s escalating verbal threats and bodily violence left Stephanie with Put up Traumatic Stress Dysfunction.
CAROL BALL: My opinion is that she experiences the signs of battered lady syndrome often known as intimate associate violence. … That cycle repeats itself time and again.
And prosecutors known as up their knowledgeable, David Adams, who concluded that Andrew — not
Stephanie — was the sufferer of abuse.
DAVID ADAMS: Effectively, I — I truly did not see any proof that she was petrified of him.
Maura Tansley: I believe this case raises some fascinating questions on what it means to be a sufferer. Stephanie is just not a sympathetic sufferer, proper. … she is a flawed individual and but she remains to be a sufferer and nonetheless has a proper to behave in self-defense. … it is a lot simpler for us to know somebody as a sufferer of home violence the place they’ve an ideal previous, the place there is no different anger points or anything, however that is not what now we have.
The protection believes that this case will in the end come down as to if jurors imagine Stephanie deliberately murdered Andrew Wagner. A medical expert who testified could not say for positive.
Peter Ettenberg: He could not rule out the truth that this was an accident.
And after 10 days of witnesses, the protection introduced their closing arguments.
DEFENSE ATTORNEY PETER ETTENBERG: She picked up a knife and stated, “Andy, keep away. Keep away.” He did not. This time for no matter motive it was an excessive amount of. And the prosecution hasn’t proved that this wasn’t an accident. They usually haven’t proved that it wasn’t in self-defense. … What the prosecution hasn’t proved is that Stephanie Fernandes is a assassin.
Prosecutor Terry McLaughlin disagreed.
ASSISTANT DA TERRY MCLAUGHLIN: She’s the aggressor. She’s the one with the mood. She’s the one with the mouth. … Girls and gents, I might counsel to you that that is first-degree homicide. Premeditated and deliberate.
TERRY MCLAUGHLIN: She received him from the facet, or she received him from the again from behind. … She grabs the knife, and he or she stabs him when he isn’t lookin’ or he isn’t prepared for it.
With that argument, the case would go to the jurors.
SELF-DEFENSE, ACCIDENT OR MURDER?
If convicted of first-degree homicide, Stephanie Fernandes might face life in jail.
Peter Van Sant: However the query is, did you homicide him?
Stephanie Fernandes: No. … It makes me nauseous simply to even consider that.
After about 9 hours of deliberation, jurors reached their verdict: responsible of a lesser cost — voluntary manslaughter — which carries the potential for as much as 20 years in jail. Shane Bernard and Gayla Bieksha sat on the jury.
Shane Bernard: I believe they’re each – that each of them are equally controlling and abusive to one another, .
Gayla Bieksha: I agree.
Gayla Bieksha: I believe they had been each on this vicious cycle that simply, they could not cease themselves.
Shane Bernard: He was a extra bodily abuser the place she was extra psychological abuse.
Gayla Bieksha: I do imagine she did not wish to kill him, however she did.
As for Fernandes’ claims of self-defense, juror Gayla Bieksha believes Wagner made contact with the knife when Stephanie says he tried to headbutt her.
Gayla Bieksha: The headbutt was an enormous piece for us.
Shane Bernard: Yeah, proper.
Gayla Bieksha: We … went off the medical expert’s report saying that the knife went in from the entrance. The angle was in from the entrance and downward.
Shane Bernard: And that she had truly had a stabbing movement. In order that, that in a way, was what dominated out self-defense.
Earlier than sentencing, Andrew Wagner’s household lastly received to talk on to the lady they imagine murdered their son and brother.
JILLIAN CRISTALDI: My identify is Jillian Cristaldi. I’m the sister of Andrew.
My mother and father and I’ve waited to talk, to have a voice, to present my brother a voice, and to get him the justice that he deserves, to clear his identify from the blatant lies which were spewed from Stephanie Fernandes and her attorneys’ mouths for over eight years.
Whenever you have a look at Stephanie Fernandes, you’re looking at a face of evil, of somebody who offers no consideration for her actions, who’s incapable of affection, and has proven no regret or guilt for killing my brother.
Andrew’s mom Melissa Wagner.
MELISSA WAGNER: She took away Andrew’s pleasure and love of life. She took away all of Andrew’s household and associates. She took away Andrew’s goals of a household of his personal. She took away all of Andrew’s cash. She took away Andrew’s dignity and self-respect. And when there was nothing, nothing, nothing left for her to take, she took away Andrew’s life. … I encourage you Decide Reardon, and I encourage you, I encourage you, I encourage you, take away the one factor that issues most to her. Take away her freedom for so long as doable. Please, please, please. Thanks.
JUDGE REARDON: I notice that no sentence I impose on this case can do good justice.
Decide James Reardon reminds everybody that Stephanie Fernandes was discovered responsible not of homicide, however of voluntary manslaughter.
JUDGE REARDON: Ms. Fernandes is being sentenced for that conviction. Not for her relationship with Andrew Wagner or every other people or for her previous life.
JUDGE REARDON: I sentence Stephanie Fernandes to a time period of no more than 10 years and never lower than eight years in state jail.
Peter Van Sant: In spite of everything this … In keeping with what you’ve stated, Andrew struck you, chocked you, threatened you with a pistol … do you continue to have some form of emotion for this man? Some form of love for this man?
Stephanie Fernandes: I do. I do know it bothers a lotta folks. I’ll all the time love him.
Stephanie says the night time Andy died might have been prevented.
Stephanie Fernandes: Possibly the night time would not have occurred if I might received him assist. If I received us counselin’, if I received him remedy.
Peter Van Sant: Angelina, why did this occur?
Angelina Fernandes: As a result of he was abusive, and my mother was his sufferer.
Peter Van Sant: However his household blames your mom for that.
Angelina Fernandes: They’ll imagine what they wish to imagine. … I can not think about the ache they are going by way of. I do not assume they wish to see their deceased son that manner. … So, they’re attempting guilty my mother for all the mistaken he did in direction of her.
Angelina is now learning to change into a forensic psychologist and he or she hopes to work with victims in courtroom and with youngsters. Angelina says she seems to be ahead to the day she’ll be capable to reunite along with her mother.
Angelina Fernandes: When she’s out of jail, she’ll be capable to see all of my successes and he or she’ll be capable to see every part that I’ve achieved. … I wish to accomplish all of my goals so my mother can expertise the happiness afterwards.
If you happen to or somebody is a sufferer of intimate associate violence, name the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
Stephanie Fernandes’ trial legal professionals say she could also be eligible for parole as early as 2026.
Produced by Chuck Stevenson. Hannah Vair is the sphere producer. Ryan Smith and Tamara Weitzman are the event producers. Annabelle Allen is the printed affiliate. Greg Kaplan, Michelle Harris, and Grayce Arlotta Berner are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.
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