Episode 199: The Perfect Son

Jeffrey Pyne 22, was a star athlete, high school valedictorian and University of Michigan biology student. He was all set for a career in medicine when his mother, Ruth, developed bipolar disorder and Jeffrey began to get concerned for the safety of his behaving violently and erratically. She became hyper-religious, and Jeffrey became. concerned about the safety of his sister Julia, 12, who was being home schooled. Ruth spent time in jail for assaulting Jeffrey in 2010, but charges were dropped when she promised to stay on her medication. On May 27, 2011, Ruth Pyne, 51, was beaten and stabbed to death in the family garage. Jeffrey and his father, Bernie, believed she was attacked by an intruder. Prosecutors argued that Jeffrey killed her in a fit of rage after years of tension and pressure. In her testimony, Jeffrey’s girlfriend Holly Freeman said Jeffrey was very emotional about his mother, and shortly after the crime, his hands were bandaged and blistered, which he claimed came from lifting pallets at his job on a local farm. In January 2013, Jeffrey Pyne was found guilty of second degree murder andsentenced to twenty to sixty years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. His father and sister continue to protest his innocence.