Chapter 1: What led to Sunny von Bulow's mysterious coma?
Hey weirdos, I'm Alayna. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid. 🎵 Oops, oops, oops, oops. Oh, I can't get too crazy with it. I know. My voice is still getting back together. Yeah, and then you'll hack through my episode. Yeah, I almost hacked through your last one. Yeah. We're like batch recording a little bit. Yeah, you know, we're going to New York. We just came off of the holidays.
We're just being responsible, you know? Not too much so that we're not like aware of what's going on in the world and we like aren't able to talk to you about it. Yeah, we're just like kind of getting a couple done, but... I almost hacked my way through her last one.
But then I realized that every time I felt like I was going to cough, if I just chugged water with liquid IV in it, this is not an ad, but it actually has liquid IV in it. It should. You've been sick. Then it would make the cough go away. But then by the end of the episode, I had to pee so bad that I thought I was going to die. And then I happened to find a fun fact about urination giraffes.
Which hopefully you just listened to. It all worked out. I wonder. Hold on. Oh. All right. I took some water. I wonder what the fun fact will be today. The fun fact today will be. We'll say it at the end, girl. That, I know, but I'm just trying to lead into. Oh, you're segwaying. Sorry to interrupt. You said fuck that. We'll say it later. I jumped in front of your segway.
Jumped right in front of my segway. I died. It made me flip over. You crushed me. That became so real. But yeah, so something cool that just happened was we were on Watch What Happens. Ah. Every time I go to say that, I go to say Watch What Crappens, which is an amazing podcast. We love Roddy and Ben. But amazing. Oh, my God. Surreal. Incredible. Still can't believe it.
I need to, like, bask in it, and then we can, like, do a full breakdown on the next episode. Exactly. And you know I will be doing that. You need to let it settle for a minute. I just, you know. Well, and something else exciting.
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Chapter 2: How did Claus von Bulow's behavior raise suspicions?
Tell me, brother. Is Weirdos. Yeah. I am so excited to share that the next book in my Dr. Ren Muller series is called... The Butcher Legacy. Ooh, that's crisp. It's crisp. That's my favorite title so far. Oh, I love that. And it's coming out on August 11th. Mark your calendar! And pre-order it now at butcherlegacy.com. Ooh, butcherlegacy.com. Butcherlegacy.com.
You can get it anywhere you get your books. So you'll have a little drop-down menu and you can pick wherever you want to get it. But wait, there's more. There will be a Target exclusive edition with sprayed edges and exclusive art. Ha! That's delicious. And I'm signing a limited number of copies for Barnes & Noble. Oh my goodness. Stay tuned for even more surprises over the next few months.
I'm going to keep you all updated here and on social media. Of course, you're going to know about every little thing that's coming down the pipe. All the things. All the things Butcher Legacy. I'm so excited, guys. You're going to love it. I can't wait to read it. And you can put it in your back pocket, but it's a little thick. A little thick.
but go get either one whatever one you feel is calling to you go get it pre-order it butcher legacy i'm really fucking excited about this story guys so i really hope you dig it i'm so excited because usually when elena's writing a book like the first two times she has me read so much of it but this time she didn't have me read any of it if anything i read like a paragraph of a chapter here like
twice maybe yeah so this i'm going into this like virtually blind yeah and that i'm really excited about i do need to reread the last two over again so that i'm like up on everything for the third book yeah that makes sense yeah i'm really fucking everybody should do that why don't you go why don't you go buy the first two books you know yeah go buy them go buy butcher and the wren in the butcher game and then buy the butcher legacy put them in your back pocket put them in your back pocket you know what people are gonna have to start buying cargo pants which is good because they're in again or at
But you're going to maybe make them popular for two seasons in a row because people are going to need more pockets to put your books into. It's true. And this one's a little thick. She's a little thick. I love a thick. I love a thickie. She might weigh down your booty a little bit. But you know what? It's worth it. You know what? Squat with them in your pockets. There you go. Booty gains.
Look at me. I'm trying to help you with your fitness goals in 2026. Gains. That's me and my book. Look at you. Booksa. Booksa. Put some respect on your name. Sorry, Booksa. Booksa. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait. And I'll come see you this year to talk about it.
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Chapter 3: What evidence did the family gather against Claus?
And maybe I'll tag along. Maybe. Who knows? Depending on the... Depending on where I'm at. Yeah. Who knows. So go get the book. I can't fucking wait. It's fun. I'm actually really excited. I am too. Yay. What else is going on? Anything? I mean, those are two pretty big things. Yeah. I said that like I needed more. Yeah. Our Twilight episode is going to be coming out.
Excuse me, our New Moon episode is going to be coming out soon. I got to start. I want to reread it, but I think I'm going to listen to it so it goes a little faster. And that will be such a different experience because that wasn't an option that I was at least aware of back in the day. Yeah. So that'll be fun. I'm really excited because the first one was such a blast to do.
And I know you guys seemed like you guys really liked that, the Twilight episode. So I, and we had so much fun doing it. Yeah. That I cannot wait to do New Moon because New Moon, as we all know, is batshit fucking crazy. Yeah, it really is. That shit. New Moon makes me really sad. It's a sad, but it's a wild fucking ride. It is. It gives me heartache, to be honest.
I remember being absolutely, we'll get into it. Yeah. Another time. Another time on the bonus episode. Yeah, like next week. Yeah, we want to save it all.
guess what i have for you today what do you have i haven't done one of these in a while at least it feels like that to me a high society case oh you you love a high society case they just embody who i am yeah like i'm not high society i wish i was but i think i was in a past like your soul feels like it should be one of them yeah
So we're going to be talking about the mysterious case of Sonny Von Bulow. Just that name alone. Any Von in this case has Von names up the wazoo. Oh, it says a Von. Up the Von zoo. Yeah, it's high society. I'm so excited. All right, so let's talk about it. Let's go.
Martha, who was known as Sonny, Martha Sonny Crawford, was born in her father's private train car on September 1st, 1931 in Virginia. Yeah. All while her parents, George and Annie Laurie Crawford, were traveling to New York. So just on the way to New York, she gave birth to a child. In a private train car. Good for her. What's richer than that? Yeah, that's pretty high class. That's big money.
Yeah. So by the time she was born, Sunny's father had already made a shit ton of money. First in the oil industry. Oil. Oil. And then in gas and electric. And that year, he was named the chairman of the board of Columbia Gas and Electric. Damn. So big motherfucking money. Yeah. Can't remember the motherfucking board. We were talking about gains. He was gaining.
He and Sonny's mother had gotten married in 1927 when George was 66 and Annie Laurie was 27. And four years later, Sonny was born. Given that he was 70 years old when his daughter was born and a very prominent figure in the world of finance and business, George didn't have much of a relationship with his daughter. Ah, yeah. Yeah.
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Chapter 4: What were the medical findings surrounding Sunny's coma?
Yeah. So after the wedding, they moved from the U.S. to Munich, where they lived briefly, and then eventually settled in Kitzbühel, Austria. The following year, Sunny gave birth to their first child, who she named after her mother, Annie Laurie, but they called her Allah. Oh, cute. She was followed one year later by a son, Alexander.
But unfortunately, outside of their like very opulent wedding and the little short honeymoon phase that followed, Sonny and Alfred's relationship wasn't a very happy one. They didn't have a lot of shared interest. Sonny hated his enthusiasm for big game hunting and the fact that he was like a shameless flirt. Like he would literally flirt right in front of her. Ew.
So in 1965, their marriage ended in divorce. In the settlement, Alfred actually received two houses and one million dollars, and Sunny got the kids and was able to return to the U.S. Damn. Which, honestly, like a million dollars is nothing to her. Yeah, that's true. I'm sure it was something, obviously, but you know what I mean. Yeah, but in her situation.
So not long after they moved back to New York, Sunny ran into her old friend, Klaus von Bulow. She had met him in London years earlier while she was still married to Alfred. But they were just friends. But, you know, she went back to New York and they met up and they rekindled their friendship. And within a few months, their friendship kind of evolved and they were dating.
Oh, look at Sunny and Klaus. It's beautiful. And then in June of 1966, a little over a year after she got divorced from Alfred, Sonny and Klaus were married. Oh, look at that. So from the moment they got married, the press and the public were very interested in Klaus's story. But no matter how deep reporters dug, they really couldn't differentiate between fact and fiction when it came to Klaus.
Oh. They did know that he was... He's got a little Jay Gatsby in him. Yes. Very that. Very that. So he was born Klaus Borberg in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1926 to Sven and Jonna Borberg. And after World War II, his father Sven was actually accused of being a Nazi collaborator. Yeah, horrible. And served 18 months in prison, which I say, give him more. Yeah.
After his dad died, R.I.D., rest in distress, Klaus took his mother's maiden name, Bulow, but added the Vaughn later. Oh, yeah, he did. To make himself rich and fancy. Oh, my God. He really is like Jake Gatsby. And he also just gets it. You add Vaughn to your name and you're fancy. And Bulow? Von Bulow sounds like a real fancy name. It works perfectly. That's the thing.
You have to be selective about where you Von. Yeah, it can't just be like Von, I'm trying to think of a name. Von Kelly doesn't work. Von Kelly, yeah. Von Urquhart doesn't really work, no offense. It really doesn't. I don't know who Vaughn. It's hard to Vaughn. It's hard to Vaughn. That's why it's exclusive. That's why if you get a name that you can Vaughn with, Vaughn with it. Vaughn.
Vaughn all the way. Vaughn. Vaughn. Yeah, Vaughn. So Vaughn Bula. So by the time they reunited in 1966, Klaus had graduated from law school and he was working as an assistant to the notorious oil magnate J. Paul Getty. Oh, we know him. You remember him? We know him. Remember when, you know, he was going to get his ass beat? Yeah, I remember that time. But Klaus worked with him for a little while.
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Chapter 5: How did the investigation into Sunny's condition unfold?
Yeah, I mean, I feel like watching it now would destroy my soul. I can't do it. But I was thinking about this, just a little sidetrack, because John and I were talking about it last night, actually. I don't know why it came up. You talk about the Titanic pretty frequently. We do. I don't know why. But he was talking about how he saw that movie in theaters. Oh, damn. For the first time.
And he saw it with his mom. Oh. And his mom did not know. Oh. That that was going to be part of it. Oh. So he was like, he was like, so here I am. He's like, those are the first boobs I ever saw. Where Kate Winslet. First boobs he ever saw. And he's like sitting in a movie theater with a million other people. And his mom.
But I was like, if you're your first boobs being Kate Winslet in that movie, I was like, good for you. That's a good first set of movies. That is. I was like, that's pretty elite. And I was saying how I feel bad that that kids that like young people today don't get to experience that era of Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Romeo and Juliet Titanic era is a very specific era that nothing will ever replicate it.
and it will never come back so it's just like one of it's this very specific era where it was just like yeah a very specific kind of leonardo you know what though we experienced a very different leo dicaprio and we have fun leo stories that are alleged what you know like all the crazy stories about like headphones and stuff Oh, yeah. No, that's what I mean.
Like the Leonardo DiCaprio of now is a very different situation than we had when we were younger. Again, I'm looking at Debbie, like confirm this for me. Because that was him and his like nothing, no one was like him. We have like Lucas Mattson. Because remember they say that about him. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In succession. Yeah. Yeah.
yeah see yeah that's what i mean different different different yeah i'm i'm i'm chinning i'm chinning your point it was so so pure then i know and i mean you know what though he has stayed so fucking attractive who leo You don't think he's attractive anymore? Nothing beats Romeo and Juliet, Leonardo. No, he was literally. No, I know. No, look up Romeo and Juliet, Leonardo DiCaprio.
Just look at that specific. I mean, I've seen that. But you need to visualize it again. No, I know. Because that was a fucking moment in my life. Watching that movie and when he came on the screen, I said, what is this world all about? Yeah. I know, I know. I said, what do you mean? My closet still said Leonardo DiCaprio. I love Leonardo DiCaprio from you. Him in the chain mail? Oh.
I feel like Titanic, and poor John was like at that age, he thought it was just going to be this like action-packed movie. Historical movie. And he's like, I didn't know that there was going to be like a full love story involved in it. And Karen also probably was like, oh, we'll just go witness history together. He just wasn't, he wasn't ready. Well, they did witness history. They weren't ready.
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Chapter 6: What role did the black bag play in the trial?
They do. I can't talk about that. Don't worry. It's fine in the end. Yeah. I don't want to besmirch Richard and Emily. Don't you dare. You never would. I never would. Oh, gosh. So throughout the 1970s, Klaus and Sonny appeared to the outside world to be the very picture of American aristocracy. But behind closed doors, they continued to have very little to do with each other. Mm-hmm.
And in March of 1979, Klaus started having an affair with former soap opera actress Alexandra Iles. And before long, they had fallen very deeply in love with each other. But Alexandra had absolutely no intention of being somebody's mistress or carrying on an affair behind Sonny's back. And she repeatedly pressed Klaus to divorce his wife. Sorry, something about that.
The moral high ground of being like, I will not continue fucking you unless you divorce your fucking wife. Who do you think I am? I love that she was just like, I have no intention of being a mistress. Babe, you are. I know. I will not carry on an affair. You are. Divorce your wife. Wow. It's all very messy. It's all very high society. The shaky ass moral high ground to be standing on.
So for months, Klaus talked about leaving Sunny, promising Alexandra that he was, I think that name is so pretty. I'm not talking about like her being a mistress or anything, but the name Alexandra is so pretty. Oh, it is. It's a very pretty name. But I don't like the nickname Alex very much.
Like I don't dislike the name Alex, but if I had an Alexandra, I would only want people to call her Alexandra. Well, it's such a pretty name altogether. I don't mind the nickname, but the name, I was going to say all the way. Yeah, all the way. All the way name. All the way name. Yes. It's so pretty.
But anyway, so he kept promising Alexander that he was planning to break up with Sunny when the time was right. But the time obviously is never that great to leave your spouse. Yeah. So their affair dragged on with Klaus making promises of getting a divorce that he seemed pretty unlikely to keep.
Then, in December 1979, a health scare kind of threw a wrench into Klaus and Alexandra's plans, causing Klaus to at least temporarily recommit to Sonny. It was about a week before Christmas, and Maria Schralhammer, the maid at Clarendon Court, was cleaning the hallway outside of Sonny and Klaus's bedroom when she heard Sonny moaning on the other side of the locked door.
So she tried to enter the room, but from the other side of the door, Klaus insisted that Sunny was fine and that they didn't need any help. When she was finally able to get into the room, Maria found Klaus and Sunny lying in bed, and Sunny, she said, did not look very good.
When she suggested that they call the doctor, she said that Klaus strongly objected, said Sunny was fine, she was just sleeping, and actually she had gotten up a few times to go to the bathroom, so like everything was fine. But by the end of the day, it was very clear that Sunny was essentially comatose and Klaus was not doing anything to help her, according to Maria.
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Chapter 7: What were the outcomes of the trial against Klaus von Bulow?
Interesting. But also like sometimes people disassociate in stressful situations. Yeah, for sure. And honestly, like, I mean, I've never been in a situation like that with my spouse, luckily, but I feel like we've been in similar situations with other family members. And I kind of like do disassociate a little bit. Yeah, I definitely go into like straight up like.
Just like what needs to be done. Yeah, same. Exactly. Yeah. So maybe that's where he was. Who's to say? Who's to say? But at the hospital, Sunny's situation unfortunately did take a turn for the worse. The doctors in the ER weren't able to revive her and they couldn't determine what had caused her to slip into a coma in the first place.
But when the results of her blood test came back a couple days later, they were mostly normal, but there was the exception of her insulin level, which was 216 microunits per milliliter. Whoa. The normal range is between 5 and 15. Holy shit. And hers was at 216. That's wild. Like bananas.
So the amount of insulin in Sunny's blood was obviously extremely high for any person, regardless of circumstance. But it was especially peculiar for Sunny, who aside from the one incident the previous year, wasn't known to have any health problems whatsoever. So under the circumstances, the doctors concluded that her body hadn't just generated that amount of insulin on its own.
That insulin had to have been administered either by Sunny or somebody close to her. But like, why would somebody do that? Yeah. So weeks passed. And unfortunately, she just seemed to slip deeper and deeper into her coma. And she wasn't showing any signs of improvement. So in early January, she was transferred to a long term care unit at Columbia Hospital in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, back in Rhode Island, Alex and his sister, Alla, started to grow suspicious of their stepfather. I can't blame them. Which, like, yeah, I can't blame them, because they knew. Like, the tension between Klaus and Sonny wasn't a secret, and I don't think the affair was a secret either. Yeah, they're probably pissed. You know, like, that is going to make you pretty suspicious. Yeah.
So among other things, within a few weeks of Sonny being admitted to the hospital, Klaus was taking a lavish vacation with Alexandra Isles like nothing had happened. Ew. In a few weeks. That's icky. Like your wife is lying in a coma in Manhattan. Yeah, that's icky behavior on both their part. Yeah.
So while Sonny's children from her first marriage may have grown suspicious of Klaus, there was nothing about Sonny's condition to doctors at that point that suggested foul play for like enough for the police to investigate the situation, which is really weird to me, but like, I don't know, different time. Yeah.
So still, Alex and his sister were convinced that Klaus had done something to their mom. So they reached out to the family lawyer, Richard Q. And he was a former Manhattan district attorney and the family's, like I said, personal lawyer. So he suggested that while they really have no cause yet to go to the police, there was nothing preventing them from looking into things on their own. Yeah.
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Chapter 8: How did the case impact the von Bulow family dynamics?
Yeah. but then to test another hypothesis of his jack carried his wife into the bathroom and slowly let her slip out of his arms and onto the floor and when he did that not only did she land on the floor in the exact position that sunny had but as she slipped from his arms her nightgown got hung up on his arm and it bunched around her waist wow so holy shit interesting that is very interesting
I just love like that kind of detective work when they bring it home. Yeah, when they have to go like really down deep in it. Yeah. So given everything that they learned, Reese was pretty confident that it was time to have a formal interview with Klaus. But he also didn't want to give Klaus any advanced notice to like get answers ready or anything like that or craft a story.
So he surprised him outside of his Manhattan office and brought him in for an interview. Oh, damn. For the most part, his answers to the questions were to be expected. He maintained that he didn't know how Sonny landed in a coma. He did confirm that he and Alexandra Isles had been having an affair for the last two years, so he was honest about that.
So at that point, the interview was pretty standard. Nothing big was popping out. And at the time, Klaus was unaware, though, that Sonny's son, Alex, had found the black bag of medication at Clarendon Court and was also unaware that the family lawyer had been investigating him.
So when Reese offhandedly asked if Sonny would have any reason to use insulin, Klaus replied, by God, that's the last thing she would need. Oh, it's like the why isn't in your bag of medications. Yeah. So now at this point, he tipped them off to the fact that he was being investigated. And Reese was pretty confident that Klaus was going to go back to Rhode Island to go get his black bag.
So he quickly filed a request for a search warrant for Clarendon Court. And a few days later, state police met Klaus in the house in Newport. Before sitting him down for the second time, Reese participated in the search of this home, which is literally a mansion. So it was like intense. Yeah. And throughout the search, he made multiple important observations. So they're listed.
One, Klaus hadn't been living at the house since before Sonny fell into a coma. So the bedroom closet was still locked, just like Alex and the locksmith had left it when they found the bag. Two, on a pad on Klaus's desk in the bedroom, there was a note in his writing that simply said, black box. Ooh.
And three, during the search of the closet, investigators found a black metal lockbox where Klaus was known to keep his bag of medications. Oh. So while technicians and troopers continued the search of the house, Jack Reese sat down with Klaus for another interview, and that's when he brought up the bag of medications.
Now, right after the question was raised, Klaus excused himself very abruptly, just for a moment, and then returned a few minutes later. When the interview was over, Reese went into his bedroom, Klaus's bedroom, and found that the note on the pad was now gone and that the closet had been relocked. Oh, shit.
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