Eight years after Amy Mullis was found dead with a corn rake in her back on her family's Delaware County farm, her son Trysten is publicly challenging the murder conviction of his father, Todd Mullis, and a team of new lawyers is appealing a judge's refusal to grant a new trial.
Trysten Mullis, who was 13 when his mother died on that November morning in 2018, laid out his case in an interview with CBS News that aired October 18, 2026. He insists his mother's death was a farm accident, not a homicide, and that his father could not have physically committed the crime prosecutors described.
What happened on the Mullis farm in November 2018
The Mullis family ran a 400-acre grain and hog operation. Trysten told CBS News he and his father were working in the hog barn that morning while Amy cleaned light fixtures. She had undergone a minor medical procedure four days earlier and appeared dizzy and unsteady, so father and son asked her to go rest in the house and grab a pet carrier from the red shed on her way.
About an hour and a half later, the carrier still was not outside the shed. Trysten went to get it and found his mother on the ground with the corn rake in her back.
According to CBS News, the state medical examiner, Dr. Kelly Kruse, ruled the death a homicide, noting a bruise on Amy's jaw, scrapes on her knuckles, and six puncture wounds from a rake with only four tines. Prosecutors argued Todd Mullis ambushed his wife in the shed, motivated by her affair and fear of losing land in a divorce. Google searches about unfaithful wives found on Todd's iPad were presented as evidence of premeditation. A jury convicted him in 2019.
Could Todd Mullis have reached the shed in time?
Trysten's trial testimony became a point of contention. He initially told police he had been with his father all morning, later acknowledging he left his father's side twice for water. At trial, pressed on how long his father was out of his sight, he answered that he did not know.
Now he says that is not what it sounded like.
It was a matter of seconds. I wasn't saying it could have been 20 minutes.
He walked CBS News through the barn layout. One exit would have taken Todd directly past him. The other required a round trip of roughly four football fields, sprinting across the barn, jumping a gate and running through trees, then returning without being out of breath or disheveled.
Daniel Nesheiwat, one of Todd's new attorneys, told CBS News he ran the route himself.
Being there and seeing it, it's impossible. There's no way it could have been done just on that fact.
New experts say the death was an accident
Todd's new legal team, working with the Iowa Wrongful Conviction Unit and the Exoneration Project, hired forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers and biomechanical engineer Dr. Valentina Ngai to re-examine the evidence. Both concluded Amy Mullis died in an accidental fall.
At trial, the four tines versus six wounds was treated as simple proof of repeated strikes. The new experts disagree. They say Amy fell on the rake, three tines pierced her coat and back, and as she struggled to free herself, rolling and falling again, she created the additional wounds herself, including the upward trajectories the state cited.
Hammers also found Amy had been prescribed three medications that can cause dizziness, something the state medical examiner said she had not reviewed. Ngai pointed to a photo from autopsy, never shown at trial, indicating fewer holes in Amy's coat than in her body.
How do you swing a four-tine implement multiple times and have less holes in the outer clothes and more holes in the body? That is illogical.
Judge denies a new trial after 15-month wait
After a six-day hearing, Judge Laura Parrish took nearly 15 months to rule. She denied relief, finding that Todd Mullis received a fair trial with competent counsel and that the jury found the state medical examiner credible. According to CBS News, she wrote that Todd himself pushed to go to trial quickly, limiting his attorney's time to prepare.
The ruling devastated the Mullis family. Trysten said he was dumbfounded. Dina Nesheiwat had to break the news to Todd in prison.
He was just crushed. It sucked the air right out of him.
The state's side remains firm. Retired DCI special agent Jon Turbett told CBS News he absolutely believes the right outcome was reached. Amy's brother, Jeff Fuller, called the accident theory nonsensical.
Appeal is next for the Mullis defense
The defense is not stopping. Dina Nesheiwat said the science remains on the court record and the team will ask an appellate court to hear the case. Trysten, who lost both parents at 13, said prayer and faith keep him going.
I love you and I'm fighting every day for you. I'm fighting to get you home.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Todd Mullis convicted of murder?
An Iowa jury convicted him in 2019 after prosecutors argued he ambushed his wife Amy in a shed and struck her with a corn rake, citing six puncture wounds from a four-tine rake, a bruise on her jaw, and iPad searches about unfaithful wives.
What do the new defense experts claim?
Forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers and biomechanical engineer Dr. Valentina Ngai concluded Amy Mullis fell on the rake accidentally and worsened her injuries while struggling to free herself, and that the wound patterns and her coat are inconsistent with being struck repeatedly.
What happens next in the case?
Todd Mullis's attorneys plan to appeal Judge Laura Parrish's denial of a new trial to an Iowa appellate court, arguing the jury never heard the accident evidence.