Murder of Kristine Fitzhugh

Kristine Fitzhugh, a music teacher born September 18, 1947, was killed on May 5, 2000, in the family home in Palo Alto, California. She was discovered dead at the bottom of the basement stairs after her husband, Kenneth Carroll Fitzhugh Jr., received a call from her workplace reporting that she had not appeared to teach her classes that day. Kenneth, accompanied by two of Kristine's coworkers, went to the house and found her body.

At the scene, Kenneth suggested that Kristine had fallen down the stairs, attributing the fall to a pair of unsteady shoes she was wearing. However, investigators found water-diluted blood in the kitchen, indicating that the killing had actually occurred there. Kristine had been struck on the head seven times and strangled before her body was moved to the bottom of the stairs.

Kenneth claimed he had been miles away inspecting property at the time his wife was killed, but cell phone records contradicted this account, showing that he had received a call around the time of the murder while he was in the Fitzhughs' neighborhood. A subsequent search of Kenneth's car uncovered clothing, shoes, and other items stained with Kristine's blood.

In 2001, Kenneth Fitzhugh, who worked as a real estate agent, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. The exact motive for the killing remains uncertain. One possible motive discussed was that Kenneth may have been angry that Kristine intended to tell their eldest son that Kenneth was not his biological father; a DNA test conducted after the murder confirmed that Kenneth was not the boy's biological father. Financial motive was also raised: had he not been convicted, Kenneth stood to collect $96,000 from Kristine's life insurance policy along with some or all of her $900,000 estate.

Kenneth Fitzhugh was later paroled on compassionate grounds in February 2012 due to his diagnosis with Parkinson's disease. He died in Palo Alto on October 27, 2012, at age 69.