# Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - A Burned Body & One Surviving Tooth

An episode of [Two Ts In A Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1477524410), 21 Jun 2026, 22 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/28/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b85867f1-c5ec-44e0-9f79-b34d0160000c/afc1c51d-6071-43e1-9b95-b46e00347792/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=59f37943-e628-4810-8c3b-ae2b00156477

When Zachariah Rasch shot his wife in the head, burned her body, and impersonated her for days after her death, what did he expect the outcome to be? How did investigators identify his wife, Crystal, by a single tooth? When Zachariah took the stand at his own trial, what was his defense? Did the jury see through him, or did he walk away a free man? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Welcome to an episode of Till Death Do
[0:04] Speaker 1: Us Part. I'll be your host today, Emily Simpson with
[0:08] Speaker 1: Shane all Right, today we are going to talk about
[0:11] Speaker 1: a very recent case. The husband's name is Zachariah Rash.
[0:15] Speaker 1: He just went to trial recently, so let's just do
[0:19] Speaker 1: a little breakdown. Let's just give you a little brief
[0:22] Speaker 1: background on this case. So, his wife's name was Crystal.
[0:25] Speaker 1: So after Crystal Raush disappeared in June of twenty twenty four,
[0:29] Speaker 1: investigators in Dodge County, Wisconsin uncovered evidence suggesting that her
[0:35] Speaker 1: estranged husband, Zachariah, attempted to cover up her death. Surveillance
[0:41] Speaker 1: footage showed the couple together the day she vanished, and
[0:45] Speaker 1: investigators discovered Zachariah's suspicious Internet searches, cleaning supply purchases, and
[0:51] Speaker 1: a burn site containing Crystal's remains. His trial began on
[0:56] Speaker 1: June first, twenty twenty six, where prosecutors charged him with
[0:59] Speaker 1: first degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. All right,
[1:06] Speaker 1: so this is a husband killing a wife. Do you
[1:09] Speaker 1: prefer husband killing wife stories or wife killing husband's story?
[1:12] Speaker 2: Don't prefer I prefer husbands and wives getting a long story.
[1:15] Speaker 1: Oh, would you like to do that? Do you think
[1:16] Speaker 1: people would listen if we told if we did a
[1:19] Speaker 1: new spin.
[1:20] Speaker 2: Off on we should do it. We could do a
[1:22] Speaker 2: bit where it's about a couple that got a divorced
[1:25] Speaker 2: and then lived happily ever after. Oh oh moved on,
[1:28] Speaker 2: yes with other people, or results in being imprisoned or
[1:33] Speaker 2: anything like that.
[1:33] Speaker 1: Oh, you want to tell happy stories about happy divorces. Well,
[1:37] Speaker 1: I don't know if there's enough out there for you know,
[1:41] Speaker 1: that's juicy, it's not all right. Zachariah of Rash met
[1:45] Speaker 1: Crystal Rash in two thousand and eight, and the two
[1:47] Speaker 1: married in twenty thirteen. They later had four children together.
[1:52] Speaker 1: By twenty nineteen, the couple's children had been taken into
[1:55] Speaker 1: state custody, which Zachariah later described as hard and depressing.
[2:00] Speaker 1: I was trying to find more all four kids, all
[2:02] Speaker 1: four kids. I was trying to find more information about that,
[2:05] Speaker 1: because I'm this is before the murder, this is before
[2:07] Speaker 1: the murder. I'm sorry, but if you have all four
[2:10] Speaker 1: of your children removed and the state takes away your kids,
[2:14] Speaker 1: you've got to be some pretty.
[2:16] Speaker 2: So what did they do?
[2:17] Speaker 1: Don't I couldn't find details on it.
[2:19] Speaker 2: Really, oh, because it's probably the Department Child Services, so
[2:22] Speaker 2: it's probably.
[2:23] Speaker 1: Like yeah, and I know they went into foster care.
[2:26] Speaker 1: But I'm just telling you just from the little bit
[2:29] Speaker 1: we've been in family law and dealt with things like that.
[2:31] Speaker 1: The courts want to give parents.
[2:34] Speaker 2: They don't want more kids, they don't want.
[2:35] Speaker 1: To take the kids, so they they I feel like
[2:38] Speaker 1: they give the parents as many.
[2:40] Speaker 2: You know, it was bad enough that the only thing
[2:43] Speaker 2: to do was to take the kids right.
[2:46] Speaker 1: In twenty twenty three, Crystal filed for divorce from Zachariah,
[2:50] Speaker 1: though he later claimed that they still maintained a relationship.
[2:54] Speaker 1: In spring of twenty twenty four, Zachariah purchased a Taurus
[2:58] Speaker 1: nine millimeter five arm. Investigators later discovered searches on his
[3:03] Speaker 1: phone about gunshot wounds and death. You know, this seems
[3:07] Speaker 1: to be a common theme and people that commit murder
[3:10] Speaker 1: but then try to cover it up. It's the Google searches.
[3:13] Speaker 1: Have people not learned by now that your digital footprint
[3:17] Speaker 1: tells what's going on in your mind. If you're going
[3:22] Speaker 1: to do Google searches because you want to know about
[3:24] Speaker 1: gunshot wounds or you know, how to burn a body
[3:28] Speaker 1: or how to well or.
[3:30] Speaker 2: You could do your search like how to burn a body,
[3:32] Speaker 2: but I don't really want to do it. Oh search
[3:34] Speaker 2: it that way.
[3:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, so you should add that caveat onto your Google.
[3:38] Speaker 2: Search to eliminate the intention.
[3:40] Speaker 1: It's not me but asking for a friend. Okay, all right,
[3:44] Speaker 1: I see. That's how you get around that or what
[3:46] Speaker 1: I would advise. That's what you would advise, Shane, How
[3:50] Speaker 1: to commit murder, Where to.
[3:52] Speaker 2: Buy a murder kit per friend Walmart.
[3:57] Speaker 1: On April fourth, twenty twenty four, investigators says Zachariah search
[4:01] Speaker 1: topics including whether police can trace an IP address and
[4:04] Speaker 1: mobile hotspots. On May twenty twenty four, investigators found searches
[4:10] Speaker 1: about instant death from gunshots to the head and chest,
[4:13] Speaker 1: including whether a nine millimeter could kill instantly. On June
[4:18] Speaker 1: fourth of twenty twenty four, investigators say Zachariah search for
[4:21] Speaker 1: information about widow's benefits. This is when his wife has
[4:27] Speaker 1: disappeared and no one can find her, right, so they're
[4:33] Speaker 1: questioning him as to the whereabouts of his wife. It
[4:37] Speaker 1: was actually her step mother that said that she was missing.
[4:43] Speaker 1: It was the stepmother that went forward and I believe
[4:46] Speaker 1: called the police and said, I haven't heard from my stepdaughter.
[4:49] Speaker 1: So then the police reach out to the husband, who
[4:52] Speaker 1: then claims that, you know, he doesn't know where she
[4:54] Speaker 1: is or what happened to her. They're going to either're
[4:56] Speaker 1: getting divorced, you know. But then you know, they start
[4:59] Speaker 1: to invest gate further and what brought him into spotlight. Well, one,
[5:05] Speaker 1: he's the husband, right and they're getting a divorce, so
[5:07] Speaker 1: he's always going to be a person of interest. But
[5:10] Speaker 1: the other thing was they looked at her financial transactions
[5:14] Speaker 1: and he had been using her debit card. Apparently they
[5:18] Speaker 1: had separate accounts well after disappearance. So she disappeared on
[5:22] Speaker 1: a June eleventh. That was the last time anybody comes murdered. Well,
[5:26] Speaker 1: so that's the last time anyone can confirm that they
[5:28] Speaker 1: had seen her last known date. Then there's these transactions
[5:33] Speaker 1: on her debit card of like Walmart, buying draino and
[5:39] Speaker 1: cleaning supplies. And then they look at the surveillance video
[5:44] Speaker 1: and guess who It's not her, Zacharia making the purchases.
[5:49] Speaker 1: It's Zachariah making the purchases. So then you go from
[5:52] Speaker 1: that to then what do you do? You get a
[5:54] Speaker 1: search warrant. You grab his computer and his phone, you
[5:57] Speaker 1: search his phone, and then what's he doing? What's the
[5:59] Speaker 1: first thing you go when you're an investigator, You want
[6:01] Speaker 1: to look at the Google search history?
[6:02] Speaker 2: Right? Yeah, yeah, you take your phone, right, you take
[6:04] Speaker 2: their phone. That's part of search warns now right, common, right.
[6:08] Speaker 1: And then you've got him googling. You know, nine millimeters,
[6:10] Speaker 1: how fast instantly death, you know, wounds to head, widows benefits,
[6:16] Speaker 1: all of these things. So this is June eleventh of
[6:26] Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Surveillance video from a Goodwill store in
[6:30] Speaker 1: Akonama Walk, Wisconsin, showed Crystal and Zachariah shopping together around
[6:34] Speaker 1: eleven oh seven am. They left together around eleven thirty
[6:38] Speaker 1: two am. According to Zacharia's later testimony, the couple spent
[6:42] Speaker 1: the day unsuccessfully attempting to meet with attorneys regarding their divorce.
[6:48] Speaker 1: This is interesting to me. This is his story. He
[6:51] Speaker 1: claims that they so they're separated, they want to get divorced.
[6:54] Speaker 1: She wants to get divorced. He claims that they're in
[6:56] Speaker 1: the car together and that they're just driving around to
[6:59] Speaker 1: attorney offices to try to meet with them. They don't
[7:02] Speaker 1: have an appointment. They don't have an appointment or a
[7:04] Speaker 1: consultation or anything.
[7:05] Speaker 2: Set up, but according to him, they do.
[7:07] Speaker 1: No. According to him, they don't.
[7:08] Speaker 2: They're just walking customers.
[7:11] Speaker 1: But he claims that they got frustrated or that she
[7:14] Speaker 1: got really frustrated because they've gone to several attorney's offices.
[7:20] Speaker 2: Suspicious thing. Yes, couples that want to divorce each other
[7:25] Speaker 2: do not go shopping for an attorney together.
[7:27] Speaker 1: They usually don't know. And why in what scenario would
[7:32] Speaker 1: you meet with an attorney together about a divorce and
[7:36] Speaker 1: an attorney you wouldn't. But anyway, that's the story is
[7:39] Speaker 1: that they were in the car together, they went to
[7:40] Speaker 1: multiple attorney's offices to try to get a walk in
[7:43] Speaker 1: type of consultation, they couldn't find one that was available,
[7:48] Speaker 1: and that she got very frustrated and mad while they're
[7:51] Speaker 1: in the car together.
[7:53] Speaker 2: I bet they never even got as far as looking
[7:56] Speaker 2: for one.
[7:57] Speaker 1: I don't know. Zachariah later testified that while he was
[8:00] Speaker 1: driving and Crystal is in the passenger's seat, that she
[8:03] Speaker 1: suddenly pulled out a gun and fatally shot herself in
[8:07] Speaker 1: the passenger seat. So that's his story. His story is
[8:11] Speaker 1: they're in the car together. They're shopping for an attorney.
[8:14] Speaker 1: They can't get an appointment, they can't get a walk in.
[8:17] Speaker 1: She gets frustrated because she wants to get divorced, and
[8:20] Speaker 1: that she whips out a gun in the car and
[8:23] Speaker 1: that she shoots herself in the car. Investigators later found
[8:27] Speaker 1: a blood matching Crystal's DNA throughout the passenger side of
[8:31] Speaker 1: Zachariah's Mitsubishi Eclipse. I used to have a Mitsubishi Eclipse.
[8:36] Speaker 1: They also found DNA on the seatbelt, window and seat.
[8:40] Speaker 2: Is that kind of DNA right?
[8:41] Speaker 1: Blood DNA. Zachariah admitted that he never called nine to
[8:45] Speaker 1: one one after Crystal died. So they're in the car together.
[8:48] Speaker 1: He claims that she pulled out a gun and shot
[8:50] Speaker 1: herself in the head in the car. He doesn't pull
[8:53] Speaker 1: over or call police or call for an ambulance. He decides,
[8:57] Speaker 1: I must let her die get rid of the body.
[9:01] Speaker 1: He later admitted to taking Crystal's body to his parents'
[9:04] Speaker 1: property and the town of Climb in Wisconsin, where he
[9:08] Speaker 1: burned her remains and poured sulfuric acid on the burn site.
[9:12] Speaker 1: Investigators believed that the Mitsubishi Eclipse was left behind and
[9:16] Speaker 1: remained at that wood Road property after June eleventh, before
[9:20] Speaker 1: later being moved to another location. So he transports the
[9:24] Speaker 1: body to the parents property. Yeah, and he burns the
[9:28] Speaker 1: body acid.
[9:30] Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask the question. Okay, he came up with
[9:34] Speaker 2: this story after they found her dead.
[9:38] Speaker 1: You mean the attorney story.
[9:40] Speaker 2: No, the story of like, yeah, the sulfuric acid and
[9:43] Speaker 2: I burned the body and she shot herself because she
[9:46] Speaker 2: couldn't find an attorney fast enough or whatever. Yeah, you're
[9:49] Speaker 2: saying he came up with that after he was found
[9:52] Speaker 2: and arrested.
[9:53] Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'm I assume they were in a car
[9:56] Speaker 1: together and they were fighting and he he shot her.
[9:59] Speaker 2: Get it right, So what I'm saying he didn't do
[10:02] Speaker 2: all that and then come clean and say, okay, you know,
[10:04] Speaker 2: like it was like after that he was charged with
[10:07] Speaker 2: murder that he then said, oh, she actually shot herself
[10:11] Speaker 2: and I buried her here in this.
[10:12] Speaker 1: Net on June twelfth. Investigators say Zachariah searched online. We
[10:16] Speaker 1: now remember June eleventh is the last day anybody saw
[10:18] Speaker 1: her alive, and that's the day that they were driving
[10:20] Speaker 1: around looking for an attorney's office. Allegedly, on June twelfth.
[10:24] Speaker 1: Investigators say Zachariah searched online for carpet cleaners between June
[10:29] Speaker 1: fifteenth and June twenty third. Investigators say that Zachariah used
[10:33] Speaker 1: Crystal's debit card without permission. Well, he can't get permission
[10:36] Speaker 1: because she's dead. He shot her on June eleventh, So,
[10:39] Speaker 1: but he used her debit card to purchase cleaning supplies
[10:43] Speaker 1: chemical resistant gloves, drain cleaner containing sulfuric acid, carpet stain removers,
[10:49] Speaker 1: and storage totes, and automotive cleaners.
[10:52] Speaker 2: What is his reasoning for hiding the body?
[10:55] Speaker 1: I believe he claimed that she shot herself, but he
[10:58] Speaker 1: knew that he would get blamed for shooting her, so
[11:01] Speaker 1: he wanted to just get rid of the body because
[11:04] Speaker 1: he was worried that, you know, they would come after him.
[11:08] Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, but now they can, they can still
[11:11] Speaker 2: come after him.
[11:12] Speaker 1: I don't know why people do the things that they do.
[11:14] Speaker 1: Why Why do people leave a digital footprint on their phone?
[11:17] Speaker 1: Why do they do Google searches. Why do they go
[11:20] Speaker 1: to Walmart and buy a murder kit?
[11:22] Speaker 2: Why do they why Walmart cell murder kids?
[11:24] Speaker 1: I don't know why Walmart sells murders. You might want
[11:27] Speaker 1: to think that they don't put it together and call
[11:29] Speaker 1: it a murder kit. I mean it is all in
[11:31] Speaker 1: separate aisles. You have to visit more than one aisle.
[11:34] Speaker 3: You have to get your your you know, well, you
[11:36] Speaker 3: know when you go by like sudeifet yeah right, oh yeah,
[11:42] Speaker 3: they could be asked for your idea, right because you
[11:44] Speaker 3: might make meth right like it flags it right, right.
[11:47] Speaker 2: And if you go buy a suite fed at one
[11:49] Speaker 2: store and another store like if because they check your idea,
[11:52] Speaker 2: flags it like this guy has a lot of suit
[11:54] Speaker 2: efet yours. So why don't they say, hey, these four
[11:58] Speaker 2: items equal a murder they should get black flags it
[12:02] Speaker 2: and they say, we need to check your ID.
[12:03] Speaker 1: What would your four items be. It's definitely a shovel,
[12:07] Speaker 1: trash bags, duct tape, duct tape, zip size. Yeah, that
[12:10] Speaker 1: would be the four Yeah. If someone goes through Walmart
[12:12] Speaker 1: with those four items, they should definitely be.
[12:15] Speaker 2: There's a hyler hobby that takes place with those four items.
[12:18] Speaker 1: No, there's not. No surveillance footage allegedly linked Zachariah to
[12:24] Speaker 1: those purchases at multiple stores in Wisconsin. I do know
[12:27] Speaker 1: one of the soores with Walmart, but he did visit
[12:29] Speaker 1: other stores as well, so his murder kit didn't come
[12:34] Speaker 1: entirely from Walmart. Yeah, he did go to other stores
[12:37] Speaker 1: as well. On June seventeenth of twenty twenty four, Zachariah
[12:41] Speaker 1: terminated his parental rights to his children. How do you
[12:45] Speaker 1: you can just terminate your own parental rights? You can
[12:48] Speaker 1: just maybe because they'd been they'd been removed by the
[12:50] Speaker 1: state and they were in foster care.
[12:52] Speaker 2: Maybe I'm sure there was something we don't know that
[12:54] Speaker 2: he he did that, or at least he was willing
[12:57] Speaker 2: to maybe signed a document in case they do find
[12:59] Speaker 2: out home for them, or maybe he gave up his
[13:02] Speaker 2: temporary you know rights, and so they could place him
[13:05] Speaker 2: in a home against his you know, without it being
[13:08] Speaker 2: against his will like that kind of thing.
[13:10] Speaker 1: This is interesting. Investigators also found Internet searches asking whether
[13:15] Speaker 1: raccoons or possums eat bones?
[13:19] Speaker 2: And what's the answer.
[13:20] Speaker 1: I don't know what the answer is. They didn't tell
[13:21] Speaker 1: me that part.
[13:22] Speaker 2: Why raccoons and possums?
[13:23] Speaker 1: I don't know. I guess so why not?
[13:25] Speaker 2: I don't know whatever.
[13:26] Speaker 1: Bears along with searches involving sulfuric acid and search warrants
[13:31] Speaker 1: during this period, Zachariah also sent text messages pretending to
[13:35] Speaker 1: be Crystal while friends and family searched for her. Oh yeah,
[13:39] Speaker 1: he was sending Facebook messages, you know, from I'm sure
[13:43] Speaker 1: her Facebook was probably on her phone, so he has
[13:45] Speaker 1: her phone.
[13:46] Speaker 2: I don't even send Facebook messages like for my own
[13:48] Speaker 2: account to my own friends.
[13:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, but if you murdered your wife and you wanted
[13:51] Speaker 1: people to think that I was alive and out there,
[13:53] Speaker 1: I guess you'd get on my Facebook and you know
[13:55] Speaker 1: be like, hey, old friend, haven't heard from you for
[13:58] Speaker 1: a while, just wanted you to know I'm alive.
[14:00] Speaker 2: Yeah, season twenty one.
[14:02] Speaker 1: Yeah, here we go. Yeah, start acting like everything's normal,
[14:07] Speaker 1: right exactly. So that's what he's doing. He's texting, you know,
[14:11] Speaker 1: texting people from her phone and sending Facebook messages. I
[14:14] Speaker 1: guess to lengthen this amount of time that people think
[14:16] Speaker 1: that she's just he might just be out.
[14:18] Speaker 2: There fantasizing being her and I he's just wearing her
[14:20] Speaker 2: painties too, it's right to some crazy guy.
[14:22] Speaker 1: Oh, now you've just turned it into somethingletely different.
[14:25] Speaker 2: Now he's just like living through her.
[14:27] Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's not part of the facts of this case.
[14:30] Speaker 2: But so his plan was to murder my wife then,
[14:34] Speaker 2: and if I get caught, I'll get rid of my
[14:35] Speaker 2: kids too. Let's give up my kids to the state.
[14:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, well, clearly they were terrible parents prior to the murder.
[14:41] Speaker 1: I mean that's a given. We already know that. But then,
[14:45] Speaker 1: you know, I don't know. I don't know if he
[14:48] Speaker 1: planned to murder her that day in the car, or
[14:50] Speaker 1: if she just annoyed him a gun and he had
[14:52] Speaker 1: a gun and he shot her. I don't know.
[14:55] Speaker 2: Next time she annoys me, I'm going to shoot her.
[14:57] Speaker 1: Right, this is now we get to June twenty third
[14:59] Speaker 1: to twenty twenty four, crystal stepmother contacted authorities after not
[15:03] Speaker 1: hearing from her since June eleventh. June eleventh is the
[15:06] Speaker 1: key date that was the last time anyone saw her alive.
[15:09] Speaker 1: Friends told investigators that text messages coming from Crystal's phone
[15:13] Speaker 1: did not sound like her, and that she refused requests
[15:16] Speaker 1: to call or video chat. I mean that's a red flag.
[15:19] Speaker 2: That's always the case where language sounds different. Yeah, well, if.
[15:23] Speaker 1: You were pretending to be me and you were text messaging,
[15:26] Speaker 1: how would you sound like me?
[15:29] Speaker 2: Shane is a jerk.
[15:30] Speaker 1: I want to go to pizza and get some Bobby
[15:33] Speaker 1: want to work out. I want to go to the
[15:34] Speaker 1: gym Shane's.
[15:35] Speaker 2: With the kids. Let's go take some selfies.
[15:37] Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it would mind be well, I don't
[15:41] Speaker 1: feel like you really answer. I feel like you just
[15:45] Speaker 1: you're not really out there being social. So I wouldn't
[15:48] Speaker 1: text anyone anything. If I was trying to be you.
[15:52] Speaker 2: Well, you'd have to do all the things around the house.
[15:55] Speaker 1: Yeah, I would text kids and ask them, like if
[15:57] Speaker 1: they need anything. But it's not like you're out playing
[16:00] Speaker 1: golf with buddies and stuff. So investigator's searched Crystal's bedroomin
[16:04] Speaker 1: found her cell phone still inside the home, along with
[16:07] Speaker 1: a calendar showing June ninth as the last crossed off day.
[16:11] Speaker 1: That's like a like showing the calendar with like the
[16:14] Speaker 1: last cross on it. That reminds me of such a
[16:18] Speaker 1: law school question, you know, when you get like a
[16:20] Speaker 1: fact pattern and it's like and there's a calendar on
[16:23] Speaker 1: the wall with June ninth, this is the last day
[16:25] Speaker 1: with an X on it, you know. Deputies also spoke
[16:28] Speaker 1: with Zachariah at the family property, where he claimed he
[16:31] Speaker 1: did not know crystals whereabouts on June twenty six, law
[16:43] Speaker 1: enforcement executed search warrants at Zachariah's residence and related properties,
[16:48] Speaker 1: and investigators discovered a suspicious burn site near a shed
[16:52] Speaker 1: on the Wood Road property. Detectives noted that there was
[16:57] Speaker 1: melted residue, burned vegetation, and a strong chemical. Odor testing
[17:02] Speaker 1: indicated the presence of strong acid. Then we get to
[17:07] Speaker 1: June thirtieth. Investigators and forensic specialists excavated the burn site
[17:11] Speaker 1: and recovered bone fragments and a tooth believed to.
[17:15] Speaker 2: Be human not wait, we don't know how he shot her? Then, right?
[17:19] Speaker 2: Do we know the manner of death? He said, gunshot?
[17:22] Speaker 2: But was it in the head?
[17:23] Speaker 1: It was in the head, yeah. A forensic dentist later
[17:27] Speaker 1: matched the recovered tooth to crystal rash using dental records. Also,
[17:32] Speaker 1: there was a DNA match, but I didn't know. Can
[17:34] Speaker 1: you you can still get some DNA from a tooth,
[17:37] Speaker 1: can't you? If you even get it?
[17:38] Speaker 2: I mean you can if I think if the if
[17:42] Speaker 2: there's like in the root, if there's enough in there. Yeah,
[17:46] Speaker 2: but you know, if it's burn and stuff, I don't know.
[17:49] Speaker 1: A forensic anthropologist concluded that the remains had been exposed
[17:53] Speaker 1: to a prolonged high temperature fire. Zachariah Rash was initially
[17:58] Speaker 1: arrested on identity theft allegations after investigators accused him of
[18:02] Speaker 1: using Crystal's debit card after her disappearance. I mean, that's
[18:06] Speaker 1: how they initially arrested him and brought him in and
[18:08] Speaker 1: started questioning him as when they caught him on the
[18:11] Speaker 1: surveillance right the result of that, prosecutors later charged him
[18:15] Speaker 1: with first degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in
[18:19] Speaker 1: connection to Crystal's death. He pleaded not guilty to the charges,
[18:23] Speaker 1: and bond was set at a million dollars. In July
[18:26] Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four, a Dodge County judge found Zachariah
[18:30] Speaker 1: incompetent to stand trial at that time, though likely to
[18:34] Speaker 1: regain competency after treatment. I don't know how you determine that. You're, like,
[18:38] Speaker 1: he's crazy now, but like, let's just give him a
[18:40] Speaker 1: couple of weeks and he'll probably be competent later.
[18:42] Speaker 2: And so I guess the argument is during trial he
[18:46] Speaker 2: can't have a normal conversation with the lawyer to strategize,
[18:49] Speaker 2: so we have to give him treatment.
[18:51] Speaker 1: I know, well, this is he deemed him not competent
[18:55] Speaker 1: to stand trial, but said he would be competent at
[18:58] Speaker 1: some point.
[18:59] Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. So is the idea is that
[19:01] Speaker 2: he's not combatant stand trial. Therefore he can't discuss and
[19:04] Speaker 2: strategize with his attorney. So we have to give him
[19:06] Speaker 2: treatment and then when he gets better, then we can
[19:08] Speaker 2: put him on trial. I guess because he never really
[19:10] Speaker 2: you know, if he's not going to take the stand,
[19:12] Speaker 2: he's never going to speak in court anyway. It's going
[19:14] Speaker 2: to be his attorney.
[19:16] Speaker 1: June first of twenty twenty six, so he just went
[19:19] Speaker 1: to trial. Jury selection started in Dodge County Circuit Court.
[19:22] Speaker 1: The trial ran for seven days. Rash took the stand, oh,
[19:30] Speaker 1: which probably wasn't smart, but he took the stand. He
[19:34] Speaker 1: claimed that Crystal died by suicide in the passenger seat
[19:37] Speaker 1: of his car using a nine millimeter handgun, saying that
[19:41] Speaker 1: he Sawid out of the corner of his eye. So
[19:45] Speaker 1: I guess he's claiming that they were driving along together.
[19:47] Speaker 1: She got frustrated, she grabbed the nine millimeter and shot
[19:49] Speaker 1: herself in the head.
[19:51] Speaker 2: Likely story.
[19:52] Speaker 1: He admitted to burning her body, telling prosecutors quote, I
[19:56] Speaker 1: burned her end quote. Prosecutors can tered with his Google
[20:01] Speaker 1: search history, which they say revealed premeditation, as well as
[20:05] Speaker 1: the surveillance footage of his supply purchases made on her
[20:08] Speaker 1: stolen debit card.
[20:09] Speaker 2: And what what date were those purchases made? Do we remember?
[20:13] Speaker 1: Well, it was after Well the last time anyone saw
[20:14] Speaker 1: our live was June eleventh, so after it was June eleventh. Yeah,
[20:18] Speaker 1: so she is dead, he was body.
[20:21] Speaker 2: The meditated part would be what was what was found
[20:24] Speaker 2: as evidence to show premeditation.
[20:27] Speaker 1: I guess just the widow's benefits, the nine millimeter handgun.
[20:31] Speaker 2: The searches.
[20:32] Speaker 1: Yeah. After roughly two hours of deliberations, the jury found
[20:36] Speaker 1: Zachariah Roush guilty of first degree intentional homicide and hiding
[20:41] Speaker 1: a corpse. I didn't know what it was called hiding.
[20:43] Speaker 1: I thought it was like, what's it called desecration?
[20:47] Speaker 2: Or it might be Wisconsin. They might just have different
[20:50] Speaker 2: terms that they use for the crime.
[20:53] Speaker 1: He is scheduled to be sentenced, so we have a verdict,
[20:56] Speaker 1: but we do not have a sentencing yet. He is
[20:58] Speaker 1: scheduled to be sentenced on July twenty first, of twenty
[21:02] Speaker 1: twenty six. He faces life in prison. His sentencing hearing
[21:06] Speaker 1: is set for two thirty pm on July twenty first
[21:09] Speaker 1: of twenty twenty six, so we will follow that and
[21:11] Speaker 1: see what do you think life in prison? Well, I'd hope,
[21:14] Speaker 1: so you would hope, So I would hope.
[21:16] Speaker 2: So that's that's what possibility of parole then, right, that's
[21:18] Speaker 2: what life in prison is, right.
[21:20] Speaker 1: Any further thoughts on Zachariah.
[21:22] Speaker 2: I hope the kids are in better hands.
[21:24] Speaker 1: It's probably good they were taken away and that they're
[21:26] Speaker 1: in foster care. Hopefully they get adopted and they get
[21:28] Speaker 1: adopted by nice.
[21:29] Speaker 2: People non murderous phrase.
[21:31] Speaker 1: Yes, and they can have a you know, somewhat of
[21:34] Speaker 1: the normal somewhat of a normal family life. That's what
[21:37] Speaker 1: I would hope for those children anyway. Yeah, all right,
[21:40] Speaker 1: thank you guys for listening to Till Death dus part.
[21:43] Speaker 1: If you have any recommendations of cases, we would love
[21:46] Speaker 1: to hear it, so please be sure to DM me
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[22:00] Speaker 1: to listen. Thank you so much,

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