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Fuhrman Eyes Schiavo Husband

Mark Fuhrman says there are many unanswered questions about Michael Schiavo's actions before and after Schiavo's wife, Terri, collapsed 15 years ago.

Fuhrman, of O.J. Simpson case fame, addressed those questions on The Early Show Wednesday.

Terri went into a vegetative state that lasted until she was allowed to die almost three months ago, when her feeding tube was removed.

The dispute between Terri's parents and Michael over removing that tube resulted in one of the most heated legal battles in recent memory, stretching from the White House to Congress to the Supreme Court, and even the Vatican.

In his new book, "Silent Witness: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo's Death," Fuhrman examines the events leading up to her collapse, and eventual death.

He tells co-anchor Hannah Storm he was inspired to come to Florida to look into the Schiavo case by talk show host Sean Hannity.

"He said, 'You should investigate this,' " Fuhrman recalls. " 'You should at least come down and read everything.' So … I went to Florida and started doing just that.

"I was pretty shocked with what I read, not only from a humanitarian angle from Michael Schiavo -- he was completely absent of any compassion or empathy for the direct family of Terri Schiavo -- but there were many questions about how she collapsed … none of which have ever been answered."Fuhrman says police did an inadequate job at the time Terri collapsed: "They never investigated anything. …They arrive at the hospital. I understand, two patrol officers are there. An unexplained collapse. And they wait for the toxicology to come back that she wasn't under the influence of drugs.

"They couldn't explain why her heart stopped. They couldn't explain anything. There were no fractures to her skull, no hematomas, no bruising, no obvious signs of violence in the house or on her body. So they left, never to return, even though the doctors could never find out why she collapsed, why her heart was deprived of oxygen."

Storm pointed out that there's been a lot of speculation that Terri had elevated potassium levels, due to an eating disorder.

But Terri's sister, Suzanne Vitadamo, who appeared on The Early Show with Fuhrman, threw cold water on that theory: "We (Terri's blood relatives) never believed that Terri had an eating disorder. We were pretty close to Terri prior to her collapse. And in the medical examiner's report, bulimia was ruled out, as was a cardiac arrest."

In the book, Fuhrman quotes a co-worker as saying Terri was considering divorcing Michael. Fuhrman depicts Michael as very controlling. Fuhrman says Terri and Michael fought about Terri's hair color on the morning of the day she collapsed.

Asked by Storm if these aren't fairly typical marital issues, Fuhrman responded, "They're more typical to people in a domestic situation that usually ends up in a very ugly divorce, at best."

Fuhrman continued, "There are so many things that Michael Schiavo can't seem to answer. In a time when you would think that you would have a memory, a videotape that you could put on play and those memories and those images would be etched in your mind forever, he couldn't figure them out, from the first morning to this very day.

"He couldn't even remember if they had an argument. He couldn't remember what time he left work, couldn't remember what time he got home, couldn't remember if she was awake or asleep. Couldn't remember, when he found her, if she was face up or face down. It goes on and on."

Fuhrman also says Michael took a long time to call 911, and that may have contributed to Terri's injuries.

Vitadamo told Storm her family is "thrilled" Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is calling for an inquiry into Terri's death.

"We've been asking for an inquiry in this case for years. So, we're thrilled at this point, even though it's after Terri's death. Obviously, we would have liked to have had this done prior to her death. But, at least now maybe we can find out what happened to Terri, because we still don't know. That's the underlying question. She was a healthy (woman in her) mid-20s. We don't know why she collapsed."

The pain is unrelenting, Vitadamo notes. Her family didn't want her sister cremated, and wanted Terri buried in a family plot. But Michael had Terri cremated and Terri wasn't buried in the plot where her family wanted her. Michael had a gravesite marker engraved with the words, "I kept my promise."

To that, Vitadamo says, "It's difficult for us. It's really been a tough ordeal, and we feel like there's no end sometimes, from his end, to the spite and hurt. So I just feel bad for my mom and dad that, when they go to visit, that it's almost like a slap in the face every time they go there."

To read an excerpt of "Silent Witness: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo's Death," click here.

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