Trigger Point

(CBS News)  In 2004, a woman named Jenny Eisenman shot her estranged husband Drew in her apartment. The soft-spoken elementary school teacher claimed she had suffered abuse at the hands of her husband for years, and that the shooting was in self-defense.

But prosecutors say Jenny was a woman scorned and shot her husband out of anger.

Was Jenny - described by many as gentle and caring - a victim or, as prosecutors asserted, a woman capable of cold-blooded murder?

Correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.

When detectives Larry Davis and Mark Reynolds arrived at Jenny Eisenman's apartment in May 2004, they were in for surprises. Expecting a homicide scene, Reynolds says the home was pristine and looked like nothing had happened: there was no blood, and there was no body.

Jenny was also there, sitting quietly on the couch; Jenny and Drew's eight-month-old baby Jackson was in his crib. It was just like nothing happened, just like the slender second grade teacher hadn't just shot and killed her husband, a high school basketball coach.

Reynolds says his gut was telling that there was a story here, but before investigators could start to unravel that story, they first had to answer a big question: where was Drew's body?

Jenny told police the body was outside, and investigators searched for her husband's body all around the apartment complex. Eventually, police found it in a green storage tub next to his truck.

So how did a slight, 120 pound woman kill a man nearly twice her size and drag his body down a flight of stairs to the curb? And more importantly, why? What drove her to it? What really happened inside the apartment the night Jenny shot Drew?

Police whisked Jenny away to the police station for interrogation; the baby was turned over to Jenny's sister Carrie.

Wrapped up in a blanket, she told detectives she didn't need a lawyer and proceeded to tell them quite a tale about a fight that night and everything that led up to it.

Det. Davis wanted to start from the very instance that the couple had met. "When I first met Drew we were in college. It was a storybook romance. Drew was athletic, very beautiful human being, fun to be around and very charming," Jenny told investigators.

Her parents, Vonda and Jim Harvey, remember the happy times when she and Drew first met. "We liked Drew. Tall, good looking guy. He can be very charismatic and he was," Jim tells Schlesinger.

And the Eisenman family, especially Drew's parents Tom and Becky, were delighted when their son married Jenny. "Seemed very compatible. Shared an interest in education and children," Becky recalls.

Everyone who knew Drew and Jenny was shocked when they heard what had happened. Jenny's parents were out of the country when her brother reached them the night of the shooting. "He said 'Drew's gone.' What do you mean Drew's gone? 'She shot him. Drew's dead,'" Jim recalls.

"It's not that she just shot him. She emptied a gun on him," Drew's father Tom comments.

But Jenny told police she had to shoot Drew that night. "He came at me, then he just kinda he fell back, then he kinda got up like to come at me again," she told police.

She says it was self-defense. They were separated, the divorce was getting ugly, they argued, and he attacked her, she claims.

Six gunshots were fired, and Jenny says someone would have heard the shots and that she expected police would soon arrive. But no one came.

Jenny did not call 911 for hours. Instead, she told police, she started to tidy up. "I didn't want it to be awful when people came over. I knew they would knew what I'd done. But I don't know. I was just so freaked out," she said.

But the biggest problem was what to do about Drew's body. "I didn't know what to do. He was on my couch and I was freaked out. So I have a green tub," she said.

Jenny decided to drag her husband's body, now stuffed inside the storage tub, out of the apartment and down the stairs. As strange as it sounds, Jenny said she planned to take Drew's body to the police station. But there was one problem: she couldn't lift him and load him in the truck.

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[zorgar]

I don't know what happened nor does anyone else. But, I can assure you, if he had come into my delivery room, picked up my baby (and his) and placed it into his lover's arms....he would have gotten an earful and probably some of the items in that room in his face. That was low and speaks to the lack of respect he exhibited. And, it speaks to the lack of character michelle has for herself and drew's wife and child.
She should have set boundaries that would have made it clear to drew that she would not be a party to such petty disrespect. Apparently, neither of them possessed the respect and maturity. Tells me more about them than friends and family looking through rose colored glasses.

[jbizzle13]

How can any of you say that Jenny deserves to be back with her son? You use examples where the person that has been abused is killed, even though this is the exact opposite. Besides, Drew was my cousin, i looked up to him every time he came to town and I know that he would never abuse her. He loved his son way to much to make life harder with him, and all of you that think that Jenny should be back with Jackson sicken me because you DON'T KNOW THE HURT THAT JENNY HAS CAUSED OUR FAMILY!!!!

[zorgar]

That is the problem with many crimes: family wants; chooses to be in Denial. You don't know what Drew would do. Nor do I. People have many facets and you did not than and do not know now all the sides of Drew or any other relative. AND, according to the story Drew's great friend acknowledges that Drew said 'he got physical'. Families never want to be upfront and recognize that we are all human with flaws and imperfections.

[b4andafter1]

I think that since she got the gun in advance, at some point, the thought of killing her husband had crossed her mind. Maybe she wasn''t planning on doing it that night, or at that moment, but I think the forethought makes it at least somewhat pre-meditated. Maybe that is where you weigh in the clever vs. stupid. She was clever enough to figure out how to clean up and cover her tracks...and may have gotten away with it had she gotten him into the truck. But clearly, there are few screws loose there -- and maybe she had just not had enough time to figure out her plan entirely....

[nikelly1274]

as is, either way, i feel evidence showed she was in control of the situation, premeditaed, rage, or what not.

[nikelly1274]

just curious
Lets say for a moment....there was no plan. a heated argument breaks out about cheating and custody, drew makes it clear that he is in love with another woman or turns down sexual advances or whatever. Jenny, outraged, upset, snaps in "frail" state and gets the gun out of the bedroom and kills him.
Now panic sets in. now she has to cover up...not exactly premeditated, but not exactly spur of the moment.

[justcurious4]

thokuj

i too know no one involved. I too would likely vote guilty on the jury. I posted earlier today for the first time. However, if I was on the jury, this might be my only real sticking point.

I don''t want to re-post my whole question. Essentially it is this: If it was planned; how stupid was she? You plan a murder or intend to kill someone and cover it up; but you do not remove the kid from the situation? You do it in your own house with no plan to dispose of the body? You wait to go to walmart until after?

And see, my problem is you really can''t have it both ways. If you as a juror say that all the gas can wal mart stuff proves she intended to kill; then you have to ask yourself if that really was a plan what kind of plan was that? If you say she was smart and clever and vindictive to plan; but she is showing she is really not that smart.

But if you say she didn''t think of all that until after, then it wasn''t planned? And if it wasn''t planned? then...?

I say she is guilty; my husband is hung on the issue I have asked about. I can see his point? Does anyone else think this is an oddity in the logic?

[thokuje12]

One more thought:
What about the gun? They said on the show that her brother gave her the gun, and i think they said he gave it to her just weeks before she shot drew. Was that talked about in the trial? Why did the brother give her a gun? I would think that if jenny came to him and told him that she felt her life was in danger so that''s why he gave it to her, wouldn''t that be important to mention in court? Or on 48 hours? But wait, jenny''s brother nor her sister even appeared on the show. Wonder why?

[thokuje12]

I have read every post on here and I am so captivated by this whole story. I don''t personally know either family involved. So b/c of that, I have truly tried to keep an open mind as friend1234 has lectured about(i''m sure you''re still reading, just not posting). After reading it all, I still remain true to my gut feelings that jenny is guilty. TRUE, no one will ever really know what happened that night. But what we DO know is what bothers me.
The gas can which implies jenny had a plan
The trip to wal-mart- why did she need to cover it up if it was self defense
Her allowing him to be alone with jackson- if she felt SO threatened
The flirtatious emails- "i can do more than tease"
Call me closed-minded, but i just can''t see passed those things.

[erinr4]

I was teaching with Jenny when all of this happened. At the time, I was also in an abusive marriage, but killing my (now ex) husband was never even a remote possibility! There were so many different stories going around then...Drew was "supposedly" going over to tell Jenny that he was going to marry the girlfriend when their divorce was final. Based on the evidence, I believe that more than anything. Was Drew a jerk? Absolutely! Was she abused? Maybe. Probably. I was so into my own problems that I never paid much attention. But, I know the signs. I didn''t see any of them in her interview. Funny how I saw a lot of crying, but no tears...

[nikelly1274]

There is only one situation I can''t tolerate - when you have children. A mother''s instinct to protect her children should override all other self motivating factors or fears. Both partners, both, who participate in abusive relationships harm and abuse their own children, regardless if you are the puncher or punchee. Children raised in abusive relationship have a greater chance of being abused or being abusive in their adult years. And staying until you kill the *** to save your own life almost always results in a sentence of hardship on your children for the rest of their lives.
So buck up. Accept that it is your responsibility as a parent to protect your children and use the available means to get out of your situation. Quit hiding behind the outdated view that women are poor, weakling, unconfident beings that are helpless at the hands of some man. You have options and choices that once were not there. Programs, shelters, and technology has opened many means of escape. They were provided by women who truly had no means, who fought for their lives to change and educate society, so that the generations to follow could live free of domestic violence. Quit perpetuating the problem.