48 Hours Mystery: Point Blank

Did A Man's Obsession With His Wife Lead To His Death?

(CBS)  The story was originally broadcast on May 17, 2008. It was updated on March 21, 2009.

On Oct. 15, 2003, police were called to the Brownsville, Texas, home of Scott and Traci Rhode. Inside, in the couple's bed, lay Scott with a gunshot wound to the head.

That morning, Traci says she rose early, went for a walk, took a shower, and then heard a moaning sound. It was then, she says, that she discovered her husband was wounded. Scott was still alive, but later died at the hospital.

Traci maintains Scott shot himself, but authorities charge she is a cold-blooded killer with a motive for murder.

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Life, as Traci knew it, ended that October day. As Scott lay dying, Traci's ordeal was only just beginning. "I was shocked when they asked me to go to the police station. I had already told them all that I knew that had happened. I mean, I wasn't there, I didn't see it, I didn't hear it. I only know what I found," Traci tells correspondent Harold Dow.

"I moved the pillow back and I saw all the blood and his eye was all swollen and I touched his face and said 'Scott, can you hear me,'" Traci told police in a taped interview.

"So, I kept asking the police officers, 'Please let me go be with my husband. He's dying.' 'Can I please tell my children? My children don't know what happened,'" Traci remembers. "'Just a few more minutes and we'll let you go.'"

By mid-afternoon, it was clear Scott was brain dead and would not recover.

And something else was clear too: "These people think that I harmed the man I had loved for 20 years of my life, that I spent my life with… it's not even a possibility," she says.

Traci says she can barely remember a time without Scott. They met in their early teens and became high school sweethearts in Ft. Madison, Iowa.

The couple married in 1990, only a few years after Traci graduated high school. Scott put himself through college and became an engineer; Traci would go on to become a nurse, specializing in birth and delivery care.

The couple had three sons, Shane, Nicholas and Dalton.

The Rhodes seemed to be the picture-perfect family, with Scott being the picture-perfect dad. But Traci says there was another side to Scott which was slowly destroying their marriage: she says he was very jealous and often accused her of having affairs.

"He was obsessed. She was almost like a possession," notes Raina Kant, who along with her husband Kyle, has been close friends of the Rhodes for years. "She would always tell me that Scott was saying she was cheating and having an affair with the different doctors that she worked with."

Kant says there was no way Traci had an affair with any of these doctors.

But there was no convincing Scott, says Traci. She remembers one awful night when she had to stay a few hours late at work to help deliver a baby. "I get home, my husband's not there. My kids aren't there. As I'm calling the emergency room thinking the worst, I hear the garage door open and I go running out to the garage. 'What happened? What happened? Is everybody OK?' And he's screaming at me, 'You tramp. You whore. Where the hell have you been?' And he said he went looking for me so he could show our children what a tramp they had for a mother. And I lived like that for years."

Traci says she stayed in the marriage because she loved Scott. "As bad as our bad times were there were still good times. He was the father of my children. He was my husband. To me, it was worth working out," she says.

But according to Traci, Scott didn't make things any easier. She says Scott was so afraid of losing her to another man he moved the family five times in 13 years. There would be stops in Maryville, Tenn., Kennett, Mo., and Batesville, Ark. They finally ended up in Brownsville, Texas in 2003.

It was in Brownsville, far away from friends and family, that Traci really did meet somebody. His name was Shawn Michaels, a co-worker.

One afternoon they arranged to meet in a parking lot to talk. "We just stood there talking and then he gave me a hug to leave and he kissed me. I was shocked, but yet it was good to have somebody pay attention to me," she remembers.

And then, one week later, Scott confronted Traci in their bathroom, once again accusing her of cheating. In the heat of the moment Traci blurted out her feelings for Shawn.

"And I said for the first time in my life, there is somebody. And it's not about sex. Somebody is paying attention to me," she says. "He was very upset, and he just looked right through me and said 'You have no idea what you've just done.'"

But police didn't buy any of Traci's story. The truth, they say, is that she committed cold blooded murder.

[hercule1122]

This case is baffling. The husband was clearly a paranoid, schizo who moved his family around like pawns on a chess board. From the details, he most clearly had the motivation to commit suicide. I know the jury found her guilty, but I also know that juries in this country usually are composed of people the defense and prosecution lawyers accept and they may be educated or not. Think about many high profile cases, like O.J. where the evidence was overwhelming and the jury acquitted since the glove didn't fit! I think there is much room for improvement in the system. I think this case was poorly handled.

[Tomcrews]

This case is a travesty! Traci Rhode is a cowardly murderer! Americans totally refuse to hold women ACCOUNTABLE for ANYTHING! Where women are killers, even first degree murder is completely excused. A man would have been executed by lethal injection for this! End of story!

[arn2485]

I've noticed that on this story and others like it that I have read, they automatically stick to the one suspect. Why would there not have been any others? I'm not saying that they are innocent or guilty.

[angleeyes05]

I find it very funny that msmithy thinks that this woman is guilty after reading this artical & not being there!!!!! And to so heartly wish she was dead when she has three little boy's that need her!!!! If you have any kid's I wonder if you show them the same compation & empathy when there going threw something tough as you have this womans three little boy's!!! You should be ashamed of your self!!!!!!!!!! No one really knows if this woman is guilty or not. No ones there when the man was shot! Only god and the people that were present. But reading this artical assuming that all the facts are true.... I can't believe that anyone would think that she was guilty. Guilty peopl usually usually stupid enough not to clean them selves and the crime sene that well that the police and forensic's can't find anything.

[j88833]

are you this stupid that you think because someone has kids that they shouldn't be held accountable for murder? this jury is a perfect example of how unbelievably naive and ignorant our country is. these 12 people had to have an average of about 70 as far as their iq's go.....and yes , this woman IS guilty just as they found her, so yes everyone knows she's guilty....it's just that the morons in that part of texas can't sentence someone correctly. i mean really, what idiotic dumbos. thankfully everybody else thinks this sentence is so wrong that they are going out of their way to make sure the rest of her life is pure hell. a judge already granted jail time as part of her probation, her nursing license was revoked, she was fired from her job the day after her conviction, has a 10,000 dollar fine with no job or money to pay it with, and 1000 hours of community service just to name a few things.

[wyo-kid]

I think the jury made good decisions, and Texas is a good state, but they do need to work on their politicians.

[loyalto1]

Its interesting how people to say nasty things about Texas and yet they don't live here and therefore don't know a thing about texas. That show their true colors!

[rharrin1]

Texas law is funny they can fabricate evidence against this woman but do not know how to investigate a presidential murder or shooting a old man in the face with a shotgun.
Justice truly is blind.

[nlmda]

from www.krgv.com:

BROWNSVILLE - Traci Rhode, the woman once convicted of killing her husband, is in police custody again.

In 2007 a jury found her guilty of murdering her husband. She was sentenced to ten years probation, which started today, and a $10,000 fine.

She appealed the decision, but later decided to drop to appeal. The district attorney?s office stepped in and requested as part of probation she serve jail time. A judge granted the request and Rhode was taken into custody.

She must now serve 180 days in jail, pay the $10,000 fine, and do 1000 hours of community service.

[jessgar]

I am from the rio grande valley and just to inform you-she did get sentenced to jail time on Monday, March 23, 2009. Log on to KRGV.com for more info.

[msmithy]

this one's a real mystery. first off, traci seems genuine in her denial. then, on the other hand, who would have done this? could have been sean when traci went out for her "walk" but they never pursued that. then richard ernest, an expert testified that the gun on the floor wasn't legit evidence. my first thought too, was that anything could have been made to fit the blood pattern on the floor like a rorsach test. authorities were just grabbing at any little thing they could think up. and it was obvious. the prosecutor painting scott like an angel, only to be invalidated by friends kyle and rayna. there was just no evidence she did it. too bad she was wrongly convicted and although she ain't serving jail time, her life is over. the jury didn't do her any favors.