A FORMER FIGHTER JET PILOT WITH A SECRET, DARK PAST KILLS HIS WIFE, BUT SWEARS IT ISN'T MURDER - WAS SHE KILLED BECAUSE SHE KNEW TOO MUCH?

"48 HOURS: THE TWO FACES OF TODD WINKLER"

SATURDAY, DEC. 13, 2014 10:00 PM ET/PT

A former fighter jet pilot stabbed his wife to death with scissors, but swore it wasn't murder. Was she killed because she knew too much about his deep, dark secrets?

Richard Schlesinger and 48 HOURS investigate the death of Rachel Winkler, a married mother of three, found stabbed in her home after her husband, Todd Winkler, called a friend to say she was dead, in "The Two Faces of Todd Winkler," to be broadcast Dec. 13 (10:00 PM, ET/) on the CBS Television Network.

Todd Winkler told police he and Rachel were fighting and that she attacked him with a pair of scissors. Rachel was a "strong girl" and she was stabbed in a prolonged struggle, he told police. "It's a kill... kill or be killed kind of situation," Winkler told detectives in a videotaped interrogation.

What really happened in the Winkler home? Was it murder? Was Todd fighting off his wife? Or did he snap while suffering from a psychiatric disorder and kill his wife? The investigation into Rachel Winkler's death revealed a fractured marriage, Rachel's affair with a former Marine, and Todd Winkler's shocking past that prosecutors believe held clues to what happened to Rachel.

The question of Winkler's mental health became a major issue during the trial, and even shocked the most cynical courtroom observers.

"You are not samurai," Winkler screamed while growling and slapping his head, interrupting El Dorado County prosecutor Lisette Suder's opening statement. "You do not speak truth! You only want to destroy! You have no Bushido!"

Was the outburst a genuine psychotic outbreak or was it, as prosecutors suggest, part of a courtroom act to sway a jury?

"He's not crazy," says Suder. "Todd Winkler is a cold-blooded killer."

Todd and Rachel Winkler married just weeks after they met and settled in an $860,000 home in an upscale neighborhood in Cameron Park, Calif. Rachel's father, renowned impressionist painter Don Hatfield, warned his daughter not to marry Todd so quickly, but she ignored him. The couple soon had three children.

Before long Rachel realized she had made a mistake. Rachel told Todd she wanted a divorce, saying she had fallen in love with former Marine James White. "She had a beautiful smile. She had a magnetic personality, and she was just absolutely perfectly nice." Rachel also told White if anything ever happened to her to look at Todd, White recalls.

Hatfield believes Winkler killed Rachel because she knew of his secrets, of a past that included possible psychiatric outbursts and erratic behavior to get out of problems in the military and in his later professional life. How much of Todd's past Rachel knew was unclear, but she knew he was married before and that his previous wife, Catherine Winkler, died in a fiery car crash.

What surprised prosecutors, however, were the suspicious details surrounding that death. Catherine Winkler was burned beyond recognition in a horrific crash off a dark country road in Georgia. Todd Winkler told nearby campers that he was ejected from the vehicle when it tumbled down a ravine, though he suffered no visible injuries. The crash was ruled an accident.

"He wanted to shut her up," Hatfield tells 48 HOURS. "She had the goods on him. She could probably make his life very difficult."

Was Winkler just unlucky, or was there something tying together his two dead wives?

"Well, I think that's just life," Winkler's attorney, David Weiner, tells 48 HOURS.

Could prosecutors put a case together to convict Todd Winkler of murdering Rachel?

Schlesinger and 48 HOURS piece together the story of Rachel Winkler's death and the case against Todd Winkler in "The Two Faces of Todd Winkler" using interviews with her father, prosecutors, her former lover, friends and two campers who had contact with Todd Winkler at the scene of that crash in Georgia, Todd's attorney, David Weiner, as well as Sacramento Bee reporter and CBS News consultant Peter Hecht.

48 HOURS: "The Two Faces of Todd Winkler" is produced by Clare Friedland, Anthony Venditti and Gail Abbott Zimmerman. Sue McHugh and Michelle Feuer are the field producers. Judy Tygard is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

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