Fault Line: Haditha

After nearly six and a half years, Frank Wuterich, a Marine staff sergeant charged with 18 counts of murder, finally goes to trial. But after three weeks of confusing and often contradictory testimony from his fellow Marines, prosecutors walk away from their own case, offering Wuterich a plea to a single count of negligent dereliction of duty. The longest, most expensive criminal investigation in U.S. military history ends with no one being held accountable.

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The testimony of the sole surviving witness from the back bedroom of House 2 is withheld from NCIS Special Agent Mike Maloney by Marine Corps prosecutors. Maloney is finally given Safa’s testimony while on the witness stand. For the very first time, he knows who the real killer is.

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On the eve of his court-martial, Epstein and Wuterich travel back to Haditha in the hopes that visiting the crime scene will finally jog Wuterich’s memory. What Wuterich tells the camera in the back bedroom of House 2 changes everyone’s understanding of the entire case.

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Frank Wuterich remembers the fort he built in the woods with his childhood best friend. He remembers having pea soup with his mother after coming home from Kindergarten. He can evenremember the name of the first girl he ever kissed. What he can't remember is whether or not he murdered a roomful of women and children in Haditha. This episode takes us back to Frank’s hometown as we explore the enigma that is Frank Wuterich.

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NCIS Special Agent Mike Maloney prepares a forensic test to answer one question: was a three-year-old girl in the back bedroom of House 2 executed at point-blank range? But then his superiors inexplicably order Maloney to shut down his protocol before he can determine the truth. This isn't the only instance of the government interfering with Maloney’s findings. It isn’t even the worst.

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Private First Class Humberto Mendoza is the first Marine to be granted immunity; his freedom traded for testimony. But once Mendoza takes the witness stand, his testimony not only contradicts the forensic evidence but also implicates a Marine other than Frank Wuterich for the murder of the women and children in House 2.

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Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich is charged with 18 counts of murder in Haditha. And yet, he maintains his innocence. “There’s no way I could go into a room and shoot women and children. Not a chance in hell,” he tells Epstein. But here’s the thing, when asked, “Who did it? If you didn’t shoot everyone, who did?” Wuterich claims he can’t remember, something even his own lawyers don’t believe.

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NCIS Special Agent Mike Maloney spends four months living inside the crime scene photos of the back bedroom of House 2, an experience that will haunt him for years. Maloney examines the photos pixel by pixel, wound by wound, piecing together how a roomful of women and children were murdered by U.S. Marines. His conclusions will lead to SSgt Frank Wuterich being charged with the murder of five children and two women in House 2. 
WARNING: This episode contains a detailed reconstruction of the crime scene where five children, their mother, and their aunt were murdered. It is intended for mature listeners only. 

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A young lance corporal is handed a Sharpie and ordered to photograph the dead women and children. He does, holding onto the pictures alone for months, telling no one, waiting for an investigation that never comes. Eventually, the photos drive him mad, and he is medevac'd out of Iraq. When NCIS agents finally come calling, the photographs become the single most important piece of forensic evidence in the entire Haditha case.

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The Marine Corps reports that a roadside bomb killed fifteen Iraqi civilians in Haditha, but it is a lie — they were killed by U.S. Marines, and the government knew it. Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Michael Epstein finds a way to film inside the defense of the Marine at the center of the investigation without the government's knowledge. What he eventually discovers over the course of a twenty-year investigation is a cover-up that reaches the highest levels of the United States Marine Corps.

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