The Playboy Murders Season 2 Episode 3
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00:00Lori was the type of beautiful woman who doesn't need makeup.
00:05She was tall, she was thin.
00:08Somebody said, oh, look at her.
00:09She looks like a beautiful deer.
00:12The Playboy bunnies were the unofficial mascot of Playboy.
00:15And you're as perfect as can be.
00:18Lori's beauty was both a blessing for her and a curse.
00:22It opened a lot of doors in her life, but it closed some as well.
00:25The Playboy can feel like a safe place because of all the security.
00:30But there's no real protection for the bunnies when they're not working at the club.
00:36The police said that a struggle ensued and a gun went off.
00:41The murder was immediately a humongous sensation.
00:46I, as well as many, believe that this is a terrible mistake.
00:50And a good segment of the population believe that cover-ups did occur.
00:55Then the question was, who did this?
01:13It was spring.
01:14And it was kind of a normal night in Milwaukee.
01:18The weather was starting to turn.
01:21Milwaukee was a very quiet city back then.
01:25What I know what happened was, somebody came into the house.
01:38And then the intruder went into her bedroom.
01:50Where a struggle ensued.
01:54And a gun went off.
01:55Police officers came from everywhere, flooded the house.
02:10The crime scene was totally invaded.
02:16The murder was immediately a humongous sensation.
02:19Lori Van Benveneck was a playboy bunny.
02:26She was a cop.
02:29She was young.
02:29She was tall.
02:30She was beautiful.
02:31and that can sometimes feel like a dangerous position.
02:35Beauty can definitely be threatening to people.
02:37On one hand, people are attracted to it,
02:39but on the other hand, people can be very jealous of it.
02:43Being a bunny where you're working with a bunch of women,
02:46it could probably get competitive,
02:47especially since you're in an environment where beauty is valued.
02:51I mean, this is like the stuff of movies, right?
03:01My name is Joanne Shields.
03:03I was Lori Benbenek's best friend.
03:06Where Lori and I grew up, it was a blue-collar Southside,
03:10so dads worked and a lot of the moms stayed home.
03:12She was absolutely a nice person,
03:15very kind, very giving, very loving.
03:18She loved to hug.
03:19She liked to hold hands, pat you on the back.
03:22She was always supportive in any way she could.
03:26She was always there for you, always.
03:28She was a good friend.
03:31And she was beautiful.
03:34Lori was a total head-turner.
03:36She was very, very tall.
03:39She had like a billowy halo of blonde hair.
03:43She was thin.
03:44She was athletic.
03:45She's the type of beautiful woman who doesn't need makeup.
03:49When we were in high school,
03:50Lori was going to modeling school,
03:53and I remember seeing her in the local newspapers.
03:56It was kind of cool to open up the Milwaukee Journal
03:58and see her standing there for a Gimbal's ad or something like that.
04:08She modeled for the Schlitz Brewing Company calendar.
04:12They put her in a position where she was on a couch,
04:15and they took a bunch of pictures.
04:21She was in this beautiful shot,
04:23lying on her belly, propped up on her hands,
04:27some pearls, like, at her decolletage.
04:30She's wearing, like, a white satin gown.
04:33She's laying across this couch.
04:35It's a very old Hollywood, glamorous,
04:38like, Playboy would love this photo.
04:39It's hard work.
04:43She did a little bit of runway.
04:45I know she wasn't crazy about runway at all.
04:47She preferred the ads.
04:52Even though Lori was doing well at modeling,
04:55inside she wanted something more.
04:58I think with Lori, you know,
04:59her beauty was something she knew she had,
05:02and she could use it or not use it
05:04according to what she thought she was going to get from it.
05:06When you look at the choices to model or to be in Playboy,
05:10you have to say this is somebody who is in control
05:13of what they look like and how people react to them.
05:16Lori was certainly somebody who wanted to see and be seen.
05:24Lori had seen an ad encouraging women
05:27to apply to be a police officer,
05:30and her father was a cop.
05:32That was not a time when a lot of women
05:34were making that choice.
05:36She wanted to be one of the first women
05:38to take this kind of position.
05:40So I think feminism sort of colors her whole story.
05:46Lori was very close to her father.
05:49He had left the police force
05:51because of what he said was horrific corruption.
05:54She thought, I'll become a police officer.
05:56My dad will be proud of me.
05:57I'll show him that it can't be all corrupted.
05:59I can prove myself and do whatever I can do
06:01to be a really good cop
06:02and show him that not everybody is that way.
06:05The Milwaukee Police Department
06:07was basically male back then.
06:10I think the first female came on in 1976.
06:13It kind of expanded from there,
06:15but they still had less than one or two percent
06:17of the makeup of the population.
06:20Lori decided to join the police force in 1979.
06:24We were in our early 20s.
06:26She was very proud of where she was in the academy.
06:34The first time I laid eyes on her
06:36was when she came in for the physicals.
06:41And she was a very attractive woman.
06:44I thought she was assured of herself.
06:46That was my first impression of her.
06:49It was an admirable career.
06:52You're always told as a youngster,
06:53if you're in trouble, go to a police officer.
06:55They're going to help you.
06:58Lori was interested in helping rape victims
07:01that she felt were not always treated
07:03in the most sympathetic way.
07:08The Milwaukee Police Department
07:10was definitely a boys' club.
07:12But back when Lori applied
07:15for a position on the police department,
07:17they were being forced to bring in more women.
07:20When Lori started at the police academy,
07:24there were other women who were in her class.
07:29Judy Zest was another police recruit
07:31that was with Lori when she was in the academy.
07:34Judy Zest was sort of a party girl,
07:36and she wanted to, like, have fun.
07:38And she was a dynamic, charismatic person.
07:41And they became friends.
07:44I recall, during their physical,
07:47they were standing maybe next to one another.
07:50The two of them were chatting it up.
07:52It seemed like they hit it right off their personalities.
07:55I think Judy loved being around Lori
07:57because Lori got a lot of attention.
07:59Who doesn't want to be around an attractive woman
08:02who attracts other men,
08:03and maybe there's a couple men that slide off,
08:06and then you get one?
08:07It was very, very hard
08:11for a woman in the police academy.
08:13They had to go further
08:14and do much, much more
08:15than even the men had to do.
08:17They were threatened by her.
08:20She's tall and very muscular and in shape.
08:23She easily matched the position of other men physically,
08:27that she could do what they did,
08:28and probably better than them.
08:31So imagine Lori,
08:33who was in extremely good shape,
08:35having to run faster, further
08:37than everybody else.
08:39She was actually a very good runner,
08:41but she was running sort of like a long-legged deer.
08:45Somebody said,
08:46oh, look at her.
08:47She looks like a beautiful deer.
08:48Her eyes got caught in the headlight.
08:51So it was like,
08:51okay, let's call her Bambi.
08:53She hated the nickname.
08:56I think beauty can definitely be threatening to people.
08:59Like, well, but it doesn't count if you say it
09:02because you look a certain way.
09:03People like to look at beauty
09:04as something that should just disqualify you from the jump.
09:10She did very well.
09:13She graduated sixth in her class.
09:15I remember her showing me her graduation picture.
09:18That was cool.
09:18She was very proud of that.
09:20Once Lori graduated from the police academy
09:26and then moved into her training period
09:29where you have to ride with another officer
09:30and learn the ropes of what it's like to be on the road,
09:33the men didn't want her.
09:34It was a good old boys club.
09:36At that time in the Milwaukee PD,
09:39if you were a woman,
09:40you were going to sort of be hazed.
09:42They were threatened by her,
09:44not just her presence,
09:46but her intelligence that she had,
09:49the strength of personality.
09:51Lori was young.
09:52She was tall.
09:53She was beautiful.
09:54She was one of the few women on the force.
09:56And that can be a dangerous position.
10:05Lori told me that her and Judy
10:07had gone to a concert at the Milwaukee Arena.
10:10Lori had gone to the bathroom.
10:14When she came back,
10:16Judy was being arrested for smoking pot.
10:20There were some plainclothes policemen
10:22and they busted Judy.
10:27A couple days after that,
10:30Lori reported for duty.
10:32And as we all know,
10:34life doesn't always work the way you want it to.
10:37When she called in to find out
10:40where she was supposed to go,
10:42she was told,
10:44you've been fired.
10:58After the incident with Judy's ass
11:00at the concert,
11:02Lori got fired.
11:05Then she was thrown off the police force.
11:13According to them,
11:14Lori didn't report that Judy Zess
11:16was smoking marijuana
11:18at this concert in Milwaukee,
11:20which was against the rules.
11:23Being fired from any position is difficult,
11:27especially at that stage of the game
11:29where we were in our early 20s,
11:31just trying to get started
11:32and working as hard as she did.
11:36To get through the academy
11:38as a woman in a male-dominated job
11:41was difficult.
11:43But it was all they needed
11:45to get rid of another woman
11:46on the police force.
11:48And the Milwaukee Department
11:49was definitely a boys' club.
11:51It was run by men.
11:52Especially in the 70s,
11:55it made things uncomfortable
11:57for some guys
11:59to have a woman in that position.
12:00And they didn't like that.
12:03I believe that wives
12:04might have been threatened
12:05because their husbands
12:07would comment
12:08on how beautiful Lori was.
12:12When Lori lost her job,
12:14she was really floundering
12:16because it was what she thought
12:17she would be doing
12:18for the rest of her life.
12:19It must have been
12:20incredibly frustrating
12:21for Lori to get through
12:22everything she had to go through
12:24to prove herself
12:25as a police officer,
12:26get a spot on the force
12:28at such a young age,
12:29and to be let go
12:31because her friend
12:32did something wrong.
12:34I could see where Lori
12:36was out for some cash.
12:37She needed it at that time.
12:39She was in a difficult position.
12:40She was hanging out with Judy,
12:42and they were talking about
12:43how they could make some money
12:44since they had both been fired
12:46from the police department.
12:47So they headed over
12:49to the Playboy Club
12:50on the lake
12:51and applied to become bunnies.
13:04The Playboy Bunnies,
13:05well, an official mascot
13:06of Playboy,
13:07was a very distinctive,
13:09iconic job.
13:10It was a huge thing
13:11in pop culture
13:12to be known
13:12as a Playboy Bunny.
13:13In the 1970s,
13:17Playboy was a huge
13:18cultural influence.
13:20About six million people
13:21a month were reading Playboy.
13:23So it was a really exciting time
13:24to be involved with the brand.
13:27There were even Playboy resorts
13:28in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
13:31Playboy's first home
13:32was Chicago,
13:33so the Lake Geneva,
13:34Wisconsin resort
13:35was very close.
13:36You could fly in.
13:37The resort had its own
13:38private landing strip,
13:39so it was very much
13:40a fixture in the Playboy world.
13:41I'm Sherry Goodman.
13:45I was a bunny
13:46at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club
13:47from 1971 to 81.
13:51I was fortunate
13:52to be a bunny
13:53for 10 years,
13:54and it was the most
13:55wonderful experience
13:56I've ever had.
14:01As you were driving
14:02around a curved driveway,
14:04gradually this enormous,
14:06beautiful property
14:07was in view,
14:08and there would be
14:09this huge Playboy logo.
14:11and you'd see
14:14the bunnies working hard
14:15at the sidewalk cafe
14:16and the pool bunnies
14:19wearing their costumes
14:20and their tails
14:21and waiting on people.
14:25A Playmate and a Playboy bunny
14:26were two different things.
14:28Playmates were the centerfolds
14:29in the magazine,
14:30and the Playboy bunnies
14:31worked at the Playboy clubs.
14:33They were servers,
14:34cocktail waitresses,
14:35and they wore the iconic
14:36Playboy bunny costume.
14:38We have a bow tie
14:40and the collar and cuffs.
14:42On our cuffs,
14:43we would be issued
14:44our pair of Playboy cufflinks,
14:47which have the rabbit head logo.
14:48They would always be worn
14:50where the rabbit heads
14:51would kiss,
14:52as what we call it.
14:53And you're as perfect
14:54as can be.
14:58All kinds of women
14:59worked as Playboy bunnies.
15:01College students,
15:02women who were training
15:03for professions,
15:04real estate investors,
15:06wannabe models and actresses.
15:08For a woman who decided
15:10to work as a Playboy bunny
15:11in the 1970s,
15:13it was a lucrative job.
15:14Playboy was very forward
15:18in the sense of
15:19women's liberation.
15:21So there was a lot of power
15:23of being a bunny,
15:24and you realize
15:25how you can use it.
15:27Even as a former police officer,
15:30Lori would have fit right in
15:31as a Playboy bunny
15:32because every bunny
15:33had some other avenue
15:35they wanted to go down in life
15:36that they were planning on doing.
15:38As I remember,
15:40Judy did not get the job,
15:42but Lori got hired.
15:44Lori has that very classic
15:49Playboy bunny look.
15:51Really tall,
15:52teetering on the heels,
15:54even though she's already
15:55super tall,
15:56the big blonde hair.
15:58It was a job,
15:58just like a waitress.
16:00And she went in like a model
16:02and was very, very good at it.
16:04Lori made the perfect bunny.
16:06There is a certain bunny image
16:08that all of us
16:09are obligated to maintain.
16:12There was a special move
16:13called the bunny dip.
16:14which was what you did
16:15to set a drink down on a table
16:17without falling out of your costume.
16:19You have your tail pointed
16:21at the person
16:21instead of going all the way
16:23around the table.
16:25That way you're not bending over.
16:29So it was just the nicest,
16:31ladylike bunny way
16:32to serve people.
16:33Waitressing is a difficult position
16:37when you're exposing
16:39a good portion of your body.
16:41But Lori did enjoy the money.
16:44She would tell me about
16:45serving coffee to these gentlemen
16:47and getting a $100 bill
16:49left for a tip.
16:49Lori absolutely thought
16:55that partying was fun.
16:57She was working
16:57as a Playboy bunny
16:58and she loved to go out.
17:01She loved to go to the bars.
17:02She loved to have fun
17:03with some of the cops
17:04that she still knew.
17:06So there was this bar
17:06named Trax
17:07in Milwaukee
17:08where a lot of cops hung out
17:10and they had an annual picnic
17:13and at this public park
17:14at this picnic
17:17a bunch of police officers
17:19would take their clothes off
17:20and just sort of comport
17:21and drink a lot
17:23and some photos were taken.
17:29The photos are basically
17:31a bunch of young people
17:32in their 20s and 30s
17:34just sort of hooting and hollering
17:36and some of them are naked.
17:38When you think about it
17:40it's still ridiculous now.
17:42It's like wow
17:43these guys were cops
17:44and there's pictures of them
17:46dancing naked on tables.
17:49Lori sees the photos
17:50and she's thinking
17:51these guys are dancing
17:52naked on tables
17:53and I just didn't report
17:55Judy Zest.
17:56I'm going to file
17:57a discrimination suit
17:58against them.
18:01The complaint was
18:02these officers weren't
18:04disciplined or terminated
18:06for this type of violation
18:07but I get terminated
18:09for allegedly not talking
18:10about Judy Zest using marijuana.
18:13She believed it was
18:14a gender motivated firing
18:16so she was trying
18:17to sort of hang up
18:18the police department
18:19in that way.
18:20She was getting
18:21threatening notes
18:22and letters
18:22and so she was kind of
18:24always like looking
18:25over her shoulder
18:25like is somebody
18:26going to get me?
18:29Somebody put a dead rat
18:30on her car one time
18:31because she had ratted out
18:32these tracks picnics.
18:34She told me that she had
18:35been really frightened
18:36about it all.
18:38The Playboy Club
18:39can feel like a safe place
18:41because of all the security
18:42but there's no real
18:43protection for the bunnies
18:44when they're not working
18:45and that can get
18:48really dangerous.
18:57Lori is working
18:58as a Playboy bunny
18:59but she was still
19:00hanging out
19:00with a lot of cops.
19:04She met Fred Schultz
19:05at another friend's house.
19:09He was a detective
19:10and he was flirting
19:11with her.
19:14Fred was incredibly
19:15good looking.
19:16He was like this
19:17beautiful blonde
19:19blue eyed guy.
19:21I knew Fred
19:22from seeing him
19:23around the police
19:23administration building
19:24when he was a detective.
19:27Fred was always
19:29a fancy dresser
19:30always had a vest
19:31on, suit and tie.
19:33He had a very
19:33outgoing personality
19:35pretty sure of himself.
19:38He was nice to Lori.
19:39He treated her well.
19:41They went jogging together.
19:43He asked her out.
19:44They went to dinner.
19:46He wined and dined her.
19:47I was surprised
19:49that the relationship
19:50moved along
19:51as fast as it did.
19:53I think Lori was
19:54excited to have
19:55the attention
19:55that Fred was able
19:56to give her.
20:00Schultz and Benvenik
20:02got married
20:02three months
20:03after his divorce
20:05was final.
20:06So Fred Schultz
20:07was divorced
20:08from Christine Schultz,
20:10his first wife.
20:12Christine Schultz
20:13was a nice,
20:14really wonderful woman.
20:16She was attractive.
20:17She took care
20:18of herself.
20:19Their marriage broke up
20:20way before
20:21he met Lori
20:22because she discovered
20:24that he was having affairs.
20:25Christine won
20:27full custody
20:27of the kids
20:28and there had been
20:29horrible arguments
20:30between Christine
20:31and Fred
20:32but in the end
20:34she got the house.
20:43By the time
20:44Lori started living
20:45with Fred
20:45she left
20:47a Playboy club
20:47and stopped
20:49being a Playboy bunny.
20:51Even though Lori
20:52was doing well
20:53at being a bunny,
20:54she had had her heart
20:55set on being a cop
20:56so she wasn't happy
20:58at the Playboy club.
21:00Lori had had cases
21:02against the police department
21:04for gender discrimination
21:05because of her firing
21:07and she thought
21:08there was a chance
21:09she was going to get
21:10her job back.
21:11And there wasn't
21:13enough money coming in.
21:15Lori and Fred
21:16they were sharing
21:18a crappy apartment
21:19with a friend of hers
21:20from the academy
21:22Judy's ass
21:24which does not sound
21:27like it was
21:27the best situation.
21:30I mean Judy
21:30really didn't have
21:31a lot of bread.
21:33Lori didn't either
21:34right?
21:35And they weren't
21:35really working.
21:38Fred was paying
21:38$300 and some dollars
21:39for child support
21:40or maintenance.
21:42Fred was paying
21:43$700 a month
21:44alimony
21:44and they were living
21:47in a crappy apartment.
21:49Plus he was paying
21:50like $367
21:52mortgage on that house.
21:53And I think that
21:54really just galled him
21:55because he had built
21:58the house
21:59that his ex-wife
22:00lived in.
22:00So
22:03now
22:05I'm
22:06going
22:09to
22:11me
22:12and
22:12to
22:12me
22:14to
22:15It was early in the morning, the wee hours.
22:44Probably about 2 in the morning.
22:46I remember being woke up.
22:49And I remember she was saying, this is me.
22:52She was scared to death.
22:54And I kind of, I guess, half asleep going, who?
22:58What happened?
22:58What's going on?
23:00It was Lori.
23:03And she went on to tell me that Fred's ex-wife, Christine,
23:06had been shot and killed.
23:14Police officers came from everywhere, flooded the house.
23:22The crime scene was totally invaded because it was a cop's ex-wife.
23:31The son gave a description of a male to the detectives who was in a green track suit
23:36and wearing some sort of wig.
23:40The neighborhood was canvassed.
23:41Nothing turned up.
23:44There was no forced entry into the house, so whoever came into the house either had
23:48access to it or the door was left unlocked.
23:53The minute the call came over about a crime at Fred knew it was his house because he was
23:58on duty that night.
24:01He calls Lori.
24:03He goes, oh my god, Christine's been murdered.
24:06It said, I'm coming home for a minute.
24:09And he shows up at the house with his fellow cop who he was on duty with.
24:14Fred goes, well, I have this off-duty gun.
24:16I know they're going to ask me about it, so we need to make sure it hasn't been fired.
24:21The partner looks at the gun.
24:24And he verified, he said, yeah, this gun has not been shot.
24:27It's not the murder weapon.
24:31He's bringing the questioning and the investigation into the case.
24:35Fred's like, I was at work.
24:36I couldn't have done it.
24:40And that was the end of the questioning, basically.
24:42So nobody probed any further because these are, they're members of the club.
24:48Then the question was, who did this?
24:54There was additional evidence that had come in from what I recall.
24:58So there were some questions that were arisen about the initial investigation.
25:05There was no first entry into the house.
25:08And Fred had a key to Christine's house.
25:13He wasn't supposed to have it, but he felt like he should have a key because he built the
25:17house.
25:20One of the most interesting things is they took Fred's off-duty gun, which Fred and his
25:25partner said it hadn't been fired.
25:27Fred Schultz's off-duty gun was test fired again.
25:31And that bullet came back that was recovered from the autopsy of Christine as being fired
25:37from that gun.
25:40There's no explanation on how that could have happened, how two police officers could say
25:46it wasn't the gun, and then later they said it was the gun.
25:49But Fred had a partner that night during when the time that this occurred.
25:53He was working that night, so we know that he did not do that.
25:57After they very quickly ruled out Fred, they started looking at Lori Bembenek.
26:06And the motive they came up with was that she was jealous.
26:10And she didn't like the fact that Fred was paying $700 a month alimony, and they were living
26:15in a crappy apartment.
26:18The night of the murder, Lori was supposed to have gone out with a friend of hers.
26:22And she didn't.
26:23Instead, she goes to bed.
26:26She always said, it's the one night I wish I would have gone to a bar.
26:29There were some hairs from a wig that were discovered on the body that were inventoried
26:33during their autopsy procedures.
26:36The police department thought maybe that the killer was wearing a wig.
26:41Because it was maybe a man trying to look like a woman, nobody really knew.
26:44So there was a question of, if the killer was wearing a wig, where did the wig go?
26:51Let's remember that Lori and Fred had been living with Judy Zess.
26:55And not too long after the murder, their neighbor came into the apartment and says, oh, I found
27:01a wig in the toilet.
27:05So there's some idea, like, who would have done this?
27:09Well, only Lori would have flushed this wig to try to get rid of evidence.
27:15She also had a green jumpsuit that was the same type that Christine's son described.
27:21The intruder wearing.
27:24And I think at that point, she thought it was just ridiculous.
27:27She was like, I didn't kill anybody.
27:35Lori refused to take the polygraph because she thought if she took a polygraph, they would
27:41ask her a lot of questions about her gender discrimination claims.
27:45Which was really a bad idea because they used that against her.
27:52According to the police department, Fred was on duty that night.
27:57And he was working at a robbery, so couldn't have been him.
28:00And then Lori was the only other person who had access to the gun.
28:05She also was the only other person who had access to the key that could have gotten to
28:08the house that was supposedly locked.
28:10In the end, Lori was arrested for Christine Schultz murdered.
28:34Lori was working at Marquette College as a security officer.
28:40And she was arrested at the end of a shift.
28:44She called me and told me it had already hit the press before we even talked about it.
28:51Lori's case attracted a ton of media attention.
28:55People were focused on what a beautiful woman she was and the fact that she had worked at the Playboy Club.
29:00Lori's arrest for murder was immediately a humongous sensation.
29:04The story of Lori Bembenek has captivated Wisconsin as a nation.
29:09It went from being this murder of a suburban woman whose ex-husband happened to be a cop to this,
29:15oh my god, this beautiful woman has been arrested for murder.
29:18Of course she did it because she's beautiful.
29:21People can definitely place a stigma or a bias on a woman who was involved with Playboy in any way.
29:29Lori only worked as a Playboy Bunny for three weeks,
29:32but it became, as far as the media and the public were concerned, her defining characteristic.
29:36She was portrayed as the killer bunny, right?
29:40So it was the idea that she was a femme fatale.
29:43The trial began on February 22nd.
29:50And I will always remember that because it's my birthday.
29:53Journalists, they were reporting on what she wore, how she walked.
29:59Look at, she's a seductress.
30:02Look at, she was a Playboy Bunny.
30:04The only photos anyone ever ran of Lori were her calendar photos
30:07or her picture as a Playboy Bunny.
30:09Nobody ever ran a photo of her in her police officer uniform.
30:12The trial which took place in downtown Milwaukee was just a total media circus.
30:20There was tons of people there who were just there even just as gawkers, as civilians.
30:25To have an innocent woman broke into and murdered in her bed made no sense to this community whatsoever.
30:32The community became very divided on it.
30:35It was either she's guilty as hell or she didn't do it.
30:39But those who knew her knew Lori didn't do it.
30:43Although a circumstantial case, it was a very good circumstantial case based on what they had at the time.
30:50And then, even though they were supposed friends, Judy Zest did testify against Lori.
31:00I think there was a lot of jealousy between her and Lori.
31:05And Judy was perhaps playing her a bit as far as friendship and using her to attract men.
31:13Judy basically got on the stand and said that Lori was the person that the media had painted her to be.
31:19That she was a sort of jealous woman, that she had wanted Christina out of the house, that she was interested in money.
31:25And, of course, that she had been the person who put the wig in the location where it was found.
31:31I couldn't believe the guilty verdict came down to begin with.
31:50And then it was the maximum from 25 to life.
31:57I think I, as well as many, believe that this is a terrible mistake.
32:03So she gets transported to Taichita, which is this women's prison up in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on the side of the lake.
32:12The court of public opinion was not on Lori's side when she was convicted.
32:17There was no outcry. There was no one saying, no, she's innocent.
32:21I think the way the media portrayed her kind of did its job.
32:24People thought of her as just this femme fatale character.
32:32Lori and I were always best friends.
32:37We kept in touch as often as we could.
32:39I was on her visiting list.
32:41It was 100 miles, over an hour drive.
32:44So when I could get there, probably every two months or so, I would take a day off of work and go see her.
32:50It was difficult at the beginning when she was put there.
32:55Fred was still supporting her and did some fundraising.
32:59I remember him jogging miles and raising money to help the case.
33:04And then unfortunately, one day, he no longer supported her.
33:09Lori told me that they filed for divorce.
33:13I don't know exactly why.
33:20She starts appealing, denied, appealing, denied.
33:26She got an associate's degree.
33:29She's doing artwork, she's working in the prison.
33:32But she's also lonely, right?
33:34Lori had a good friend that she did.
33:39She had a brother that came to visit.
33:42Lori sees him come in and she's like, wow, he's really good looking.
33:46Her friend goes, oh, he just got divorced, do you want me to introduce you?
33:50So the two of them started corresponding and Lori ended up getting this sort of prison boyfriend, Dominic.
33:57No one was listening to her anymore and she needed to do something to save her life
34:01because she was probably in the deepest depression ever.
34:06Lori had the intelligence and she knew what she needed to do.
34:13Lori's in prison, years are passing.
34:33Then one day, she had been in the laundry room and had seen that one of the windows was open.
34:40And she goes, oh, that's it.
34:44I can go out the window.
34:48This is not like a maximum security prison.
34:51And she was able to run across a field and get to the top of a barbed wire fence.
34:57And then she's on the other side and she meets Dominic in the getaway car.
35:07And they speed off to Canada.
35:12They pretend that they just got unmarried and they cross the border easily
35:16because they say that they're newlyweds.
35:19I learned in the media, like everybody else, that she was, she had escaped.
35:23And the prison system was pretty embarrassed that it happened.
35:26I did not know ahead of time.
35:29Lori would not have put me in a position to put me in any danger.
35:33At first, I thought, that's Lori.
35:35She had figured that one out.
35:37She went through all of the scenarios because she wasn't guilty.
35:41She knew she wasn't guilty.
35:43Bembenek has the capability to dramatically change her appearance.
35:47This is the most recent photo of her, according to prison warden.
35:50My thought on it was, Jesus, Lori, come on.
35:54But I totally understood that this is what she had to do.
35:58Society is coming out of the 80s.
36:02It's not as conservative as it used to be.
36:05And people are open to the idea that she could have been railroaded.
36:08So it's a completely different situation than when she was on trial.
36:12She has not had a fair trial.
36:14I believe that she's innocent.
36:15Lori got arrested so quickly, three and a half weeks after the murder,
36:18that you're like, how did that happen so fast?
36:20I believe once they decided that she was the one and they could get rid of their discrimination suit
36:26and maybe a lot of other women that way, it seemed like an easy way to do it.
36:30So people are like, wow, this is kind of fishy.
36:33You know, maybe she was innocent.
36:35There simply is no evidence of criminal misconduct.
36:38It's really interesting how the public opinion really changed after Lori broke out of prison.
36:44All of a sudden, everybody was on her side.
36:46I think that a majority of the public, you know, kind of felt sorry for her.
36:54People started saying, run, Bambi, run.
36:57There was kind of this, like, Bonnie and Clyde feeling of her and her partner on the run.
37:02People were rooting for her.
37:10A good segment of the population believed that she was not guilty of that crime
37:14and that cover-ups did occur.
37:16So when she escaped from prison, some people were extremely happy.
37:28Lori and Dominic went to a little town in Canada called Thunder Bay where Lori got a job as a waitress.
37:35They're up there three-plus months, and everything was okay, and then...
37:44America's Most Wanted about the Bambina case comes on, and somebody vacationing up there recognizes her.
37:49What she told me was that somebody out of Oregon saw her waitressing at a restaurant, and they got busted.
37:58The terms of her return from Canada were negotiated by an attorney out of Chicago.
38:07And then once again, the Playboy bunny escapee is back, and everybody can breathe safely.
38:13I think Playboy would generally keep itself far away from a story like this, and it's not really the type of attention they're looking to attract.
38:25I think, if anything, it just raised awareness of what a Playboy bunny is and, you know, created more intrigue and mystery.
38:32They took Lori right from the plane to the courtroom, and she took the deal, and she didn't have to go back to prison.
38:52The terms, as far as I remember, were a second degree with time served.
38:57It's because her parents were ailing. She wanted to be there for her parents and support them as they aged.
39:03Lori and Dominic, they never married, and he got some fines and sentencing for helping escape.
39:09In the end, she served 10-plus years in prison.
39:14Lori maintained that there were people who were not telling the truth on the stand.
39:19That's what she has always said.
39:21Judy Zest testified against Lori and lied about her, and it was so damning.
39:26But why did she do that?
39:29That's another thing that was never followed up on after the trial.
39:33So Lori was still considered a convicted murderer because of the plea she took.
39:38The public celebrated when Lori was granted her freedom.
39:41Everybody was rooting for her, and it seemed the story had as much of a happy ending as it could get.
39:49Lori's nightmare, you think, would have been over after this, right?
39:52I think what we have to remember is that she went into prison as a 21-year-old who was still young and very, very naive.
40:02So she lost all of her 20s and part of her 30s in prison.
40:05So she gets out of prison, and she's gorgeous, and she's also incredibly famous.
40:10This is just the best day of my life. That's all I can say. Thank you, everyone.
40:23I think because she was still, in many ways, a young woman, she got a little carried away with the notoriety of it all.
40:29It was too hard for her to go from Oprah's couch to just being regular old Lori Bembetic.
40:36She couldn't figure out how to do it.
40:38All this time, she's still trying to exonerate herself, and it just never went anywhere.
40:48I just think she never could get over it.
40:50Unfortunately, the pain of being incarcerated and the ease of alcohol and drugs took her life.
41:07She ends up dying at the age of 50.
41:10And the story sort of ends, but, you know, who killed Christine Schultz?
41:17So many people still want to know.
41:20It's a big heartache, you know.
41:23I think right now there's very few people who still think she's guilty.
41:29I believe Lori's life was taken from her.
41:32We were robbed of the beautiful person, not only her physical beauty, but what she had to offer.