Search Salon

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon Health & Body

The big E
Doctors, law enforcement and ravers are scrutinizing ecstasy's possible long-term effects as the drug pours into the U.S. in record numbers.
By Dawn MacKeen
[07/07/99]

Urge
Weapon or toy?
One seasoned sex explorer gets more than he expected from a run-in with airport security.
By David Steinberg
[07/06/99]

Urge
Private dancers
From North Beach bars to the Mitchell Brothers' high-priced flesh emporium, she went in search of women to dance in her lap.
By Annalee Newitz
[07/03/99]

Column
Why doesn't anyone have dropsy anymore?
The 1899 Merck Manual is being released along with the 1999 version.   
By Mary Roach
[07/02/99]

Don't worry, darling, I have giant fennel
The history and mystery of the plant that may have been one of the first contraceptives.
By Susan McCarthy
[07/01/99]

Complete archives for Health & Body

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Jeff Stryker

July 8, 1999 | Guilty as charged. Murder one. After eight hours of deliberation, a Phoenix jury returned this verdict last week in the murder trial of Scott Falater, 43, an engineer, family man and Mormon priest.

The facts were never in dispute. Falater killed Yarmila, his wife of 20 years, by stabbing her 44 times with his hunting knife before pushing her into the family swimming pool and holding her head underwater. Falater also hid the evidence: He wrapped his blood-drenched clothes and boots in a plastic bag, sealed the bag in a Tupperware container and stashed it in the wheel well of the family Volvo. He changed into pajamas and bandaged his hand, which had been cut in the struggle.

Case closed, right? No question. Why, then, did the jury deliberate for eight hours?

Scott Falater claimed he had no memory of any of the events surrounding his wife's death, that he was sleepwalking throughout the entire bloody event. When the police arrived to take him to jail, Falater came to realize he was dealing with the homicide division. "Does that mean my wife is dead?" Falater asked, making him either a tragically bereaved husband or a psychopath with a flair for acting and chutzpah to spare.

His attorneys argued that Falater was trying to fix the pump on the family swimming pool, prying loose a stuck O-ring with his hunting knife while asleep. They argued that he stabbed his wife when she startled him and interrupted his repair task. The defense case was bolstered by a bevy of experts in the field of sleep disorders.

Even if Falater was asleep, didn't he still murder his wife? Not necessarily. Although he admitted killing her, murder requires voluntary actions and the requisite intent. The jury had to decide whether it was possible for a person to stab someone 44 times and hide the evidence, all without waking up.

Find out more about sleepwalking from the Dr. Koop Medical Encyclopedia.

Doing something in one's sleep and not remembering the next day is hardly a rarity. Who hasn't reached over to turn off the alarm clock and not remembered it the next day? I know people sleepwalk because I did it as a kid. Mind you, I did not go after anyone with my Boy Scout knife. I do, however, remember being awakened by my parents as I dragged my bed across the room, dreaming I was tugging on my dog's leash. I outgrew sleepwalking; now I merely wake up screaming from time to time.

Sleep researchers estimate that 50 percent of children sleepwalk at least once. Ten to 15 percent do so repeatedly, mostly between ages 4 and 12. Sleepwalking episodes peak at around age 10. In adulthood, the prevalence drops to between 2 and 9 percent.

Reading about Scott Falater, I thought about locking up the kitchen knives. But to go from a few nocturnal wanderings or muffled shouts to stabbing one's spouse more than three dozen times seems a long way -- just how long was the question for jurors in a trial that put a spotlight on sleep disorder research.

A backwater of medicine until not too long ago, the study of sleep disorders is now a respected branch of medical research. It involves much more than randomized clinical trials of warm milk vs. counting sheep.

Next page | There are sleep-lovers, too