Jeffrey Pyne was 22 years old when he was found guilty of murdering his mentally ill mother Ruth Pyne. In May 2011, the 51-year-old stay-at-home mother was found dead in her Highland Township, Michigan garage. She had been brutally beaten with a two-by-four and stabbed repeatedly in the neck. There was no physical evidence that connected Jeffrey to the crime scene. The prosecution presented circumstantial evidence including testimony from Jeffrey’s ex-girlfriend and co-workers who said two months prior to his mother’s murder, Jeffrey Pyne had begun a “downward spiral.”
During the trial, co-workers said they doubted Pyne’s story about how he got the blisters on both his hands. (Pyne, who worked at an apple orchard, said he got them from working with pallets.) Jeffrey’s father Bernie Pyne believes his son is innocent. After listening to the prosecutor present all the circumstantial evidence, Bernie Pyne said: “It is very difficult because it’s not rooted in fact.” Dateline NBC will air the first part of its investigative report ‘Behind Closed Doors‘ on Sunday, May 15 at 10pm.
