On the 48 Hours episode ‘The Mortician, The Murder, The Movie,’ CBS news correspondent Peter Van Sant investigates the 1996 murder of widow Marjorie Nugent of Carthage, Texas (population 6,000). The 81-year-old was shot four times in the back and then buried in her own Deep Freeze. Funeral director Bernie Tiede, who befriended Nugent at her husband’s funeral in 1990, confessed to the killing after altering her will so Nugent’s $5 million estate would go to Tiede instead of her son. In 1999, Tiede was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Tiede appealed his sentence claiming it wasn’t a premeditated murder and that Nugent was physically and violently abusive toward him — which provoked Tiede to shoot Nugent “in a dissociative state brought on by years of sexual abuse from his uncle.” In May 2014, after serving 17 years in prison, Tiede was released. In April 2016, Tiede was re-sentenced – 99 years or life. According to The Texas Tribune, Tiede’s lawyers say their client deserves a third chance because “the case should have been moved out of East Texas, they weren’t allowed to call crucial witnesses and an outburst by Nugent’s son could have prejudiced the jury.” 48 Hours airs Saturdays at 9pm and 10pm on CBS.
