NARRATOR: The issues between Tim and Barb
seemed to be coming to a head.
Both his boy and girl were playing high school soccer,
and we were standing on the fence.
And Barb had come by and asked him a question about something,
maybe what they were doing for dinner that night.
[intense music]
And just out of nowhere, he looked at me,
and he said, I really can't wait until she gets a boyfriend
and we can get this divorce going.
Maybe I'll go to Mexico.
I didn't really comment about it.
I just kind of laughed it off as he did, you know,
making a joke.
But I don't think he was joking.
To Barb's close friends, she would say she hated him,
that she wanted to leave him, but she
couldn't afford to divorce him.
[clock ticking and tense music]
NARRATOR: Saturday, May 5, 2018, starts
like any other busy weekend at the Pasas' household.
[suspenseful music]
Barb makes the kids breakfast before they catch an early team
bus for a soccer tournament.
Barb plans to drive to the out-of-town event alone.
They gathered their belongings,
and they rode to the school and caught the bus
to the soccer tournament.
NARRATOR: An hour or so later, Megan drives by their house
on her way to work.
The garage door was open.
Just, for whatever reason, it caught my eye.
And I noticed that Barb's vehicle was in the garage.
Barb had personalized plates that spelled out PASA,
so it was hard to miss.
[phone keypad beeps]
MAN (ON PHONE): There's a--
I think a house fire at 828.
DISPATCHER (ON PHONE): OK. MAN (ON PHONE): Yeah.
DISPATCHER (ON PHONE): Hold for the fire department.
NARRATOR: At 7:34 AM, her neighbors
noticed smoke coming from the Pasas' home and call 911.
When emergency responders arrive--
MAN (ON PHONE): Smoke is building up heavier!
Does it look like you have it?
NARRATOR: --the house appears to be in good shape.
DISPATCHER (ON PHONE): Copy that.
From the perspective of looking
at the house from the road, the house didn't
look to have that much damage.
Once inside, we can see that the damage was contained
to the master bedroom.
NARRATOR: But inside that room, the destruction is devastating.
DON SCHNITKER: It was charred.
Furniture is charred.
The bed was burnt all the way down to the mattress springs.
Clearly, there was an intense, hot fire
contained to that one room.
NARRATOR: Small-town news travels fast.
My sister had called me, and she had heard that the Pasa
house was on fire.
I said, we need to go.
We need to go there immediately and just see what's happened,
if they need anything.
When we were walking up to the scene--
FIRST RESPONDER (ON PHONE): Copy that.
Centerville, 62, we need an ambulance.
There was a gurney being wheeled out of the house.
Time just stood still briefly.
At that time, they had located one deceased individual
in the residence.
And that was Tim Pasa.
I did see Barb in the distance in another yard.
She was sitting down, and there were police officers with her.
And just, embraced.
They were so distraught.
There were so many emotions.
She had been crying and said she just really
didn't have any tears left.
NARRATOR: Investigators try to determine what happened.
When I initially asked Barb, when she had left
the residence, what it was like, she
advised that she had lit a candle in the bedroom
because the dog had urinated, and she
was trying to rid the smell.
So she lit a candle and placed it next to the bed.
NARRATOR: Barb also tells investigators
that Tim was asleep when she had left
that morning before 7:00 AM.
There was no reason for an adult male
not to be able to get up and get himself
to safety if a fire started.
He just had never moved from that bed, which was concerning.
NARRATOR: Law enforcement try to piece
together the tragedy as Barb grieves for her husband.
She suddenly got up and said, I'm going into the ambulance.
I need to see Tim.
As someone who had just lost their spouse,
I didn't think she needed to put herself through seeing Tim.
But she was adamant that she was going into that ambulance.
Not having seen her in that setting before,
I wasn't quite sure how she would react.
I allowed Barb to spend a couple of minutes with Tim
in the ambulance.
When I returned, she advised me that she did not want
an autopsy completed on Tim.
I've never in my career had a spouse advise
they did not want an autopsy.
- No! - Your husband--
- No! - --it's not a problem.
MIKE MOORE: I told her we'd have to do
an autopsy to figure out why Tim was
not able to escape the fire.
She then exited the ambulance and went back towards family.
There was no emotion.
There was no crying.
No hysteria.
Just, it was real matter-of-fact.