Death Certificate
Multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma are listed as Felix Polk's official cause of death.- Suicide Files
Felix Polk's apparent suicide attempt while in the military was documented by the U.S. Navy. - Autopsy Report
Felix Polk's fatal injuries and toxicology results were detailed in this report. - Felix's Letter to Gabe
Just months before he was stabbed to death by his estranged wife, Felix Polk wrote this letter to his son Gabriel in an apparent effort to improve their relationship. - Felix Polk's Resume
This resume was retrieved by investigators from Felix Polk's desk after he was stabbed to death by his estranged wife, Susan Polk. - Properties Letter
Before she fatally stabbed her husband Felix, Susan Polk wrote this letter as the couple was going through a divorce to discuss financial matters and various properties the Polks owned - Ottoman Analysis
Investigators sought to recover from an ottoman residue of pepper spray, which Polk claimed she used on her husband. - Saab Report
Criminalists also analyzed Felix Polk's 1999 Saab, on which they found blood stains. - Diary Excerpt
Polk describes her self-proclaimed psychic abilities, her theories about the Middle East and her husband's alleged ties to the Mossad in this journal entry. - Letter to Dr. Cooper
These excerpts from Susan Polk's letters to her defense expert, Dr. John Cooper, include a narrative of the killing and a map. - Crime Scene Report
Forensic evidence gathered from the crime scene is itemized in this official report. - Incident Report
This 7-page report from the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Dept. details the night Felix Polk was killed. - Eli's Letter
The only child of three to support his mother, Eli Polk wrote this letter to Susan Polk behind bars. - Guardian's Letter
Dan Briner wrote this letter updating her about her son, Gabriel, while she was behind bars. - Cooper's Letter
Controversial defense witness Dr. John Cooper wrote this letter to the judge explaining why he would not return to conclude his testimony. - Son's Declaration
Eli Polk's divorce court declaration was full of praise for his mother, Susan Polk. - Secret Letter
In this two-page letter dated 2001, Susan Polk says her husband beat, drugged her. - Dispute Report
Police documented responding to a domestic dispute before Felix Polk was killed by his wife, Susan.
MARTINEZ, Calif. — Murder defendant Susan Polk faced her most challenging day on the stand Thursday as a prosecutor cross-examined the former housewife about the night she stabbed her husband with a paring knife.
"I said I wasn't scared," Polk said with a laugh as she prepared to be questioned after completing roughly 19 hours of direct testimony over five and a half days, "but I'm getting a little scared now."
"Rightfully so," Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira said.
Polk, who is acting as her own attorney, leaned forward in the witness box, straightened her notes into piles on the ledge, and signaled she was ready.
Sequeira dimmed the lights and placed a crime scene photo of Felix Polk's corpse on the projector.
"Isn't it a fact that you let your 15-year-old son find your husband's dead body in the poolhouse?" Sequeira began.
"No, that isn't so," Polk said.
The blood-caked, partially nude body of Polk's 70-year-old husband was flat on his back, arms and legs apart, lying on the bloodstained tile floor of a cottage on the couple's $1.85 million property.
"You knew your son would start to look for his father," Sequeira asked Polk, "and you knew that's the view he would see?"
"No," Polk said.
Gabriel Polk, now 19, previously testified that on the night of Oct. 14, 2002, he asked his mother where his father was and she responded, "Aren't you happy he's gone?"
"I never said that," Polk testified. "I believe what I said was, 'You aren't happy. You don't look happy.'"
Gabriel soon discovered his father's body, which had been in the poolhouse for nearly 24 hours, and immediately called police.
Polk said her estranged son was dishonest in his testimony against her.
"OK," Sequeira said as he walked over to a white easel stacked with butcher paper. "We're going to keep track."
He wrote the word "Liars" on a white sheet, underlined it, and listed: "1 Gabe."
Polk was asked about the testimony of an officer who said when he informed Polk that her husband was dead, she responded, "We were getting a divorce anyway."
"I never said that," Polk said. "I think Sgt. Hanson was exceedingly deceptive and dishonest."
Sequeira added: "2. Sgt. Hanson" to the "Liars" list.
Polk, 48, initially denied any knowledge of her husband's death when she was arrested.
She later claimed she acted in self-defense when Felix attacked her. Polk says her husband, a psychologist, was emotionally and physically abusive during their entire 30-year relationship.
During direct testimony, Polk went into great detail about their dysfunctional relationship, describing Felix as a violent and "sadistic tyrant," who was also, she believes, an Israeli spy, a brutish parent, an unpatriotic American, a sexual pervert and a poisoner of dogs.
On the night she went to the cottage to talk about their pending divorce, Polk claims, she used pepper spray, a flashlight and the paring knife she says she wrestled from her husband's grip to defend herself from his vicious attack.
"He seemed to have these fantasies that he could obtain control over me," Polk said.
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