Credit: @KimKingReports
Please leave it to Dateline to find a way to bring more drama to a case that’s been closed for some time. Then, just when you think that a dramatic event – even a real-life event – could not be more dramatic, Dateline steps in and changes the game. You’re not alone if you’re unfamiliar with the name Brenda McCutcheon. Her story is an old one, and it’s fraught with murder, mayhem, and dramatics. Who is she? And who did she kill?
The Classic Story Between a Nurse and a Doctor
It’s perhaps the most common television storyline in the world. A nurse works closely alongside a doctor in a hospital or medical field setting. They fall madly in love. They get married. They have some babies, make a life for themselves, and live happily ever after. Or they don’t. When it comes to the story of Brenda McCutcheon and her husband, Dr. Frank McCutcheon, there is no happily ever after ending. She killed her husband – a renowned plastic surgeon – in cold blood. But, first, let’s talk about their seemingly picture-perfect relationship.
Brenda McCutcheon was a nursing student. While there, she met a man by the name of Frank McCutcheon. They fell in love as students. He was working diligently to become a medical doctor and surgeon focusing on the plastic surgery field, and he did it. Together, the two decided that Brenda would leave her job as a nurse to support her husband and their family. At the same time, he worked on making a name for himself as one of the most sought-after plastic surgeons in Asheville, North Carolina. For 32 years, all who knew the McCutcheon’s thought they were happily married.
Credit: @datelinenbc
On the Night of July 16, 2016, at 3:30 am
Like many couples, the McCutcheon’s did not always go to bed together. The good doctor was a night owl who often fell asleep on the couch downstairs watching television. His wife was likelier to go to bed in their shared main suite at a decent hour. So, when Brenda McCutcheon called 911 at 3:30 am on the morning of July 16, 2016, she did so with fear in her voice and little doubt something horrible had happened. She told police she thought she heard thunder, but then she smelled something that she thought might be a gun. Finally, she became fearful that something had happened downstairs and went to see.
She told police someone broke into their home, found their gun, killed her husband, and then left. Long story short, the police had a different idea. The couple was in severe financial trouble as they were accused of financial crimes from their business. She was the woman in charge of all the finances, and many thought she killed her husband to get away.
Where is Brenda McCutcheon Now?
As of 2022, she’s a prison inmate serving life in prison. She was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder. The evidence at the scene of her home was flimsy, and it seems that she had the motive. Even though there was little evidence that tied her to the murder, there was also little evidence that tied anyone else to the murder of her beloved husband. She was arrested in 2017. She was tried, and a jury of her peers found her guilty. For now, she will remain in bars. How long that will be is unknown as she is currently in her 70s. She might live many more years, or she might not. Either way, the Dateline special that aired in 2022 seems to show that this woman is a woman who panicked and did what she could to change her decisions. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for her.
Credit: @datelinenbc
Sadly, despite being distraught by the murder of her husband, she couldn’t change the outcome of this case. There are some who don’t believe she did it, but more people are sure she is the woman behind the death of her husband. After all, her home is in the middle of nowhere. Nothing was disturbed. Nothing was taken from the home. Nothing was missing. She tried to tell the story that the people who broke into her home disturbed nothing but the one drawer where they kept their guns. This drawer touched, but nothing else. Some random stranger knew precisely where to look. That someone broke in, opened one drawer to find a gun, shot the man on the couch, and then ran without taking anything is a bit unbelievable, and that is likely the most significant factor in the jury’s decision.
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