Amy Mullis: Murder, Trial, and the Corn Rake Case

The Amy Mullis corn rake murder was the November 10, 2018, killing of a 39-year-old Iowa mother and registered nurse by her husband, Todd Mullis, who staged the scene on the family’s Delaware County hog farm to look like a fall onto a four-tined corn rake. An autopsy showed six puncture wounds in two directions, defensive injuries, and blunt force trauma, and investigators later recovered hundreds of pages of internet searches on Todd’s iPad about killing unfaithful women. He was convicted of first-degree murder in September 2019 and is serving life without parole at the Iowa State Penitentiary.¹

What Happened on the Farm

On the morning of November 10, 2018, Todd Mullis and the couple’s 13-year-old son Trysten were working in a hog barn. Todd sent Amy to a nearby outbuilding called the “red shed” to fetch a pet carrier. When she did not come back, he told Trysten to check on her. Trysten found his mother face down on her hands and knees with a four-tined corn rake sticking out of her back.²

Todd pulled the rake out, carried Amy to the family truck, and started driving toward the hospital with Trysten in the passenger seat and Amy on top of him. He called 911 at 12:01 p.m. and told the dispatcher his wife had fallen onto a corn rake. The dispatcher told him to pull over so first responders could reach them. He gave the same accident account to Delaware County Deputy Luke Thomsen at the scene.¹

The 911 recording itself became evidence against him. While performing CPR, Todd could be heard whispering “cheating whore” and “go to hell, cheating whore.”¹

Why the Accident Story Fell Apart

The autopsy did not match the story. Assistant State Medical Examiner Dr. Kelly Kruse counted six puncture wounds on Amy’s back, even though the rake had only four tines. The wound paths ran in two distinct directions. Four went back-to-front, right-to-left, and downward. The others went back-to-front, right-to-left, and upward. Dr. Kruse concluded Amy had been impaled at least twice, possibly three times, with force enough to puncture a lung, strike the liver, and rupture a breast implant before exiting the front of her body.³¹

Amy also had blunt force trauma to her chin, cheek, and ear. The chin injury showed crushing and scraping but no debris from a surface, indicating she had been struck rather than falling. Her left hand carried wounds consistent with defensive injuries from a struggle. Dr. Kruse ruled the death a homicide.¹

The Motive: An Affair, the Farm, and the Searches

Amy had an affair in 2013, after which the couple reconciled through counseling. At the time, Todd told her stepmother, “I’m not going to lose my farm and what I’ve worked for.”¹

In late May or early June 2018, Amy began a second affair, this time with Jerry Frasher, the field manager who ran the farm’s hog operation. Frasher testified that Amy told him she felt “like a slave or a hostage” and that if Todd ever found out, “she would disappear.” Trysten had warned his mother that if his father discovered the affair, “he’ll kill you.”⁴¹

Todd found out in July 2018 after reviewing a phone bill that showed more than 100 text messages between Amy and Frasher. He confronted Frasher, contacted Frasher’s wife, then apologized to the couple two days later and asked that the texting stop, which it did. Prosecutors argued he never actually let the matter go.⁴

The strongest sign of premeditation came from Todd’s iPad. A search warrant produced roughly 600 pages of Google search history running from December 2014 through four days before Amy’s death. The queries included “did ancient cultures kill adulterers,” “thrill of the kill,” “killing unfaithful women,” “what happens to cheaters in history,” “once you hunt man you will always feel the thirst,” “what to do with large open chest wounds,” and “location of organs.” Investigator Travis Hemesath testified that although others in the household could reach the device, it was “possible but not probable” that anyone other than Todd made the searches.⁵

Arrest, Trial, and Conviction

Todd Mullis was arrested on February 28, 2019, about three and a half months after the killing. His trial took place at the Dubuque County courthouse in September 2019 after a change of venue.⁶²

Trysten, then 14, testified by closed-circuit television. He had originally given his father an alibi, telling investigators he had Todd in his sight “the whole time” in the hog barn. Days before trial, he corrected that account and admitted he had lost sight of his father “a couple of times” when he went to an office for water. On cross-examination, he acknowledged he did not know how long they had been separated.²

Todd testified in his own defense. On cross-examination, he conceded that Amy’s death was “not an accident” and that someone had stabbed her in the back with the corn rake two to three times. His trial attorney, Gerald “Jake” Feuerhelm, had abandoned the accident theory entirely, arguing in his opening statement that an unidentified third party had killed Amy.¹⁷

The jury deliberated about seven hours before returning a guilty verdict on first-degree murder. Todd received the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.²⁸

The Appeal and Post-Conviction Ruling

Todd challenged the conviction twice. On direct appeal, he argued the evidence was insufficient to identify him as the killer and that the trial court should have granted a new trial. On February 16, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, holding that motive, opportunity, the search history, and the forensic evidence together supported the verdict. The court also ruled that several arguments, including any claim that the death was accidental, had not been preserved because Todd’s own attorney had conceded at trial that Amy was killed by a criminal act.¹

Todd then filed for post-conviction relief, raising more than 100 grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. His central argument was that Feuerhelm had dropped the accident defense without his consent. At a March 2025 hearing, Feuerhelm testified he had considered the accident theory not “viable.” Forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers offered an alternative account in which Amy fell onto the rake, tried to remove it, and fell a second time, producing the six wounds.⁷

On June 4, 2026, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced that Judge Laura Parrish had denied the petition. Judge Parrish found no evidence that Todd had objected to his lawyer’s strategy during trial and noted that Todd had been “adamant the trial not be continued,” which limited what the defense could pursue. She concluded that Feuerhelm had acted in a “conscientious, meaningful manner” and that Todd received a fair trial.⁹¹⁰

Todd Mullis, now 49, remains at the Iowa State Penitentiary. The couple’s three children, Trysten, Taylor, and Wyatt, lost their mother to the killing and their father to the sentence that followed.⁷¹

1
Iowa Court of Appeals. State v. Todd Michael Mullis, No. 20-1173
2
CBS News. Amy Mullis Iowa Farmer Corn Rake Murder
3
Radio Iowa. Medical Examiner Testifies in Trial of Man Accused of Killing Wife With Corn Rake
4
Seattle Times. Ex-Lover in Corn Rake Killing: Woman Was Afraid of Husband
5
Manchester Press. Dubuque Murder Trial: Husband Searched Internet for Info on Punishment of Cheating Spouses, Location Of Organs
6
KOAT. Man Accused of Killing Wife With Corn Rake After Learning About Secret Affairs
7
Court TV. Court Upholds Todd Mullis Murder Conviction in Wife’s Corn Rake Death
8
Court TV. Corn Rake Murder Trial: Todd Mullis Seeking New Trial in Wife’s Death
9
KCRG. 2019 Murder Conviction Upheld for Delaware County Man
10
KMCH. Mullis Murder Conviction Upheld by Iowa Judge