Joshua Blaine Hilberling was a thick, muscular, athletic 6' 4" 225lbs. He played football in high school and was somewhat of a jock his entire life. He was 23 at the time of the incident.
Amber Michelle Fields was 5' 5" 125 lbs (before pregnancy) and somewhat petit. She was 19 at the time. DOB 10/01/91
Amber was described as soft spoken and polite, calm and collected person. She was a straight A student in High school and had planned to go to college soon.
Amber's parents divorced when she was 12. It wasn't pretty, abuse was to blame and protective orders were filed. Her relationship with her parents were strained. At one point, when she was 17, she ran away and lived with a friend in Texas for a while. Not long after returning and moving back in with her mother, she met Josh.
Amber came from a broken home where she watched her mother be abused by her father. Amber came from a medical step family. Bryan Whitlock, her step father whom married her mother when she was 13, grew up in Tulsa, in a medical family. His father, Boyd Whitlock, MD was a physician, while his mother was a Registered Nurse. Amber's mother was a Nurse as well.
Josh's mother admits he also came from a broken home where he learned abuse from his father.
They met at a party in downtown Tulsa and started dating April 2010. Josh was 21 and Amber 18 at the time.
They were inseparable at first. Neither of them showed any flaws. Things were new and fresh.
Josh left for basic training in San Antonio, Texas at Lackland Air Force Base not long after on May 10th, 2010. She wrote to him everyday. She came down for his graduation ceremony, but then left for Wichita Falls, Texas for a month to attend the Air Force's Civil engineering school for a month.
On his weekends off, he would head back to Tulsa to be with Amber, but he would be stationed in Alaska soon, and they had to make some choices. She couldn't be with him in Alaska unless they were married. He'd have only an 8 week leave before heading to Alaska.
It was during this leave that Josh began to exhibit ungentlemanly behavior. He would get texts at all hours and leave for several, not telling Amber where he would be off to. He finally confessed that he was selling Roxies (Roxicodone) to make some quick cash for Alaska, but was only temporary and promised it would stop soon. This is were the arguing started. He was also using OxyContin and Amber would tell him he would need to be clean when duty started. He promised he would.
He had confessed to Amber that he started taking Oxy when he was 19.
Amber wasn't concerned, and thought that he would stick to his word and kick the habit when he got to Alaska.
Josh and Amber decided to live together. Josh moved in with her and her mother, but that only lasted 2 weeks. They then both moved in with his stepbrother Scott. This is when things got worse with Josh's drug use. Amber says he was using every day by that time and they would fight about it.
He began denying taking them, even when he was "clearly high." She said, "I could taste it in my mouth when we kissed. His personality would totally change. He'd turn into a complete jerk. He couldn't ejaculate."
It was during this time that Josh started getting physical with Amber for the first time. She convinced herself that it was just the drugs and that when he was clean, it would stop. (examples pg 51)
They married
Mid Oct 2010, they moved to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, just southeast of Fairbanks. Their housing wasn't yet fully finished and they were put up in a hotel for a month. She had no phone, no car, no money, and wanted to get a job just to get out of the hotel and socialize while Josh was at work, but Josh didn't want her working.
Amber says they during the first week of their stay, Josh was deathly ill, all signs of withdrawal.
Josh began getting more physical more often and controlling as well. They started marriage counseling. Things improved a couple months into the new house.
Things went downhill when Josh refused to give Amber any money for household items of groceries and would "keep his paychecks hidden" from her. She wasn't even allowed to buy heavier clothes for Alaska.
Amber finds a package in the mail from Tulsa. When she opened it, she found 75 Oxy pills inside. She confronted Josh and he admitted a friend had sent them to him and he was using his paycheck to buy drugs. He admitted to spending $200 on a K2 kit so he could start manufacturing and selling there in Alaska. She said that he took all of the Oxy within one week.
In December 2010, Amber told Josh they were pregnant. She hoped it would light a fire and keep him from using. It did not.
Josh told him stepmom and dad of the baby. (her response on pg 56 & 134) Amber heard her say that the baby was probably not even his over speakerphone.
Josh began using more drugs: Oxys, Roxies, weed, K2, alcohol...and became more violent. (all instances on pg 59-62) There were neighbor witnesses and the police reports started stacking up.
On New Year's Eve, a neighbor saw Josh smoking K2 and reported him to the Air Force Police. Amber and Josh fought and soon the police arrived. They found the kit, the recipe for the kit, and drugs.
On Jan 2nd 2011, another neighbor called the police for abuse. Josh was arrested. The police were called again on Jan 31st, March 14th, and March 23rd. (what happened on pg 63-66) The last incident actually burst a breast implant and she had to head back to Tulsa to get it repaired. Parents flew her home. She was covered in bruises. Her mom told her "this isn't right" and she said "well, dad did it to you..."
Coworkers note on several occasions of how sexist Josh was. (pg67) He was eventually moved to a different department where no women worked.
With drug abuse and domestic violence charges piling up, the Air Force couldn't handle it any more. On May 6th, 2011, he was officially discharge for "MISCONDUCT: DRUG ABUSE"
The same day they returned to Tulsa, Josh began hanging with friends at all hours of the night, partying and doing drugs with them. He wouldn't tell Amber where he was or what he was doing and barley answered when she would call or text from worry.
May 19th, Josh filed a protective order against Amber.
During the month of June, 2011, the two had a home being built that wasn't ready and were staying with Amber's parents until such. Rhonda, Amber's mother, caught Josh using and kicked him out. Amber decided to leave with him. That's when her mother told her they could stay at their alternate apartment.
The apartment they lived in was actually Amber's parents spare apartment in the University Club Tower in which they used for "patient overflow for out of town guests"
The University Club Tower is a unique 32 story, 377 ft tall, cylindrical tower built in 1966. It was the first major building in the United States designed with the use of computerization of the structural calculations. The concern of the structural engineers was to be sure the building was strong enough to prevent swaying in the wind. The building, including its glass-and-panel curtainwall façade was 46 years old when The Hilberlings moved in. *see window expert webpage for more!*
Leading up to the incident:
Just 3 days before the incident, Saturday Morning, June 4th, 2011
Amber: Who is paying for Tennessee again?
Josh: I am.
Amber: LOL! How are you gonna do that?
Josh: I will just be able to.
Amber: Okay. Buy me a crib and then you can go.
Josh: Ok it will have to be after I get back.
Amber: No. Before.
Josh: Can't say.
Amber: Then you can't go. Sorry.
Josh: I'm going.
Amber: Okay...
Josh: Why are you doing this shit to me? WTF did I do to you?
Amber: I'm not gonna discuss this while you're high. Enjoy yourself.
Later that day, the two had planned to go to Target to fill out their baby registry. Amber was at her grandmother's house all day, and was waiting on Josh to come get her in her mother's car, as he was out with friends. At around 6:30pm, she finally texted him.
Amber: I need to go to the apt. You have they key.
Josh: Gotta take Brandon home.
Amber: Just bring me the car and I'll leave you alone.
Josh: In a little
Amber: I'm gonna call my mom and she won't be easy to deal with.
Josh: HAHA your going to call your mom? Go ahead! I'll bring you the car and be gone.
Amber: Just bring me the car and do what you want.
Josh: Ha! Can't believe you're going to call your mom on me!
Amber: That's only if you refuse to bring me the car.
Josh: Haha! Oh mommy get me your car back!
Amber: You don't have to be mean
Josh: You stop acting like a brat and I'll stop being mean.
Amber: You'll never stop being mean...
He brought the car to her and then left promptly again with friends making no exchanges with her when he did so. Later that night, around 1 am, he starts texting her and has a complete change of personality. (pg 26) In those texts, he's a sweet devoted husband who star gazes and thinks of his beautiful wife. Amber changed the script really quickly knowing her husband's games. She asks him if he's done partying and if that's why he's texting, that he always plays nice after, especially when his friends tell him he can't stay the night and he needs a place to sleep. Amber had told him not to come home previously and to stay with his friends, but here he was asking her to come pick him up and "take him home with her." She tells that her mind won't change about him (she'll still be angry with him) if she comes to get him, especially if he's high and she won't be doing any talking with him that night. She does get out of bed and go get him and they go home to the apt. When they get there, she makes her way to bed and Josh stays up ignoring her playing video games. She actually texted him at 3am from the bedroom: "Will you turn that down, please?" He slept on the couch that night.
The next day, the tension is still thick between them and Amber tells Josh she will be leaving for a few days to stay with her grandmother, Gloria, to "clear her head." Staying with Gloria wasn't new to Amber, as she did it quit often. Mostly when Josh would be out partying with friends and wouldn't come home at a decent hour, she would be afraid to stay in the apt alone at night, and drive over to her grandmother's house. At around 1:30pm, Amber texted Josh: "While I'm gone it would be helpful if you would do some really long, hard thinking about what you want from here on out. Not only with us and Levi, but everything in your life. I'll do the same today, and we'll talk when I get home, okay?" Josh never responded.
Later that night, Josh convinced Amber to come get him and take him to a BBQ with friends. When she showed up, he wasn't there. He had already had another friend come pick him up and didn't tell Amber. She texted him- "I'm crying like a fucking idiot. I used the very last of the gas to come get you. I'm so so so stupid." She continues-
Amber: I'm more upset now than ever before because I'm trying to make someone love me and care for me the way I do for them and it's just a huge failure and making me stressed and sick and miserable. I can't take you lack of compassion and concern for me anymore. You're not trying the slightest bit! Like at all! You had weed on you too! How could you do that at a time like this?! What is wrong with you to make you think that is appropriate? You're horrible! I want a divorce.
Josh: Well this sucks. (pg 30)
Amber: It looks like my only option left is leaving you...(she goes on to say) I don't want you coming here anymore (their apt). This is not your home, you're just staying here.
Josh: I wanna have a home with you. I'm sorry I been such a shit. I'm done. I always try to spend time with my friends when I should spend it with you. ... I wanna be with you and only you. I love you always when you're with me! I won't lose that!
Amber: Are you drunk or something?
Josh: Nope, that's how I feel! I have thought about it a lot and the way I've been and how you don't deserve that and I know I can be so much of a better man!
Amber: Sorry, but I can't believe you...
Josh stayed out with friends again that night and the night after.
Monday, June 6th. Amber called Gloria crying. She then told her and her uncle that she was going to file for divorce and move back in with her mother. That night, Josh came home after midnight. He and Amber did not hardly acknowledge each other and both went to bed.
The morning of the incident, June 7th, 2011: both of them woke up and had breakfast around 1pm. Josh was preparing to leave the apartment. He had some things packed already into a green duffle bag. He was actually waiting on friends to come pick him up that day as he had no vehicle of his own. The one the two of them were using was Amber's mother's. He had called his father to pick him up, but his father declined saying he couldn't get away from work. While he finished packing, Gloria called Amber concerned about the events of the previous day. Amber told her that she would be over to the house soon because she wanted to stay out of Josh's way while he finished packing. She also told Gloria that she would be bringing laundry to do as they didn't have a washer and dryer in the apt and she often did laundry at her grandmother's house. At this time, Amber was 7 1\2 months pregnant.
The PO Josh Filed against Amber lay in open view in the apt the day of the fall.
Josh's packed bag.
As Josh waiting for his friends to pick him up, Amber decided it was a good time to talk about the split up a final time before they separated for good. She started sorting laundry and brought up the divorce. She told Josh she needed his apt key to give back to her mother and that he needed to find a new pace to stay when he returned from his concert trip. He agreed. They continued to talk and the conversation again turned to Josh's partying and drug use. Josh claimed the trip wasn't a "buddy trip" but to sell pills and come back with money for them and the baby. Amber wanted Josh to get an actual job and stop selling. Josh became more "mean and hostile" at that time, according to Amber.
She got ready to leave for her Gloria's house. She had her sunglasses on top of her head, her purse and keys nearby. She went to pick up her clothes she was taking and started taking Josh's clothes out of the basket. That's when Josh blew up. He asked her what she was doing. She told him that she wasn't doing his laundry anymore and he freaked out. He picked up the basket, dumped her clothes and threw the basket across the room hitting the bedroom patio window that overlooked the balcony, breaking it. He then stormed out of the room.
Amber called the downstairs office and told them they had a broken window and began to vacuum up the glass and then out to the balcony and swept that glass up as well. The office had told her that they already had a glass repairman in the building and that when he was done, they would send him right over to board up theirs and measure it for replacement.
When she came back in, the argument picked up again, this time about the window and how angry her mother would be, and how childish he was acting. Amber secluded herself in the bathroom and began crying so hard that she threw up. Josh came in wanting to talk more. He said he wanted to work things out, but right now he agreed they needed a break. Josh was in the bathroom with her for about 2 minutes. Then the talk escalated to fight again. Josh left the bathroom and texted his friends again to hurry and pick him up.
A few minutes later, the window repair man - Armando Rosales - was at the door. He took a look at the damage. Josh asked him how much the repair would cost and Rosales quoted him $150. Rosales recalls, "he got very angry and asked his wife if her mother would be paying for it." The two made their was into the living room as Rosales finished up outside on the balcony. Rosales says they started fighting in the living room and he could hear them yelling at each other.
When Amber came out of the bathroom, Josh grabbed her the the shoulders. At this point they were in the middle of the living room. She pushed him backwards off of her. He went off balance backwards into the tv stand, catching his foot on it, then tripped on his own feet and couldn't catch himself, eventually falling backwards into and then out of the window. Amber rushed to the window and tried to grab his right foot and succeeded, but his weight pulled her to the window and eventually his foot out of her hands. His shoe came off in her hand and she dropped it out the window thinking she still had time to get him, but she did not and he landed 17 stories below on the 8th story parking garage roof.
Rosales says he heard sounds that made him think that Josh was hitting her and amped himself up to go confront Josh. Rosales was a much smaller man than Josh. He then heard a "scuffling" in the living room and heard a large crash. His first thought was that Amber was in trouble. When he ran into the living room, he saw the open window and and empty living room. He thought she was "knocked out in another room somewhere." Then his cell phone rang. It was his partner, Antonio De Paz, who was outside on the ground floor at this truck getting repair supplies. He told Rosales he just saw someone fall out the window. "Oh my god," Rosales said, "he jumped."
He left the apt and found Amber in the hallway making her way to the elevator. She was screaming and crying. He joined her in the elevator. She was frantic, screaming "is he dead?" over and over. When the elevator opened again, Rosales yelled at some people to call 911 and Amber ran out to where she thought he was but when he wasn't there she stopped confused. She looked up and realized he must have landed on the parking garage that was the buildings first 8 floors and headed back to the elevator. The apt manager, Brad Blake, had come out of his office and joined her in the elevator. He told her to "shup up and be quit" and that she "wasn't helping the situation (by yelling and crying)." She looked at him confused and slid to the floor in a ball and began to sob. She came out at the right level and found him. She rushed to his side.
This pic was Taken from a cell of a resident and used in trial.
"Josh, I didn't mean to!" is what Blake heard her say at Josh's body. "I didn't mean to push you! Wake up!" She rolled him onto his back and into her lap. She began screaming, "someone fix him!" By this time, residents were gathering all over the apt building.
A little after 4pm, first responders rushed to Josh's side. One first responder said that he feared she was so upset that she would jump off the roof. They helped her to her feet and pulled her away, stopping briefly to let her vomit in the parking lot. There was nothing they could do for Josh. He died on impact. They took her vitals. A few moments later, she tried to stand and fainted. The medics tended to her as police arrived.
She borrowed a medic's phone and called Gloria. Witnesses heard: "Josh fell out the window. I pushed him and he fell out the window! I didn't mean to push him! I'm going to jail!" The crowd included bystanders civilians, 8 firefighters, 3 medics, and 13 police officers. Media arrived and they transported Amber to the police station and placed her in an interrogation room with her grandmother. (statements from 1st responders pg 14-15)
Amber told police that her mother was getting her an attorney and that she wouldn't be making any statements until he arrived. She was unaware that the police were recording the room for the next hour and a half while she talked to her grandmother about what happened.
(link to video below, transcript page 72-88) With this video and they statements of witnesses who said they heard her say she pushed her husband, they arrested her for manslaughter.
Pretrial
Amber's attorneys tried to get witnesses from Alaska to testify in her trial, but couldn't afford to bring them to Tulsa, and they couldn't afford to get here on their own. They rounded up written statements and police reports in hopes of using self defense at trial. The state looked into these witnesses and could have brought them here for trial, but it didn't help their case so they elected not to have them testify. The state and the media was painting Josh as an all American war hero with an abusive and "mentally unstable" wife that murdered him purposefully. Anything - evidence or witnesses - that didn't fit their narrative wouldn't be used in trial if they could help it. Instead, the state gathered statements from Josh's friends and family about what a standup guy he was and how unstable Amber was. In fact, most of these statements claimed that Amber was the abuser who often did drugs, even while pregnant.
Amber's bond was set at $250K. Her parents had trouble coming up with the 10% she needed to get out ($25K), but eventually got it paid and Amber was able to go home during trial prep. Within hours the state filed a motion to increase her bond to $500K, meaning that, if passed by the Judge, Amber would have to come up with another $25K or go back to jail while she waited for trial.
June 16th, 2011: Nathan McGowan, whom lived in apt 2508, came forward with a fishy statement to police. He claimed he had heard them clearly arguing and what sounded like running across the apt from "left to right, from the living room to the window," in apt 2509, implying that Amber had charged Josh and purposefully knocking him out the window. The strange part is that there is a concrete stairwell between the two apartments making his apt 40-50 ft away, which would make it very difficult for him to have heard any of this from his apt, and for dang sure not in which direction footsteps were running to. The stairwell itself had 2 concrete walls and was about 10ft wide with concrete stairs in the middle. It went up and down the length of the building. No one, even those closer to the scene than McGowan, claimed to have heard anything like this. McGowan also claimed that Amber was smoking weed that day. When questioned further about it, he then retracted saying that he only smelled weed coming from the apt and assumed it was her. He would later be put on the stand to testify at the trial.
June 20th, 2011: Amber is given a polygraph test by her lawyers. She passes.
June 27th, 2011: A Statement is made that Josh's toxicology report came back clean. Furthering rumors that Amber had made all the drug use up. It should be noted that the tox did NOT test for THC or Oxy, which is what Josh would have been on at the time, so we really don't know if he was clean or not, but all media reports stated that he had no illegal drugs in his system when he died.
August 6th, 2011: Levi Hilberling is born. Photos were posted online of Amber and Levi the day of. Amber was still wearing her wedding ring.
The prosecution finally handed over the video of Amber and Gloria in the police station. They also handed over a phone recording taken from an officer's phone at the time of her arrest. When asked by the defense why minutes were missing, they blamed these omissions on "technical issues." These incomplete recordings would be used in the trial. Defense tried to get them thrown out and excluded from evidence stating that she spoke to Gloria in confidence and it was not part of any interrogation, therefore was a violation of Miranda rights. The motion was denied stating that "no one could reasonably expect privacy in a police station."
In the mean time, her lawyers began putting evidence together for a wrongful death lawsuit against the apt complex.
The windows were found to be anything but up to snuff. They were the original windows from when the building was build in 1966. They were not 1 inch thick safety glass, which is standard in high rise buildings today. Instead, they were "like picture frame glass" being only 9/100ths of an inch thick, 10 times thinner than safety glass. It was a little under ONE Millimeter in thickness.
The window Josh fell from was 16 sq feet, or 4x4, and stood 2 feet off the ground at which what would have been knee high to Josh. The seals and gaskets were old and worn out.
An expert brought in from Chicago took a look and told the defense that if the windows were updated and at least an inch thick safety glass, Josh would have never gone through it. He also stated that the window that far up would have been like a vacuum (the chimney effect of air pressure), pushing inward at the bottom floors and sucking outward once the glass broke at the upper floors. This effect increases dramatically in the heat, and that day Tulsa was pushing triple digits. (pg 223, check out the full analysis at the website of the expert below in sources.)
PRELIMINARY HEARING - Oct 26th, 2011
Between the testimony of witnesses and the recordings, the Judge found there to be enough probably cause to begin a trial. The prosecutor's closing statement said that Amber had caught him by surprise shoving him from behind and he went out the window "face first, feet first, standing straight up."
November 29th, 2011
After prelim, Amber's mood and personality changed. She was no longer positive and upbeat about her defense. She seemed distant and very depressed to family and her attorneys. She often spoke to Josh while looking like she was in a daze. At one point, when she was with Gloria, she even said," Josh is right here, don't you see him?" Everyone began to worry for her health.
For Thanksgiving, everyone in her family left town and took Levi with them. She couldn't leave the city. Amber did not handle being abandoned well and called a friend to bring her some pills. Amber took too many. She was rushed by ambulance to Hillcrest Hospital for an overdose.
The hospital removed her ankle monitor during her stay and it went dead. According to her bond, she had to wear it constantly, keep it charged, and call when it was dead or she needed to remove it. Because she was incapacitated, she couldn't do any of this... but that didn't matter to the courts. Within the next couple days, she would go directly from the hospital to court, then directly to jail with her bond revoked.
DEC 13TH, 2011
The defense argued in court for Amber for them to show mercy as she had never had issues before. The defense won and Amber was released, but with more restrictions, including staying clean and taking routine drug tests.
DEC 15TH, 2011
Amber is set to take a drug test, which comes back "diluted." She takes another the same day. Again, "diluted."
DEC 22ND, 2011
Amber tests positive for THC.
DEC 28TH, 2011
Amber, again, tests positive for THC. Her bond, again, is revoked on Jan 4th. She will now stay in prison until her trial. According to family and her attorneys, she took full responsibility for her actions, stating, "this is on me. I screwed up. I was stupid."
NOVEMBER 2012
Not long after, the Civil Suit in the wrongful death is filed. It names Amber as the sole beneficiary of the claim. This would stand as long as she isn't found guilty. If she is, it would go to the next of age heir to Josh's estate. This would mean his parents, not his child. Ambers parents were angry when they learned it wouldn't default to them. (duh, your not his parents!) According to Amber's attorney in the civil case, her parents bombarded him with questions about the case and how much money could be expected from it. It was well known by this time that paying for her defense had wiped them out and they were having money issues.
NOV 26TH, 2012
Without informing the attorneys or Amber, Rhonda and Bryan (Amber's parents) filed a petition in probate court seeking to be appointed as the personal representatives of Josh Hilberling's Estate. With it, they had filed an objection to Amber representing her husband's estate arguing that she was "incompetent to serve." Josh's parents quickly filed an objection. Amber's attorney quickly countered arguing that Amber should maintain the estate until it is deemed that she cannot by a guilty verdict. The judge agreed, and Amber maintained his estate, but this through Amber into a deeper depression. She felt that her own family were now against her and that she had no one who supported her anymore. Amber started showing up to her meetings with her attorneys visibly high and disconnected from the world around her.
Incarcerated Amber
MARCH 8TH, 2013
Prosecution calls the defense to let them know that they would like to make a deal with Amber. If Amber would plead No-Contest to manslaughter she would get only 5 years in prison and credit of time served. With this deal, she could be out of prison as early as March 2016. She'd be 23 and would still have plenty of time to raise her son and start a new life.
Amber would deny the deal stating that she wanted to clear her name and go to trial.
JURY SELECTION:
(pg 270-272 of PUSHED)
TRIAL:
The prosecution (attorney Michelle Keely) had filed a motion to suppress and prohibit any evidence of Josh's drug use, manufacturing, or sales. The motion was granted.
The court orders to suppress photos of Josh's body or injuries. This would later be overruled, and 19 images would be shown to the court. This was done by the prosecution to prove that Josh "landed on his feet."
The court motions to suppress any evidence about the dangerous conditions of the window. This was argued and ultimately won by the defense. The evidence stayed.
The court moved to make any domestic violence or protective orders between the two inadmissible, but the prosecution argued that since the temp protective order on Amber (even though it had been dismissed by the time of the fall) was in the room, it was therefore part of the crime scene. This worked, and the judge agreed to leave it. So, the prosecution can now talk about Amber's abuse, while the defense cannot talk about Josh's history of abuse towards Amber.
Many witnesses testified that it was Josh who was set to leave Amber and not the other way around. This painted a picture of a woman scorned and angry that her husband could leave her at almost 8 months pregnant, motivated to kill.
During the trial, Rosales changed his story completely (after 2 written testimonies and one spoken in pretrial), claiming that Amber was in fact the angry one and he was worried for Josh the entire time, and that after she coldly stated "I pushed my husband. I killed him." He even stated that when he got into the living room he was reluctant to find Amber because he was "afraid she would push him out the window, too." He said he was afraid to get into the elevator with Amber, that he was "concerned for his safety."
Rosales was the owner of Budget Windows, one of the three other defendants named in the civil suit with the windows. It could have been this reason why he changed his story. Budget glass had been the company that installed the windows in the apt building and maintenance had been subpar. He was being sued, and could lose lots of money.
An inmate named Bonnie Lambdin who had been in county jail with Amber testified. She said, "She (Amber) told me that she and her husband, Josh, had gotten into an argument and that she had caught him off-guard - he was going to leave her, and she caught him off-guard, and she shoved him, and her words were she 'killed the bastard.'" When asked if there was anything else, she said, "yeah, Amber has breast implants."
The window expert from Chicago, Mark Meshulam, was flown in to testify.
Amber's testimony (pg 349) didn't change from what she had always said, but the prosecution claimed that she was cold and robotic. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she'd been planning the tell the whole story - the drugs, the abuse, all of it - for over a year, and at the beginning of the trial she learns she can't. Can you imaging defending yourself in a murder trial when you're not allowed to tell the truth but also EXPECTED to?
During Amber's testimony, the prosecutor ordered Amber to come down to the courtroom floor and re-enact her husband's death with the detective who worked the case.
The prosecutor made sure to question Amber about her clothing she was wearing the day of the fall. It was a white tank top. Keely (the prosecutor) called it a "Spouse beater."
The Jury convicted Amber of murder in the 2nd degree, and punishment was set at 25 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
By 4pm that same day, only half and hour after learning that Amber would be convicted, her parents formally entered the wrongful death lawsuit, apparently hoping that Amber had lost her rights as plaintiff. The court eventually appointed a neutral party to represent the estate. The suit was eventually dropped.
In 2016, Amber's parents filed a new suit on behalf of Levi. (Believe it was dropped as well.)
August 2014, Amber was denied in Appeals Court. The court upheld it's initial ruling.
It was later discovered by Amber's attorney in a phone call to the jailhouse snitch that: before trial she had been high on meth, out of her mind, when Amber allegedly made the allegations to her. She had told the prosecutor this before testifying. Keely told her not to tell anyone.
THREE YEARS AFTER CONVICTION
10/24/2016 - Amber was found dead in her jail cell, hung by the neck. Her hair flattening iron's cord was the cause. It was ruled a suicide. She was 25 years old.
10/23/2016 - a letter from Amber is received at Tulsa's News channel 8. It was written a day before she died. It seemed as if she was positive and looking towards the future (and more interviews).
Family Claims it was not suicide, that she was murdered.
I guess it's up to you to decide.
SOURCES:
https://tulsaworld.com/news/amber-hilberling-case-from-her-husbands-killing-at-a-tulsa-high-rise-to-her-death/collection_c9a09e32-55cc-11e7-8d38-1fad65514cde.html#11
The Oklahoman, Police Room Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzXB3ZBE1xI
KJRH TV, NEWS
Up Close With Corey Taylor, Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El9z25km0Gs
Dr Phil, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FO7ktLRPEU, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ONiHZ369o
HLN, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR3fFQxnMxo
News on 6, Tulsa OK
https://popularmilitary.com/widow-dead-airman-proclaims-innocence-beyond-grave/
https://www.elitedaily.com/social-news/fb-post-brother-alleged-killer-dead/1670662
Photos from the trial: https://www.krmg.com/news/photos-from-amber-hilberling-murder-trial/0JRaDL9brCBmusgQm0MJ9O/
Window Expert - https://chicagowindowexpert.com/window-fall-hilberling/
https://murderpedia.org/female.H/h/hilberling-amber.htm
Autopsy Report, Amber - https://ktul.com/news/local/medical-examiner-releases-autopsy-report-for-amber-hilberling,PDF https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9ZyIAnyCD77MVNneWRWR2VXRUU/view
DOC sued over suicide The estate is seeking more than $75,000. 2018
https://www.amazon.com/Pushed-Oklahoma-Hilberling-Inside-Riveted-dp-153900015X/dp/153900015X/ref=nav_signin?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=&
Pushed: State of Oklahoma VS Amber Hilberling
https://www.whitlockcosmetic.com/
https://tulsaworld.com/archive/amber-hilberling-video-photos-released-by-judge/article_9ef968a1-b8a5-5639-80a5-33d734d05e9b.html