Annamarie Rintala was discovered strangled in her house in the tranquil village of Granby, Massachusetts, one quiet evening in the spring of 2010. The paramedic’s closest friend was found guilty of her death after four trials, but at last she received some much-needed justice. The intricate legal procedure is followed and every detail is laid forth in detail in both NBC’s “Dateline: Down the Basement Stairs” and ID’s “Deadline: Crime With Tamron Hall: The Painted Paramedic.” We have the information you need to find out who the offender is and where they are right now.
How Did Annamarie Rintala Die?
On July 30, 1972, in Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, Lucy (Martin) and William Cochrane welcomed Annamarie Rintala (née Cochrane) into the world. Following her graduation from Cathedral High School, she attended classes at a number of universities, including Springfield College, Notre Dame, American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Master Dive School in Palm Beach, Florida. She later enrolled in a paramedic school in Granby, Connecticut.
At AMR Ambulance Medical Services in Holyoke and Springfield, Annamarie was employed as a paramedic. She was passionate about her work, which involved saving lives and assisting those in need. She enjoyed travelling, playing golf, taking photographs, and scuba diving in her own time. She also loved to support the Notre Dame football team. She went to Granby and adopted a child with Cara Lee Rintala, a fellow paramedic, after falling in love. Before tragedy struck, their small family was content and typical.
When Cara and their 2-year-old daughter arrived home on March 29, 2010, at approximately 7:00 p.m., they discovered Annamarie sprawled out on their basement floor. Before going to check on her boyfriend, she hurried to a neighbor’s house and begged them to phone 911. As soon as they saw Cara holding the body, the first responders on the site declared her dead. However, the most startling aspect of the crime scene was the discovery of paint on both the victim’s and her wife’s bodies in addition to the basement floor.
The paint was characterised by the responders as “white, wet, and shiny.” Annamarie then had 23 new, distinct bruises on her body, including many blunt head injuries, according to the medical examiner. The incisions around her neck supported the autopsy report’s conclusion that physical strangulation was the cause of death. It was also noted by the police and paramedics who had transported the body that it was “cold and stiff.”
Who Killed Annamarie Rintala?
The detectives had suspicions about Cara and started a thorough investigation of her. Cara gave the police a timeline of her activities on March 29 during her interrogation. On the evening of March 28, she and Annamarie got into a fight over her hanging out with a male acquaintance at home while the latter was away. Cara and their daughter went out at 3 p.m. the following day, and the investigators tried to follow their every move by cross-referencing security footage and tangible evidence.
Cara’s assertion that she went to the Holyoke Mall was confirmed when she was seen on camera just before 5:00 p.m. After that, she went to a McDonald’s, where security footage showed her parking her truck close to the back lot and throwing a few things in the trash bin. Before heading back home, she continued on to a nearby restaurant and a grocery store. On March 30, a state trooper went over to look through the McDonald’s garbage and took out three rags, one of which had what looked like a “faint bloodstain.”
The largest advancement in law enforcement was ultimately brought about by this bloodstain. After analysing the bloodstain, the crime laboratory of the Massachusetts State Police determined that the victim might have contributed. Cara and Annamarie supposedly had “an acrimonious, at times violent, marriage,” which culminated in the former strangling her spouse in March 2010, according to the prosecution. In order to “demonstrate that she believed the victim was alive,” she allegedly drove about all day, texting and contacting the victim whenever she could. This was how she allegedly disposed of the evidence.
Additionally, it was claimed that Cara poured the paint before the first responders got to the site in an effort to obliterate any forensic evidence and further complicate the case. In October 2011, she was charged with the first-degree murder of Annamarie, who was 37 years old. The jury members were unable to make a unanimous decision, resulting in mistrials in both her first trial in 2013 and her second trial in 2014 for her. Her third trial in 2016 was very different; it ended with a conviction and a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but the decision was quickly reversed.
Ultimately, on October 5, 2023, after her fourth trial and two and a half days of jury deliberation, 56-year-old Cara was found guilty of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter. After that, she was given a sentence of 12–14 years in prison, with credit for the 7 and a half years she had previously served, and in November 2021 she was allowed to return home on a $50,000 cash bond as she awaited her fourth trial.
