Cape May Court House: A Death in the Night

No one in Cape May Court House, New Jersey, was surprised when Eric Thomas, a popular young doctor, sued the Ford Motor Company for the wrongful death of his pregnant wife, Tracy, after a minor accident involving their powerful Explorer. Backed by the medical examiner's findings, the lawsuit claimed that the Explorer's air bag inflated improperly, causing injuries that resulted in Tracy's suffocation.

But this seemingly simple product-liability case soon evolved into something far darker and more complex . . .

After an exhaustive investigation, Ford turned the tables, alleging that Tracy Thomas did not die from injuries resulting from a defective air bag. She died because of manual strangulation. Now, it was the defendant, the giant automaker Ford, who became a de facto prosecutor, with plaintiff Eric Thomas, a passenger in the Explorer, accused of murdering his wife . . .