Who killed Carolyn in Presumed Innocent?

Presumed Innocent is a novel by Scott Turow, published in 1987. It was first adapted into a 1990 film starring Harrison Ford, and on June 12, 2024, a miniseries starring Jake Gyllenhall which premiered on Apple TV+.

The story follows Rozat "Rusty" Sabich as he gets caught up in a murder case where the victim is Carolyn Polhemus, a woman with whom he had an extramarital affair. Despite having a clear conflict of interest, Rusty's superior, District Attorney Raymond Horgan, insists on assigning him the case.

Rusty can't resist the temptation of tampering with the investigation to conceal his affair. This comes back to bite him when Raymond loses the District Attorney election to his rival Nico Della Guardia, who then prosecutes Rusty himself for the crime.

Despite all the twists and turns the story of Presumed Innocent takes, it turns out that Rusty's wife, Barbara Sabich, killed Carolyn.

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Why did Barbara murder Carolyn in Presumed Innocent?

In the final act of Presumed Innocent, Rusty reveals to Barbara that he's figured out she's the true killer. Despite all the schemes Carolyn was entangled with, the motive for Barbara's murder has nothing to do with them.

The truth is that Rusty had an affair with Carolyn, and Barbara killed her to exact revenge. As a result, Rusty ends up blaming himself for everything that's happened.

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What is Presumed Innocent about?

Jake Gyllenhall stars in the Apple TV adaptation of Presumed Innocent (Image via Apple TV+)

Presumed Innocent is a legal drama that explores the themes of infidelity, conflicts of interest, and judicial corruption. Rusty, the main protagonist, is himself a morally compromised person who's cheated on his wife.

When Rusty is assigned to investigate the rape and murder of Carolyn, the woman he had the affair with, he abuses his authority to cover up his involvement with her. He replaces Harold Greer, the original detective, with Dan Lipranzer, who he can more easily manipulate.

This blows up in his face when Raymond Horgan, the man he's working for, loses the District Attorney election, and his rival, Della Guardia, takes over. Della Guardia works with Tommy Molto, the head of the homicide division, to pin the crime on Rusty, and when the affair is unearthed, Rusty is charged with the murder.

While working with defense attorney Sandy Stern to build his case, Rusty discovers that Carolyn had slept with numerous influential men, and was involved in a bribery scandal involving the judge presiding over the case, Larren L. Lyttle. Furthermore, Raymond had known about the bribery but convinced Lyttle to stay on anyway, despite him offering to resign.

Harrison Ford (Rusty) and Raul Julia (Sandy) in the 1990 film (Image via Warner Bros)

Sandy uses his knowledge of this bribery as leverage for his defense and successfully argues that the prosecution's case is circumstantial, with no hard evidence.

This is because the biggest piece of evidence tying Rusty to the crime is a beer glass with his fingerprints, which has gone missing from police evidence.

The evidence of Carolyn's rape, a spermicidal contraceptive, is also called into question when she's revealed to have undergone tubal ligation, suggesting that the contraceptive may have been planted by someone else.

The case against Rusty is dismissed due to lack of evidence, and Dan Lipranzer later reveals to Rusty that he swiped the beer glass from the police to sabotage the prosecution. Rusty disposes of the evidence, ensuring he'll never be tied to the murder again.

However, after the trial is over, Rusty eventually confronts Barbara, as he's figured out she's the real killer.

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Did Barbara mean to frame her husband?

Bonnie Bedelia as Barbara Sabich. (Image via Warner Bros)

In the novel, it's left an open question whether or not Barbara also meant to take Rusty down by framing him for the murder. In the 1990 film, Barbara says she didn't mean to have him take the fall, but wanted him to figure out she was the killer.

In both the novel and the 1990 adaptation of Presumed Innocent, Rusty chooses not to go to the authorities with this information, allowing Barbara to get off scot-free. This is because he doesn't want to break up his family by having his son's mother go to prison, and because he doesn't think the prosecution would succeed anyway.

But, even more personally, since Rusty blames himself for everything, he considers living with the guilt of Carolyn's death to be his due punishment.

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Presumed Innocent has returned to the public eye thanks to the 2024 Apple TV+ adaptation, which promises to retell the story from a fresh, modern perspective. The show premiered on Tuesday, June 12, and new episodes will be released every Tuesday at 12 am EST.