Texas True Crime: The Shocking Case of Stiletto Killer Ana Trujillo

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- In the early morning hours of June 9, 2013, Dr. Stefan Andersson, an accomplished biochemist and research professor at the University of Houston, arrived home at his Museum District apartment in the Parklane high rise with his ex-girlfriend, Ana Trujillo, after a night of drinking.

At 3:41 a.m., a call came in to 911. It was a hysterical Trujillo.

"Listen, he's about to die!" Trujillo yelled through sobs to the dispatcher. The woman on the other end of the line could barely understand the frantic 43-year-old.

Trujillo had stabbed Andersson 25 times with her size nine, five-inch, blue suede high-heeled pump. By the time paramedics arrived it was too late to save the doctor. Andersson had bled to death on his own apartment floor. Trujillo was taken downtown by police for questioning.

She claimed it was self-defense. She said Andersson had wanted to get back together and attacked her when Trujillo turned him down. Investigators didn't buy it. Trujillo was charged with murder.

Over the next nine months, detectives collected evidence and prosecutors built their case. It was clear to them that Andersson was the victim, not the aggressor.

Friends of the 59-year-old scientist described him as kind and gentle, a man who would never lay a hand on a woman.

"He could talk to anyone. But it was because he listened," said Annika Lundqvist, Andersson's close friend. "That's partly why he was so popular with people I think. He was curious about them. Curious about people. He listened to anyone."

Andersson was private and career-focused, which, perhaps, is why many of his friends and family have stayed mostly quiet about what happened. Until now.

For the first time, a decade later, we're learning about who Andersson really was. His dearest friends, speaking for the first time on camera, hope to change the narrative surrounding the doctor's tragic death, remembering Andersson as the accomplished researcher and professor he was.

We're also showing you pivotal evidence not seen since trial: Trujillo's bloody clothing, her hour-long interrogation, 911 call, the crime scene photos, and that infamous blue stiletto.

Nine months after murdering Andersson, Trujillo was convicted. It took the jury less than two hours to decide she was guilty.

Trujillo, now 55 years old, is serving a life sentence at the Gatesville Correctional Facility, about 200 miles northwest of Houston.

"This was just -- it just happened," Trujillo told ABC13 from prison. "It was just an accident. It just got to the point where I had to defend myself. And I hate saying that -- the whole defending. I really was just doing that. I love this man. I care deeply for him."

Our latest Texas True Crime episode, "Stiletto Murder," now streaming on ABC13.