How does the Presumed Innocent book end?

Presumed Innocent starring Jake Gyllenhaal has only just started on Apple TV+. Just two episodes in, there are certainly plenty of theories of what happened to Carolyn.

The good thing about the series is that it’s based on a book. Scott Turow published the novel in 1987, and it has already been transformed into one movie. We can look at the way the novel ended to see what we could expect to see in the series.

Keep in mind that the series is likely to make a few more changes to the book than it already has. We don’t expect the ending to fully change, though. The movie made a couple of changes, but nothing major in who killed Carolyn.

Who killed Carolyn in the Presumed Innocent book?

There is a lot about Carolyn that comes out after her murder. It turned out that she was having affairs with other men, and she also helped encourage Judge Lyttle take bribes from defendants. With everything she was doing, the number of people who wanted her dead increased. They also seemed far more likely to want her dead than Rusty.

While Rusty had had an affair with Caroyn, that affair ended months before Carolyn’s death. Rusty realized the type of conniving woman she was when he looked down on him because he didn’t want to run for DA. He also realized that what he wanted from Carolyn was just a fantasy.

It wasn’t anyone directly involved with Carolyn, though. It was all linked to Rusty’s action. He learned at the end of the book that it was his wife who killed her.

The only piece of evidence directly connecting Rusty to the crime scene was a beer glass with his fingerprints on it. That goes missing—it turns out that Detective Lipranzer wasn’t all that keen in helping the prosecution go after his friend Rusty and he kept the evidence. While he wiped the fingerprints off the glass, Rusty shares his theory that his wife killed Carolyn. Whether the glass was left there to frame him or just so he knew she was the murderer was unknown.

Wouldn’t it make sense then for Lip to go after Barbara? Rusty makes it clear that he doesn’t want his son to grow up without his mother around. And so, the murder goes “unsolved.” Rusty does let Barbara know that he knows the truth, though.

What happens in the movie starring Harrison Ford?

In the movie, the ending changes slightly. Rusty finds a small hatchet with blood and hair on it. He then pieces it all together, and Barbara shares that she left some evidence so that Rusty would know it was her, but she never intended for him to face the criminal trial.

Which ending will the series follow? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out. The series finale will air on Wednesday, July 24 on Apple TV+.