But it soon became a murder mystery. I said, are you sitting down . Because once they discovered what killed her, the next question was who. If he couldnt have her, no one was going to have her. I still havent made sense of it. I still havent made sense of it. I am lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres Dennis Murphy with lethal weapon. Reporter the Emergency Room Trauma Team was losing her. Shed been wheeled in glassyeyed and gasping for breath. Her heart stopped, and they had to restart her heart. Reporter and within minutes machines were doing the breathing and blood circulation for 41year old autumn klein. Wife, mother, medical doctor, a rising star in the field of womens neurology. A star whose light was dimming even as they tried desperately to keep her going. These are doctors who are treating trauma patients every day. This one had totally puzzled them. Reporter the woman failing in the e. R. , dr. Klein, was in many ways what modern pittsburgh was all about. The gleaming downtown towers didnt need to worry anymore about grimy soot from the steel mill smokestacks along the river. The Steel Industry here had mostly died by the early 80s and moved overseas. Universities, technology, medicine and finance, that was the foundation of the new pittsburgh they called the renaissance. And Robert Ferrante and his wife, dr. Autumn klein, relocated from boston, were just the kind of renaissance minds the city was hoping to attract. Autumns colleague, dr. Karen russe. She said that she loved pittsburgh. She loved her patients, that the people of pittsburgh were wonderful and she was so happy to be there. Reporter autumn had always intended to be a caregiver. Her cousin, close as sisters, sharon king, remembers that even as a little girl she administered playtime tlc. We had a doctors office. And our patients were our stuffed animals. Reporter and dr. Autumn klein was holding clinic hours, huh . She was the doctor. Reporter it was an interest that took root early for autumn and never left. Always a top of her class student in the baltimore area. She later got her undergraduate degree in neuroscience from amherst. Helping people was the main thing. She was just so smart, so intelligent, so thoughtful and so caring. Reporter you and your husband must have been very, very proud of her. We were. Reporter lois klein is autumns mom. We knew that she was putting her mind on her studies, and we were giving her the best education we could possibly give her, and she was taking advantage of it. Reporter med school was a certainty. Autumn announced she was heading to boston. Her mother worried the citys crime rate was too high. She said, im going to Boston University medical school. And i said, no, youre not. And she said, yes, i am. And i said, no, youre not. And she said, yes, i am. And she went to Boston University medical school. She had a mind of her own. Reporter in medical school autumn developed a romantic thing for a research colleague and he for her. Robert ferrante, bob to his friends, held a ph. D. In neuroscience and was hunting for cures to devastating brain illnesses like lou gehrigs and huntingtons diseases. He was also more than 20 years her senior, divorced with two grown kids. I simply told her that that was a little bit too old for her. I didnt think that that was the right age. Reporter but two days before graduation from med school a determined autumn, wasting no time, was walking down the aisle with her much older bridegroom. And what was your impression of him, sharon . Nice guy, a charming guy. A bit heady, you know . Reporter egghead . Yeah. Reporter nerdy . Yeah. And she kind of was and she kind of wasnt, you know. Reporter the couple made a home just outside boston. In a few years, a baby girl arrived into their hectic lives. Autumn took it in stride. A 2 00 a. M. Diaper change is nothing for her. Shes, you know i mean, a 2 00 a. M. Call from the hospital, you have to come in to take care of this patient, you know, shes used to that. Reporter the new mother was becoming a soughtafter specialist in neurological ailments in women. Because of her expertise, she was interviewed for an educational video distributed by the discovery channel. Women with epilepsy really need to be started on a seizure medication in advance of pregnancy. Reporter but autumn was growing frustrated with boston. And professionally she felt as though shed crested there. Thats when pittsburgh loomed into view. In 2011 the university of pittsburgh and its renowned sister Medical Center offered an ideal career move. For bob, a new research lab. For autumn, a chance to head her own department. Autumn was not just a rising star. She was a shooting star. She was nationally recognized as a leader in her field at a very young age. Reporter but still, something was gnawing at her, a kind of emotional vacuum. She wanted to have another child. By now had her early 40s, she was taking fertility treatments, hormone injections. But nothing was happening. Was it really eating away at her, that she wasnt getting pregnant, time was going by . Yes. And, you know, just speaking from experience, fertility treatments are the loneliest place a woman will ever go. Reporter looking back, her mom, lois, recognizes now some worrisome signs, changes in her daughter. I kind of saw that she wasnt herself too much anymore, that she was kind of a little what do you call it kind of a little down maybe here and there. Reporter then in early 2013 the couple tried a new approach to the baby problem. A fertility doctor thought the bodybuilding supplement known as creatine just might help autumn get pregnant. As it turned out, her husband bob had been using the stuff in his research. So on april 17th autumn klein seemed ready to give creatine a try. She texted her husband that day, i ovulate tomorrow. He answered, perfect timing. Creatine. Smiley face. These are Hospital Security camera pictures that show autumn throughout the day and leaving work late that night. Ten minutes later she was home. And minutes after that her husband, bob ferrante, was on the phone to 911. Allegheny county 911, whats the address of your emergency . Hello. Hello. Please, please, please reporter his wife slumped on the Kitchen Floor, gasping for breath. The dispatcher asked the husband what he was seeing. I think my wife is having a stroke. Reporter paramedic steve mason and his partner arrived at the ferrante home to find a woman in very bad shape. She was lying on her back on the Kitchen Floor. Her eyes were open, and she was unresponsive. Reporter an hour after walking home from the Medical Center where she worked, dr. Autumn klein, seen here in hospital surveillance footage, was back as a gravely ill patient in its emergency room. And whatever was happening to her was a medical mystery to the team trying to keep her alive. Then they saw the blood. So neon red, so out of their experience. When we come back, autumn is surrounded by some of the best doctors in the country. But no doctor can work miracles. To them, this was out of this world. Just couldnt make any sense out of it. Maybe someone else could. Dr. Autumn klein had been rushed by ambulance to the e. R. Of the university of pittsburgh Medical Center after slumping to the Kitchen Floor of her home. We thought that there was definitely a possibility of a stroke. And we knew that she was in critical condition. Reporter now the trauma team surrounding her was trying desperately to keep her vital signs going. Alan jennings, at the time a reporter with nbcs pittsburgh affiliate wpxi, covered the story. He recounted what doctors later said about that night. She had this blank stare in her eyes. Barely a pulse. Reporter and they didnt know what had happened to her . No, they didnt. Reporter autumn was struggling to breathe. And then in comes the ventilator. Reporter the ventilator, the machines are now taking over. The machines taking over to keep her alive so they can until they can determine what in the world was going on. Reporter at some point, alan, did they realize that this is one of their own . This is that brilliant, young doctor that works in the womens neurology unit . They did at one point. I dont know that they would have treated anyone any differently, but she was one of them. One of the team. Reporter when autumns husband, medical researcher bob ferrante, arrived in the trauma room, he tried to give the team some of his wifes medical history. He explained shed been on fertility hormones. She had headaches, fainting spells, and that she generally was expressing that she hadnt been feeling well. Reporter he told the e. R. Doctors he thought his wife had suffered a stroke, though diagnostic tests said otherwise. By then bob ferrante had already called his father and motherinlaw at their home near baltimore with the bad news. Autumns mother lois klein said they got in the car immediately to drive through the night to pittsburgh. She was counting out the exits. And i said, please, let me get to frederick. Then, please, let me get to hagerstown. Please let me get to hancock and please let me get to pittsburgh. Reporter back in the e. R. , a resident trying to rally autumns failing body stuck an i. V. Into her and node something quite odd her blood in his tube showed shocking red. And the oebs of that doc at the bedside that this blood is too red. Why am i seeing blood this brilliantly red saturation . To them this was out of this world. Just couldnt make any sense out of it. Reporter eventually, autumn went into cardiac arrest. Doctors managed to bring her back, barely. They actually took turns doing chest compressions to try to get some reaction from her, to try to get her heart moving and pumping again. Reporter another doctor reviewed autumns symptoms and ordered up a test. He wanted a toxicology screen of her blood. Hours passed. Her blood was being pumped into a machine that was doing the oxygenating work of her heart and lungs. At some point word had reached her cousin, sharon, now living in Washington State. Sharon talked by phone to autumns frantic husband bob and was grateful for his medical background. He was calling his colleagues. You know, he knows this neurologist or this person, this, you know great. Use your resources. You know, i had no idea what was going on. Reporter eventually, though, autumn lost brain function. By the time her parents finally made it to the hospital, they could see there was little hope for their daughter. They had a lot of tubes and things hooked up to her. And i held her hand, and i talked to her. And i told her, you heal everybody elses brain. Why cant you heal your own . Reporter sharon wanted desperately to fly out from Washington State to see autumn, but her aunt lois told her to wait. Thats my other half in that hospital bed. I need to be there. Reporter doctors managed to keep autumn alive for two full days. At some point sharon could tell that autumns grieving husband had run out of hope. And he did say to me, im going to go spend the last night with the love of my life. And at the time i thought, its not over yet. Reporter but in the e. R. Suite, everyone knew it was. Autumns little girl was brought to her bedside. She made some comment to somebody about, i dont think mommys ever going to come home again. Reporter on the third day after shed been wheeled into the e. R. , autumns exhausted colleagues pronounced her dead and turned off the machines keeping her alive. A lot of my life feels like it doesnt make sense without her. You know, she was there for everything. Reporter autumns husband and family now had Funeral Plans to make and even darker days to get through, but one person wasnt done with the mysterious case of autumn klein. His work was just Getting Started. Dr. Todd luckasevic, associate medical examiner for allegheny county, performed the autopsy on autumn. It was regarded as a sudden, unexpected death. Reporter which meant the county needed to figure out why this otherwise Healthy Woman was dead. There was no reason to suspect fertility hormones, vitamins or supplements like creatine could have led to her collapse. Her brain showed no signs of a stroke. Though an examination of the heart did reveal an abnormally shaped heart valve. Its a congenital anomaly found in approximately 2 of the population. Reporter does it lead to early death . Not in your 40s. You need to be symptomatic. Reporter at the conclusion of autumn kleins autopsy, the medical examiner was perplexed as to what killed this woman. Im not seeing anything. Im seeing a healthy white female, that for all intents and purposes, should be alive. Reporter on the form that asked for cause of death, dr. Luckasevic wrote pending, no definitive answer. But in a few days time he would have more information. The bloodwork was back from the lab. Autumn klein had suffered a very unnatural death. Coming up what exactly had killed autumn . I was shocked. And i couldnt say anything. Or is the question who . And im an arborist with ipg e in the sierras. The drought in california has killed trees on a massive scale. Any of those trees that fail into power lines could cause a wildfire or a power outage. Public safety is the main goal of our program. Thats why were out removing these hundreds of thousands of hazard trees. Having tools and Technology Gives us a huge edge to identify hazard trees. My hope is that the work were performing allows that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. Together, were building a better california. Two days after allegheny countys associate medical examiner performed his autopsy on autumn klein, the phone rang. The voice on the other end was from the hospital. Autumns blood tests were back. Dr. Todd luckasevic was startled to hear what the lab found. Lethal, deadly amount of cyanide. Reporter what did that tell you . That told me that i have a cause of death now. Reporter cyanide. The poison of the nazi death camps and the Jonestown Massacre of the 70s. Lethal, fastkilling stuff, not a common cause of death. Ive done approximately 3,500 cases in my career, and this is my first case of cyanide poisoning. Reporter the labs toxicology work found cyanide levels of 3. 35 milligrams per liter in autumns blood. So this is a lot of cyanide. That is correct. Reporter still, he needed to confirm the results with his own tests. He wanted to reexamine autumns remains to see if he could find cyanide in other parts of her body. But by then he had released it to the funeral home. So heres an easy solution. You go back to the body and you take a second look. Would love to. When we got the phone call on tuesday that she had a lethal level of cyanide in her blood, i called immediately the funeral home, and she had already been cremated. Reporter but the m. E. Still had samples of autumns blood. Its toxicology unit performed its own test for cyanide. Analyst alesia smith added a simple solution to the blood. If cyanide was present in the sample, it would turn the center well of this disc purple. She and luckasevic demonstrated what they found. This example that we used today is very representative of autumn kleins sample. Its almost identical. Reporter sure enough, the sample changed color. Her color change was a deep, kind of dark purplishpink. And it was obviously positive for cyanide. Reporter does that saturation of color tell you you got a lethal amount . Oh yes, definitely. Any amount, even the one milligram per liter, even the light pink color change means theres cyanide there, a significant, toxic, if not lethal amount of cyanide present. Reporter autumn klein had died of cyanide poisoning, no question about it, he said. He grew even more confident when he reviewed the details of how she had collapsed and suffered. Cyanide, once ingested, can quickly starve the body of oxygen. So oxygens on the blood, but its not being utilized by the body. Reporter it was the trapped oxygen that had turned the blood in autumns veins that vivid red. He also considered the 911 call. As her husband is begging for help, autumn could be heard moaning in the background. Now shes, like, having a seizure, like shes jesus christmas, sweetheart reporter luckasevic says that was likely autumn struggling to breathe, another important sign that cyanide was in her system. He knew he had a bizarre death on his hands and immediately contacted the police. I call the detectives, and i let them know, cause of death is cyanide poisoning. You need to help me with the manner of death. Reporter he wanted to know if autumn had committed suicide or been poisoned, in other words murdered. There was a note on my desk saying that the Coroners Office had a woman come in who had a lethal level of cyanide in her system. Reporter cyanide poisoning. Yes. Reporter how many of those have you seen in your career . This is my first one. Reporter soon autumns mom was given the news about the blood results. She then called her niece, sharon king, out in washington. She said, are you sitting down . I was like, okay. Then she said it was cyanide. Reporter just like that. And i was shocked. And i couldnt say anything. I couldnt catch my breath. Reporter when autumns colleague dr. Karen roos heard about it, she knew right away her friend had suffered an agonizing death. As a medical professional, i know about how people die of cyanide poisoning, and i couldnt dwell on that. Reporter and just as in an old Agatha Christie cozy murder mystery about a cyanide poisoning in the village, the inspector was about to call. Pittsburghs senior investigators were en route to talk to Robert Ferrante. Did he have any idea how cyanide found its way into the bloodstream of his late wife . Coming up a husbands theory of how and why his wife died. So what did he say . Why would she do this to herself . What was he suggesting . And did he know something that police didnt . Its time for the biggest sale of the year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. It senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you effortlessly comfortable. And snoring. Does your bed do that . The new 360 smart bed is part of our biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. And right now the sleep number queen c2 mattress now only 699. Ends sunday five days after doctors turned off the machines on dr. Autumn klein, Pittsburgh Police detectives made their way to the threestory brick house where she made a home with her daughter and husband, medical researcher Robert Ferrante. Veteran detective jim mcgee took the lead. Ferrante greeted him and his partner. We Start Talking to him and what he can tell us about what happened to his wife at that point. Reporter ferrante told the detectives how his wife had arrived home that night a little before midnight. And how she came through the door and just collapsed on the floor. Oh, god. Reporter he then recounted what he told 911. I think my wife is having a stroke. Reporter he thought his wife had suffered a stroke. The detectives informed him he was wrong about that. We ask him if he knew that his wife died of cyanide poisoning. Reporter so what did he say . He kind of gasped and said, why would she do this to herself . Reporter why would she do that to herself . Thats correct. Reporter to the cops the man looked visibly shaken. It seemed he was suggesting his wife had committed suicide. Ferrante then told the story about autumn trying and failing to get pregnant. He said shed recently been taking the supplement called creatine in the hopes it would help with fertility. Veteran detective harry lutton understood the late wifes emotional agony. Shes trying to have another child. And thats a lot of stress on a woman when theyre trying to have children and they cant have children. Reporter could autumns distressed state of mind have led to suicide . Detectives had to consider that as a theory. But cyanide . Thats an unusual way to kill yourself. And its a hardtoget poison. How could autumn have gotten her hands on it . Well, we looked into the labs that you know, where she worked. She didnt work in a lab. She worked with patients. Reporter she was a clinic doctor, right . Yes. Reporter she was working hands on . Yes. Reporter but there were others labs at the medical complex, labs stocked with poisons, including cyanide. Maybe autumn wandered into one of those. Detectives pulled Hospital Security cam footage from that last day, and heres what they saw. Thats autumn as shes getting ready to leave work. She goes up a set of escalators, disappears for roughly six minutes before coming back down and heading home. Question. In those missing minutes from the cameras eye had she found her way into a lab with toxins . And maybe this is where she goes to get her hands on cyanide to, inexplicably, kill herself . Thats correct. Reporter yet there was a problem with that scenario, a big one. The investigators learned that to get into any of those labs autumn would have needed a special access card. Is there any sign that she had a card swipe that put her in an area where another researcher or somebody might have had cyanide . No. Theres no card swipes at the time that she left work. Reporter the more they dug, the less detectives believed this unexpected death was a suicide. True, autumn was frustrated by her infertility, but disappointment was all it was, thinks her cousin, sharon. Suicide was never on her radar. That was not autumn. That was just not autumn. Reporter family, friends and colleagues agreed. Autumn was a woman with plans to live, not die. She had a daughter she adored and was scheduling vacations and new Research Projects just before her death. So if she didnt take it, and your theory is that she hasnt killed herself, the only place to go is homicide. Thats correct. Reporter who would want to murder autumn klein . The spouse is almost always a suspect till theyre not. But the husband here, bob ferrante, was a renowned medical researcher. He didnt seem to fit the bill. Professional guy. Yes. Reporter well regarded. There dont seem to be any money issues in the household. Thats true. Reporter in fact, the marriage of ferrante and klein appeared to outsiders to be a good one. Still, detectives had to consider the husbands line of research. He worked routinely with toxins in his lab, but not with cyanide. More than a week after they first interviewed the husband, detectives began talking to his lab associates. The people that we talked to said that there was no research with cyanide. Reporter yet detectives were just Getting Started with their investigation. They combed through labs and laptops, interviewed friends and colleagues, reanalyzed hospital footage. I think once we got all that together and got all the pieces of that puzzle together, we had our picture. Reporter a picture, he said, that revealed only one person who had the motive and the means to kill autumn klein. Her husband, bob ferrante. Though the evidence was largely circumstantial, three months after autumns death the cops were ready to make an arrest. At the time bob ferrante was visiting his sister in florida. Pittsburgh pd detective lutton headed south to make the arrest. But when he got there, the sister said ferrante was gone. She said that he got a phone call from an attorney and he got in a car and said, ive got to go, and he left. Reporter did you think that dr. Ferrante was doing a runner on you . He was trying to get away . Yes. Yes. I mean, we were told that he was going to his attorney. But hes running from us. He knew we were coming. Reporter on your books, hes a fugitive . Yes. Reporter but not for long. As it turned out, ferrante was on his way back to pittsburgh to turn himself in, says his attorney, when he was pulled over by state police in West Virginia and later handed over to pittsburgh authorities. Police had their man. Now they and the commonwealth of pennsylvania had to prove to 12 men and women that he was the right one. They heard a clean case . They heard a very clean case. Reporter to jeffrey a. Manning, the judge who would preside over it all, the case against bob ferrante, far from a sure thing, could well leave jurors scratching their heads. And im not one for predicting verdicts, but i would not have predicted one here. Reporter it could have gone either way and you wouldnt have been surprised . That would be correct. Coming up was jealousy a possible motive for murder . What had bob ferrante discovered about his wife . If this were somebody that she was remotely interested in, she would have told me. I love you too, nana. When older adults live alone, it can lead to loneliness. Checking in is simply a call, letter, or lunch date away. Keep the conversation going from one generation to the next. Dr. Autumn klein and Robert Ferrante had all the trappings of success and happiness. A nice threestory home a short drive from the heart of the city. Prestigious jobs at the university of pittsburgh and its Medical Center. At one time it all seemed enviable. Did you think they were a good couple . Yeah. Yeah, i did. Reporter and then it all went so wrong. Autumn, dead from apparent cyanide poisoning. Her husband now, a year and a half later, standing trial for her murder. Even to the presiding judge with years on the bench this was a first. You had a very intelligent man whos accused of poisoning his wife. You have experts who argue with one another. Reporter and tiptop good lawyering. Very good lawyering. Very good experts. Reporter and it would be up to prosecutor Lisa Pellegrini to explain what drove an otherwise mildmannered scientist to kill the wife he supposedly loved, and in such a cruel manner. She opened by describing a man infuriated, one losing control of his more successful wife who had in turn grown tired of him. Alan jennings in the courthouse. Reporter reporter Alan Jennings was in the courtroom. Prosecutors say he was obsessed, jealous. His marriage, he realized he was going to be dumped by his wife. Reporter the prosecutor asserted that the marriage was in freefall at the time of her death. Autumn believed her husband had emotionally checked out, especially when it came to the issue of having another child. She more or less told her cousin, sharon, he was a cold fish. My husbands a psychologist. She said, i need you to ask him if theres such a gene as for compassion. Because if there is, then bob is lacking it. Reporter wow. That just describes acres of sadness, doesnt it . Yeah. Yeah. Reporter the prosecutor showed an email autumn had sent her husband in the months before her death. She wrote, i realize now i have been alone in this entire emotional journey. I cant even speak to you without getting angry. Did she ever say, sharon, im going to leave him . This isnt working . Yes. Reporter said she said that to you . She did to me. Yes. Reporter and he was positively rattled to the core, said the prosecutor, when he found out autumn was texting and emailing a male colleague shed spent time with at a conference in san francisco. Bob ferrante, said the prosecutor, suspected his wife was having an affair. Autumns cousin was certain that wasnt true. If this were somebody that she was remotely interested in, she would have told me. Reporter so you dont think anything physical was happening certainly . No. No. Reporter but as the prosecutors told it, the defendant believed otherwise. Rather than shoring up a crumbling marriage, the embittered scientist his wife the new rising star came up with a coldblooded solution. He poisoned her. The motivation. Just jealousy. That if he couldnt have her, no one was going to have her. Reporter ferrante, the prosecutor said, thought he could get rid of his wife quickly by slipping her cyanide. When she didnt die immediately, he had to come up with a plan b to mislead the paramedics and doctors. The prosecutor played that 911 call. I think my wife is having a stroke. The prosecution was establishing dr. Ferrantes attempts to lead everybody that he encountered, starting with the 911 operator. And he said, well, i think shes had a stroke. Reporter so steering it. Steering it. Reporter then when autumn finally died, according to the prosecutor, ferrante said something that he thought would keep the cause of death secret. Lois klein testified that her soninlaw said flatly he did not want an autopsy. I said, im her mother, and i want an autopsy. Reporter because you wanted to know the cause of death. I said, i cant believe you dont want to know what happened to her. And his response was that people do that. They do autopsies, and then the people dont want to know the results of it. So that was that. Reporter the prosecution had described a man whod lost control of his wife, killed her, and then tried desperately to cover it up. Defense attorneys bill difenderfer and wendy williams. You get this picture of a jealous guy whose career is being eclipsed by his wife. Thinks shes got a lover. And bang, shes dead. Well, thats the spin that the commonwealth put on this thing. And obviously, we think the reality is thats not the case. Reporter they said the prosecutors alleged motive here made for great melodrama, but it was miles away from the truth. Reporter bob was very successful. Huntingtons disease, a. L. S. , on the verge of some big breakthroughs. Reporter bob ferrante, they countered, was a brilliant researcher and a loving man devoted to helping his wife, not hurting her. And to sell that image, they flabbergasted the courtroom by calling the defendant himself to the stand. So in this case the defendant made that choice. Ive often said that its risky at best. The minute the defendant takes the stand, we now have the governments proof versus the defendants credibility. Reporter a gamble, his defense team said, ferrante was willing to make. He wanted jurors to see him for the man he was, one who loved his bright, complicated wife. He wanted to help the jury understand what was going on in their marriage. And, you know, tell them how badly his wife wanted to have a child. Reporter yes, he conceded, he had been a jealous husband for a brief moment. But then he and autumn had kissed and made up in the weeks before her death. They go on a trip to puerto rico with their daughter. As the neighbors describe, when they come back, theyre glowing, theyre in love, theyre holding hands. Those actions speak a thousand words. Reporter in the moments after his wife collapsed, he said he honestly thought she was having a stroke. When she died, he wanted simply to honor her wishes and donate her organs. And thats why he did not want an autopsy. He was aware that if an autopsy is done, a full autopsy is done, it will destroy the ability to donate the organs, which was his wifes request. Reporter a loving and loyal husband to the end, according to the defense. Not a Mad Scientist treating his wife like a lab rat, killing her with cyanide. Speaking of which, they said, the prosecutions claim of how autumn died was all wrong. There is not evidence that my client had anything to do with her death, let alone her death caused by cyanide. Reporter an ageold poison, its connection to a medical researcher and his doctor wife, were about to be analyzed beneath a very different kind microscope the unforgiving eye of the law. Coming up would someone as smart as Robert Ferrante really use something as obvious and easy to traces a cyanide . Thats like me buying a shotgun, telling everybody, hey, i just bought a shotgun, and two hours later my wife what if there was a paint. That had the power to awaken something old. Or painfully dated. Or something you simply thought was lost forever. Because it could form a strong bond, regardless of age. If a paint could give any timeworn surface stunning new life. You have to wonder. Is it still paint . Regal select exterior from benjamin moore®. Only available at independently owned paint and hardware stores. The commonwealth of pennsylvania had tried to paint Robert Ferrante as a jealous husband driven by rage to poison his wife. How did he do it . Prosecutors believed he slipped the cyanide inside a drink and gave it to her shortly after she came home that night. A theory, said judge manning, that was tough to prove. No one stood there with their two eyes and said, i saw him put the cyanide in the drink and give it to her. No one said that. Reporter that is a weak point in the prosecutions argument . Of course it is. Reporter they wish they had it but they didnt. Of course it is. But keep in mind, circumstantial evidence, even though most people dont believe, what it really is is very powerful. Reporter prosecutor Lisa Pellegrini told the court that ferrante used his wifes vulnerability, namely, her infertility, to trick her into taking cyanide that night. Earlier in the day, autumn had sent him this text. I ovulate tomorrow. He texted back. Perfect timing. Creatine. Smiley face. Creatine. Creatine. Reporter this is the solution. This is it. Reporter ferrante, the prosecutor alleged, had convinced his wife that creatine could help her get pregnant. He whipped up a poison drink, knowing shed take it as soon as she came home. The poisoned drink theory was corroborated by something told later to a doctor friend of ferrante. Dr. Ferrante told him, he said, i dont know. She came home. I gave her a creatine drink. She drank it and she passed out on the floor. Reporter and no one may have been the wiser for it, if it hadnt been for a lab test that found a skyhigh amount of cyanide in autumns blood. Subsequent tests, the prosecutor added, were also positive for the poison. Associate medical examiner dr. Todd luckasevic underscored that for the jury. What caused this womans death was . Cyanide poisoning. Period. Reporter no doubt . No doubt. Reporter nor was there any doubt, said the prosecutor, as to who poisoned autumn. Police discovered the defendants laptop hidden in an office safe. And inside it a wealth of information that told them bob ferrante had indeed been a very busy researcher in the months before his wifes death. Dr. Ferrante was googling searches concerning cyanide, where to purchase it, how to purchase it, the effects on people. Reporter and he didnt stop there. The prosecutor said bob ferrante then made an interesting request to his lab associates, something later relayed to detectives. He goes to the purchasing person in the laboratory, and he tells this person that he wants to order a bottle of cyanide. Reporter has he ever done that before, detective . Never. Reporter better yet, the detectives explained, the doctor asked for the cyanide to be delivered overnight. And when is all this in relation to autumns slumping to the floor in her home . Two days prior. Reporter two days prior . Yes. Reporter ferrante, he said, had even left his fingerprint on the container, which interestingly to them had 8. 3 grams of cyanide missing. What, like a heaping teaspoon full maybe of cyanide . I think about a teaspoon full would be about eight grams. Reporter is that a lethal amount of cyanide . Yes. Reporter prosecutor Lisa Pellegrini said the defendant thought he was so smart, fooling his wife and then everyone else by using a poison he assumed was untraceable. Shes standing and looking at the jury, points to ferrante, that man right there was one blood test away from the perfect murder. Reporter murder, responded the defense . What murder . Robert ferrante, it said, did not commit a crime because there was no crime. I said as forcefully as i could, we dont believe and we will never believe that autumn klein died from cyanide. Reporter the defense was attacking the cornerstone of the commonwealths case. That blood test with its lethal reading of cyanide could never be trusted, it said. Theres no way that the result is reliable. Reporter throw it out . Yes. Reporter because, he said, the lab initially screwed it up with that 3. 35 calculation. It only caught its error months later, correcting the level to 2. 2, a still lethal amount of cyanide in autumns blood. It certainly raises its a real issue of its credibility. Reporter and gives the defense something to work with. And absolutely gave the defense a lot to work with. Reporter far more reliable, argued ferrantes attorneys, was another test done in the weeks after autumns death. It too found cyanide in her mud but at very low levels, nowhere near lethal. And in this case, that alone, as cyril wecht eloquently articulated, was more than reasonable doubt for this jury to acquit my client. The reports are highly conflicting. Reporter dr. Cyril wecht. The defense had introduced into the legal mix a renowned pittsburgh and internationally recognized pathologist of many years. Dr. Wecht had weighed in on cases from the Jfk Assassination to the deaths of Elvis Presley and jonbenet ramsey. He told the court the conflicting tests demanded a tiebreaker. What you do is youve got to send it in again for laboratory testing, preferably to a third highly respected toxicology lab. That was not done. Reporter more compelling, he said, was evidence of scarring around autumns heart, which could have triggered an electrical malfunction, stopping the organ cold. Only onthespot cpr could have saved her. And in the absence of somebody hitting you in the chest, somebody knowing what theyre doing with training in cardio pulmonary resussization, you probably will die. Reporter in other words, the defense said, autumn could have died of natural causes. They added that crime scene techs processed the house and never did find so much as a trace of the poison. And their clients cyanide google searches . Done for research purposes, not murder. I mean, here he is in january asking questions of google about the nature of cyanide. This looks very bad. In april hes asking about cyanide, potassium cyanide, Neuroscience Research project. Reporter the defendant further explained his actions from the stand. He ordered the poison for work and even took it out of the box when it arrived. Thats why his fingerprint was on the container. Besides, his lawyer added, a man as smart as bob ferrante would never use a weapon that could so easily be traced back to him. Thats like me buying a shotgun, telling everybody, hey, i just bought a shotgun, and two hours later my wife is deceased from a shotgun shot. Reporter couldnt be that stupid. He would the dumbest guy in the universe. Reporter in closing, the defense begged the jurors to use their common sense, which they later said is exactly what they did. Their common sense and the science presented told them autumn klein had died of cyanide poisoning because the defendant had given it to her. They found him guilty of firstdegree murder. Crushing. Crushing. Especially in this case. Absolutely crushing. Yep. Good description. Reporter Robert Ferrante has since been sentenced to life in prison. He is challenging his conviction in court. For now, though, autumns family feels theyve gotten justice. Their anger towards her husband has been overshadowed by all the what ifs. Not only do i grieve autumn and the loss that she is to me and to us as a family and to our community and our friends, but also her patients. You know, my heart breaks for her patients. Reporter it was all dr. Autumn klein had ever wanted to do, help others. Now that chance is gone, swept away way too soon. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. Right now at 11 00, the first hurricane warnings for florida have been issued. The latest forecast paints an ominous picture for countless cities, key west, miami, and orlando all in the crosshairs of irma. The news at 11 00 starts right now. Good evening and thanks for being with us. Im raj mathai. And im jessica aguirre. First we want to start with breaking news. A major earthquake off the coast of mexico. This is