Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20161105

Heart attack, aneurysm. Police dug deeper. 40yearold men dont just drop dead. They believed it was a poisoning. Someone else was there with him that morning. This is now a Murder Investigation. 100 . The wife . She was on our radar. I had nothing to do. Her lover . I knew he was innocent. This small town is full of secrets. His murder, one of them. Youre hearing about a love triangle and poisoning, death. Oh, my god, this cant be happening. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Andrea Canning with good husband. Reporter a new love makes the world seem a little brighter. He had a very smooth, i wanna say, almost sexy way about him. Reporter makes the heart beat a little faster. Reporter was it passionate . Yeah. Reporter but when that love is forbidden. I was, like, what . How can that be . How could i not have known . Reporter a family would wonder if other secrets might be hidden. Why would you do this . How could you be so irresponsible . The whole thing was an atrocity. It wasnt a tragedy. It was an atrocity. Reporter it all began just a couple of hours north of new york city. A photographers dream called the Hudson Valley. Rolling hills. A majestic river. And quaint small towns. For linda kolman, it was the Perfect Place to raise a family. I grew up in saugerties. Small schools, you know. Just involved in sports and things like that. Reporter everyone seems friendly and it just seems kind of yeah, theyre smallhome towns, you know . Reporter its where linda lived with her husband tom and their family. A loving home where they celebrated birthdays and holidays. Thanksgiving 2011 was a busy time, visiting relatives, overeating, and watching football. He just loved the game of football. And he was a giants fan from a kid. Reporter and you took him to his first giants game. I did. I have pictures of him, like, you know, standin down by the field like, look at me. Reporter kid in a candy store . Yeah, yeah. It was great. Reporter both linda and tom had been married before, but this felt like the real deal. Reporter what was it about toms personality that made him so lovable and made you love him . He had a shyness about him that was sweet. He had like a like a kinda shy, flirty kinda way. It was just adorable. Reporter when it came time to tie the knot they rolled the dice and eloped. Reporter Little White Chapel . A chapel in ballys. Yup. It was beautiful. Flowers, music. Really beautiful. Well, it was unusual, you know, walking through a casino and someones got a wedding gown on. Reporter the only guests were lindas parents and toms mom and dad, marie and tom senior. Reporter did you feel touched that they had asked you to join in this special occasion . Absolutely. Reporter did they seem like a good match . I think they fit, yeah. Reporter both tom and linda had kids from their previous marriages. But a few years later, they welcomed a child of their own, ryan. He would say all along through the pregnancy, i dont care if the girl or boy, ill love it either way. You know, but i kinda knew deep down he wanted a boy. And so when he was delivered and he saw it was a boy, he cried. He was so happy. Really happy. Reporter did you immediately see a relationship made in giants heaven after that . Oh absolutely. Reporter they were a blended family his, mine and ours as they liked to call it. Linda had a daughter who lived with her and tom. While, toms two kids from his first marriage lived in colorado, brad and daughter jillian. I grew up knowing that my stepsiblings were my siblings. It never felt not normal, you know . It felt like at dads house, that was my house. Reporter and despite the distance, tom was very close to his oldest kids. I was a daddys girl, definitely, no doubt about that he always made sure that whenever brad and i were in town that we would have fun. Like we we wouldnt just, you know, be sitting around. We always had fun plans. Reporter jillian and her dad talked on the phone all the time. Thanksgiving weekend 2011 was no exception. And i remember we hung up and we blew a kiss over the phone like we used to when i was ten and we hadnt in years and i thought that was cute. Reporter and when the weekend of family and football was over, it was monday, november 28th. And lucky for tom, the new york giants were on tv. He stayed up and watched the football game, a giants football game. I went to bed. Reporter the next morning, as usual, he was up and out of the house before linda and the kids were even awake. He normally got up to go to the gym, around 5 30 and gimme a kiss on the forehead. Reporter after working out, like clockwork, he always went straight to his job as a physical therapy supervisor. He and linda usually texted soon after. But when linda sent him a message that morning i didnt get a response. And normally, toms very good at responding. I was gettin a little concerned. But, you know, maybe hes in a meeting, maybe hes, you know, whatever, hes tied up. Reporter she wasnt really worried until her phone rang. It was a friend of toms named gil. I got a phone call from gil saying have you heard from tom . And i said, no. Have you heard from tom . And he said, no, but he didnt show up at work. Reporter whats going through your mind . Is there concern or just, oh, maybe hes at the gym . Tom would never miss a morning of work. Reporter linda jumped in her car to to retrace her husbands steps, hoping to find him. She never imagined that search would lead where it did. When we come back, lindas heartbreaking discovery. I saw his car. I was like oh, my god. He had gone to gym. In fact, he was still there. Im like wake up. What are you doing . Theyre looking for you at work. I was like oh, my god, this cant be happening now. vacuum no matter what you love, well help you style your home from floor to ceiling. 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For people with hearing loss visit sprintrelay. Com. Whoooo reporter tom kolman wasnt the kind of guy who didnt return calls from his wife and he always showed up for work. His family says he loved his job as a physical therapist. He was always dedicated to, you know, his work. And he loved it so much, he went to get his doctorate in physical therapy. Was he the type of person who liked helping people . He did. Elderly people just loved him. He was such a sweetheart. Reporter so that morning when tom went mia, linda was frantic as she jumped in her car to look for him. He usually goes to the gym and then to work. So i went to the gym. And i pulled in and at first i didnt see his car. But then as i pulled further through, i saw his car. I just pulled up alongside and i looked over. And i was, like, oh my god. He was layin down. And i thought, he fell asleep. Like, he looks like hes sleepin. And so i jumped outta the car and i opened the door and i jumped in. And i was, like, wake up. What are you doing . Theyre lookin for you at work reporter but tom wouldnt wake up. Linda called 911. Ulster 911, whats the address of your emergency . Im in. Im in the parking lot by Planet Fitness in kingston. I was looking my husband and found him in his car. And i dont know if hes breathing. What did you think had happened to him . At that point, maybe he had a migraine and took some migraine medicine and laid down. But hes not waking up while youre waiting for the ambulance, no matter what youre doing. His hands were really, really cold. And then i realized that his nails were blue. Youve got to send somebody. Maam. Are you able to check and see if his chest is going up and down . I dont think it is. Reporter paramedic, tim mitzel, was one of the First Responders. I believe we were here within about three minutes of the call. What did you see, as soon as you arrived here in the parking lot . Mr. Kolmans car was parked here. And mrs. Kolmans car was parked here. Mrs. Kolman was on the side. She was very distraught. Did you attempt to resuscitate him we did not. After my ex quick examination, i could tell that there was nothing that nothing that we could do. He had been deceased for a while. The paramedics, they just stood there. And i was, like, what are you doin . Like, help him. Just get in the car and help him. Like, and they just stood there. They were, like, no. And i was i just was, like, shocked, like, can you just try, you know the one just said, no, he hes gone. And he did, he just felt so cold. Did you just feel like this is so unfair . Yeah, i just i just was, like, oh my god, this cant be happenin now. You cant leave us now. Reporter shortly after toms friend, gil, called linda, and rushed to the scene. Thats him in this dashcam video off to the right, collapsing in grief as he learns the news. Meanwhile, First Responders and arriving officers processed the scene. Anything unusual about his body . Or did he just look peaceful . His trousers were open h just a little bit. His collar was undone. His shirt was kinda pulled out. And he was reclined back in his car. And i felt like he it looked like he took a nap and didnt wake up. There was a little presumption that it may have been a heart attack or, you know, cardiac event, or something had happened. He was a large man. Reporter but since toms death was what police call an unattended death, there had to be an investigation. Detective mike thomas and lieutenant kyle berardi both worked the case for the Ulster Police department. They took note, of how linda, the wife, was reacting at the scene. Her demeanor, was it exactly what you would expect from a wife making a discovery like this . 100 . 100 . There was nothing out of the ordinary with her reaction, her words. It was more hysteria. Reporter Police Escorted linda down to the station to ask her questions about toms health. She had mentioned to us that he had hypertension. He had sleep apnea, which if youre not familiar with sleep apnea, unfortunately, they ultimately stop breathing at certain times during the night. That sounds dangerous. Absolutely. He was diagnosed by his doctor as having a severe case of sleep apnea. Did you, kind of, think that this was g going to be an open and shut case once you got the autopsy results . Yeah. Absolutely. And and that unfortunately was not not the outcome the next day. Reporter instead, the results would turn this tragedy into a tangled mystery. Coming up 40yearold men dont drop dead like that. A blockbuster new clue. What did that video show . We were able to observe a white suv arrive in the parking lot. Someone else was there with him that morning. When dateline continues. So she seasons and roasts tender turkey breast to perfection. And prepares a golden flaky crust from scratch. Then she fills it with crisp vegetables. And seals in the goodness with perfectlycrimped edges. 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This time it was not to celebrate, but to grieve. Tom, her husband of ten years, was dead. Think she was just in such a state of shock that its almost like she wasnt there. Reporter lindas sister, debra, raced to saugerties. My family were there my parents. And there were some friends. I had gathered some of the close friends. Reporter there were so many people to tell toms siblings broke the news to his parents. When i came home at 3 00, all my children were at my house. They were told, which was that it looked like a cardiac event and he didnt survive it. But we just couldnt believe it. Why didnt you believe it . Well, he was always in good shape, exercised and everything. All right, hes a little overweight. But still, he tried to, you know, he was he was healthy. Reporter his daughter jillian and son brad, found out from their mom, michele toms exwife. She just looked at both of us and no beating around the bush, just said, your dad is dead. And i just everything was a blur. I mean, words like, heart attack, and, aneurism, kept flying at me and none of it was registering. It was just utter heartbreak. The three of us stood together hugging and then collapsed onto the floor. But it did seem to be a really long time that we just didnt let go of each other. Reporter they flew to new york and joined the growing crowd at tom and lindas house. Linda was a wreck. She needed help standing up sometimes. She was just riddled with grief. You have time to even grieve reporter as the kolmans made funeral arrangements, investigators met with the medical examiner to nail down the cause of toms death. What they heard changed everything. It was undetermined pending toxicology results. Reporter the medical examiner explained there was no evidence of a heart attack, aneurysm, or any Health Related event. You got an undetermined cause of death on a 40yearold male, which 40yearold men dont just dont drop dead like that. Are you still thinking that this could be medical or are you starting to think, we could have a homicide on our hands . You can think both at that point in time because weve had had to wait for toxicology reports to come back to to come up with a cause of death. But in the meantime, were were thinking i would say thinking the worst. Until we can disprove that its not a homicide, weve got to treat it as such. Reporter crime scene techs worked on toms car and took swabs for clues. While detectives set out to learn more about his movements on the day he died. Linda told police the last time she saw tom was the night before, watching football. She assumed he left for the gym the following morning around 5 30, so investigators pulled security video of the parking lot to see what that could tell them. It was dark and grainy but revealed a lot. In the video itself we were able to observe a white suv arrive in the parking lot of Planet Fitness and that was about 4 30 in the morning. Ten minutes later we actually see Thomas Kolmans vehicle pull into the parking lot and park right next to this white suv. Thats when we knew that obviously someone else was there with him that morning. The plot really thickened, im sure, after seeing that video. Yes. So this is the Planet Fitness right here . This is Planet Fitness to your right. This is where where tom worked out every morning. Ill pull into toms spot. Reporter bill weishaupt is a retired fbi agent and the chief investigator for the Ulster County District Attorney. He showed us in the light of day whats hard to see in that grainy video. This is exactly where tom was parked, right here. Which is as you can see, its a great distance away from the Planet Fitness where he normally worked out. And so this would not be a normal parking spot to pull into at that hour in the morning to work out in that gym. And the mystery suv pulled up where . Mystery suv pulled up right here. So they were both facing which is this is north. Could you identify a person, a make, a model of the car . What details were you getting . No, it was pitch black. These lights were not providing any illumination at all. The only thing we could observe was that the two vehicles were parked side by side for about 3035 minutes. Reporter the mystery suv left around 5 30am. But toms car never moved. What does that tell you . There had to be contact between the two to meet at this point, at that hour. So we knew now that someone had met with him prior to his death. And we now have to figure out who that is. Reporter easier said than done, of course. We just pulled up here. And lo and behold, there was a white suv here beside us. There is a white suv there. There is a white suv there. Once you think about it, theres a lot of white suvs. Theyre everywhere. Theyre everywhere. Reporter but thanks to the video, investigators now thought they had an important lead to help narrow their search. Whoever tom was interacting with in this white suv, he was expecting him. And he he knew him. Reporter time for investigators to start looking at toms inner circle. Picking apart his simple suburban life. Linda kolman, i would imagine, would be someone that you would wanna look closely at. No question. If theres a death that is not a natural death, you look at the closest people first, usually the spouse. Coming up he did want to talk to me. Soon they discover another reason to take a look at linda kolman. We had a relationship. Sexual relationship . Hes having an affair with linda koleman. It caught us off guard. It only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. Always keep laundry pacs away from children. Keep them up, keep them closed, keep them safe. Tide pods now come in a child guard zip pack. To help keep your laundry pacs safe and your child safer. Align, press and unzip. Well, if you want to sing out, sing out and if you want to be free, be free cause theres a million things to be you know that there are and if you want to be me, be me and if you want to be you, be you cause theres a million things to do you know that there are just fifteen minutes and a little imagination are all you need to make thanksgiving magic. Chex party mix. Its what thanksgiving is made of. Why get your eyes checked the Old Fashioned way, when lenscrafters can digitally map them for you. Introducing clarifye no other eyeexam is more precise. cheering on tv you may write me down in history, with your bitter, twisted lies. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still like dust, i rise. You can shoot me with your words. You can cut me with your lies. You can kill me with your hatefulness. But still, like air. We rise. I had a wonderful time tonight. Me too call me tomorrow . Im gonna send a vague text in a couple of days that leaves you confused about my level of interest. Ill wait a full two days before responding. Perfect were never gonna see each other again, will we . Nono. Wouldnt it be great if everyone said what they meant . The citi double cash card does. It lets you earn double cash back. 1 when you buy and 1 as you pay. The citi double cash card. Double means double. Reporter with no obvious medical explanation for tom kolmans death, Ulster Police decided to treat it as a possible homicide, but said nothing to his family. We just had to just s sit back and wait till we found out a cause of death. And thats what we did. We just sat back. Reporter for toms parents, burying their firstborn was excruciating. But something the funeral director said gave them comfort. When people c die, and if theyre well respected, people come from all over. And they did. I had relatives from rochester, long island, new jersey, virginia even from california. How moved were you at the funeral as you heard people speak about tom and all the love that was in that room . Just cryin all the time. Walking into the wake was probably one of the hardest things ive ever done. I i waited for all my siblings and all four of us walked in arm in arm, faces down, just bawling bef like and we walked up to the coffin and just all almost just collapsed together and just wept. Reporter detectives discreetly sent an officer to the funeral home to observe. If toms death was a homicide, they wanted to keep an eye on linda, but they also needed to find out if tom had any enemies. From speakin to everyone, including her, tom was just a great guy. He was a middleclass man, hard working, loved his family, would do anything for them. We couldnt find any enemies in the world that would wanna do anything against tom. You had a real mystery you had to solve here. Oh, absolutely. Reporter investigators were interested in speaking to anyone close to tom, including his good friend who raced to the scene that morning. Gilberto nunez was his full name and he was a prominent, local dentist, originally from the dominican republic. How long, i guess, have you known him . We be i mean, ive known him for four years but we were starting a friendship around three years ago. Okay. Reporter gil seemed to know a lot about toms life, his work hours, his marriage, even his medical history. Any medical conditions that you know of . Yes. That i know of, he had sleep apnea reporter investigators also fished for information about toms wife. Hows linda doing, i guess . Have you talked to her since tuesday . Yes. Oh, yes. Yes . Yes, ive been there. I go to the house and stuff. Okay. Hows she doing . Shes not doing too well. Yes . Shes very i mean, shes really, really bad. Shes in bad shape. Reporter but that wasnt all gil had to say about linda kolman. He had something far more interesting to share with the detectives. I dont know if you guys know but, anyway, me and linda we had a relationship, so. Okay. Sexual relationship, im assuming . Yeah. Whats that moment like when he reveals hes having an affair with linda kolman . I think it caught us all offguard because that was the first time we discovered thatwe had no reason to ask him about that type of relationship with linda. How long ago did that start . About a year. A year, okay. Reporter and gil revealed yet another detail that was even more surprising. Did tom know about that . Oh, yeah. He knew . He knew about our relationship, yeah. Okay. He found out sometime in the summer. Reporter gil said that not only did tom know about the affair, the two men continued their friendship. And he saw that i was honest about it, and he was honest about it, so we got pretty close. I mean, to the point of, like, he got me into football, which i didnt have a clue. How crazy is this, though, that tom continued to hang out with gilberto . They stayed friends even after he finds out hes sleeping with his wife. Better man than i am. Its just not the norm. Its not something that you see. I mean, is your head starting to spin a little bit . Were trying to get ahold of what we got now because it, you know, stemmed from unattended death in the parking lot of a fitness club to now we got all this. So and within days, the things are starting to pile up. Now. I would imagine you, more than ever, need to talk to linda kolman. We do. They did wanna talk to me. A few days after. And one of the first questions was, what is your relationship with Gilberto Nunez . Coming up did he kiss you while you were in the chair . Yeah. Which blew me away. Youre just living in almost two different lives . I had real life and i had fantasy life. Passion, secrets, anger. He comes right at me with it. What the hell is going on . Its scandalous. 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They asked linda to come down to the station to share her side of the story. I told em everything. I didnt care anymore. At that point, i wasnt hiding a thing. How did you meet Gilberto Nunez . I met him at my sons kindergarten orientation. He had a child in the same kindergarten class. He had a child in the same kindergarten class. Right. A son . Yes. Reporter that was in 2009, gil was married then. And the two couples started socializing. We all seemed to like each other and were friendly and, they would just say, hey, wanna go out to dinner, whatever, and okay. And then, you started to get to know him better . Over time, yeah. Through school events, or . Through that and then, our sons both did karate together. They were in the same karate class. Reporter tom and gil also hit it off and became close. Talking sport, and watching giants games. And like tom, gil was a handson dad. he went to all his sons karate classes, where he would see linda. So gil and i would sit next to each other and just talk. And this was, like, three times a week for an hour. What was it about gilberto that you liked . Very friendly, very personable. Reporter a year went by before linda says she realized something was happening between them. Every time he would leave, he would give me a kiss goodbye and on the lips . For him to give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, you know, see ya next week. Kinda thing, really wasnt that big of a deal to me. Like, it was kind of his culture but then as the weeks started goin by, and i noticed when i was leaving, the kiss was no longer on the cheek. So i would go back to my car, like, was that an accident . Lingering or just quick . No, fairly quick. Reporter linda said nothing to her husband, and she and gil never discussed whatever it was that was going on. Until one day he finally said it. He actually called me one night. He basically was like, you know you know, i cant get you off my mind, youre beautiful. And, you know, i just i adore you. And i was like, oh. Thats a hot potato right there. Yeah, yeah. So from then, he started just textin me. Here and there we would talk, and it just progressed. Did you think he was handsome . Not really. [ laughter ] ill be honest with ya. But he had he had a way about him. He had a very smooth, i wanna say, almost sexy way about him. With the with the accent. Latin thing goin on. Yes, yes, totally, totally. Its his personality was sucking me in. Reporter it was early 2011. Both gil and lindas marriages were going through rough patches. In all honesty, you know, tom and i, we were havin some struggles in the home. What were you struggling with . I think probably the same stuff that every marriage after ten years struggles with. You know, paying the bills, workin two jobs. Reallife problems. Yeah, just yeah. And they were stressful. So was was gilberto a little bit of an escape for you . Yes, yes. Thats a really good way to put it. How does it finally get acted upon . I went and had some dental work in his office. So then you can imagine once im there and im in the chair and next step. Did he kiss you while you were in the chair . Yeah. Which blew me away. The fact that this dentist, this smart guy, this, you know, smooth guy who seems to have everything,would even want to kiss me, or choose me. Like, i just dont think of myself as someone why would he be interested in me, you know . Was it passionate . Yeah. Reporter pretty soon, they were meeting for sex. And by spring, gil had separated from his wife and was living in an apartment above his dental practice. You had a busy life, a job, husband, children, in a small town. How are you carrying on this affair . Still was the wife and the mother. I was home for my kids every night after work. And i would see him lunchtime. Reporter linda thought it was a wellkept secret. But maybe, not so much. A few months into the affair, someone tipped off tom with an anonymous text message. He comes right at me with it. You know, im getting these texts that youre with you know, that youre with gil. What the hells goin on . Its so scandalous. And i said, this is whats been goin on. I i cleared the table. You know, i have been having an affair. It was with him. Was there any part of it that felt, i dont wanna use the word good, but you got it off your chest, you werent carrying yeah. Around this secret anymore . It did. Because then, because then at least i could talk to tom about it. At one point he said to me, linda, i can see he has some kind of hold of you. Hes like, i see it. And he did. Reporter and linda told us what detectives had found so hard to believe. How did it affect tom, the fact that it was gilberto, and he was friends with both of you . Strangely enough, they still continued to be friends. That is so hard to grasp. I know it is. But they did. They cared, they cared about each other. They were, like, buddies. Tom would invite him over for sunday dinners. I know it sounds nuts. Yeah. I know it does. A little bit. Yeah. I i know. And what are how are you handling that . I mean im just, like, in the middle, like, what do i do . Youre the object of both of their affection. Yeah. And i loved them both. Wed say, well, you know, we dont have to decide tomorrow. We have to just take some time and figure this out, you know . Reporter linda says tom didnt pressure her to end the affair. To the contrary, he gave her the time and freedom to continue seeing gil and sort out her feelings. Youre just living in almost two different lives. Yeah. But theyve intersected. I had a real life and then i had fantasy life, basically. Reporter but everyone in the triangle knew it couldnt last. Linda had to make a choice, gil or tom. And a few weeks before toms death, she did. Coming up. Her husband or her lover . He threw me on the bed. 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For a little bit of time there, it was me, tom, and gil really tryin to to decide what we wanted to do, or what was i gonna do. They were letting me decide, you know . Reporter for months, lindas affection pingponged between the two men. That is, until her october wedding anniversary rolled around. She and tom decided to take the kids away for the weekend. I think it was really that weekend that i realized that i just want i just wanna be with my husband. [ light laughter ] hes my best friend. I love him. I dont want i dont wanna do this anymore. Ive been stupid and foolish and ridiculous and its i dont wanna do it anymore. Reporter you chose tom . I chose tom. Reporter a couple of weeks later, it was thanksgiving. Still on friendly terms, gil shared the holiday with tom, linda and their family. Monday, linda met with gil alone, but decided to postpone telling him their affair was over. Reporter what was that discussion like with gilberto . What did you tell him . The holidays are here. We have all these kids. Like, we cant you know . After the holidays. And he was, like, okay, ill wait for your decision, you know . Reporter do you think he knew . Hindsight, i think he knew [ sighs ] probably by my body language. And just him knowin me as well as he did, that he was losin me. Reporter that night, linda felt she and tom were back on track. I remember comin upstairs and he picked me up and threw me on the bed and was, like, ticklin me. I think we both just felt like theres light at the end of this tunnel. And this is the old us. Were happy and silly and and were gon well get through this, you know . Reporter the next morning tom was dead. And investigators were now learning details about his complicated personal life. A bit of a soap opera going on here. Funny thing is, prior to meetin you guys, we said this is a dateline case. Reporter and here we are. [ laughter ] here we are. Reporter despite what they heard from linda and gil, investigators were somewhat skeptical that this love triangle really had no jealousy or resentment. D. A. Investigator bill weishaupt. We had to try to determine, was there some type of relationship that we werent seeing between the victim and nunez . What was going on between the two of them that they would all that tom kolman would allow the sexual relationship to continue between his wife and nunez . Reporter did you have to think of the scenario that maybe linda wanted tom out of the way so she could be with gilberto . No question. That was top on the priority list. Reporter and the first question for investigators did linda or gil drive a white suv . Detectives knew that linda didnt. But gil did. He drove a white nissan pathfinder. I mean, there are a million white suvs out there. Sure. Reporter once you think about it and you start looking, theyre everywhere. Oh, absolutely. Reporter a coincidence, but a suspicious one. Detectives were also remembering how gil showed up at the scene of toms death to console linda, and his reaction struck them as odd. It was described as that he was hysterical, almost jumping up and down like a pogo stick. Very dramatic. Not a common reaction that you would see. Reporter if its a good friend, though, who died, is that not possible that someone would have a very hysterical reaction to that . You do see strange reactions from em, but i believe his reaction was more than overdramatic, would i say. We kept in the back of our heads for later on. Reporter both linda and gil told police the affair was now over. But investigators werent so sure, and began watching them closely. There was electronic surveillance in terms of constantly monitoring their phone records, their computer records. And we also had a a gps tracker on nunezs car for a while. Reporter what were you hoping to find with that . We just wanted to determine whether, in fact, they were still together, if they were together at all. Reporter it looked like gil and linda were telling the truth. After weeks of watching them, police found no signs theyd been together since tom died. Phone records also proved tom and gil were indeed friendly until the end, texting each other throughout that last giants game tom watched. And gil, like tom, was wellrespected around town. He works hard, and he is not interested in money, as far as i can tell. Reporter zach sklar is a patient of gils and has always admired his generosity. Does a lot of volunteer work in poor areas. Reporter did he ever say why he likes to do that . I think hes a man who cares. Its as as simple as that. I mean, he cares about his patients. And he cares that about, you know, people having access to good dental care. Reporter he was a member of the local chamber of commerce, a volunteer firefighter, voted one of the top Hudson Valley dentists five times, and chosen to endorse products in online ads. Im dr. Gilberto nunez. Im a practitioner in kingston, new york. It was a very thriving practice. We were v were very busy. Reporter his office manager, irene prehn, has worked for gil for 13 years. Hes always very positive and very upbeat, very kind. Hes a pleasure to work for. Reporter and everyone else police spoke to said the same. Gil nunez seemed to have nothing to hide. Whats more, after weeks of investigating, there was still no clear cause of death. So all investigators could do was wonder if the love triangle was just an interesting story that had nothing to do with toms death. But that would all change when the toxicology report came back, and it was a shocker. Coming up im in the room with the detectives and i was like, no. What had happened to tom kolman. You had never seen it before . This wasnt a common thing. This was now a Murder Investigation. 100 . Green and all looked alike until new tide purclean. That labels not green, its purely just chic. Then why is she using it week after week . They realized then, its not the label that flatters, but the power inside is what truly matters. New tide purclean, 65 biobased, 100 cleaning power of tide. I think dentists dont like to recommend whitening toothpastes to their patients with sensitivity because they may be more abrasive. Sensodyne true white is low abrasive. It will treat sensitivity first and foremost but also whiten the patients teeth. When i first started working with capital one my dad called them up and asked for the Jennifer Garner card which is such a dad thing to do. After he gave his name the woman from capital one said mr. Garner, are you related to jennifer . Kind of joking with him. And my dad was so proud to tell her, as a matter of fact, she is my middle daughter. So now dad has the venture card, hes earning his double miles, and he made a friend at the company. Can i say it . Go ahead whats in your wallet . Nice job dad. Proposition 61 is a very, very important step forward. The time is long overdue. For the American People to stand up to the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. So i hope that proposition 61 passes and i thank the people of california for putting it on the ballot. It is time for the pharmaceutical industry to stop ripping off the people of this country. The entire nation is looking at california. Lets go forward together. Thank you all very much. Reporter continuing our story, husband com kolman has been found dead in his car. This cant be happening. How he died was still a mystery. Police questioned his wife about her affair with toms friend. Was it passionate . Yes. Did that have anything do with toms death . Youre about to see a whole new angle to this lovers triangle. Poisoning, death and emails and cia. This is now a Murder Investigation. 100 . Here again, Andrea Canning. Reporter nearly two months after tom kolman mysteriously died, his toxicology results were finally in. We find out that there was a narcotic, a conscious sedative called midazolam in toms system. No one ever heard of midazolam before, at least in our in our field. Reporter you had never seen it in a murder before or as a street drug or something people abuse, nothing . It wasnt a common thing, from speaking to the medical examiner. Its not a common street drug. Reporter but to investigators, the most interesting thing the medical examiner could tell them about midazolam, was this it was only used in a medical field, either by a dentist or a doctor in an inpatient procedure. Reporter the fact that this is used by dentists. Its just too many coincidences, shall we say, adding up. And they all come from Gilberto Nunez. Reporter the dentist. The dentist. Reporter that put a whole new spin on their investigation. They wondered if maybe gil had used the medication to somehow poison his friend and romantic rival. It was told to us by medical professionals its put in coffee or juice or some type of substance that could mask the taste of it. Because its a very bitter, bitter taste. Reporter and toms autopsy had shown liquid in his stomach, that might have been coffee. We have now have a gentleman who is friends with the family, is having an affair with the wife, drives the same type of vehicle that we have on that video next to our victim the morning hes found. Reporter this is now a Murder Investigation. Yes. 100 . Reporter they called linda back down to the station for more questions. They asked me if i knew, you know, what drugs were in toms system. They asked me, you know, more about the relationship with gil. This they asked me what i knew of that morning. Reporter they also decided to tell her about their suspicions that they believed tom was murdered and her exlover, gil, was their prime suspect. I found it hard to accept because in my mind, he loved us. He loved me. He loved tom. Would he do that . Would he do Something Like that . Reporter was a part of you saying, oh, he couldnt have done this . When i first found out about the midazolan and im in the room with the detectives and, you know, they were, like, do you think he couldve and i was, like, no. You know, i was, like, he would never do that to him. Reporter but after digesting what investigators told her, she realized there were signs of trouble with gil. And over several more talks with police, she began revealing details that suggested their love triangle was far from tensionfree. In fact, linda says gil had made it clear he was making longterm plans for them. He even bought her a ring. We were out having dinner and he proposed and i said, i cant. Reporter how did he take that . Well, i know, i know, i i know, we got a lot to get through. But, you know and i said, yeah, youre a little premature with that. Reporter it looked to investigators like gil was growing impatient. Maybe eager to get tom out of the way. Remember those anonymous texts to tom, the ones telling him about gil and lindas affair, she told police they came from gil. And when she found out, she confronted him. I was absolutely furious. Reporter whatd you say to him . I just screamed at him, like, who the hell do you think you are . Why would you do this . Reporter very, very devious. Very, very. Reporter according to linda, gil cried, said he only did it because he felt tom should know the truth. She said he begged for forgiveness, and even threatened to harm himself. Tom felt bad that he felt suicidal. He, you know, tom was that kind of guy. You know . I know this is a really crazy situation were in, but im not going to let him kill himself over it. Like, well work this out somehow, you know . Reporter linda says she was still worried that gil was suicidal and thats why she decided to postpone telling him the affair was over until after the holidays. She seemed sincere, but investigators had to wonder if linda and gil had plotted together to get rid of tom. Did it ever enter your mind for a second, i hope they dont think that i was in on this with someone or that i had something to do with this because of the affair . Not really. I had the affair, but no way in hell would i ever want harm done to my husband ever, you know . And i, you know, assumed if i was going to be need to be eliminated lets do it. Reporter detectives went so far as to check out linda at her job. She worked at a hospital where she might have had access to midazolam. We made sure all the midazolam that they had was accounted for during that time period. Reporter they also asked her to take a polygraph test. She took a polygraph . Yes, she did. Reporter pass . Fail . Passed. So she was ruled out, in in our eyes. Reporter that left one person policed needed to talk to again, her former lover, gil. And this time, they planned to confront him with all their suspicions. Right there we stop. Right there we stop. Coming up was that mystery suv really gils . Your car is on the road and you were driving it. And the sedative in tom kolmans system. I looked into you love allday breakfast. I love allday breakfast. But you dont love that you cant get all your favorites all day. Ugghh. Now youre gonna love that you can get more all day. Like. Mcgriddles so youll have to find Something Else to not love. Like that itch you cant scratch. Or when people use speakerphone in public. [speakerphone] seriously, you cant tell a soul. I promise i wont tell anyone. [speakerphone] for real. Okay . Or accidently watching episode 4 before youve seen episode 3. When did deandre become an alien . Get more choices you love now with all day breakfast. [burke] hot dog. Seen it. Covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum i have no idea whats in this seaweed wrap. But with this usp seal i know exactly whats in my nature made gummies. Nature made has the first gummy certified by usp. A Non Profit Organization that sets purity and potency standards. Reporter Ulster Police had been keeping an eye on local dentist, gil nunez, since they learned hed had an affair with tom kolmans wife. But now they believed toms death was no accident and suspected a medical sedative was somehow to blame. So they decided it was time to bring gil in for another talk. Are you and linda still were close. It woulda lasted approximately seven hours. Reporter thats a long time. It was. There was a lot to cover. Our biggest thing was the midazolam. The other thing was the vehicle. Reporter a team of investigators took turns confronting gil. They told him they had a video proving his suv was at the scene. I never went to that gym. I never, you know, nothing, so i wasnt there, so thats not but if i but if i look you straight in the eye and i tell you that i know you were there . Then im telling you that you dont know because its not true. That is, you know, all in the truth. So you think i would lie . Well i think you are lying to me, yes. Yes, totally. Reporter were you 100 sure that that was his white suv . Was i 100 sure . I was 100 sure. But i could not physically give you a license plate to confirm that, no. Reporter and when investigators asked gil for his alibi i was home alone. Okay. Im always home alone. I live alone. Reporter he was all alone . All alone. Reporter this isnt this isnt the strongest alibi. Its no alibi. No alibi. Reporter but what about the sedative found in toms system . Gil didnt know it, but while he was being questioned, police were at his office, executing a search warrant. And inside an emergency kit, they found two vials of midazolam. At first, gil denied knowing anything about midazolam, which also goes by the name versed. So you dont keep midazolam in your practice . What . Midazolam . Midazolam . Yeah, versed. Versed. No. We dont use versed. Reporter and with that, investigators thought theyd caught the dentist in a lie. They kept pushing, as gil tried to explain how the drug might have gotten inside that emergency kit. I dont go in there. I have never been in my emergency kit. Because, whatever comes in the emergency kit, its in there. Okay. So fair enough. So its easy. Thats easy. So by all means, your fingerprints certainly shouldnt be on it, then . On what . On my emergency kit . On your midazolam. Oh, if i put it in there, yeah. It wasnt until we said, well, what if we find your fingerprints on those midazolam bottles . At that point in time, his story changed. We went from original denial of not knowing anything about it to now hes handling it. They send it to me. And i put it in there, and the rest of them, they get tossed. Okay. So let me just say this, then. If theres midazolam in the emergency kit okay. Then your fingerprints would be on it, because you put it in there. Yeah. Reporter and when investigators asked gil about those Text Messages to tom, tipping him off about the affair, he had an explanation for that too. I would say, okay im going to try to figure out how to let him know. Yeah. Because if he was me, i want to know. I wouldnt be, you know, this. So i guess he took that as a sign of, like, courage and a sign of you know, my friendship. In one breath youre saying that you care about the guy. Yeah. But, in a second breath, you want to get rid of the guy because you want to have a relationship with his wife. I dont want to get rid of him. Theres no reason for me to get rid of him. I was in a sure there is. No. Reporter but investigators werent buying it, and the mood in the room turned tense. So youre not his best friend. Its almost insulting when you say you are because if you were his best friend you wouldnt be [ bleep ] his wife and then sending Text Messages trying to break them up. I didnt send Text Messages to them to try to break them up. Reporter for nearly seven hours, investigators tried to rattle gil. [ bleep ] you. Youre so full of [ bleep ]. Telling me you didnt drive the car down the road. Right there we stop. Right there we stop. Right there we stop, because your car was on the road, and you were driving it. Everything else you said back there is bull [ bleep ]. Reporter through it all, gil stayed calm. And never asked for an attorney. I have nothing to hide. I have nothing with anything that is in my office or anything like that. I have nothing to do with whatever was in toms system. I had nothing to do with any of that. Reporter did you give him a polygraph, as well . We offered. Reporter did he take it . No. The next day after that interview, we were contacted by a lawyer stating that thered be no further contact with his client. Reporter meanwhile, linda was reeling from all that police had told her. From the images of the white suv in the video, to the drug in her husbands system that a dentist like gil would have access to. Like investigators, she now believed her lover had killed her husband. I didnt ever wanna s speak to him again. Reporter but saugerties is a small place, and within days linda says she found gil waiting for her outside a chinese restaurant. Hes sittin in the parkin lot and gets out of his car and starts screamin at me and wed get in a huge fight. And hes, like, theyre tryin to pin this on me and they say you were involved. And im, like, i wasnt. You did this. Get away from me. Reporter he was saying that the police were saying you were involved . And i was, like, okay. You know, liar, and he was, like, i didnt, i didnt. Referee . Reporter but while both linda and the police were convinced gil was behind toms death, investigators had no solid evidence. That grainy video didnt conclusively put him at the scene and they couldnt prove the sedative found in toms system came from gils office. The District Attorney told his chief investigator they didnt have a case. We didnt have the evidence that that i felt or that my boss felt was compelling enough to put before a jury. Reporter but the investigation wasnt over. Detectives were hoping they would find gils dna in toms car and link him to the crime scene. While they waited for those test results, they let toms family know they were investigating the death as a homicide. Toms exwife, michele, called linda for an explanation. Linda told me she had had an affair with gil. She was crying on the phone, crying that this had happened and she didnt use the word, responsible, but i know thats what she felt. Reporter toms daughter jillian, whod been close with her stepmom, was now furious. Why would you do this, how could you be so irresponsible, just mad really and confused and trying to process, it took a long time to process. I stopped talking to linda at that point. Reporter lindas sister was also finding out about the the affair for the first time. She was just very sad and very upset. And i think embarrassed or ashamed for having been in a relationship other than her marriage. Reporter what did you tell her as the protective older sister . Its not your fault. Shes blamed herself from that moment on. You didnt choose this. People have affairs. Millions of people every day. And no one deserves this. Reporter toms parents were stunned by the new direction the investigation was taking. Reporter you go from thinking that your son likely died from Natural Causes to now theres a Murder Investigation . It just seems like something that wouldnt happen. Just pilin the crap right on top of you, right after another. Reporter to you. It was just, you know, what else are they gonna tell me now . Reporter did you call linda . No. Reporter why did you decide to just let it be with her . Well, we were so devastated by the news, we didnt know how to deal with her. We didnt know what to think. If i called her and i spoke to her, im only gettin one side of the story. My sons not around to to tell his side, or anybody. You know, so i figure, well, if i ask her, i dont know what im bein told. Reporter you mustve been so angry. We were angry. We were sad. But you know, you weve lost a son. Nothins gonna change that. But we just wanted answers. Reporter investigators wanted answers too. But when the dna results came back, a new question was at the center of the case. That was not only important, that was a showstopper. Coming up the new evidence. It was a showstopper all right. I said were not going to go forward with any indictment. Were not going to go forward with any arrest. Would it clear gil nunez . It wasnt possible that he would do anything of that nature. When dateline continues. With your replaced windows. Run away [ grunts ] leave him leave him [ music continues ] brick and mortar what . [ music continues ] [ tires screech ] [ laughs ] [ doorbell rings ] when you bundle home and Auto Insurance with progressive you get more than a big discount. Thats what you get for bundling home and auto jamie you get sneakygood coverage. Thanks. Were gonna live forever want a great way to help our children thrive . Then be sure to vote yes on proposition 55. Prop 55 doesnt raise taxes on anyone. Instead, it simply maintains the current tax rate on the wealthiest californians to prevent education cuts that would hurt our kids. No wonder prop 55 is endorsed by the california pta, teachers and educators. Because all of us want to help our children thrive. Its time to vote yes on proposition 55. Alemedacountsherrf volcutr s fou at aoakld par two specthave beenrressd,. Aleasone othem is fends w t vict wev. Real also. Dt foet tourn yr clocback. Hat mns n extar pur osleepn satdaynigh dayltt sangs time staed byenjam franin. Cck ouotheracts you mig nbotnow aut thtimchabg onur twter feed. End we got a dna report back from the lab that indicated there was an unknown males dna on the inside of the belt flap of mr. Kolman near the belt buckle. Reporter did you test this dna against Gilberto Nunez . Yes. It was reporter was there a match . Not it was not his. Reporter no match . No match. Reporter where do you go from there . I mean, that is a thats a showstopper. Nothing moves in this investigation unless we can determine who that is. An unknown john doe. And thats a problem for me. Reporter Holley Carnright is the Ulster County District Attorney. I said, well, were not going to go forward with any indictment, were not going to go forward with any arrest until i have the answer to that. Investigators collected dna samples from all the First Responders to see if they could have accidentally left their dna at the scene. And they considered another possibility that the dna belonged to an accomplice. We were also trying to get samples from people we had identified that were close to nunez. Thats a little trickier because you just cant walk up and ask for the dna. We call it castoff dna. And you would conduct a surveillance of those individuals and wait for them to discard an item that would most likely have their dna and then you collect that. Reporter what kind of items did you collect . I think there was a cigarette butt and maybe a can of soda. Over many months, all the samples were processed, but it turned out to be a complete bust. It identified no one. Reporter its not the First Responders. Its not Gilberto Nunez. Who is it . At that point, i was banging my head against the wall. Reporter linda was also growing frustrated. She was now a widow, a single mom, shunned by her husbands family and eagerly waiting for a break in the case. Reporter a lot of time passed without an arrest. Torturous. Reporter every day are you wondering, is today the day or is it never going to happen . You would kind of get through a point where youd say, okay, were going to live our lives and when it happens, it happens, you know . And then theyd need something from me. And id get pulled back in again. Reporter one of those times police met with linda to explain there was a problem with the original autopsy. Turns out it was incomplete because back then, no one suspected poisoning. Many samples like the contents of toms stomach that might have proved midazolam as the actual cause of death werent saved for testing. So the das office decided to do something radical. He said, we need to exhume toms body tomorrow. I just started sobbing. And i was, like, oh my god. I feel like the man can never rest in peace, you know. Reporter in fact, the medical examiner exhumed toms body twice to do additional testing. Reporter there wasnt just one exhumation in this case. There were two. Why twice . Well we were going to do whatever it took to get the evidence that we needed. Reporter meanwhile, gil was free his dental practice thriving. The public had no idea he was a murder suspect, but he did confide in his staff. And i remember him telling us that, you know, he was innocent and that we needed to just work hard to keep the, you know, the office opened. I knew the kind of person that he was. And it just wasnt possible that he would ever do anything of that nature. Reporter so gils life moved on a year turned into two, then three its been, you know, very hard for him. I think the only way hes been able to keep going is the fact that he knows hes innocent. Reporter he fell in love again and got married in the dominican republic. They were married on the beach. It was very beautiful. And with all his family. And closest friends. He was very, very happy. Reporter time was more cruel to the kolman family. Brad, toms son from his first marriage became depressed after his fathers death and committed suicide. He was just eighteen. Brad made an attempt on his life with sleeping medications. And all i could say to him was, why . Why would you do this to yourself and to us . And his answer was, i just wanted to go to sleep and wake up with dad. Three months after that, he did commit suicide. He just wanted to be with him. So he made a decision. Reporter at this point now, you have this affair, this horrible choice, that has now led to, potentially, to two deaths. It hurts, hurts a lot every day. Surreal. I remember just staring at the programs with his picture and Bradley Kolman and the dates and just like telling myself, youre at brads funeral right now. It became upsettingly familiar. I mean, i felt too comfortable at the at a funeral setting and i realized, this is just not this isnt fair. Ive im getting too good at receiving bad news. Reporter through it all, the da never gave up on toms case. Were conducting these other parts of the investigation, were developing video information. Were looking at the car, were doing some pretty interesting things with regard to the vehicle. Reporter but the unidentified dna was their biggest challenge. Investigators gathered the brightest minds from the state crime lab to ask for advice. And one of them said, have you checked the autopsies that were done before . Reporter before tom kolman . Before tom kolman. Reporter same day . Same day. I looked at this person and said, kind of always thought that was a sterile environment. And she said, well, you should give that a check. So, we did. Reporter sure enough they got a match. Turns out the dna belonged to the deceased male whod been on the medical examiners table before tom. So the dna had nothing to do with the case, but it did mean that some evidence had been contaminated. Reporter what are you thinking when you hear that . Well, im thinking a couple things. Im thinking, thats gonna be a problem at trial because of the contamination. But im also thinking, thank god, we get a little break. Reporter and after all the additional testing, the medical examiner finally had a cause of death, acute midazolam poisoning. Investigators took everything they had to a special prosecutor and argued they were sure Gilberto Nunez had killed the man he called his best friend. I dont think that nunez was ever a friend to kolman. Not for a minute do i believe that. He is a master manipulator. He lives to manipulate. I believe he drew tom in because he wanted to be closer to the wife and have access to the wife. Reporter nearly four years after toms death, Gilberto Nunez was indicted for seconddegree murder. How did that feel when you got that news . I cried. We all cried pretty hard. It felt it felt good in that, you know, were one step closer to justice for tom. Reporter but tough times were still ahead for linda. At trial, prosecutors were about to reveal new details about her affair. Coming up i am not leaving you. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Intimate emails between lovers and maybe a secret identity. He pulled out an i. D. That said the cia on top of it. It had gils picture on it. Undercover agent . Eater. Oh comfy sweater. You keep us warm yet make us look cool. And with a capful of downy infusions with touch activated freshness, youve got a few more tricks up your cozy sleeve. Because with every touch, tug, or tender hug you release a bounty of beautiful botanical fragrance. 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Well, if you want to sing out, sing out and if you want to be free, be free cause theres a million things to be you know that there are and if you want to be me, be me and if you want to be you, be you cause theres a million things to do you know that there are reporter four and a half years after tom kolman was found dead in his car gil nunez, went on trial for killing the man he once called his best friend. I was glad to see him being exposed for what he truly was. Reporter the rest of the kolman family felt the same but reporter gils supporters were also there his new wife, employees and several loyal patients. Zach sklar was one of them. Why did you feel the need to be there . We live in a society w where youre innocent until proven guilty. I saw nothing that would lead me to believe that this could possibly be true. And so i went there to support him, to show him particularly because he is dominican in a very white area, that there are people who will support him. Reporter but the prosecutions case would be difficult for gils friends to hear. The states theory, gil killed tom because he wanted linda all to himself. The special prosecutor summed it up on day one. Ladies and gentlemen, obsession. It was an obsession furthered by manipulation and deception. Reporter to show jurors just how obsessed they believed gil had become, prosecutors read emails he wrote to linda. I am not leaving you. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. I am not going to let you just walk away from me. Never. Reporter linda took the stand and testified about how the affair began and lasted until right before toms death. Toms parents couldnt believe the details they were hearing. We just assumed that it was a onetime episode between them. We didnt realize that it was ongoing for 11 months. We heard that in the courtroom. Wow. Thats amazing that you didnt know that. When you look back, you know, that first kiss, if she wouldve slapped him in the face or kicked him in the nuts, it it wouldnt happen. You believe that this affair is the reason that your son is no longer with us well, yes, if he didnt come into their lives tom would be alive. Reporter in court, prosecutors portrayed gil, not just as a man desperately in love, but also as someone capable of outrageous lies. Along with those anonymous Text Messages gil sent to tom about the affair, jurors also learned he sent texts to linda, posing as a woman named samantha. Linda received some disturbing anonymous Text Messages from a person samantha telling her that tom and she, samantha, were having sex wild sex. Reporter and that wasnt the only fiction gil created. Linda testified gil even told her he was in the cia. He had an i. D. Card and he said that he sometimes would put trackers in peoples mouths . Mouths. Did you believe him okay. Yeah. I i didnt think that much of it, honestly. He kinda showed me a little card and i was like, oh reporter linda didnt make much of it, but prosecutors had another story they wanted the jury to hear a story they thought would show a darker side to gils deceptions. Its just not a good idea. Reporter nick monaco is a retired Police Officer and friends with a guy who worked for gil. Nick testified that the friend came to him one day saying that gil wanted to pay them to go harass and intimidate tom. He said, well, gil wants to know if you would want to accompany me to, you know, just kinda like scare the guy. And he goes, we may pretend like were from the c. I. A. Or or Something Like that. Just as long as he he sees that, you know, you have a gun on you and and a badge. He goes, if he sees the gun he goes, you dont have to wave it around or anything or take it out. And he says, well, you know, gil was in the c. I. A. I was like, no, i i i didnt know that. He goes, oh, yeah did you believe that . No. And then, he pulled out an id that said, the c. I. A. On top of it. It had gils picture on it and his name. And then, it had this m badge in there that said, special officer. The badge was was obviously, you know, from walmart or or kmart or Something Like that. It was definitely a fake. Reporter nick says he refused to participate and never heard about the plan to scare tom again. You have to wonder what what a juror makes out of all this. Reporter reporter james nani covered it for the local times heraldrecord. Theyre hearing about a love triangle, and poisoning, and death and homicide, and a dentist, and emails, and the c. I. A. Reporter police later found the fake cia id on gils computer and tacked on felony forgery charges. And on a computer server in gils office, police found an internet search for the word midazolam. If Thomas Kolman had been sleeping reporter the prosecutor suggested that gil, as a medical professional, figured out that toms sleep apnea combined with the sedative could be a fatal combination. Walk through your theory of what happened the morning of toms death. The night before, i believe, gil and and tom had texted about meeting that morning. I think, at that point in time, gil wanted to meet up with tom because of the fact that he knew that he wasnt gettin linda. Gil got out of his vehicle and entered toms vehicle. At that point, maybe he brought him a coffee. I mean, its early in the morning. Here hey, bro. I brought you a coffee. We gotta talk. And a short time later, gil was driving away and tom was dead. Reporter but prosecutors faced a couple of obstacles. For one, the judge wouldnt let them use parts of gils interview with the police because he had not been read his rights, so jurors never saw how gil initially denied to police hed ever heard of midazolam. So you dont keep midazolam in your office . What . Midazolam . Midazolam . Reporter and prosecutors still had to link gil to the crime scene. They wanted to prove the suspect suv seen at the Planet Fitness parking lot, belonged to gil. So were able to track the movements of this vehicle through this gauntlet of cameras. Reporter grant fredericks is a forensic video analyst and was the key to making that connection. And we can begin to make observations of the vehicle itself and the pattern. Reporter police gathered additional video from nearby businesses to get a better look at the white suv. Grant then pored through a database of 18,000 vehicles thats used by the fbi. Each manufacturer, has a unique way of differentiating their vehicles. The length of the vehicle might be a big longer. The shape of the windows will be slightly different from manufacturer to manufacturer. Reporter fredericks testified that gils car was as close a match as he could find to the one in the security video a 2010 nissan pathfinder. And he told the jury, one more important detail. The suv in the video had a fog light defect, one that cast a distinct headlight pattern. What were seeing from this vehicle is that it has this white light that is on the ground that moves in front of the vehicle. Reporter detectives tracked down gils white suv which he sold a few weeks after toms death and placed it along the same route seen in the security footage. And sure enough, when we went out to the scene then when we did our tests, we turned the lights on and there was the pattern that was quite visible. Reporter gils car had the same defect visible in the video. Prosecutors thought it was just what they needed to place gil at the crime scene and tie all their evidence together. That was a unique feature to that vehicle. And it was still exactly the same a year later. I have yet to find another nissan pathfinder, color white, with those exact same issues. Reporter but of course, the defense was about to tell a different story and had witnesses in store that could destroy the entire foundation of the prosecutions case. Coming up his heart was a ticking time bomb. Was this even a murder at all. One witness says he had app when dateline continues. And life begins. Pictures so vibrant you dont just see it. You feel it. The suhd tv with quantum dot display. The clearest most vivid picture weve ever created. This is tv. The suhd tv. From samsung. What are these . What is it . Duck lips. Quack quack. Plastic surgery duck uh huh you are a backwards duck. Instead of quack, he says no, kcauq. Kcauq. Kcauqqq. Kcauuuu. Pringles you said you wanted to feel better about your cereal. General mills big g cereals hear you. Thats why we say yes to whole grain as our first ingredient. And no way to high fructose corn syrup. So no matter what your favorite is, you can feel good about General Mills big g cereals. The new false lash look . Flaunt the winged effect. New falsies push up angel mascara from maybelline ny. Lashes so winged out who needs false lashes . Maybellines new falsies pushup angel. Make it happen. Maybelline ny marie believes that her Chicken Pot Pie gives you the perfect recipe for catching up with family. So she takes the time to prepare a golden flakey crust made from scratch. And mixes crisp vegetables with all white meat chicken and bakes it to perfection. Because Marie Callender knows that making the perfect dinner isnt easy as pie, but finding someone to enjoy it with sure is. Marie callenders its time to savor and know theres even more to savor with family size pot pies. Reporter as Gilberto Nunezs trial for Second Degree murder played out blocks away from his practice, the dentist tried not to let it distract him from his patients. Even during his trial, he would come and see patients in the evenings. Some days were better than others. He seemed to be doing okay. Reporter patient zach sklar never wavered in his support. Do i have doubts about his whether he murdered someone . Absolutely not. Why are you so sure that theres not a darker side to Gilberto Nunez . Im not sure about anything. I think theres a darker side to all of us. People are complex. But theres absolutely no evidence that the guy committed murder. Reporter in court, gilberto was represented by two heavy hitters from new york city, evan lipton and Gerald Shargel who had previously defended mafia boss john gotti. They argued that the prosecutions case against their client was pure fantasy. They say that gil is such a schemer, but the plot theyve described here, its like something out of a bad lifetime movie. Reporter the defense said if anyone was manipulating things it wasnt gil. It was linda. They read her texts to gil sent the very weekend she said she was rekindling her relationship with tom. I love you, i miss you. Miss holding your hand. That soft spot scar on your face. Mwah mwah mwah. Can you just picture it . Youre there with your significant other, shes behind you texting her lover . They werent repairing things. Reporter so gil had no reason to kill tom, the defense said because he didnt think the affair was over. Reporter reporter, james nani. Linda admitted on the stand that up to the night before mr. Kolman died that they had still seen each other, they had still spoken via text. I think that weakens the prosecutions narrative that there is an obsessive person thatll do anything to get this person, to get linda to go back into his arms. The defense was trying to say that youre telling tom one thing, you know, that you wanna patch things up, youre telling gilberto another, stringing him along. Yeah. It was was there any truth in that, or did you feel that was unfair . No. There was some truth to it cause, you know, i i was stringin him along. We were playin his game so that he wouldnt kill himself over the holidays. So yeah, it was just a dirty, stupid game. Reporter the defense set out to dismantle the rest of the prosecutions case point by point. All that business about the cia they said it was more like a joke, hardly criminal and irrelevant to the charge of Second Degree murder. And there was ample evidence that gilberto cared too much about tom to ever hurt him. Tom kolman and Gilberto Nunez were best friends. Did spend time together. Did make plans. Did talk about going into a business together. There was no motive whatsoever for this alleged murder. Reporter they stressed that none of the physical evidence linked gilberto to the crime scene. No dna, no fingerprints. Reporter as for that internet search for the word midazolam, the defense pointed out anyone in the office could have done it and they believed it revealed very little. Not a search for a question about the drug. Not how to kill with midazolam. A search that led to a wikipedia page. That search says nothing. Reporter as for the prosecutions star witness, the forensic video analyst who placed gilbertos suv at the scene, the defense said his findings proved nothing. Even the expert doesnt say, oh yes, i see in in the Video Surveillance it was tom kolman with gilberto in the car. No, he didnt even see if someone went from one car to the other car. Reporter the defense raised another possibility about who was in the white suv. They reminded jurors, tom was found with his clothes disheveled and pants undone. And suggested that tom may have had some kind of liaison planned. Reporter an examination of his phone revealed that he had received an email from a hookup website called benaughty. Com. The website that was found on his phone was benaughty. Com, it was never the subject of any investigation in this case. The defense was essentially trying to throw some reasonable doubt into the equation. What role does this have to play . It was left as an open question. Reporter but their main argument, the prosecution couldnt prove that gil murdered tom because they couldnt even prove it was murder. They challenged the medical examiners conclusions, saying that despite all the tests, there was no way to know how much midazolam was in toms system when he died. And the amount that was found didnt look like enough to kill him. The reality . His heart was a ticking time bomb. He might have dropped dead at any minute. Reporter the defense put on their own medical expert who said toms death was more likely from Natural Causes. Dr. Sicirika. The defense was very succinct. They said they have one witness who looked over the records of mr. Kolman, who looked over the autopsies of mr. Kolman, and essentially says, mr. Kolman had an enlarged heart, and that we think is the reason that he actually died. The prosecutors, the detectives, they want this medical testimony to show a murder. What it actually shows is heart disease, a likely heart attack. The prosecutor wants the toxicology to support a theory of poisoning. What it really shows in a nonlethal dose of midazolam, a widely used, safe medication. Reporter as the case went to the jury, gilbertos supporters in court were more sure than ever that the dentist was innocent, but no one could be certain of the outcome. It doesnt matter if youre innocent or not. They can still sell you guilty whether you are or you arent. You know, it all depends upon the jury. Coming up did you both believe that was nunezs vehicle . I did. Yeah. Yeah. His car was there. A quick decision in the jury room and a storm in the courtroom. I wanted him to look at me. Hey, im paul. And i used to ask if you could hear me now with verizon. 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Whats the difference between that man that you got to know that you fell in love with, and the man you know now . The man i know, or see now is just a cold, dead heart who doesnt care about anyone but himself. Reporter toms family hoped the jurors felt the same. I thought that the case went very well for us and that the defense didnt do a good enough job to place doubt, i was pretty confident at that point. Reporter in the jury room, 12 men and women got right into it. Fran kwak and joseph dolan were two of the jurors who debated the friendship between tom and gil. I believe they were best friends. You do believe that. Oh yes. As odd as it may seem, they had a lot in common. They loved a lot of the same people. The Police Believe totally the opposite, that mhm. Gilberto wanted to make you believe that they were best friends but they really werent. So, you dont i wasnt so sure about that. What . About the friendship . That they were best friends. I mean, i just find it difficult to believe that. Reporter but if the friendship was confusing, they say the security video made one thing clear. Did you both believe that was nunezs vehicle . I did. Yes. We all said we that he had something to do with it. Reporter their deliberation didnt take long. After just 6 hours the judge announced there was a verdict. Is that a good sign or a bad sign . I was back at Police Headquarters at the time. And, and mike had texted me. Was confident. I felt that a verdict was comin in that soon, that they they wouldve decided it was guilty. If it happens too quick, its not good. If it happens too quick, it is good. Theres no rhyme or reason to it. So at that point we started praying. cause we just were like, this is it. Mr. Foreperson, how say you to count one, charging the defendant Gilberto Nunez, with murder in the Second Degree . Find the defendant not guilty. Is that verdict unanimous . Yes, sir. Reporter not guilty. And not at all what toms family expected. It was utter heartbreak. It was almost five years of hope and like the, the beautiful possibility of closure and leaving it behind, just taken it away. Was that a tough blow for your family . Absolutely. Yeah. My family believes he had a hand in it. Reporter but of course, gilbertos supporters felt the exact opposite, amazing relief. We were just crying all of us. We were just, like, clinging to each other and crying. It was years and years of just not knowing whats gonna happen. You know, we were just so happy. I was pleased that he was found not guilty. Clearly, the jury did feel that there was not enough evidence to convict him. I felt that all along. Reporter so how did the jurors come to their decision . Some came up with their own theory. That maybe gil did give tom the midazolam, but not with the intention of killing him. From the very beginning, i believed that nunez was there at the scene but as a friend to help kolman get some rest that he hadnt been gettin, and that he left, and everything was fine, and he was as much surprised with toms death as anybody else was. You formed that opinion right away . Yep. First day . Yeah. Pretty much. Reporter as for the prosecutions medical evidence, they say it just didnt convince them of murder. What did you feel was the strongest point on the defenses side . That the midazolam yeah. Was not in a amount that could have or should have done any harm. I believe that it very well could have been just to help him sleep. Some people have criticized you for the six hours and change verdict time. cause it was so quick. Right. Yeah. We coulda went over it for another six hours and read the same stuff over and over again, and we woulda come up with the same result. Same result. Exactly. Reporter it was a bitter pill for linda to swallow. She may have had a hand in starting the whole thing but couldnt leave the courtroom without having the last word. Lying piece of [ bleep ] psychotic sociopath i lost it. I was, like, gil. I wanted him to look at me. Say, youre still a piece of [ bleep ]. And i just felt like on the way out the door, i had to say it. Hes a sociopa. Like, dont you like do you get that . Does anybody get that . Reporter although gilberto was found not guilty of Second Degree murder, he was found guilty of the two forgeryrelated charges for the fake cia materials. And could serve a maximum of seven years in prison. We still damaged him. Hell still be a convicted felon. Its not what i wanted. But hes not walkin away completely free. Reporter Gilberto Nunez declined to be interviewed on camera. But invited us into his office. He told us in an email that he feels sorry for toms family, and is angered by what he calls the selective prosecution against him. And is extremely disappointed by the forgery convictions. And since the trial, gilberto has been convicted in an unrelated case. Found guilty of charges connected to insurance fraud. And while the kolmans are united in their grief. The gulf between linda and the rest of the family remains. Toms daughter, jillian, has found a way to stay close to ryan, her halfbrother, but it hasnt been easy. I do forgive linda. I wont forget what shes done and the effect that its had on me. And she will probably never be close enough to me again to have that effect again but i forgive her. Reporter as she tries to move forward, linda says shes having a harder time forgiving herself. Do you feel that guilt still . Every minute of every day. I know things have been strained with toms parents. Is there anything that you would say to them if theyre watching this . Just that im really sorry. And that i understand why they hate me. I totally understand it. I live with those same feelings about myself every day. And to anyone that this has hurt, any of toms friends, his family, my family, anyone thats loved him. You know, for the role i played, i am deeply, deeply sorry. Thats all for this edition of dateline. Well see you again next friday at 9 00, 8 00 central and of course, ill see you each week night for nbc nightly news. Im lester holt for all of us at nbc news. We invtigatsan fnciscs sinkg tow and coverhy taxpers cld enup pang tofix e proem. Vo also loc highchoolteamtes csh. What hapned athis ngoutthateft o play serislyinjured andnothe arrest. Next ose next. A tearful night in the east bay after a missing woman is stabbed and left. The news at 11 00, starts right now. Good evening, thanks for being with us. Not only gruesome but bizarre. This woman was a volunteer for the sheriffs department. A motive remains unclear