Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20170515

Possibility that your husband could have wanted him dead. Police zeroed in on someone at work. He was pretty angry about that accusation . Yes, he was initially angry, yes. Angry enough to kill . Who knows. Was his new wife in danger, too . I am scared to death. Brace yourself, because this killer was stone cold evil. Wow, this is this has got me shaken. Im lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres josh mankowitz with the devil in disguise. Reporter in this world we like to think that we can tell the difference between good and evil. But sometimes evil puts on a mask and comes to lifes party as its opposite, a loved one, a friend, someone we think we can help. And by the time we figure out that were wrong, its too late. And so with that in mind, meet Frank Rodrigues, a guy who went looking for troubled souls. He was very drawn towards people that were broken, even though i dont have a lot i just want, you know, what i have, i want to give. Reporter frank gave a lot. Did a lot of good in his life, until he ran across another soul who was not just troubled or broken, but pure evil. Oh, god reporter frank grew up in rural illinois, one of six kids. He played football, loved baseball. His sisters carmen and shirley remember most that he loved kidding around with his siblings. Dry sense of humor. He would Say Something and youre not sure if youre supposed to laugh, if he was joking. You know, funny jokes and little tricks and things. Prankster is the word im going for. Reporter after High School Frank joined the navy. It was around that time that he married a local girl, but that line about the sea being a jealous mistress is true. His first wife was tired of him traveling all over, being gone for six months at a time. After he got out, he was really kind of a lost soul. He just really didnt know what he wanted to do, and then she ended up leaving him anyway. Reporter after the divorce frank was at loose ends, different jobs, different relationships. He felt as if he were floundering until he found first religion is there any question . No, sir. Reporter and then a place called angelgate academy. He just loved that job. He loved working with the kids. Reporter angelgate was run by the California National guard from its base in San Luis Obispo on californias central coast. It was a military academy where city kids who were headed in the wrong direction learned order, discipline and respect. How was frank with the kids . Frank was awesome with the kids. Reporter chad holloway was franks supervisor and friend. I never met a person that was better around the kids. If they were acting out, he would kind of like get say things to get them to do the right thing. Plus, he kind of like used me as a bad guy. Reporter good cop, bad cop . Exactly, frank was always a good cop. Reporter as rewarding as it was for frank to help his students learn skills for a successful life, he also found it thrilling to take these city kids kayaking or camping, or just to hang out by the ocean, which many of them had never even seen. It also left him wanting kids of his own. I remember him talking a lot about he wanted to have kids. I mean he wanted kids really bad. He wanted to start a family. Reporter his sisters say frank thought his faith would guide him there. He was big into believing that god was going to give him signs of what was good for his life. Reporter and then one day at church, frank ran into a woman he worked with at angelgate. He called mom to tell her that he had met this woman, angelina, and she was his soul mate. Hur m our mom was excited. Oh, my goodness. She was so excited. She called me up. Frank has met someone. Reporter her name was angelina morales. She also had been in the military. She was at devout a christian as frank. Their romance was a whirlwind. Theres my baby. Reporter you can hear the excitement about this new love in this video that angelina shot of frank. I cant wait to marry you. Cant wait to marry you too, baby. Reporter they met in february and married in april. Angelina had a nineyearold daughter named autumn, so instant family. I liked frank. Frank was a really good guy. Seemed very downtoearth. Reporter and good for her . Seemed very good for her. Reporter tom fuller is autumns dad and angelinas ex. Reporter usually a guy inner position, not too crazy about the husbands who come after him. With frank it was different. Reporter at the wedding, frank vowed to be a good husband and he made a promise to autumn to be a great stepdad. Then frank, who loved working with kids, was offered a teaching job in los angeles. Franks life seemed to be coming together. Thats how it seemed. Reporter when was the last time you saw frank . I saw frank the tuesday after labor day 2000. Reporter frank wanted to earn some extra money, and he agreed to chaperone a group of new students on their way to angelgate. He rode with them on a bus from l. A. To San Luis Obispo where he met up with his old friend and boss chad. Reporter how did he look . Frank looked absolutely terrible. Four days later Frank Rodrigues was dead. What had happened to frank . When we come back, a warning from his wife. I said, please dont go. You believe theres a possibility that your husband was poisoned . Who could possibly want to do him harm. He looked at frank and went, pow, dead on, high to eye. Feeding. Shushing. Cuddling. Swaying. Kissing. Changing. They might not be able to say it. So let us be the first. Happy mothers day. whispering dad trust me, we are going viral. Ing to work . kids laughing whispering mom lets send in max. kids max max now this, is internet gold going viral . Get scrubbing bubbles clean and disinfect. What . 20,000 views sc johnson. Heare you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec® its starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. I dont think thats how theyre made. Klondike hooks up with tasty flavors. The best ice cream bars ever conceived. Everand every day younkful promise to protect them. Off is here to help with proven protection against mosquitoes. Trust our family to protect yours. Sc johnson, a Family Company ltry align probiotic. N your digestive system . For a nonstop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. Get 24 7 digestive support, with align. The 1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. Also in kids chewables. I dreamed. I did tequila. With the gods. And you gotta know theyve got good tequila. This clean was like pow everything well . My teeth are glowing. They are so white. Step 1 cleans. Step 2 whitens. Crest [hd]. 6x cleaning , 6x whitening a i would switch to crest [hd] over what i was using before. Ok honey you play with your monkey while i get your little brother cleaned up. Daughter uh oh. Monkey swimming. Irreplaceable monkey protection. Detergent alone doesnt kill bacteria, but adding new lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99. 9 of bacteria with 0 bleach. Daughter uh oh. Lysol. What it takes to protect. It was cement of 2000. Frank rodrigues was finally coming into his own. A new bride, a new family, a new job. But then after 3 00 a. M. After just five months of marriage, franks new bride angelina found him unconscious on their bedroom floor and called for help. It was too late. Frank rodrigues was dead. His family was stunned. He had been a healthy man. My mother called me after angelina called her on the day that frank died, and mom just said she lost it, she started screaming and just slammed the phone. It was it was horrifying. He was only 41. Frank left behind a widow and a nineyearold stepdaughter who whom frank had become very close. How did your daughter react to frank dying . She was devastated but she was also very confused. She wasnt the only one confused. The Coroners Office found no obvious cause of death, natural or unnatural. No heart attack, no trauma, nothing. Toxicology tests found a little vicodin in franks system but not enough to kill anyone. His family was at a loss, especially his wife angelina who seemed to be groping for answers, trying to make sense of what happened to frank. She called me almost every day to talk about it. She thought he was killed and she thought he was poisoned. The idea seemed on the face of it crazy. Who would want to kill frank . I just didnt know what to think. It was just such a shock. Homicide detectives were called in, even though there was zero evidence of a homicide. Any chance that this was going to turn out not to be a murder and that what frank died of was either Natural Causes or Food Poisoning or Something Like that . Absolutely. Absolutely. L. A. County sheriffs homicide detective says his squlob wjob was just to keep moving forward. We were dependent upon what the Coroners Office was doing, what they would find or wouldnt find. But in the meantime you cant stop investigating. So a few days after franks death, they spoke with angelina about her suspicions. Were here because we understand that you have some information or believe theres a possibility that your husband was poisoned. Angelina had a lot to tell the detectives about franks final days, about what she thought had happened to him and why. Were going to start from the beginning. Angelina said that after his trip on the bus to angelgate frank got sick with what they both thought at first was stomach flu. It wasnt like a constant. It was like maybe once every half hour, throw a little bit up, a little bit up. But then frank got so sick that angelina took him to the er. The doctor said all frank needed was rest and fluids, and hed get better. But two days later frank was dead, and angelina now told detectives she didnt believe it had been the stomach flu at all. She thought that something happened to frank on that trip to angelgate. Was he feeling okay when he went up . Oh, yeah. Angelina told detectives she had urged frank not to chaperone those students and specifically not to go back to angelgate. Did you tell him before he went, were you concerned . Oh, yeah. We we argued. I said, please dont go. She was worried that frank, who was so trusting, wouldnt be safe. I mean he looks for the good in everybody. You know, he thinks everybody can change. Angelina then said why she was afraid. It turned out that when she and frank worked together at angelgate they became involved in something potentially dangerous. We were both very strong christians. Okay. So we would pray together over the program. We were both very recognize and knew of situations there. The situations . Angelina said she and frank became convinced a person working at angelgate was engaged in inappropriate behavior with some of the students. Angelina said shed reported the man to authorities and he now had a motive to hurt her or frank. This person had said if anybody jeopardized my job i will kill them. He looked at frank and he went like this and he went pow, right i mean dead on, eyetoeye. Despite her fears, angelina said that night when frank returned from angelgate everything seemed fine there. They were great. They walked up to me, they hugged me. You know, said they missed me, and somebody in the office said he didnt say who, but they came up. Said somebody in the office said am i hungry or thirsty and gave me gatorade and cookies. Now she wondered was there something in that gatorade. Did that friendly welcome hide something much more sinister, because the man angelina said had offered frank food and drink was the same manage angelina had accused, the same man she said had threatened frank months earlier. My instincts are usually pretty right on. And your instincts right now are what . Sergeant holloway, chad holloway, franks former boss, franks friend. Coming up i was beyond mad. I cant even describe how angry i was. Chad holloway, from friend to suspect . Did you say you would put your gun to the person that was doing this . Something to that effect i ten days after Frank Rodriguez died he was honored like a fallen soldier at the Military Cemetery in riverside, california. It was very hard to come out here for the funeral. Angelinas daughter autumn who was in the house when frank died said goodbye in a way only a child could. Autumn put a teddy bear in franks coffin. She was a sweet little girl, she really was. That last goodbye was a struggle for franks family. It was very hard on mom. She did go into a very deep depression after that. As the people who loved him mourned, detectives with the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department were trying to find answers. They drove 200 miles north to the Rolling Hills and small town charm of San Luis Obispo to angelgate to check out angelinas unsettling story, that she had accused franks friend chad holloway of misconduct with students, that chad was furious over that, and that all of it might be the reason behind franks unexplained death. They were asking us our opinion of who had access to frank. Richard worked at angel gate at the time. He told police he hadnt noticed chad talking with frank, but he did remember how upset chad was about angelinas charges. Chad was beside himself. I have never seen him that angry. Chad holloway was very angry about that accusation and expressed to some people that he would like to deal very harshly with whoever had done that to him. Yeah, he was initially very angry about it, yes. Angry enough to kill . Who knows. We dont know chad holloway very well yet. We get to know him. Thats what we needed to do in this particular case. What detectives call getting to know you doesnt feel quite so friendly when youre a potential murder suspect. I was under the impression before they talked to me that they were so convinced i did this, that they had stopped at the sheriffs department, had basically told them to prepare to book me. Youre in the cross hairs . Im in the cross hairs. Reporter how did that conversation go . They come up and ask a lot of questions. Before they ever met chad, detectives had already learned something important. That the misconduct allegations against him had been thoroughly investigated by local Law Enforcement and found to be completely baseless. But the detectives also knew a false allegation can still be a very good motive for murder. Reporter thats one of the worst things that a teacher or instructor can do to a kid under his or her tutelage or control. Yes. Reporter and it is also one of the worst things to be accused of if you didnt do it. That was probably the scariest thing that had ever happened to me in life. Ive been to war. I was in desert storm. A lot of things happened in combat. I had never in my life been that scared. Scared, and he admitted angry. I was beyond mad. Its i i cant even describe how angry i was. Reporter did you say you would like to put your gun to the head of the person that was doing this to you and pull the trigger . Something to that effect, i did. Detectives asked him about that. Reporter something along the lines of, you were the target of false allegations from the wife of a guy whos now dead, and you were pretty angry at the time those false allegations were made. I i dont remember nearly ruining your life over some phoney allegations, thats enough to make a lot of people angry enough to do violence. I guess it could be, yes. But chad holloway insisted to detectives and to us, whatever threats he made were out of anger and frustration and he would never have followed through. Reporter when you said that you wanted to take a gun and put it to the head of the person who made those accusations against you, you didnt know it was angelina you were talking about at the time . I did not. Reporter but once you found out it was angelina who made those accusations, im guessing you probably thought about putting your gun to her head. Absolutely not. Reporter no . No. Chad also said what angelina told detectives about franks last visit to angelgate never actually happened. Reporter were you working in the office . No, i wasnt working in the office. Reporter when you last saw frank, did you offer him a gatorade or anything to drink . No. Clearly someone was lying. The question was, who . Coming up all i heard was ask them about antifreeze. Who and what had killed frank . Investigators have a secret mission for sergeant holloway. You say im in . You Better Believe it. Shushing. Cuddling. Swaying. Kissing. Changing. They might not be able to say it. So let us be the first. Happy mothers day. whispering dad trust me, we are going viral. Ing to work . kids laughing whispering mom lets send in max. kids max max now this, is internet gold going viral . Get scrubbing bubbles clean and disinfect. What . 20,000 views sc johnson. Heare you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec® its starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. I dont think thats how theyre made. Klondike hooks up with tasty flavors. The best ice cream bars ever conceived. Everand every day younkful promise to protect them. Off is here to help with proven protection against mosquitoes. Trust our family to protect yours. Sc johnson, a Family Company ltry align probiotic. N your digestive system . For a nonstop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. Get 24 7 digestive support, with align. The 1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. Also in kids chewables. I dreamed. I did tequila. With the gods. And you gotta know theyve got good tequila. This clean was like pow everything well . My teeth are glowing. They are so white. Step 1 cleans. Step 2 whitens. Crest [hd]. 6x cleaning , 6x whitening a i would switch to crest [hd] over what i was using before. Ok honey you play with your monkey while i get your little brother cleaned up. Daughter uh oh. Monkey swimming. Irreplaceable monkey protection. Detergent alone doesnt kill bacteria, but adding new lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99. 9 of bacteria with 0 bleach. Daughter uh oh. Lysol. What it takes to protect. Angelina rodriguez when her husband died suddenly, Angelina Rodriguez quickly shared her suspicions with detectives, that frank had been poison by a former coworker who carried a grudge. Chad holloway. But so far there was no solid evidence against chad. So detectives also looked at everyone who was close to frank, including his new wife. Reporter you talked to other people about frank and angelinas marriage . Yes. Reporter and . We find some interesting things out. For one thing, frank was angelinas fourth husband, but not necessarily her first choice. People who worked with angelina and frank at angelgate said angelina initially had her eye on a different guy. She was interested in a gentleman that worked there also that was somewhat of a cowboy, wore cowboy boots, had a hat. All of a sudden she showed up with a cowboy Bumper Sticker in her car, a hat in the back seat. Reporter all of a sudden she is a bow girl. All of a sudden she is a cow girl. When he didnt want anything to do with her, she recognized frank who was a religious man. Reporter and next thing you know . She has a bible in her car and religious Bumper Stickers. To a lot of people it seemed angelina was shopping pretty hard for a man and would do what was necessary to get one. She was pretty much a chameleon based on some of the behaviors about her when she was working at angelgate academy. She learned after meeting Angelina Frank had become less close with many of his friends at angelgate. Then when they moved south he seemed to cut off his own family. He called me in may on mothers day and said, i cant talk long, she is monitoring my calls. None of that fit the profile of a loving wife or later a grieving widow. When soon after franks death angelina moved back up north and left behind some of franks things. We found it very odd she took his dress shoes from the service and some of his uniform stuff, some of his medals and stuff like that that he had, and they were all in the trash can. Reporter she threw them away . The things in the trash were really shocking, things that you would think you would keep from your husband that you loved. All of that was curious, but there was one thing above all others that made detectives suspect angelina might be involved in franks death, something straight out of homicide 101. It was the way angelina kept bringing up franks Life Insurance. Frank and i sat down when we got married and said, look, we need to cover our butts. If something should happen to either one of us, we need to take care of each other. How long after frank died did angelina called the Insurance Company to enter a claim . Roughly within eight hours. Reporter so the same day . Same morning. But now the insurance is like, well, they probably wont pay because it is so new until the coroner says what the cause of death is. Well, what do i do . Sit in my car . As the days went on and the coroner still didnt rule, angelina grew more and more impatient. I have a question. Go ahead. Did you guys get anything at all from the coroner . Angelina kept calling and they kept recording those calls. No word from the coroner yet . Well, they dont have anything yet. It takes time for this type of stuff. Oh. Unless they know what theyre looking for. Detectives saw an opportunity. Remember, they needed the same thing angelina did, just for different reasons. We need a cause of death, and at this time were thinking she knows what that cause of death is. They thought angelina might be telling the truth about one thing, that frank had been poisoned. And they also knew what franks sister had told them, something very strange that angelina had said to her. She says, oh, there are lots of ways you could poison someone. She said, for instance we have a flower around here called oleander. It thrives in warm climates like california, it is only deadly in large quantities or if the poison is concentrated, and angelina seemed to know how to do it. She said, can you make a tea out of it, you can make a soup out of it. And we were riding in the limousine and she pointed out oleander bushes. Detectives found oleander in another place, angelina and franks backyard. They wondered since angelina was so eager to get a death certificate and collect the Life Insurance, would she slip up and say oleander is what killed frank . They spoke with her again and again, all the wile telling her they were gathering evidence against franks coworker, chad holloway. We kept asking her, angelina, what poison would chad have given frank . It could be anything. It could be the flowers on the road. Flowers on the road . Yeah. Yes, those what the heck are those. You know, the they grow in the middle of the highway. I think theyre azaleas. At this point we believe she knows exactly what it is. But she is trying to get you to say it . She would rather have us say it and we would rather have her say it. Try as they might, they couldnt get angelina to say the word oleander. Still, she kept calling them about chad and one day delivered another clue straight to investigators. Some one called her, she said, and told her something big. Okay. Uhm, it was about maybe five or ten after 8 00, because i was in the morning . Yeah. Uhhuh. Because i was on my way back from dropping my daughter off at school. I would get this call and it was call it was blocked. They said they, uhm, they wanted to tell me what was going on because they had a lot of respect for frank but they couldnt tell me who they were because they know how holloway is. They said, you need to know a conversation i had with holloway. He had said, they do try and track down, they cant pin me because and they said they cant pin me . Cant pin me. It started breaking up and all i heard was ask them about antifreeze. Antifreeze, not oleander . Antinfreeze, not oleander a this point. Had antifreeze been on your scope at this point . No. But naming a new poison was only one interesting detail at this point. Remember, angelina said the anonymous informant called her shortly after 8 00 a. M. Reporter you got her phone records . Yes. Reporter and . Lo and behold, there had not been any calls anywhere near, incoming or outgoing, to angelina phone at th angelinas phone at that time. In trying to implicate chad holloway, angelina implicated herself. Now, detectives again went to see chad, this time to talk about angelina. Angelina rodriguez, that was the last person that i ever wanted to see, ever wanted to hear her name, have anything to do with whatsoever. Reporter and then the investigators say to you, we want you to help build a case against her, and you say, im in . You Better Believe it. Coming up he befriended her. Went to her house. Detectives devise a plan to trap angelina, but angelina has a plan of her own. Wow, this is this has got me shaken. When dateline continues. Shushing. Cuddling. Swaying. Kissing. Changing. They might not be able to say it. So let us be the first. Happy mothers day. You dont even want to know protection detergent alone doesnt kill bacteria but adding new lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99. 9 of bacteria with 0 bleach. Lysol. What it takes to protect. I. Prilosec otc 7 years ago,my doctor recommended. 5 years ago, last week. Just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. Its been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10. Straight years, and its still recommended today. Use as directed. [hissing] uh i [sound of wrench] [intricate guitar riff] [engine starts] [guitar continues] i dont think thats how theyre made. Klondike hooks up with tasty flavors. The best ice cream bars ever conceived. I dreamed. I dreamed i did tequila. With the gods. And you gotta know theyve got good tequila. This clean was like pow everything well . My teeth are glowing. They are so white. Step 1 cleans. Step 2 whitens. Crest [hd]. 6x cleaning , 6x whitening a i would switch to crest [hd] over what i was using before. So if you have a sink, and the ship is sinking, is it a sinking sink . Scrubbing bubbles toilet gel, freshens and cleans with every flush. Spend less time cleaning, and more time thinking about the important things. Sc johnson for three months detectives had been talking with angelina, who was so eager to collect on her husbands Life Insurance that shed let slip some tantalizing bits of information. First, that her husband may have been poisoned and that the poison might be what she called that flower in the road, or possibly antifreeze. Finally the coroners report came back. The finding, Frank Rodriguez was killed by ethylene glycol, the key ingredient in antifreeze. The tox screen also found oleander. Now detectives felt they knew for sure frank had been murder. They knew how and they thought they knew who. Not chad, but angelina. But to make this case stick theyd need a little more, so they kept angelina talking. We befriended her. We went in her house and first thing she did was offered us coffee. My partner and i kept kicking each other under the table, oh, no, no, no, were good. Thank you, were good. From the beginning angelina tried to cast suspicion on franks friend and coworker chad holloway. Chad, she said, was the killer, but detectives didnt believe her and instead enlisted chad to help set a trap for her. And the idea is what here . See what kind of mistakes she may make. They asked chad to call angelina while they listened in. She had done her best to put chad in the gun sights of Law Enforcement. Now came his chance to return the favor. Hello. Angelina . Yes. What did you tell the police that poisoned frank with antifreeze . Who is this . My nan question, angelina, is how how did you get my number. I wanted angelina, im just wondering how in the world this could ruin my life. At one point you say, angelina, youre going to ruin my life, which actually although its actually maybe part of the script for that call, its kind of true given what she tried to do to you before. It was. But inside i knew that it is the other way around. Youre not going to ruin my life anymore, it is your life thats going to be ruined because of this. You know what . You need to call the investigator. Im ending this conversation. Okay. Angelina. Then within a minute of chad hanging up, angelina called the cops and gave them quite a different version of the call they had just listened to. I just got a phone call from holloway. Holloway called you . Yes. He said, how can you the detectives just told me that they think i killed frank with antifreeze thats what we told him. And he says, uhm, you know, i wouldnt go spreading these things around. Im like, what are you talking about . I said, i dont need to be talking to you. And he says, well, theyll never be able to catch me anyway. But, he says, you know, you just got to he says, you better watch your back. Oh, god. Okay, okay. I am scared to death. What angelina should have been scared about was that the cops were on to her two obvious lies, this one about what chad supposedly said to her and the previous phantom call about antifreeze. But angelina still hadnt admitted anything, at least not to detectives. Then they found a good friend of angelinas, a confidante named palmer arks. Who told them months after the marriage angelina was bored with her husband and cheating on him. As girls all do. As girls always do, my wife is probably doing right now. The friend quoted angelina as saying she didnt want to divorce frank because he had just bought Life Insurance. Theres another conversation on the telephone with palmara, angelina told her she was making a milk shake for frank, a special milk shake for him, and palmara questioned if frank was sick, and angelina told her, not yet. Not yet . Not yet. Of course, angelina had no idea what the cops knew. She thought they were still investigating chad and she was still happy to help them do that. For example, detectives told angelina they couldnt figure out how chad knew when frank was coming to angelgate. He would have had to know when, they told her, so he could have his poison ready. And then miraculously . Miraculously a fax shows up. It was an angelgate roster for the day of franks visit with franks name conspicuously written in. This is the fax that came to sheriffs homicide . Correct. That was convenient. Very convenient. The fax did not include the senders name, but it did send a clear message. This is a cover sheet to the fax that was received anonymously at the sheriffs homicide. Why is chad still free . Chad never knew how hard angelina had pushed the cops to arrest him. Wow, this is this has got me shaken. Five months after her husbands death, police dropped in at angelinas house. Good morning. How are you . Angelina thinks their next stop will be chads place. It wont. Holloway holloway for the next 35 minutes, he and his partner try to get angelina to give it up. They layout the facts. The only information, the only person thats supplied any information that frank was poisoned was you. No one else knew that frank was poisoned, only you. Only you knew oleander, in addition to that antifreeze. Nobody in this entire investigation told us about antifreeze. They tell her the poisons were still in franks stomach, which meant he ingested them days after his return from angelgate, and within hours of his death, meaning angelina is the only one who could have given them to him. Detectives tell her that all along while she thought she was playing them, they were playing her. This entire time we have used everything you said and followed up on everything youve done and said and, quite frankly, it is hard to remember all those lies. Angelina told them they were wrong. I didnt kill my husband. Okay. Stand up. Are you arresting me . Yes, you are under the arrest for the murder of frank. No i didnt kill my husband. Oh, no we have a warrant for your arrest. I swear i didnt kill my husband. Angelina, we can prove that you did. Angelina rodriguez might seem beaten, but she had a few more punches left in her. Just wait. Oh, god, please, i didnt kill my husband, i swear. Coming up a secret plan from inside prison and another undercover sting. Somethings happening to your friend. Then a haunting question from deep in the past. Had angelina kil Angelina Rodriguez was charged with the murder of her husband frank. It turned out that might not be the worst thing shed ever done or ever would do. You think that if they made it look like a suicide they would be bright enough to figure figure a way to do that . What youre hearing is the wheel of a mind turning. Thats angelina in jail, speaking through the air vents with her neighbor in solitary. Can do it, robbery gone bad or they can make it look like the boyfriend. Angelina apparently believed the statements of her friend palmara about how angelina was bored with frank and wanted a Life Insurance payout with the most damaging evidence against her. So it seemed angelina made a decision, hire someone to get rid of her friend. This is angelina inside the county jail trying to set up a hit on palmara outside . Correct. Reporter to keep her from testifying . Correct. The inmate angelina was talking with turned her in and soon detectives were recording angelinas conversations. I think its cyanide then, you know, that would do it real quick. You know what im saying . If that sounds cold blooded, consider this, angelina made clear shed help care for palmaras children, after that is she had their mother killed. If it came down to it, i would adopt her kids. Thats how much i love her kids, but i dont love her anymore. Does that make sense . You would take care of the kids but she got to go . Yeah. That was what i was thinking. Police told palmara what angelina was up to and asked for her help. This time they got really creative. Basically staged her death. We had her on her bed in her house with a fake bullet hole and fake blood. The picture is pretty convincing. It is very convincing, yes. They sent an undercover cop posing as a bad guy with pictures in hand to visit angelina in jail. Somethings happened to your friend. Who . What . Okay. Where did you get those from . You need to contact her family, okay. Oh, my god. Angelinas initial response was, oh, my god, oh, my god, i was only kidding. I was only kidding. Shortly thereafter it was, oh, my god, i am going home. I am so ready to go home. Reporter you believe she killed her husband . No doubt. Reporter and she tried to kill a witness against her . Correct. Reporter anybody else . Her baby. In the course of their investigation into franks death detectives found out that in 1993 angelinas daughter alicia choked on her pacifier and died. They also learned that angelina sued the pacifier manufacturer and settled for more than 700,000. Whats more, she collected Life Insurance on her 13monthold baby just as she had tried to do with frank. Detectives reviewed the evidence and came to believe alicias death was no accident. You were confident after an investigation that that pacifier was tampered with, that that baby didnt do it and it didnt come apart naturally . Absolutely. Tom fuller, angelinas ex, was alicias father. I went ten years thinking that alicias death was an accident. So it was like reliving her death all over again. Angelina says she did not kill her baby and she was never charged with that. She did stand trial for the murder of Frank Rodriguez where a prosecution expert testified that angelina poisoned frank at least twice. First with oleander which made him sick enough to go to the er but not to kill him. Then when she was giving him those fluids the doctor ordered, she was dosing them with antifreeze, which was fatal. The jury found angelina guilty of first degree murder for financial gain, but couldnt reach a verdict on whether she tried to kill that witness. And in the sentencing phase, the judge allowed the jury to hear evidence implicating angelina in her daughters death. Then the jury agreed on a sentence. She shall be put to death. Even while facing a death sentence, angelina seemed unfazed. She addressed the court but admitted only to some errors. I broke and made a few terrible, stupid mistakes which i regret very much. We all make mistakes. I just picked the wrong time to make mine. But murder is not on that list. Frank rodriguez thought angelina was the god fearing woman of his dreams. He was wrong. Tom fuller thought she was a nurturing mother who would protect their daughter. Hell never know for sure if he was lured into a terrible mistake. But chad holloway understands. He knows now just how close pure evil came to him. He says hes let it go with the gratitude that unlike his friend frank he at least survived with his reputation and his life intact. People need to know how evil angelina was, how many lives she ruined to try to get a little bit of money, and she wasnt going to stop at nothing until she got what she wanted. And i want angelina to know, you didnt ruin me. You didnt ruin me at all. In the bible we are warned that satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and sometimes hes pretty good at it. Reporter thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. James comey. Why did President Trump do it . And why now . Was it based on a Justice Department recommendation . The administration said this because of the actions that the Deputy Attorney general outlined the president accepted the recommendation of his Deputy Attorney general. But then, President Trump said this. Regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. Did it have to do with the russia investigation . The administration said this you want this to be about russia when this is about, quote, restoring confidence. This has nothing to do with any investigation into russia. Thats not what this is about. But then, President Trump said this. The russia thing with trump and russia is a maidup story. Whats the real story . Joining me are secretary of state rex tillerson. Lindsey graham and chuck schumer. And new words on our poll about what a skeptical public is thinking. And west wing shakeup watch. A report this morning says a frustrated President Trump is considering firing many of his Top White House aides. Well get the latest. Joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news chief white house correspondent, hallie jackson. Washington post columnist eugene robinson. Bbc anchor, katy kay. Welcome to sunday, its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longestrunning show in television history, celebrating its 70th year. This is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. Happy mothers day to all the moms out there. After the firing of the fbi director james comey, conflicting administration explanations and open disagreement about what comey and President Trump said to each other, at what is now an infamous dinner. What happened on friday feels like a capstone to a whiplash week. President trump tweeted james comey better hope theres no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. Are there tapes . Heres what the president told fox news. I wont talk about that. All i want is for comey to be honest. Just Something Else for congress to try to subpoena. All of which leads us to our brandnew nbc news wall street journal poll, that just finished overnight. 29 we polled said they approve of the decision to fire james comey. Roughly one third says that they tonight have enough to say which means the story hasnt penetrated the national consciousness. 6 say its given them a more vo