Its your father. Your father was murdered, youre not gonna give up. Reporter im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Josh Mankiewicz with Something Sweet. Reporter the course of true love takes some strange twists and turns, particularly when it flows out of an Online Dating site. Occasionally, a cyberfling blblsoms into a marriage. This is the story of one of those marriages. What went right. And what did not. Back in 2002 ray kotomski was a 60yearold, happily retired, former corrections officer, living comfortably by himself in a house in the pennsylvania woods after his 36year marriage had ended in divorce. Ray had three grown children. Monica, is his middle child. Reporter tell me about your dad . A mans man. He was he loved outdoor kinda he loved hunting, fishing, stuff like that. A hard worker. He had a heart of gold. Reporter after his divorce from monicas mother, ray was lonely. The next step was as close as his keyboard. Reporter so he tried Online Dating. Yeah. Yeah, did you make that face when he said he was doin it . Yes, absolutely. I did, yes. Yes, i did. Reporter you said, you never know who youre gonna wind up with. Thats right, yeah. Reporter and one day he tells you he met someone. Well, he just said that h liked her, he was gonna go on a few dates with her. Reporter the woman ray met was Teresa Bowers lovin. She lived one state over in ohio. A 43yearold nurses assistant, teresa had three kids herself. A grown daughter and son, and a younger son at home. Ive kinda known her my whole life. Reporter beth burcham is a friend of teresas who grew up with teresas daughter sara. The three women all went tmeet ray on that first date. She was, like, well, im gonna go meet him. Do you guys wanna go with me . I liked him. He was smartmouthed and just fun. Her son josh was a high schooler when they got together. He made my momhappy. She definitely had a smile. What did she like about him . A Big Country Music fan. I think that was her kenny rogers the making right there. She thought he looked like kenny rogers. Thats what we joked with her about. She thought he was handsome. Things were clicking for joshs mom and ray. In may 2004, though got married. Friends and family said he couldnt do enough for theres starting with an elaborate weing. Spent a lot of money on her. Absolutely. Took her out . Uhhuh. Pampered her. Absolutely. Oldfashioned gentleman type. A match made in cyberheaven. Bought a house close to theresas home. But happily ever happen, did not last. In october 2006, came a terrible blow. Theresas daughter was killed in a car krarks leaving her infant daughter and toddler son without a mom. Roy loven, jr. Was his brother. S ss 21 years old, on her way to work onemorning, and i guess hydro planes and hit a tree. The fact that she had two little babies, two little kids and the fathers were not in the picture. Somebody had to step up and take them kids. That was your mom. She was the firir one with her hands out, ready and willing theresa and ray transitioned from when theyre crying grandparents tthe daily grind of surrogate parents to gaffen and helena. Then not long after theresas death, another body blow. Diagnosed with cancer. Ray did the right thing. And theresa were spending alternates weeks at a cleveland hospital, where baby helena was being treated. Ray even shaved his own head when the little girl lost her hair from the chemo. It sounds like he bonded with them. Absolutely. He mentioned to a familyember that he felt that god put him here exactly at that time for a a reason. And it was to take care of her. Helenas cancer went into remission, but ray and ter relationship suffered. The strain made ray toxic. He was angry and drinking more beer than usual. Mom was scared. Mom couldnt tell him to cutback on his drunking he was stressed out. Like an unhappy guy . Totally. Rays family says he was fine. And that his drinking was never a problem. But by august 2009, theresa had enough of ray. She and the grandchildren moved to anpartment in a nearby town. On tuesday, august 11th, a few days after she moved out, theresa anday reconciled enough to take the grand kids to lunch, and feed the fish at a state park. The following day, theresa left the children with her friend beth, and went back to the house to do laundry. What theresa said she found when she got there mid morning was a clearly ck, nearly naked, he refused to let her call a doctor. Theresa told beth about it. She said he was acting so weird when she came back to get the kids and he wasnt feeling good. The next morning, when she couldnt reach rayon the phone, theresa asked her mother, who lived near ray, to check on him. When theresas mom got to the house, she foundnd him unconscious. She called theresa, who alerted 911. Whats the emergency . I need an ambulance. Okay. Down barely not its husband. All right, ill send the ambulance. All right, thank you. She phoned beth and raised to be with ray. What did she say happened . That her mom found him naked on the floor unresponsive. The ambulance arrived at the house around the same time as theresa. Emts scrambled to stabilize him. She road with him to the nearest hospital. But whatever ailed ray, it was too serious a case for the local hohoital. He was taken to a Level Two Trauma Center in erie, en vein yeah, pennlvania. A medical crisis, but also a mystery, what had happened to ray. When we return i didnt know what to think. Nothing was making sense. But when investigators lookedd more closely, they find something suspicious. He had those crystals, there was no question. No question. Ur technology. Technology. Say, have you seen all the Amazing Technology in geicos mobile app . Mobile app . Look. Electronic id cards, ememgency Roadside Service, i can even submit a claim. Wow. Yep, geicos mobile app works like a charm. Geico. 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Dont use windex to make windows spotless and clear go see my big fat greek wedding 2 d learn how to use windex the right way on weird stuff not on windows whos got tickets . I do im okay enough pressure in here for ya . Im gonna take macinex sinusmax. Too late, were about to take off. These dissolve fast. Theyre new liquid gels. And youre coming with me. You realize i have gold status . Mucinex sinusmax liquid gels. Dissolves fast to unleash max strength medicine. Check this out, bro. Whats that, broheim . I switched to geico and got more. More savings on Car Insurance . Yeah brofessor, and more. Like renters insurance. More ways to save. Nice, brotato chip. Thats not all, brtein shake. Geico has motorcycle and rv insurance, too. Oh, thats a lototore. Oh yeah, im all about more, teddy brosevelt. A worried family converged at the medical center, there in the icu, ray lay deathly ill. Doctors tried to determine what was killing him. And blood work told the story. Ray had somehow ingngted a toxic dose of Ethylene Glycol, but it looked as though they figured it out too late. Even in small amounts, just a few ounces, antifreeze is almost alwaysreight al. Rays daughter monica was with her dad. He was just laying in bed. How did he look . Horrible. What were you thinking . I didnt know whato think. Because nothing was making any sense. Ray had missed the narrow poisoning can be reversed. End of life discussions with doctors began. As his wife, it was theresas call. Threedays after he was admitted to the hospital, she told the doctors to let him go. Her son, josh, watched theresa make that agonizing decision. She was devastated. Absolutely devastated. I could see it in her face. Hard to do . Uhhuh. Rays death was referred to dr. Eric have avay, the erie county coroner. By the time he got to you, it was already suspected, so you were looking specifically for that . My job in autopsy was to confirm the crystals in the kidneys which confirmed he had it on board. And those crystals. No estion. Slam dunk. Determined it was, and it was listed as undetermined. Ray told her he drank Something Sweet around the time he got sick and antifreeze had a very sweet taste. She also told the er doctor in the Ohio Hospital that he ha been threatening to kill himself. It was looking like suicide. Rays children didnt buy it. What were you thinking . T only thing i was thinking was i didnt believe the whole he tried to commit suicide with antifreeze. My dad would never do that. All of us knew that. So when ray died, the wheels of jusce began to slowly spin. Taylor cleveland is a detector with the sheriffs office. V we received a call from the Erie County Coroners Office and they wanted to give us the earliest heads up they could that there was probably something in this case, rays death, that was not natural. Something that was quite if this was homicide, investigators had plenty of work to do. Aymond had been a corrections officer. Yes. And had unquestionably during his career dealt with some pretty bad guys thaha were locked up. Yes. Cops started looking into rays past, to see if someone was settling an old score. Threedays after his death, they processed his house as a crime scene. But it had been cleaned by the time they got there. Rays bedding was in an outside trash can. There were numerous crurued beer and dr. Pepper cans, and in the garage, right where you would expect to find them, were two containers of antifreeze. One sealed, one opened. And that told investigators nothing. Because there were no fingerprints or dna on either container. How long after raymond die did you speak with theresa . A couple of days after. Start looking back at somebodys marriage, they see either a great marriage or a bad marriage something in between. This was what . According to theresa, this was not a good marriage. She admitted that . Yes. So she had to be a sususct pretty much right from the get go. Unfortunately, wives kill their husbands and we see that quite often. So you have to at least look at her. Theresa laid out for investigators her actions in the days leading up to rays death. E again said she tried to get ray to seek medical assistance when he first got sick, but he refused. She said ray had been miserable and unhappy, and she speculated that he comoitted suicide. This was looking like intro to detective work 101. Theresa, the suspects spouse had means, mottiv and opportunity. But when investigators dug times of theresa and ray, their case took a head snapping turn, in the direction of a totally new suspect. Coming , a blast from the past. This man h h a bomb. To kill ray once today its florida flatbread with fresh tomatoes and bell peppers. Lets start by spreading oliveoil and garlic on our flatbread. Then we add cheese; but whatreally makes this dish special are the florida bell peppers, and juicy tomatoes. When the cheese is melted and bubbly its done. Just cut and serve. And thats how easily florida flatbread with tomato and sweet bell peppers can become a meal time favorite. Reporter ray kotomski was dead and his wife teresa believed it was suicide. But Law Enforcement thought this smelled like a murder. That someone had poisoned ray with antifreeze. Detectives looked for his killer among the thousands of the worst of the worst criminals r had spent a career guarding in pennsylvanias maximum security prisons. Raymond was not the corrections officer thth all the inmates hated and, you know, vowed to outside . Quite the opposite, that raymond and the people that raymond associated with during his time at the prison were nerally respected and did not run into a lot of problems with inmates. Reporter so to cops, it didnt look like anyone from back in the day had it in for ray. But there was someone from his and teresas recent past who had once wanted ray out of the way, if not dead. Detectives learned that in the winter of 2003, when ray and teresa were first getting to know one another, she was also seeing another man shed met online a fellow by the name of Robert Reichard and she left ray for a few weeks to be with robert. When teresa went back to ray, robert did not take that well. Robert was infatuated with her, and wanted teresa to leave ray. To leave ray for him. Reporter reichard stalked the couple. He vandalized teresasar. And then it really escalated. Robert decided to try and remove raymond from the equation, sent raymond a letter bomb. Reporter a real bomb . A real bomb, a functional, working bomb. Raymymd went to his mailbox, found a package that looked odd and brought it to the state police barracks. The bomb squad detonated it. Reporter if raymond had opened that pa kage would he have been killed . He would have been severely injured if not killed. Robert said at the time that he had wanted to be with teresa and that he thought that raymond was in the way. Reporter now, when i look at teresa i guess i dont see the femme fatale that guys wanna kill for. Neither do i. Reporter but its there. In some fashion, yes. Monica remembers a phone call from her father about the bomb. His voice was shaky, it was something ive never heard before. Repter whatd you say . Whatd you think . I didnt know what to think. I i think at first i couldnt believe it. Reporter roberreichard pleaded guilty to manufacturing a firearm and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was paroled just months before ray kotomski became mysteriously ill. Did you wonder whether he had anhing to do with it . Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, teresa was the last one with him. But this man sent my dad a bomb. Reporter monica wasnt the only one wondering about that. When you discover that somebody else tried to kill your victim, and is now out of prison, that changes everything. It does. We had one of two options in this case. Either it was a wife killing her husband, or some elaborate plot started and was unsuccessful with. Reporter detectives tracked down their new suspect. H hwas living what appeared to be a normal life in western pennsylvania. Reporter your other investigators probably spoke with his employer, coworkers, family . Investigators from our office spoke with a lot of People Associated with Robert Reichard. Reporter could you track mr. Reichards movements . He was not on gps monitoring athe time, no. Reporter so, if he was going to see teresa or if he was gonna stalk raymond nobody wouldve known about it . Be a fair assessment. Reporter he certainly wouldve had access to antifreeze. Everybody has access everybody has access to antifreeze. Reporter while detectiveve were trying to find out if teresas exboyfrid turned letter bomber had anything to do with rays death, they dug deeper into teresas past. But the investigation went slowly. Rays family counted the days. It just felt like we were gettin swept under the rug. Reporter some people woulda given up in that instance. How could you . Its your father. Your father was murdered, youre not gonna give up. So whatd you do . I pressed on. Did what i had to do. I made sure that there was justice. Reporter that was eaer said than done. Hard times were coming to Ashtabula County. Coming up, the case goes cold, because instead of lookikg for killers, detectives are looking for work. All kinds of things go wrong in Murder Investigations, but the Police Department running outta money is usually not one of the things you think of. No. W much they move,. And created degree with motionsense. 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Sleeping. snoring sputtering dishes. Not sleeping. Dishes. Life. Dishes. Death. Dishes. Existence. Dishes. Dishes, dishes, dishes. Every dish, every time. Only finish has the power ball to take on anything. Or conquer the field . Defy expectations any day with always infinity. Made with flexfoam. Absorbs 10x its weight. Rewrite the rules. Always. Doityourself culture extends even to killing. There are more than 40thousand suicides each year in the united states, far more than the number of homicides. And that was the issue. There wasnt any question what killededay kotomski. That was antifreeze. But by whose hand . Rays widow, teresa, and her family maintained a despondent ray killed himself when teresa left him. Rays children and the cops thought it was murder. Two theories and if murder. Two possible suspects. Teresa, the grieving wife and teresas freshfromtheslammer exboyfriend whod once tried to mailbomb ray out of the way. But his story was checking out. We just couldnt find anything other than his prior R Association with raymond that what kind of vibe did you get after his death . The last thing he said to me is that could have been me. He looked concerned. He looked like somebody dodged a bullet. Im guessing she and robert changed places and the suspects. 100 . Shes at the top of the list. Yes reporter but the investigation into the death of ray kotomski was about to turn as cold as Ashtabula County in february for a very odd reason. Shortly after this case was investigated by our department there was a financial collapse and we laid off about 90 of our officers. Reporter the county, what, ran out of money . Yes. Reporter and the result was. Murders were not getting solved. Reporter ray kotomskis case was one of them. His children were not happy. I wasnt trying to be a pain in the butt. I didnt want them to drop the case. Reporter t tn the county runs out of money. Yes. Reporter i mean, all kinds of things go wrong in rder investigations, but the Police Department running out of money you think of. No. Reporter and for almost two years, nothing happened. Yeah. Reporter monicas two children were out of the house. She was able to take time off from helping her husband with his Construction Business and devote hours to her mission. I sent letters to everybody. And i was constantly calling the sheriffs dept for new information and whatnot but i wasnt getting anywhere. Reporter and meanwhile, back in Ashtabula County life went on. What was teresa doing during those 18 months that you werent able to investigate . She was filing for life insurance, collecting life insurancfrom raymond kotomski. Some of the 150,000 for insurance, went to buy a house where she was raising her grandchildren. And, about a year after rays death, there was a new man in her life. Tim schumaker was an and teresa found each other. Reporter howd you and teresa meet . On the internet. Reporter whatd you like about her . She was attentive. Just a sweet lady. Reporter before long, tim and teresa were living together. Tim gave up Long Distance trucking for a job closer to home. Reporter did she tell you she was a suspect in a Murder Investigation . She told me. Reporter and she said, i didnt do it. I didnt have anything to do th it. She didnt have to say that she didnt do it. I knew she didnt do it. Reporter Ashtabula Countys investigation may have been frozen in red ink, but rays daughter monica was still in action, emailing, cajoling, pleading. I wrote letters to the Ohio Attorney general. Then i got a phone call and they said they were looking into it. Reporter Ohio Attorney general mike dewine had recently started a cold case unit and, in september 2012, three years s after ray kotomskis death, case, with teresa the prime suspect. I didnt want her to get away with murder. My prosecutors and detectives didnt want to see that happen either. Reporter those investigators were glad to be back in business. There were reasons they liked teresa for rays murder. One had to do with a story they heard about her rirst marriage. Her previous husband, roy lovin, told us that teresa had put rat poison in his mashed potatoes. Reporter and he knew that how . Roy said that he took two bites and fed some to their son teresa reached into her sons mouth, pulled out the mashed roy said that he got pretty ill after that. The son was okay . The son was okay, yes roy said that the only other thought that he gave that was when his German Shepherd was poisoned. Roy said that he never connected poisoned. Reporter teresas son from that first marriage is roy, jr. , and he says that never happened. Theres a story out there that your mom tried to poison your father. Its all lies. Reporter why would your father lie about this . Maybe he is jealous. Maybe he maybe he feels that she rued his life. I dont know. Maybe this is his way of getting back at her. Reporter and, there was a polygraph she took early in the investigation. The examin had asked teresa two questions did you poison ray with antifreeze . And do you know who poisoned ray . Teresas answer to both, no. Which was also the answer to whether teresa was telling the truth. She failed her polygraph test. Repororr that lie detector court but helped convince coco they were on the right track. They turned the heat back up on teresa and they told her that they know that she snapped, and she killed him. She needed to confess, so they kind of threatened her. Reporter she didnt bend to that. No. She goes, well, i want a lawyer. Reporter teresas family and friends like beth burcham rallied around her. They felt rays family jus wouldnt or couldnt face the fact that he cmitted suicide. I think they dont want to believe that ray would do that. I really do. Reporter you think theyre just looking for somebody to blame. Yeah. Other than ray. Reporter but on march 28, 2014, five years after rays death, officers surrounded teresas house. We knocked on the door early in the morning, told teresa that we had a warrant for her arrest and she was under arrest for the murder of raymond kotomski. She didnt look surprised. Going. She almost started bawling, but something god come over her, and she was okay. I was crazy happy. It was like, wow, we finally got somewhere. Reporter after a few days in jail teresa was released on bond. Law enforcement officials knew the case had problems. Ohio attorney general mike dewines people gave rays family a depressingly realistic appraisal. We told them all along, this is going to be a tough case. Be prepared. Be prepared for a loss. Reporter we might not win this. We might not win this case. Reporter coming up proof teresa is innocent or proof of the perfect crime. Did you find any dna on teresa . No dna. No fingerprints, correct . Thats correct. And then our car overheated. 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That comes from my floor . Eww this is deep couch sitting. Deep couch sitting the decision to ride on and save money. He decided to save money by switctcng his motorcyc insurance to geico. Theres no shame in saving money. Ride on, ride proud. Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. Reporter it was july of 2015, almost six years after ray kotomskis death. , when his wife teresa went on trial. There were two charges contaminating a substance for human consumption, and murder, both part of the accusation that teresa poisoned ray with it into something he ate or drank like beer or soda. Teresas lawyer, veteran Trial Attorney paul hentemann, was confident. Theres no question in my vivi she was absolutely innocent of the crime. Reporter prosecutors offered teresa plea deals which would have resultein little jail time. She was absolutely, categorically convinced that she did not commit the crime. And she felt that god s in her corner and s was not going to be convicted of of any crime. She did nothing wrong. Reporter another twist attorney hentemann asked for a bench trial, no jury. Judge gary yost would alone rule on teresas guilt or innocence. If she killed ray, or if he committed suicide. In her opening statement, prosecutor Emily Pelphrey attacked the idea that ray killed himself. He was planning for his future. He loved his grandchildren. Reporter the doctor who where he died testified teresa herself said ray was not suicidal. She had indicated that he had not mentioned anything about feeling suicidal at that time. Reporter no, the state argued. This was murder. Medical examiner dr. Eric vey testified that antifreeze killed ray. He died as a result of complications of Ethylene Glycolol toxicity. Reporter but exactly how antifreeze kills was critical to the states case. When somebody ingests antifreeze, either deliberately or because somebody else gave it to them, whats the progression of symptoms . Well, initially theyll appear to be drunk or stuporous. And then theyll become progressively lethargic, and then become comatose. And then theyll start to have congestive Heart Failure and pulmonary edema. And then theyll start to go into renal failure and then eventually die. You can sort of estimate when they ingested the antifreeze based on where their symptoms are at that point . Its possible to get a rough estimate of when the ingestion occurred. Reporter the keystone of the states case was the progression of symptoms that prosecutors contended would show when ray ingested the antifreeze. You were able to establish a timeline . When the ems arrived at his residence he was already lethargic and almost comatose. So we already know from his clinical presentation at that point that hes probably 12 to 24 hours in. Reporter the m. E. s estimate dovetailed with the prosecutors timeline that ray must have ingested the antifreeze the day he and teresa took that outing with the grandchildren. Support their timeline, prosecutors introduced this voicemail. Ray left it for a friend several hours after the state says teresa poisoned him. Im sorry, im sorry, im sorry. Reporter on the tape, the prosecution argued, ray sounds drunk. Youre a nice person . Call me back if you can, okay . Bye. Reporter prosecutors say he was really in thstuporous early stages of antifreeze poisoning. We contend that thats when the ethyl glycolene, or the antifreeze was ingted. Reporter and, they argued, it had to have been teresa who gave it to him because no one else was with ray then. And how did they know that . Well, from what she told this fbi agent she stated that over that week she he did not have any visitors and she was the only onthere. Reporter in addition to their sciencebased timeline that put teresa in the bullseye, the state wanted judge yost to consider teresas behavior while ray was dying. In the gallery, monica wept as her younger sister kimberly testified how teresa ended life support for their father without family, and the terms she sacd teresa dictated for releasing rays body to her. The conditions were that i had to have him cremated and that she wanted to make sure i wouldnt be the beneficiary. Reporter it was all part of a pattern, prosecutors argued, that added up to murder. The state contends there is absolutely no evidence, that it is at all reasonable to conclude that anyone other than the defendant, mrs. Kotomski, is the one who provided that ethyl, that antifreeze to her husband. Reporter when the defense had its turn, attorney hentemann told the judge the state had no case, not a scrap of evidence. He got the fbi agent who took teresas initial statement to concede she may have been confused about whether she was even with ray on the day the state says she poisoned him. She may have beenrong about that, correct . She could have been wrong sbout that. Reporter this was suicide, he argued. Not murder. According to the defense, was the fact that ray did nothing to save himself. And one could conclude that, if someone gave you poison and you became ill, what would be the first thing you would dodo you would call the police or you would call a hospital. That never occurre reporter hentemann then attacked the states most glaring weakness. A total lack of physical evidence connecting his client to containers of antifreeze. Lead detective Taylor Cleveland was crossexamined about the absence of any forensics. Did you find any dna on the part of mrs. Kotomski . No we found no dna, mr. Kotomski or otherwise. And you found no fingerprints of mrs. Kotomski on the can, correct . Thats correct. Reporter teresas attorney went after the prosecutions timene. He got one of the states medical witnesses to concede she couldnt tell exactly when ray drank the antifreeze. You dont how long he how much he had ingested . Correct. Reporter under crossexamination the m. E. Admitted he couldnt answewethe question at the heart of the case. You dont know whher it was a homicide or you dont know whether it was a suicide. Is that a fair correct . That is correct, yes. Reporter hentemann produced his own Expert Witness to refute the states toxicity timeline as suspect science. Its impossible to determine when the Ethylene Glycol may have been ingested because it may have been ingested as s e dose, or at one time, or several smaller dose over an undermined period of time. Reporter r n his close, attorney hentemann suggested all of it amounted to at the very least, reasonable doubt. Im suggesting to you that its a suicide. And if the facts dont add up, then you have to rule in favor of the defendant. Reporter teresa never testified. Judge yost retired to his chambers to make his decision. Coming up i was so afraid that she was gonna get away with it. I have faith in her. Reporter the verdict, and a surprise phone call. They have no evidence onmedley served with sirloin steak. The sizzling sound of fresh florida vegetables mingling together; saut\ zuccccni, squash, bell peppers, and tomatoes in golden olive oil. Garnish wiwh fresh parsley andserve with juicy sirloin steak. Thats how easily pan roasted florida vegetables complete a delicious meal. Visit freshfromflorida. Com for more great recipes. And remember, reporter stuck in a bad marriage, most people swallow only their pride. It turns out, theyre the lucky ones. Thursday, july 30, 2015. Judgment day in Ashtabula County. Judge gary yost had reached his decision. The families of accused murderer Teresa Kotomski and her dead husband ray made their way to the courthouse. By the time i got to the courthouse, my whole body was literally shaking. I was so afraid, like, i worked up to that almost six years. And i was i was so afraid it. Reporter it looked as if rays s ughters fears were justified. The court finds the defendant, teresa kotoki, not guilty of contaminating a substance for hun consumption. The judge reads the first count, tampering with food. Yeah. Not guilty. Umhm. And you think, well, thats it. Yeah, were done. She got away with it. Reporter it is a moment monica will look back on for the rest of her life. Were you lookin at teresa yeah. And thinking what . I had hate. I did. The court finds that the state has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Teresa Kotomski, is the person who administered the antifreeze to raymond kotomski. The court finds the defendant guilty of murder ms. Kotomski, do you wish to make a statement at this time . Your honor, i want you to i did not give him poison. I did not give him anything to harm him at all. I loved my husband. I swear fore god. I never, ever, would hurt anybody, especially my husband. Reporter the stence was mandatory. Which has an indefinite term of imprisonment of 15 years to life. I love her. I want to be with her. I have faith in her. I dont think shes guilty. Reporter while teresas attorney appeals her conviction, tim shumaker, teresas boyoyiend of five years, is standing by his woman. Heeraising her grandkids. And not long after teresa began serving her sentence, tim asked her to marry him. Teresa said yes. You meet this woman. Shes already a suspect in a Murder Investigation. And then shes arrested, and tried, and convicted. Wasnt locked up. But you dont want anybody else. You want her. Yeah, i want her. Why is that . Because i love her. And i wanna spend the rest of my life with her. I think i think shes shes an awesome woman. Shes everything that a man looks for in a woman. Reporter while we were talking with tim, he glt a call. She went into detaiai [ phone ringing ] oh, can i get it. Reporter it was teresa calling from behind bars. She and tim caught up for a few minutes. Then he put her on speaker. Oh, i hi. Teresa, its Josh Mankiewicz from dateline. Hi. Hi. How are you . Could be better. Could be worse. Okay. I understand you and tim m e engaged. Yes we are. Aint that awesome . Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I apprececte it. Is there anything you wanna say . Well, i just i just want everybody to know that, you know, im innocent. I didnt do what theyre i loved my husband. Someday well know why why he did what he did. You think he killed himself deliberately. I think it was an accidental suicide. I think he took in that antifreeze enough to make himself sick, and called me out there thinking that i would feel sorry for him, because thahas the type of person i am. This call i ioriginating from an ohio correctional facility. I just wanna be clear. You think ray took the antifreeze deliberately, to make himself sick, and get you to come back to him . Yes. Yes. I believe that his intention was to g t me to come back. Do you think youll be outta there one day . I believe im gonna be outta here. I believe that the truth is gonna set me free. Im hopin that somebody really goes over this and finds out that i had no part of that. ccse they have no evidence on me. Because theres n no evidence there. I love you. Thank you for using yeah. We got cut off. Okay. Talk to her. Reporter we wanted to interview teresa in person, but our request was denied by the departmentf corrections. Teresas hypothesis that raz took antifreeze so she would come back to him isne that her family and friends to a person are on board with. They see teresa as a decent person who somehow attracts men who, through no fault of hers, become obsessed with her, let me make sure i understand. One guy, mr. Reichert, wants to kill to have teresa. Another guy, roy, makes up a story that shes a murderer because he doesnt want anybody else to have her. And ray tries to kill himself to get her to come back. Have i got that about right . Yeah. Do you know anybody else around here who leads that kind of lif who drives men to do no. No. Not at all. Whats her secret . No idea. I think shes just a good woman. Reporter thats pretty much the opposite of what rays daughter monica thinks. For her, this was all very personal. This was my dad. This was this was justice. This is the way it should be. You killed m mfather, somebodys gonna pay for this. And damn well right shes gonna. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. This sunday, have the republicans found their antitrump . Ted cruz has himself a Super Saturday and donald trump, who won louisiana and kentucky, seems to agree. I won ted oneonone, okay. Cruz wins kansas and maine and wins the day on delegates. Donald trump is not the best with Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, whatever happened to marco rubio . Three thirds and a fourth on a rough ght. Also, Bernie Sanders scores wins in kansas and nebraska, but Hillary Clinton takes louisiana and the mostelegates for the day. You just want to pull your hair out when you see that insuu fest that goes on among the republicans. Plus, the republican dump Trump Movement. Hes playing the memberings of the American Public for suckers. He has neither the. Mitt romney is in, but supporters push back. If mitt romney thinks that about mr. Trump, he must think about that of every one of us that support mr. Trump. And you think the republican race is nasty . I have had to fight for everything my entire life. President frank underwood, or should i say kevin spacey . And joining me for insight and analysis are, davidrooks of the new york times, Kelly Odonnell of nbc news, republican strategist mary matalin, and Stephen Henderson of the detroit free press. Welcome to sunday, its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. If the dump Trump Movement needs a candidate to rally around, his name just might be ted cruz. Cruz and donald trump each won two contests yesterday, but it was ted cruz who emerged with the most delegates and perhaps some renewed momentum. Cruz easily won the kansas caucuses beating trump by a better than two to one rgin. Cruz also took the main caucuses with 46 6 of the vote. 13 points ahead of trump, another doubledigit win there for cruz. But trump also took two states last night winning the only that by a much smaller mrgin than polls had indicated. And trump won the newly created kentucky caucuses, but again, it was by just a fourpoint margin over cruz. Smaller than what many had predicted. Overall cruz won 70 degals last night to trumps 61. So cruz won the night on delegates. Although overall trump still holds the leads in the delegate count. But as important as delegates are, cruz won somee momentum and hope last night. Maybe right now youre supporting marco rubio o o john kasich. What is becoming more and more clear is if you want to beat trump donald trump, we have to stand united as one. I want to congratulate ted on maine and kansas, he should do well in maine because its very close to canada, lets face it. I mean. On the democratic side by the way Bernie Sanders won two out of three states, but Hillary Clinton won the most delegates. Let me walk you through it