your nose to the ed grind stone. she chose a tough gig, helping architects navigate new york s byzantine building regulations. that seems like the kind of business for a tough, savvy, hard-edged type woman. that doesn t sound like the woman you re describing really. oh, you know what? she was enormously successful because she was hard working and she was honest. you know, she shined, and people just could trust her. but it sounds like there was just one part of her life that was missing, just love, finding someone to spend her life with. did she talk about that? um-hmm, she did want a family. in early september 2004, that dream suddenly seemed to be within reach. she was thinking this could be the guy, absolutely. it was labor day weekend, a sunny day on nantucket. bernadette called her friend beth. i said, hi, hi. i said, you know what, i think i m looking at your future husband right now.
barbara says she called beth s brother peter but couldn t keep him. she said she called beth s parents but couldn t reach them either. she knew beth was planning to pick up her nephew but beth s car did not move and she noticed the shades in beth s bedroom windows had been drawn. i had a bad feeling. i had a bad feeling. she called peter lochtefeld again and this time she reached him. i said there was someone in the yard. i think it s beth s boyfriend and he just said to me, barbara, lock your door. don t go out. i m calling the police. 911. come to nantucket. he s at her house now. she won t answer her cell phone. it was then that the sergeant of the nantucket police arrived at the cottage and with his partner made the discovery. beth lochtefeld s body on the living room floor. it was just weeks after she thought she had found the love of her life and dreamed of a new beginning.
was an incredibly dark painting thinking this painting reminds me of tom toolan. as bizarre as it sounds that was the moment that tom toolan picked to propose to her. he chose the most public place possible. a gallery in this world famous museum, the metropolitan museum of art. he proposed to beth before but never like this. he pulls this ring out and gets on his knee and proposes to her again. she said i was not she didn t feel safe enough to say no. she knew she was in a dangerous situation so she said to him, i need more time. she was, like, so upset because he said, you know, it s now or never. and her response to him was? it has to be never. these are words right out of beth s mouth. beth rushed out of the museum. toolan pursued her. he was screaming. i m going to go get drunk with my friends.
my mom stayed home, cared for us. my dad was home at 5:30 for dinner at 6:00. but when school was out, the family headed to nantucket where beth s father, john lochtefeld, was a well-known local artist. and for years, if it was summer, beth was on the island. she was game for everything. leslie costello met beth more than three decades ago. they were freshmen together at the university of notre dame. the last time she was in california we were going to go surfing. i said beth she d never surfed before. she d boogiey boarded. i said you might have more fun boogie boarding. oh, no, i want to go for it. i want to learn to surf. off she was, willing and wanting to embrace a new experience with joy. after grej, beth settled in new york and started her own company. in this video, she talked about those early days. hard work. you work your fingers to the bone.
the trip ended badly. they were in a taxi and he had a temper tantrum and i guess she said let us off here. whatever she said. he turned and yelled at her and she said it was a little bit scary. and he was drinking. she said he had eight beers by the time they got to the airport and got on the plane. bernadette said on the way home tom asked beth what her friends thought of him. he said something chilling during the exchange that followed. something that troubled her so much she told bernadette about it right away. he said what did they say about me? she said something like they thought you were really sophisticated and charming and this and that and he said under his breath, boy, i really should have been an actor. and she said that just went into her gut. it was at that point perhaps that she began asking who was the real tom toolan? she told family and friends that she was going to give the