good in his arms. reporter: he was handsome and crazy about her. there was talk of marriage. and then suddenly there was talk of trouble. she was frightened enough not to go home. she had fear that something would happen to her. reporter: it did. my sister s not answering her phone. reporter: how did love go so wrong? in a surprising twist, it would take not one, but two trials to discover the truth. he wasn t convicted of killing my sister anymore, all of a sudden. hello, and welcome to dateline. who who was a savvy entrepreneur. cut tom toolan his teeth in the financial world. they are connection was instant. but when they re somewhere love cooled, tempers flared and the relationship to the tragic turned. initially, it seemed like an open and shut case. but there was a surprise in store. here s what with murder on nantucket island. nantucket island, a gorgeous place off the coast of cape cod. a simple inelegant place in a way this is serious money. the b
reporter: her name was elizabeth lochtefeld but everyone called her beth and she was an unlikely victim. she was 44 years old, a successful business woman from new york, who sold her company for a tidy profit and moved to this nantucket cottage just months before. she had this incredible gift of making people comfortable. reporter: beth s brother, tom lochtefeld. she d be chatting up the clerk when we went out to a store and i was like, come on, let s go, what do you doing? reporter: smart, vibrant, adventurous, that was all that and more. but what tom remembers most was her way with people. reporter: sounds like you re way with your sister sounds like she made people feel better, it s a way with love. she made everyone feel special.
i thought, wow, flowers, how nice. this is such a gentleman. becky hammond, workin as a bartender, dated tom toolan once. we had plans at newark athletic club, and i thought that was nice. it didn t turn out that way. dinner was pleasant, then came drinks. that s when he accused me of being lascivious with a bartender, because i was just having conversation. : they got into a cab to go home and becky says toolan tried to grab her. she didn t wait around. i jumped out and ran. i ran across the street. and now, four years later, elizabeth beth lochtefeld was in a frightening situation with the same man. but that night, instead of grabbing her stuff from toolan s apartment when she got their, beth stayed. and leslie says that beth later told her that things went from bad to terrible. he got very violent with her that night.
gentlemen, 52 days from the time elizabeth beth lochtefeld, met thomas toolan, until he stabbed her 23 times until she died. he told his new set of jurors just what he said during the first trial. that tom toolan knew exactly what he was doing the day he killed beth lochtefeld. it was a choice that he made knowing it was wrong and he understood that at the time. he still chose to do it, that s with criminal responsibility is. this time the trial was considerably shorter and this time when the jurors went out to deliberate, they were back the same day. the defendant thomas toolan is charged with murder, is he not guilty or is he guilty? the jury has found him guilty. guilty of what please? first degree murder. guilty, again. on all counts. and stoicism from the defendant sentenced again to life. he is appealing his conviction. beth sister kathy read a
bone, your nose to the grindstone. reporter: she chose a tough gig, helping architects navigate new york s building regulations. reporter: that seems like a job for a tough, hard edged woman. doesn t seem like the type of woman you are describing. she was enormously successful because she was hardworking and honest. she shined and people just could trust her. but it sounds like it was just one part of her life that was missing. the one part, it was love. finding someone spent her life with. did she talk about that? yes, she did. reporter: in early september, 2004, that dream seem to be in reach. she was thinking, this could be the guy, absolutely. reporter: was labor day weekend, a sunny day on nantucket. burnett called her friend beth. i said, hi, i think i m