all the facts would indicate that this was, i think, a rush to judgment. reporter: the former coroner says there was no rush to judgment he didn t remember the case, but reread the coroner s report at dateline s request and says, quote, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the time everything fit there were no suspicions raised and no reason to drag our feet nevertheless, after toni s death and mccormick s review, the douglas county coroner changed the manner of lynn s death from accidental to undetermined still, harold henthorn hadn t been charged with anything not in toni s death or his first wife lynn s. so sheriff s detectives called on lynn s old friend, kim. what did they ask you to do? they asked if we were willing to be wired. reporter: best friend under cover. what would she find out about harold coming up
she was a respected doctor, an ophthalmologist who had a thriving practice first in jackson, mississippi, and later in denver, colorado. a devout christian who sang in her church choir a mother to a little girl named haley. a wife to man named harold, and the older sister to anna kate s dad todd bertolet. this story is about toni and what happened to her one bright sunny day high up in the mountains. 911 what s the address of your emergency? i need an alpine mountain rescue team immediately. reporter: it s also about how secrets long buried sometimes don t stay that way. where did toni fit into your family she was the middle between two brothers sometimes she thought that was an advantage and sometimes she thought it was a disadvantage being an only girl with two brothers obviously we re not going to sit down and play barbies with her
reporter: journalist michael fleeman covered the death of toni henthorn. i just thought the extent of their police work was to tell you to put out a rogue campfire or something, or don t park here, don t feed the bears reporter: but there s more to it every death in our national parks is investigated. and in toni s case the same emt ranger who came to rescue her now switched roles from rescuer to cop people wear different hats at the park service the guy who schlepped out there in the middle of the night and tried to both save toni s life and get harold off the mountain the next day became an investigator reporter: the ranger set out to learn everything he could about toni, harold and what happened on that quiet mountain. harold told him the couple had set out around 1:45 on the deer mountain trail as part of their romantic anniversary weekend you can see in this selfie harold took that the henthorns seemed to be having fun, on a track that many would find challenging.
reporter: harold told many people toni was taking pictures of wild turkeys while the ranger recalled harold saying toni was trying to get a shot of him. journalist michael fleeman harold gave several versions of what happened and where the stories begin to diverge is really what was exactly happening at the time that she went off the cliff. was she taking a picture of him? was he on his cell phone looking at text messages reporter: friends and family weren t the only ones comparing notes and clues. because toni died in a national park, the fbi joined the investigation. and the more they looked at what happened, the more reasons they found for concern. starting with the trail itself this is not an easy descent, and people who knew toni couldn t understand why a woman who had had bad knees since high school would even risk it dateline retraced harold and toni s path with the help of joey thompson, a climbing and
thought, man, maybe she s the better woman reporter: as the years went on, lynn and kim spoke less and less frequently. but then in the fall of 1994 there was a reunion of sorts when the henthorns went back to the east coast for a visit lynn and harold got to meet kim s children and as true friends do, the two women picked up right where they left off we talked and we laughed. and it was a good time but we were always all together. i mean, even when it was time to go to bed, harold didn t go to bed until lynn was in bed. reporter: in other words, harold hadn t changed. but kim thought lynn seemed happy. did you think harold was good for her? i did, yes. reporter: what kim didn t know, it was the last time she would ever see lynn alive. reporter: may 6th, 1995 it was a cool spring evening in the colorado countryside