place of sadness for them, usually. >> i love it, because my boys get to hear about her and they always bring cars out for conner, or i think they brought a baseball out this time. >> it's a place where they can celebrate a life, someone they loved. >> she's in heaven and she's in our hearts. >> their laci. >> beautiful. >> oh, how pretty. >> i'm craig melvin. and this is dateline. it was one lie. after another lie. it doesn't make any sense. it took my father, you killed my father.

someone is going to pay for this. >> there are easier ways to die. >> i got a call from a cousin, saying. he's in the hospital. >> how did he look? >> horrible. >> he drank something sweet, and deadly. >> -- >> there was no question. >> the real question, why would he do it? >> stressed, out something was going on there. >> what happened to ray? soon, it wasn't just doctors and the families asking the question. it was detectives. >> most likely not a suicide.

>> he had enemies. he received a surprise package. >> this man sent my data bob. >> a surprise phone call from a -- >> it's josh mankiewicz from day line, is there anything you want to say? >> welcome to dateline. on a warm day in august, 65 year old ray quenched his thirst with a cool drink that drink contained a secret. a potion. so sinister, he would be dead within hours. not only did investigators have to figure out what killed the happily retired pennsylvania man but who would want him dead and why, here is josh mankiewicz with something sweet. >> the course of two love takes some strange twists and turns, particularly when it flows out of an online dating site, occasionally a cyber flag blossoms into a marriage. this is the story of one of

those marriages, what went right and what did not. back in 2002, wray was a 60 year old happily retired former collections officer living comfortably by himself, in a house in the pennsylvania woods after his 36 year marriage. and it ended in divorce. wray had three grand children, monica is his middle child. >> tell me about your dad. >> a man's man who liked outdoor come of stuff, he liked fishing. >> after his divorce from monica's mother, ray was -- the next step was as close as his keyboard. >> so you tried online dating? >> yeah. >> did you make that phase? >> absolutely, i did, yes. yes i did. >> he said you never know who you're going to like. >> yeah.

>> and what that tells you that he met someone? >> he said that he liked or, he had a few days with her. >> the woman that he met was teresa mother, she loved one state over in ohio, a 43 -year-old nurses assistant. she had three kids herself. a grown daughter and his son. and a younger son at home. >> i've kind of don't hurt my whole life. >> pat is a friend of teresa's who grew up with teresa's daughter, sarah. the three women all went to meet right on the first day. >> she was like, i'm gonna go meet them. do you guys when i go with me? >> what did you think about him? >> she said, i really like this guy. and when i see him again. >> and see him again she did. soon, teresa was driving two hours to meet with reagan weekends. teresa sun,, josh was a highschooler when his mom and ray got together. >> she made my mom happy. she definitely had a smile. >> things were clearly clicking

for josh's mom, and ray. and it made 2004 they got married. friends and family say that ray could not get enough of teresa, starting with an elaborate weathering. >> -- he spent a lot of money on her. did whatever she wanted? pampered her? sounded like he was an old-fashioned gentlemen. >> yes he was. >> it seemed like a match made in cyber heaven. the newlyweds brought a house close to teresa's family in ohio. but happily ever after, did not last. in october 2006, there was a terrible blow. teresa's daughter was killed in a car crash. leaving her infant daughter and toddler son without a mom. roy jr. is teresa's older son. and sarah's brother. >> she was 21 years old. on her way to work one morning. and i guess hydroplane swerved and hit a tree. >> parents are not supposed to bury their children. >> no.

and then the fact that she had two little babies. two little kids. and the fathers were not really in the fixture. somebody had to step up, and take those kids. >> and that was your mom? >> she was the first one with her heads out. ready and willing to take them. >> teresa and ray transition from the joy of and in the back when they're crying grandparents, to the daily grind of surrogate parents. to two year old gavin, and baby helena. then, not longer after teresa's mother's death. another blow. teresa's grandmother, helena, was diagnosed with cancer. -- did the right thing. they soon spent alternating weeks at the hospital. where baby alina was being treated. ray even shaved his own head when the little girl lost her head from the chemo.

ellen is cancer went into remission. but right in three's relationship suffered collateral damage. according to teresa's family, the strain of becoming a father again had made ray toxic. he was, they said, angry. and breaking more beer than usual. >> mom was scared. so mom couldn't tell him to come back. he stressed out, or something was going on. >> sounds like a pretty unhappy guy. >> totally. >> raise family said that he was fine. and his drinking was never a problem. but by august 2009, teresa apparently had enough of a. she and the grandchildren moved to an apartment. in a nearby town. on tuesday, august 11th. a few days after she moved out. teresa and ray recognized enough to take the grandkids to lunch.

and feed the fish. the following day, teresa left the children with her friend bat, and went back to the house to do laundry. what teresa said she found when she got there midmorning, was a clearly sick, nearly naked, somewhat incoherent ray. he refused to let her call a doctor. teresa told bat about it. >> she said he was acting so weird when she went back to get the kids. and he wasn't feeling good. >> the next morning, when she couldn't reach right on the phone. teresa asked her mother, who live near ready to check on him. but terry's mother got to the house, she found ray unconscious. she called teresa who alerted 9-1-1. >> is everything okay? >> now, i need an ambulance. >> okay. man down. barely, not.

>> it's my husband. >> all right i'll send an ambulance. >> teresa followed beth, and race to meet ray. >> what did she say happened? >> that her mother had found him on the phone naked, unresponsive. >> the ambulance arrived at the house around the same time as theresa. emts scrambled to stabilize wray. teresa road with her husband. to the nearest hospital. there, an emergency room team struggled to revive him. but whatever ailed raymond kotomski it was too serious a case for the local hospital. he was taken to a level two trauma center in erie, pennsylvania. and he was barely clinging to life. coming up! >> a medical crisis but also a mystery. what had happened to ray? investigators uncover their first clue. >> he had those crystals. there were no question? >> no question. >> when dateline continues! because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function,

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on the medical center in erie pennsylvania. on august 13th, 2009. there, in the icu, raymond kotomski late deathly ill. doctors try to determine what was killing him. and blood work told a story. raymond kotomski had somehow ingested a toxic buildup of ethylene glycol, antifreeze. what it looked like was that they have figured it out too late. even in small amounts, just a few ounces, and he freezes almost all but fatal. raise daughter, monica. was with her dad. >> he was just laying in bed. >> how did he look? >> horrible. >> what were you thinking? >> i did not know what to think. because nothing was making any sense. >> raymond kotomski had missed

the narrow window in which antifreeze poisoning could be reversed. and of life discussions with doctors began. as his wife, it was teresa's call. three days after he was admitted to the hospital, teresa told the doctors to let him go. her son, josh, watched teresa make that agonizing decision. >> she was devastated, absolutely devastated. i could see it in her face. >> how to do? >> raise doctor was referred to a forensic pathologist at the erie county office. >> by the time they got to you, and the freeze poisoning was already suspected, so you are looking for that? >> my job at autopsy was just to confirm the presence of the crystals in the kidney, which clearly indicated that he had ethylene glycol on board. >> and he had those crystals, there was no question? >> no question. slam dunk. >> he determined that the cause

of death was ethylene glycol poisoning, but the manner of death was listed as undetermined. teresa said ray told her that he drank something sweet around the time that he got sick. and back then, antifreeze had a very sweet taste. she also told the e. r. doctor at the hospital, that wray had been threatening to kill himself. it was looking like suicide. but raise children, did not buy it. >> what were you thinking? >> the only thing that i was thinking was i did not believe the whole, he tried to drink something that was antifreeze. my dad would never do that. all of us knew that. >> and so when raymond kotomski died, the wheels of justice decided to slowly spread. this is a detective with the ashton county sheriff's office. >> we received a call from the erie county's office.

and they wanted to give us the earliest heads up that they could and there was probably something in this case of raymond's death that was not natural. something that was quite possibly -- >> if this was homicide. investigators had plenty of work to do. >> raymond had been a corrections officer? >> yes. >> and unquestionably during his career, dealt with some very bad guys who are locked up? >> yes. >> cobb started looking into race past, to see if someone was settling an old score. three days after his death, they processed teresa and raise house as a crime scene.

but it had been cleaned by the time that they got there. raise bedding was in an outside trash can. there were numerous, crushed beer and dr. pepper cans. and in the garage, right where you would expect to find them, where two containers of any freeze. one sealed, one open. and that told investigators nothing. because there were no fingerprints or dna on either container. >> how long after raymond dies did you speak to teresa? >> a couple of days after. >> typically when investigators start looking back at somebody 's marriage, they see there a great marriage or bad marriage, or something in between? this was what? >> according to teresa, this was not a good marriage. >> she admitted that? >> yes. >> so she had to be a suspect pretty much from the get-go. >> unfortunately, wide skilled has been. and we see that pretty often. so you have to at least look at her. >> teresa laid out for

investigators her actions in the days leading up to raise death. she again said, she tried to get right to seek medical assistance when he first got sick. but he refused. she said that ray had been miserable, and unhappy. and she speculated that he died by suicide. this was looking like interim detective work, one-on-one. teresa, the suspects spouse, had means, motive, and the opportunity. but when investigators dug deeper into the strange life and times of teresa and ray khatami ski, they took a head snapping turn in the direction of a totally new suspect. >> coming up! a blast from the past. >> this man set my dad a bomb! >> turns out there was someone who had tried to kill ray once before. when dateline continues!

>> ray was dead. and his wife teresa believed that it was a suicide. but law enforcement thought that this smells like a murder. that someone had poisoned ray with antifreeze. and detectives looked for a killer among thousands of the worst of the worst criminals. but ray had spent a career guarding pennsylvania's maximum security prisons. >> he was a police officer that all the inmates hated, and vowed to get even once they got outside. >> quite the opposite, that's raymond and the people that raymond associated at the time in prison. we're generally the respected. and did not run into a lot of problems with inmates. >> so to the cops, it did not look like anyone from back in the day had it in for a. but there was someone from his and teresa's recent past who had once wanted ray out of the way it's not dead.

the detectives learned in the winner of 2003 when wright and teresa weir for starting to get to know one another, she was also seeing another man she had met online. a fellow by the name of robert reich are. and she left ray for a few weeks to be with robert. when teresa went back to ray, robert did not take that while. not at all. >> robert was infatuated with her. and wanted teresa to libre, to leave rate for him. >> he stopped the couple, and he vandalized teresa's car. and then it really escalated. >> robert sent raymond a letter bomb. >> a real bomb? >> a functional, working bomb. he went to his box, found a package that looked odd. and brought it to the police barracks. the bomb squad detonated it. >> if ray had open that package, would it have killed him? >> he would've been severely injured. robert said at the time that he had wanted to be with theresa. and he thought that raymond would be in the way.

>> now, when i looked at teresa. i guess i just do not see the femme fatale that guys want to kill for. >> neither do i. >> but it is there? >> in some fashion, yes. >> raise daughter monica remembers a phone call from her father, about the bomb. >> he was boys was shaking, i had never heard it before. >> what did you think? i >> did not know what to. think at first i could not believe it. >> robert pleaded guilty to manufacturing a firearm, and was sentenced to five years in prison. he was paroled just months before ray became mysteriously ill. >> do you think he had anything to do with it? >> yeah. absolutely. i mean, teresa was the last one with him. but this man sent my man about.

>> they were wondering about that. >> when you discover that somebody else tried to kill your victim, and was now out of prison. that changes everything? >> it does. we had one of two options in this case either it was a wife killing a husband or some elaborate plots that mr. roberts had started and was unsuccessful with. >> detectives tracked down the new suspect. >> he was living with what appeared to be, a normal life in western pennsylvania. >> you or other investigators probably spoke with his employer. coworkers, family. >> investigators from our office spoke with a lot of people associated with robert. >> could you attract mr. rikers movements? >> he was not a gps monitoring at the time, no. >> no way to know if he was going to see theresa, or stop raymond. no one to know about? it's >> fair assessment.

>> he certainly had access to and a freeze? >> everyone had access to anna freeze. >> they were going to follow if teresa's ex boyfriend had anything to do with raise death. they dug deeper into teresa's path, but the investigations went slowly. weeks became months. and raise family counted the days. >> it just felt like we were being swept out under the rug. >> some people would've given up? >> how could you. it is your father. your father was murdered, you're not going to give up. >> so what did you do. >> i pressed on. i did what i was going to do. i made sure that there was justice. >> that was really easier said than done. hard times were coming to

ashton vail county. >> two strong suspects. but the case is about to go cold. why? because instead of looking for keller, the detectives are looking for -- >> all kinds of things go wrong and murder investigations, but the police department running out of money is usually not one of the things you think of? >> now. >> when dateline continues! teeth sensitivity is so common. it immediately feels like somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyne. sensodyne toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calms the nerve down. and my patients say you know doc, it really works. what can you do with sensitive skin? ♪♪ cetaphil gentle skin cleanser does more than clean. it actually protects skin by keeping it hydrated. so you're always ready for the unexpected. cetaphil. we do skin. you do you. hey, you should try new robitussin honey medi-soothers for long-lasting cough and sore throat relief.

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i'm craig melvin. the investigation during the that was a murder suicide. and had suffered a suspect few saw coming. but ray's family was not allowed to give up. could a group of amateur sleuths helped to answer the many questions. here again is josh mankiewicz with something sweet. >> in america, our do-it-yourself culture extends even to killing. there are more than 40,000 suicides each year in the united states, far more than the number of homicides and that was the issue, there wasn't any question what killed ray katemcy. that was any freeze. but by whose hand? ray's widow teresa and her family made a statement that ray killed himself when theresa left him. raise children and the cops thought it was murder. two theories and invite our, to possible suspects. teresa the grieving wife, and teresa's fresh from the slammer ex-boyfriend, who once tried to

mail bomb ray. out of the way. but his story was checking out. >> we just could not find anything other than his prior association with raymond, that would suggest that he did this. >> what kind of vibe did you get up off of him after raised death? >> the last thing that he said to me was, that could've been me. and he looked, he looks concerned. like somebody who had dodged a bullet. >> i'm guessing now she and robert had changed places in the suspect pantheon? >> 100 percent. >> she is at the top of the list? >> yes. >> but the investigation into the death of ray was about to turn as cold as ashton 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. >> the county run out of money? >> yes. >> and the result was? >> murders were not getting solved. >> wray's case was one of them. his children were not happy. >> i wasn't not trying to be a pain in the but i, did not want them to drop the case. >> but they ran out of money? i mean all kinds of things go wrong and murder investigations, but the police department running out of money was not usually one of the things you think of? >> no. >> and for almost two years, nothing happened? >> yeah. >> monika's 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. i was constantly calling the sheriff's department for new information and whatnot. but was not getting anywhere. >> and meanwhile, back in ashtabula, county.

life went on. >> what was teresa doing during those 18 months that you are not able to investigate? >> filing for life insurance. collecting life insurance from raymond kotomski. >> some of the $150,000 of life insurance went to buy a house, where teresa was raising her grandchildren. and about a year after raise death, there was a new man in her life. tim shoemaker was a overloaded tracker, when him in teresa found each other. >> how did you and theresa? meet >> on the internet. >> what did you like about her? >> she was attentive, just a sweet lady. >> before elon, had tim and teresa were living together. tim gave up long distance trucking for a job closer to home. >> she told her she was a suspect in the murder investigation? >> she told me. >> and she said, i didn't do it? i didn't have anything to do with it? >> she then have to say that she didn't do it.

i knew that she did not do it. >> ashtabula county's investigation may have been frozen in red ink, but the daughter, monica, was still in action. email, cajoling, pleading. >> i wrote letters to the attorney general, then i got a phone call. and they said that they were looking into it. >> ohio attorney general had recently started a cold case unit. and in september of 2012, three years after raymond kotomski death, they reopen the case. with theresa, the prime suspect. >> i did not want her to get away with murder. prosecutors and detectives did not want to see that happen either. >> those investigators were glad to be back in business. there were reason that they liked teresa for the murder. one had to do with the story that they had heard about her first marriage. >> her previous husband, roy

levin, told us that teresa had wrap poison in his -- >> and they knew that how? >> boy said he took two bites, and that some to her son. teresa reached into her son's mouth, pulled out the match potatoes. and -- >> the sun was okay? >> the sun was okay yes. the thought that he gave back, was when his german shepherd was poisoned. roy said that he never connected the two. until raymond was poisoned. >> teresa sun from that first marriage is roy jr., and he says that that never happened. >> there's a story out there that your mom tried to poison your father. >> that's all lies. >> why would your father lie about this? >> maybe he is jealous. maybe he, maybe he feels that she ruined his life. i do not know. maybe is this his way of getting back at her? >> -- she took early in the investigation. the examiner had asked theresa two questions.

did your poison ray with antifreeze and do you know who poisoned ray? teresa's answer to both? now. which was also the answer to whether teresa was telling the truth. >> she fills her polygraph test. >> that lie detective failure was inadmissible in court, but it helps to convince cops that they were on the right track. they turn the heat back up on theresa. >> and they told her that they know that she snapped and she killed him. she needed to confess. they kind of threatened her. >> she did not been to that? >> no. she goes i want a lawyer. >> teresa's family and friends like beth, rallied around her. they felt that ray's family just could not or would not face the fact that he took his own life. >> i think that they do not want to believe that wray would do that. i really do. >> you think they're just looking for someone to blame? >> yeah. other than ray. >> but on march 28th, 2014. after raised that, officers surrounded teresa's house. >> -- told teresa that she was under arrest for the murder of raymond kotomski. she did look surprised. >> she kiss me, and she almost

started balling. but something came over her and she was okay. >> i was crazy happy. it was like, wow, we finally got somewhere. >> after a few days in jail, teresa was released on bond. look enforcement officials know that the case had problems. ohio attorney general, mike's, gave raise family a depressingly realistic appraisal. >> we told them all along that this was going to be a tough case. be prepared. be prepared for a loss. >> we might not win this? >> we might not win this case. >> coming up! proof that teresa is innocent. or proof of the perfect crime? >> did you find any dna on the part of mrs. teresa kotomski? >> we found no dna. >> and no fingerprints? >> that is correct. >> when dateline continues!

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almost six years after raise death. when his wife teresa went on trial. there were two charges. contaminating a suspense for human consumption. and murder. both part of the accusation that -- by somehow slipping it into something that he ate or drink like beer or sold. teresa's lawyer. veteran trial attorney was confident. >> there is no question in my view that she was absolutely innocent of the crime. >> prosecutors offered teresa plea deals which would have resulted in little jail time. >> she was absolutely. categorically convinced that she did not commit the crime and she felt that god was in her corner. she was not going to be convicted of any crime. she did nothing wrong. >> another twist. attorney asked for a bench trial. and judge gary alone would rule on teresa's guilt. if she killed ray or if she died by suicide. in her opening statement. the prosecutor attacked the idea of wright killing himself. >> he is planning for his future. he loved his grandchildren. >> the doctor who treated right in the hospital where he died

testify that teresa herself said that ray was not suicidal. >> and she had indicated that he had not mention anything about feeling suicidal at that time. >> now, the state argued, this was murder. medical examiner doctor eric they testified that antifreeze killed ray. >> he died after complications of ethylene glycol. >> but exactly how and freeze kills was critical to the states case. >> when somebody ingests antifreeze, either deliberately, or because someone else gave it to them. what is the progression? >> well, initially, they will appear to be drunk or super it's. and then become progressively lethargic, and then become comatose. and then have hard failure, and pulmonary adina, and then go into renal fairly are. and eventually die. >> you can sort of ants to mate when they inject the and if he, based on where the symptoms are at that point? >> yes, it's possible to get a

rough estimate when the ingestion occurred. >> the states case was -- the progression of symptoms which prosecutors show when jay in just the anna freeze. >> -- >> when ems arrived at his residence, he was almost lethargic and comatose. what we know from the presentation at that point, is that he is probably 12 to 24 hours in. >> the emmys estimate dovetailed with the prosecutors timeline. that wray must have ingested the antifreeze the day he and teresa took that outing with the grandchildren. to support the timeline, prosecutors introduced this voice mail. ray left it for a friend several hours after the state says that teresa points in him. >> i'm sorry, i'm sorry.

i'm sorry. >> on the tape, the prosecution argued, raise sound strunk. >> have i told you that i think you're a nice person? please call me back if you can. okay? i. >> prosecutors say that he was really in the stupor early stages of antifreeze poisoning. >> we contend that that is when the ethel lean glycol was ingested. >> and they argue that it was teresa who gave it to him. no one else was with rate than. how do they know that? well, from what she told this fbi agent. >> she stated that over that week he did not have any visitors. and she was the only one there. >> and addition to their side space timeline that put theresa in the bull's-eye, the state wanted the judge to consider teresa's 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 consulting raise side of the family. and, the terms that she said teresa dictated for releasing grace body to her. >> the condition was that i had to have them cremated, and she wanted to make sure that i had a beneficiary. >> it was all part of a pattern,

prosecutors argue. that added up to murder. >> there is absolutely no evidence that it was all reasonable. to conclude that anyone other than the defendant was one who provided that antifreeze to her husband. >> when the defense had its turn, theater need told the judge that the state had no case. not a scrap of evidence. he got the fbi agents who took teresa's original statement to concede that she may have been confused about whether she was even with right on the day that the state said that she poisoned them. >> she may have been wrong about that, correct? >> she could've been wrong about that. >> this was suicide, he argued.

not murder. and would practically prove that according to the defense. was the fact that wray did nothing to save himself. >> and one can conclude is someone gave your poison, and became ill, what would be the first thing that you would do? you would call the police. or you would call the hospital. and never occurred. >> they then attack the states most glaring witness. a lack of physical evidence connecting his client to containers of any freeze. lead affective, cleveland, was cross-examined about the absence of any surveillance. forensics. >> did you find any dna on the part of miss katersky? >> we have found no dna on miss teresa kotomski or otherwise. >> and you found no -- >> that is correct. >> teresa's attorney went after the prosecution's timeline. he got one of the states medical witnesses they can see that they could not tell exactly when ray drink the antifreeze. >> but you don't know how long

he suffered from, ignore do you know how much he had ingested? >> correct. >> under cross examination, the emmy admitted that he could not answer the question at the heart of the case. >> that means you don't know whether it was a homicide, or you don't know whether it was a suicide? >> that is it. that is a correct. >> he produced his own expert when is to refute the toxicity timeline as suspects science. >> it's impossible to determine when the ethylene glycol may have been ingested, because it may have been ingested as one dose or at one time, or several smaller doses over an undetermined period of time. >> in his clothes, the attorney suggested that the amount at the very least, has reasonable doubt. i'm >> suggesting to you that it is a suicide. and if the facts do not add up. i think you have to rule in favor of the defendant. >> teresa never testified. her family, and raise, waited. as the judge retire to his chambers. to make his decision.

>> coming up! >> i was so afraid that she was going to get away with it. >> i have faith in her. >> the verdict. >> when dateline continues. >> teresa never testified. her family, and raise, waited. as the judge retire to his chambers. to make his decision. >> coming up! >> i was so afraid that she was going to get away with it. >> i have faith in her. >> the verdict. >> when dateline continues. and find your voice. you know? we really need to work on your people skills. what can you do with sensitive skin? ♪♪ cetaphil gentle skin cleanser does more than clean.

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most people swallow only their pride. it turns out they are the lucky ones. thursday, july 30th 2015. judgment day in ashtabula county. judge gary had reaches the decision. the family of refused murder teresa kotomski and her dead husband raymond kotomski made their way to the courthouse. >> the time that i got to the courthouse my body was literally shaking. i was so afraid. i worked up to that.

[silence] almost six years. and i was so afraid that she was going to get away with it. >> it looked as if raise daughters fears were justified. >> the court finds a defendant teresa kotomski not guilty of contaminating a substance for human consumption. >> the judge reads the first count? tampering with food. not guilty. and you think, well that is it? >> yeah, where the. she got away with it. >> it's a moment monica will look back on for the rest of her life. >> what are you looking at teresa kotomski? >> yeah. >> and thinking what? >> i have hate. >> judge reads a second count. >> 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. miss teresa kotomski do you wish to make a statement at this time? >> your honor, i want you to know that i did not hurt my husband. i did not give him poison. i did not give him anything to harm him at all. i loved my husband, i swear before god i never, ever would hurt anybody. especially my husband. >> the sentence was mandatory. >> an indefinite term of imprisonment, of 15 years to life. >> i love her, i want to be with her. and i have faith in her. i do not think that she is guilty. >> when we last spoke with tim shumaker, teresa's boyfriend of five years, he was standing by his love. and raising her grandkids. not long after teresa kotomski began serving her sentence, tim asked her to marry him. teresa said yes. >> you made this woman, she is

already a suspect in a murder investigation. and then she is arrested. and tried. and convicted. and you find somebody who wasn't locked up. but you don't want anybody else? you want her? >> yes i want her. >> why is that? >> because i would love her, and i want to spend the rest of my life with her. i think she is an awesome woman. she is everything that a man looks for in a woman. >> while we were talking with him, he got a call. >> she went in the details. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> can i get it? >> it was teresa calling from behind bars, she and tim caught up for a few minutes, and then he put her on speaker. >> hello, it's josh mankiewicz from dateline. >> hey. >> hello, how are you? >> [inaudible] >> i understand you two are engaged? >> yes we are. isn't that awesome? >> congratulations. >> thank, you thank, you

appreciate it. >> is there anything you want to say? >> i just want everyone to know that i am innocent. i did not do what they are accusing me of doing. i love my husband. i don't know why he did what he did. >> you think he killed himself deliberately? >> i think it was an accidental suicide. i think he took the anna phrase, enough to make himself -- thinking that i would feel sorry from him because that is a type of person that i am. >> this call is from the ohio corrections. >> you think that ray took the antifreeze deliberately to make himself sick and get him to come back to you? >> yes, yes. i believe his intention was to get me back. >> do you think it will be -- do you think you will be out of their one day? >> i believe the truth will set me free. i'm hoping that someone will find out that --

i they have no evidence on me. they have none. that's not fair. >> i love you, we're gonna get cut off. >> thank you for using this college. >> thank you for letting us talk to her. we wanted to interview teresa in present, but our state was denied by the state department of corrections. teresa's synopsis that ray took antifreeze so that he would come back to her, was what her friendly and friends were on board with. they saw teresa as a decent person, who somehow attacked a man, who through no fault of hers, became obsessed with her. >> let me make this -- one guy, once the killed to have her. another guy, roy, makes up a story that she is a murderer because he does not want anyone else to have her. and ray, start to kill himself to get her back. have i got that right? >> yeah. >> do you know anybody else around here who needs that kind of life?

and who drives men to do those kinds of things? >> no. not at all. >> what is her secret? >> i have no idea. i think she is just a good woman. >> that is pretty much the opposite of what raised daughter, monica, thanks. for her, this is all very personal. >> this was my dad, this was justice. this is the way that it should be. you killed my father. somebody is going to pay for this. and dam well right she is going to. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching! e terror >> hello, i'm craig melvin, and on her face. this is dateline. >> she had this look of absolute tear on her face, she was scared, she really was afraid and i don't really know why. >> she was a suy,