jeff, it is time to strip away the mystery and stop burnishing the legend of charles manson. >> we cannot stop what manson did or his fame, if he is notorious, let him be victorious for what he is, a horrible sociopath. >> a small man who used his talents such as they were, to become not just a symbol of loss of innocence or naoveti, but a enduring lesson on how not to be a human being. that is all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea, thank you for watching. watching. hello. i am craig melvin and this is dateline. >> it was just such a shock.

for a second, and never entered my mind that we would be in danger. it's hard to even imagine that someone could be so evil. >> at last, his dream had come true. new wife, stepdaughter, a whole new start. >> almost an instant family for him. it seemed perfect. >> that's what made what happily so baffling. >> an otherwise healthy 40-year- old man usually does not drop dead. >> could this be murder? there were suspicions from the start, and they came from his wife. >> you believe there's a possibility that your husband was poisoned. >> yes, sir. >> who could have wanted him dead? elise zeroed in on someone at work. >> he was initially very angry at that. >> angry enough to kill him?

>> was his new wife in danger, too? brace yourself, because this killer was stone cold evil. >> this has got me shaking. sh >> welcome to dateline. frank rodriguez was a man of faith and a navy that who dedicated himself to helping needy children. not exactly the kind of guy who had many enemies. so investigators had a challenge on their hands -- figuring out who would want frank dead. but how he died was also a mystery, and when they would need to solve to catch his killer. here's josh mankiewicz with the devil in disguise. >> in this world, we like to think that we can tell the difference between good and

evil. but sometimes, evil puts on a mask and comes to life's party as its opposite -- a loved one, a friend. someone we think we can help. and by the time we figure out that we are wrong, it is too late. and so with that in mind, meet frank rodriguez. a guy who went looking for troubled souls. >> he was very drawn toward people who were broken. even though i don't have a lot, what i have, i want to give. >> frank gave a lot and did a lot of good in his life until he ran across another soul who was not just troubled or broken, but pure evil. >> reporter: frank grew up in rural illinois, one of six kids.

he played football, loved baseball. his sisters carmen and shirley remembered most that he loved kidding around with his siblings. >> dry sense of humor. you're not sure if he was supposed to laugh at it. >> funny jokes and tricks or things. prankster is a word i'm going for. >> after high school, frank joined the navy. it was around that time that he married a local girl. but the line about the sea being a jealous mistress was true. >>'s first wife was tired of him traveling all over. after he got out, he was really kind of a lost soul. and then she ended up leaving him anyway. >> reporter: after the divorce, frank was at loose ends. different jobs, different relationships. he felt as if you were floundering until he found first religion. and then a place called angel

gate academy. >> he just loved that job. he loved working with the kids. on california's central coast. it was a medical military academy or civilian kids heading in the wrong direction to learn order, discipline, and risk act. >> frank was awesome with the kids. >> reporter: jack holloway was his supervisor and friend. >> if they were acting out, he would kind of say things to get them to do the right thing. plus, he kind of used me as a bad guy. frank was always the good cop. >> reporter: as rewarding as it was for frank to help his mood and slurring skills for a successful life, he also found it thrilling to the city kids kayaking or camping or just to hang out by the ocean, which many of them had never even

seen. but it also left him wanting kids of their own. >> i remember him talking a lot about how he wanted to have kids. he wanted to start a family. >> reporter: his sisters said frank's faith would guide him that way. >> he was big into believing that god was going to give him signs of what was good for his life. >> reporter: one day at church, frank ran into a woman that he worked with at angel gate. >> he called mom to tell her that he had met this woman, angelina, and she was his soulmate. she called me up and she was so excited. frank has met someone. >> reporter: her name was angelina moralez. she had also been in the military. she was asked about a christian as frank. their romance was a whirlwind. they met in february and married in april. angelina had a nine-year-old daughter named autumn. so, instant family.

>> i liked frank. he seemed very down to earth. and he seemed very good for her. >> usually, a guy in your position is not too crazy about the husband. >> with frank, it was different. >> reporter: frank vowed to be a good husband, and he made a promise to autumn to be a great stepdad. then frank, who loved working with kids, was offered a teaching job in los angeles. frank's life seemed to be coming together the way he had always prayed that it would. at least, that's how it seemed. >> when was the last time you saw frank? >> i saw frank the tuesday after labor day, 2000. >> frank wanted to earn some extra money, and he agreed to chaperone a group of news evidence on their way to angel

gate. he rode with them on a bus from l.a. to san luis obispo, where he met up with his old friend and boss, chad. >> frank looked absolutely terrible. >> reporter: four days later, frank rodriguez was dead. frank rodriguez was living his dream. then suddenly, he was dead. did his wife sense danger? coming up. who could possibly want to do him harm? him harm? did you know.. when dateline continues.

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get ready to meet your match. skadoosh. stand back. i'm gonna kick my butt. it was september of 2000. rank rodriguez was finally coming into his own. a new bride, a new family, a new job. but then at 3:00 a.m., after just five months of marriage, frank's new bride, angelina, found him unconscious on their bedroom floor and called for help. it was too late. frank rodriguez was dead. his family was stunned. he been a healthy man. >> my mother called me after

angelina called her on the day that he died and mom just said she lost it. she started screaming and slammed the phone. it was horrifying. >> he was only 41. frank left behind a window and a nine-year-old stepdaughter to whom frank had become very close. >> she was devastated, but also very confused. >> reporter: she wasn't the only one confused. the coroner's office found no obvious cause of death. no heart attack, no trauma, no nothing. toxicology found a little bit of vicodin in frank's system, but not enough to kill anyone. his family was at a loss, especially his wife angelina, who seemed to be groping for answers, trying to make sense of what happened to frank. >> she called me almost every day to talk about it. she thought he was killed or that he was poisoned. >> reporter: the idea seemed, on the face of it, crazy. who would want to kill frank?

homicide detectives were called in. even though there was zero evidence of a homicide. >> any chances is going to turn out to not be a murder, and that frank died of either natural causes or food poisoning or something? >> absolutely. >> reporter: l.a. county homicide detective brian stein said his job was just to keep moving forward. >> we were dependent on what the coroner's office was doing, what they would find or wouldn't find. but in the meantime, you can't stop investigating. >> reporter: a few days after frank's death, they spoke angelina about her suspicions. . >> reporter: angelina had a lot to tell the detectives about frank's final days, about what she thought had happened to him

and why. angelina said that after his trip on the bus to angel gate, frank got sick with what they both thought at first was stomach flu. but then frank got so sick that angelina took him to the e.r.. the doctor said all frank needed was rest and fluids and he would get better. but two days later, frank was dead, and angelina now told detectives she didn't believe it had been the stomach flu at all. she thought that something happened to frank on that trip to angel gate. angelina told detectives she had urged frank not to chaperone those students, and specifically not to go back to angel gate. angel gate. she was worried that frank, who was so trusting, wouldn't be

safe. angelina then said why she was afraid -- it turned out that when she and frank worked together at angel gate, they became involved in something potentially dangerous. potentially dangerous. >> reporter: the situation -- angelina said she and frank became convinced that a person working at angel gate was engaged with inappropriate behavior with some of the students. angelina said she reported the

manchu authorities and that he now had a motive to hurt her or frank. frank. despite her fears, angelina said that night when frank returned from angel gate, he told her everything seemed fine there. there. but now she wondered -- was there something in that gatorade? did that friendly welcome hide something much more sinister? because the man angelina said had offered frank food and

drink was the same man angelina had accused. the same man she said had threatened frank months earlier. earlier. sergeant holloway, frank's former boss. frank's friend. coming up. >> i can't even describe how angry i was. >> reporter: chad holloway. from friend to suspect. >> something to that effect. >> reporter: when dateline continues. ne continues. caplyta is proven to deliver significant relief across bipolar depression. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression.

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>> reporter: 10 days after frank rodriguez died, he was honored like a fallen soldier at the military cemetery in riverside, cal. >> it was very hard to come out here for the funeral. >> angelina's daughter, autumn, who is in the house when frank died said goodbye the only way a child could. >> autumn put a teddy bear in his coffin. she was a sweet little boy. >> the last goodbye was a struggle for frank's family. >> mom did go in a very deep depression after that.

>> reporter: as a people who loved him mourned, detectives with the los angeles sheriff's department were trying to find answers. they drove 200 miles north to the rolling hills and smalltime charm of san luis obispo to track down angelina's unsettling story, that she had accused frank's friend chad holloway of misconduct with students. but chad was furious over that, and it might be the reason behind frank's unexplained death. >> they were asking us our opinion of who had access to frank. >> reporter: richard worked at angel gate at the time. he told police he hadn't noticed chad talking to frank, but he did remember how upset chad was about angelina's charges. >> chad was beside himself. i had never seen him that angry. >> chad was pretty angry about that idea and expressed to some

people that he would like to deal very harshly with whomever had done that to him. >> he was initially very angry about it, yes. and we don't know chad holloway very well yet. that's what we needed to do in this particular case. >> reporter: what detectives call getting to know you doesn't feel quite so friendly you are a potential murder suspect. >> i was under the impression before they talked to me that they were so convinced i did this that they had stopped and the sheriffs department had basically told them to prepare to book me. i'm in the crosshairs. they came up and asked a lot of questions. >> reporter: before they ever met chad, detectives had already learned something important -- that the misconduct allegations against him had been thoroughly investigated by local law enforcement and found to be completely baseless. but the detectives also knew the false allegation can still

be a very good motive for murder. >> that's one of the worst things that a teacher or instructor can do to a kid under his or her tutelage or control. >> yes. >> and it is also one of the worst things to be accused of. >> that was probably the scariest thing that had ever happened to me in my life. i've been to war. i was in desert storm. i have never in my life and that scared. >> scared, and he admitted, angry. >> i was beyond mad. i can't even describe how angry i was. >> did you say you would like to put your gun to the head of the person who is doing this to you and pull the trigger? >> something to that effect, i

did. >> reporter: detectives asked him about that. >> something about false allegations from the wife of a guy who is now dead, and you were pretty angry at the time that those false allegations were made. >> i don't remember -- >> ruining your life over some phony allegations, that's enough to make people angry enough to do violence. >> i guess it could be, yes. >> reporter: chad holloway insisted to detectives and to us that whatever threats he made were out of anger and frustration, and he would never have followed through. >> when you said you wanted to take a gun and put it to the head of the person that made these accusations against you, you didn't know it was angelina you're talking about at the time? >> i did not. >> once you found out it was angelina who made those accusations, i'm guessing you probably would've gone off with

your gun to her head. >> absolutely not. >> reporter: what he had told her about angelina's last up to angel gate never really happened. >> i was working in the office. >> when you last saw frank, did you offer him a gatorade? >> no. >> clearly, someone was lying. the question was, who? coming up. who and what had killed frank? investigators have a secret mission for sergeant holloway. when dateline continues. eline . with dupixent, show off your clearer skin and less itch. because you have plenty of reasons to show off your skin. with dupixent, the number one prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, you can stay ahead of your eczema. it helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body

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>> reporter: when her husband died suddenly, angelina rodriguez quickly shared her suspicions with detectives, that frank had been poisoned by a former coworker who carried a grudge. but so far, there was no solid evidence against chad, so detectives also looked at everyone who is close to frank, including his new wife. >> you talk to other people about frank and angelina's marriage? >> yes. >> and? >> reporter: for one thing, frank was angelina's fourth husband, but not necessarily

her first choice. people who worked with angelina and frank at angel gate said angelina initially had her eye on a different guy. >> she was interested in a gentleman that worked there all so that was somewhat of a cowboy. and all of a sudden, she showed up with a cowboy bumper sticker on her car and hat in the back seat. and now she's a cowgirl. when he didn't want anything to do with her, she recognized frank was a religious man. next thing you know, she's got a bible in the back window of her car and i love jesus bumper stickers. >> reporter: it seemed like angelina was shopping pretty hard for a man and would do what was necessary to get one. >> she was pretty much like a chameleon based on some of the behaviors we learned about her. >> reporter: after meeting angelina, frank had become less close to many of his friends at angel gate. then when the couple moved

south, frank seemed to cut off his own family. >> he called me in may on mother's day and said, i can't talk long, she is monitoring my calls. >> reporter: none of that fit the profile of a loving wife, or later, a grieving widow. soon after frank's death, angelina moved back up north and left behind some of frank's things. >> we found it very odd that he took his dress shoes from the service, some of his uniform stuff, some of his medals and stuff like that that he had. they were in the trash can. >> she threw them away? >> things that you think you would keep from your husband that you love. >> there was one thing above all others that may detectives suspect angelina might be involved in frank's death. something straight out of homicide 101. it was the way angelina kept bringing up frank's life insurance. insurance.

>> how long after frank died did she call the insurance company? >> roughly within eight hours. >> so the same day? >> the same morning. morning. >> reporter: as the days went on and the corner still didn't rule, angelina grew more and more impatient. >> i have a question. did you guys get anything at all from the quarter? >> reporter: he kept recording those calls. >> reporter: detectives saw an opportunity. remember, they needed the same

thing angelina did, just for different reasons. >> we are thinking she knows what the cause of death is. >> reporter: he thought angelina might be telling the truth about one thing -- that frank had been poisoned. and they also knew what frank's sister had told them -- something very strange that angelina had said to her. speech >> she said there are lots of ways to poison someone. we have oleander. >> reporter: oleander thrives in warm climates like southern california. the leaves and flowers are toxic, but only deadly and large quantities or if the poison is somehow concentrated. angelina seemed to know how to do that. >> she said you could make a tea out of that. you can make a soup out of that. it was a poison. she pointed right out and said, those are oleander bushes. >> reporter: detectives found oleanders and another place -- angelina and frank's backyard.

since angelina was so eager to get a death certificate and collect life insurance, which she slipped up and tell them oleander was what killed frank? they spoke with her again and again, all the while telling her that they were gathering evidence across frank's coworker, chad holloway. >> it could be anything. it could be the flowers on the road, it could be something -- yeah. yeah. >> at this point, we believe she knows exactly what it is. she would rather have us say it. and of course, we would rather have her say it. >> reporter: says they might, they couldn't get angelina to say the word oleander.

still, she kept calling in about chad and what they delivered another clue straight to investigators. someone had called her, she said, and told her something big. >> big. >> >> antifreeze, not oleander? was anti-freeze even on your radar at this point? >> i don't believe so.

>> reporter: but may be a new poison was only one interesting detail in this conversation. remember, angelina had said the anonymous informant called her shortly after 8:00 a.m. >> you got her phone records? >> yes. low and behold, there had not been any calls anywhere near, incoming or outgoing, to angelina's phone at that time. >> reporter: she tried once again to implicate chad holloway and instead implicated herself. now detectives went to see chad. this time, to talk about angelina. >> angelina rodriguez, that was the last person that i ever wanted to see, ever wanted to hear her name, have anything to do with whatsoever. >> the investigators say we want you to help build a case against her. and what did you say? >> you better believe it. coming up.

detectives devise a plan to track angelina, but angelina has a plan of her own. >> this has got me shaken. >> when dateline continues. lin and, as loyalty members, we get points toward mylowe's money for the things we want. oh, we want this. the all new mylowe's rewars loyalty program is her. download the app to joi, earn and save toda.

i'm jack black. get tickets right now for kung fu panda. you don't have time for a drum solo. get tickets! [ screaming ] get tickets! skadoosh. get tickets! >> reporter: for 3 months, detectives have been talking with angelina, who is so eager to collect on her husband's life insurance that she had let

slip some tantalizing bits of information. first, that her husband may have been poisoned. and that the poison might be what she called that flower in the road, or possibly anti- freeze. finally, the coroner's report came back. the finding -- frank rodriguez was killed by ethylene glycol, the key ingredient in antifreeze. the talk screen also found oleander. now, detectives felt they knew for sure rank had been murdered. they knew how and they thought they knew who. not chad, but angelina. but to make this case stick, they would need a little more, so they kept angelina talking. >> they befriended her and let her into their house and offered some coffee. the partners were kicking each other under the table saying, no, we are good. >> reporter: they have tried to

cast suspicion on frank's friend and coworker chad holloway. chad, she said, was the killer. but detectives didn't believe her and instead enlisted chad to help set a trap for her. >> the idea is what here? >> see what kind of mistakes she might make. >> reporter: they asked chad to call angelina while they listened in. she had done her best to put chad in the gun sights of law enforcement. now came his chance to return the favor. the favor. >> at one point, you say, angelina, you are going to ruin my life.

which, actually, although it is may be part of the script for that call -- it is kind of true, given what she tried to do to you before. >> it was. inside, i knew it was the other way around. you are not going to ruin my life anymore. it is your life that is going to be ruined because of this. t >> reporter: then, within a minute of chad hanging up, angelina called the cops and gave them quite a different version of the call they had just listened to. >> i just got a phone call from holloway. >> he called you? you?

>> reporter: what angelina should have been garrett of was that the cops were on to her two obvious lies. this one, about what chad supposedly said to her, and the previous phantom call about anti-freeze. angelina still hadn't admitted anything, at least not to detectives. then they found a good friend of angelina's, a confidant. she told the cops that just months after the wedding, angelina was already bored with frank and cheating on him. >> they were sitting around, i guess like girls do, and talking about killing their husbands. joking around about how they would do it. as girls probably all do and my wife is we doing right now. >> reporter: the friend quoted angelina saying, she didn't

want to divorce frank because he had just life insurance. >> there was another conversation and angelina told her she was making a milkshake for frank, a special milkshake for him. she had said frank was sick and angelina told her, not yet. >> reporter: of course, angelina had no idea what the cops knew. she thought they were still investigating chad, and she was still happy to help them do that. for example, detectives told angelina they couldn't figure out how chad you when frank was coming to angel gate. he would've had to have known when so that he could have his poison ready. >> and then miraculously, a fact shows up. >> reporter: it was an angel gate roster for the day of frank's visit with frank's name can pick you is the written in. >> this is the faxed that came right through sheriffs

homicide. very convenient. >> reporter: the facts did not include the sender's name, but it did send a clear message. >> this is the cover sheet to the facts that you are seeing in sheriffs homicide. why is chad still free? >> reporter: chad never knew how hard angelina had pushed the cops to arrest him. >> wow. this has got me shaken. >> reporter: five months after her husband's death, police dropped in at angelina's house. angelina thinks their next stop will be chad's place. it won't. for the next 35 minutes, he and his partner try to get angelina to give it up. they lay out the facts. >> the only information on the only person that has any information that frank was poisoned is you.

no one else. no one else knew that frank was poisoned. no one you. only you knew. only you knew earlier. in addition to that antifreeze, nobody in this entire investigation told us about anti-freeze. >> reporter: they tell her the poison that was still in frank's stomach, which meant he ingested them days after his return from angel gate. and within hours of his death. leaving angelina as the only one who could've given them to him. and detectives tell her that all along, while she thought she was playing them, they were playing her. >> this entire time, we have used everything you said and followed up on everything you have done and said, and quite frankly, it's hard to remember all those lies. >> reporter: angelina told him they were wrong. wrong.

>> reporter: angelina rodriguez had a few more punches left in her. just wait. coming up, a secret plan from inside prison, and another undercover sting. when dateline continues.

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>> welcome back to dateline. i am craig melvin. detectives continue piecing together the profile of someone they thought was a cold-blooded killer. investigation yielded answers and a question -- could she have murdered before? here's josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of the devil in disguise. >> reporter: angelina rodriguez was charged with the murder of her husband, frank. it turned out, that might not be the worst thing she had ever

done or ever would do. >> reporter: what you are hearing is the wheels of a mind turning. that is angelina in jail speaking through the air vents with her neighbor and solitary. angelina apparently believed the statements of her friend about how angelina was bored with frank and wanted the life insurance payout, with the most damaging evidence against her. so it seemed angelina made a decision. hire someone to get rid of her friend. >> this is angelina inside the county jail trying to set up a hit on her out side to keep her from testifying. >> correct. >> reporter: the inmate angelina was talking with turned her in, and soon,

detectives were recording angelina's conversation. angelina's conversation. >> reporter: if that sounds cold-blooded, consider this. angelina made clear she would help care for her children. after, that is, she had their mother killed. mother killed. >> reporter: police told her what angelina was up to, and asked for her help. this time, they got really creative. >> reporter: we basically states her death. we had her on her bed in her house with a fake bullet hole. >> it was very convincing. >> reporter: an undercover cop posing as a bad guy with

pictures in hand to visit angelina in jail. jail. >> angelina's initial response was oh, my god. i was only kidding. shortly thereafter, it was, oh my god, i am going home. >> you think she killed her husband and she tried to kill a witness against her, right? anybody else? >> her baby. >> reporter: in the course of their investigation into frank's death, detectives found out that in 1993, angelina's daughter, alicia, choked on her pacifier and died. they also learned that angelina sued the pacifier manufacturer

and settled for more than $700,000. what's more, she collected life insurance on her 13 month old baby just as she had tried to do with frank. detectives reviewed the evidence and came to believe alicia's death was no accident. >> your account after an investigation that the pacifier was tampered with. the baby didn't do it, and it didn't come apart naturally. >> reporter: angelina says she did not kill her baby and she was never charged with that. she did stand trial for the murder of frank rodriguez, where a prosecution asked testified that angelina poisoned frank at least twice. first oleander, which made him sick enough to go to the e.r., but not to kill him. then when she was giving him those fluids the doctor ordered, she was toasting them with anti-freeze, which was fatal. the jury found angelina guilty of first-degree murder for financial gain, but couldn't

reach a verdict on whether she had tried to kill the witness. and in the sentencing phase, the judge allowed the jury to hear evidence implicating angelina and her daughter's death. then, the jury agreed on a sentence. >> she will be put to death. >> reporter: even while facing a death sentence, angelina seemed unfazed. she addressed the court, but admitted only to some errors. >> i need a few terrible stupid roofs mistakes, which i regret very much. we all make mistakes. i just picked the wrong time to make mine. murder is not on that list. >> reporter: frank thought angelina was a god-fearing woman of his dreams. he was wrong. tom ford thought he was a nurturing mother who would protect her daughter. he will never know for sure if he was lured into a terrible mistake. chad holloway understands. he knows now just how close peer evil came to him.

he says he has let it go with the gratitude that unlike his friend frank, he at least survived with his reputation and his life intact. >> people needed to know how evil angelina was, how many lives he ruined to try to get a little bit of money. and she wasn't going to stop at nothing until she got what she wanted. i want angelina to know, you didn't ruin me. you didn't ruin me at all. >> reporter: in the bible, we are warned that satan disguises himself as an angel of light. and sometimes, he's pretty good at it. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for tuning in. in. . this sunday, campaign kickoff. >> oh, you don't like that bill, huh? >> a combat