never forget. what a wonderful, wonderful sweet person she was. >> that's all on this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. ine. i'm craig melvin thank you for watching melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." i didn't see it coming. it was shocking. >> i had a bad feeling. >> she did say he had a gun and i'm afraid he might use it. >> a story of sand, sunsets, and fatal attraction. she had so much to give. >> she would make everybody feel special. >> successful at everything except love. and then she found him. >> she said she felt so good in his arms. >> he was handsome, sophisticated, 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. >> it did. >> my sister, she's not answering her phone. >> how did love go so wrong? in a surprising twist, it would take not one, but two trials to discover the truth. >> all of a sudden he wasn't convicted of murdering my sister anymore. >> hello and welcome to "dateline." beth lochtefeld was a salvy entrepreneur who built her own business. tom cut his teeth in the financial world. their connection was instant. but when their summer love cooled, tempers flared, and the relationship took a tragic turn. initially it seemed like an open and shut case, but there was a surprise in store. >> here's hoda kotb with "fatal attraction."

>> nantucket, massachusetts, a beautiful island off the coast of cape cod. it's simple and elegant in a way that says serious money. the beaches are pristine. the food phenomenal and the shopping, pack your credit cards. as the setting for romance with surf, sunset and sea breezes, nantucket is 50 shades of fabulous. but then the fog rolls in, dense, mysterious and everything changes. suddenly it seems anything is possible in this moody place. maybe even sinister things. >> 911. this line is recorded. state your emergency. >> hi, we have an emergency. >> my sister is not answering her phone. >> it was monday, october 25, 2004. a gray day. officer from the nantucket police department was on patrol

when the car radio crackled at 1:15 in the afternoon. a call had come in. >> she was supposed to leave and pick up my son at day care. she won't answer her cell phone. >> okay, i are i'll send someone over right now. >> it was a routine matter or so it seemed. furtado was dispatched to check it out. he mitt his partner. both were owned by long-time island resident barbara kodalak. >> excuse me, are you miss elizabeth lochtefeld? she said no, and pointed to the cottage. >> the officers walked to the cottage and knocked. no answer. it was the first hint of trouble. >> i moved around to the bay window and i looked in. at which time i saw someone laying on the ground. >> furtado was looking at a crime scene. >> i turned to sergeant cokely and told him we had someone inside. >> the body was on the living room floor.

a woman stabbed to death. furtado had never seen anything like it, and was hit by a wave of fierce emotions. >> from shock to awe to frightened, that's pretty much how it went. then the police training kicked in. >> adrenaline surging, the cops pulled their weapons. >> our immediate thought was to draw our weapon for our safety. so with weapons drawn, we proceeded to clear the house. >> it was all-clear, but horrifying. there were signs of a struggle. blood in a bedroom. and in the living room by the body. officer furtado radioed in. >> i, i made the comments, just get here. >> it was furtado's first homicide. but if he was a stranger to homicide, so was nantucket. there hadn't been a murder on the island for two decades. >> it doesn't happen here. it can't happen here. and that was kind of the way it was, up until that day. >> 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 had sold her company for a tidy profit and moved to this nantucket cottage just months before. >> beth had this incredible gift of making people feel comfortable around her. >> beth's brother tom lochtefeld. >> i would be with her. we would go into the store to run an errand and she would be chatting up the clerk at the counter, guesting into a conversation. i'd be like, come on, beth, let's go. what are you doing? >> smart, vibrant, adventurous, beth was certainly all that and more. but what tom remembers most is her way with people. it sountsds like your sister made the other person feel better, bigger, you know, more loved. it's a gift. >> she would make everybody feel special. >> the third of five children, beth was raised in peekskill, new york, about 50 miles north of new york city.

>> 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.

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.

and she said, really? i said, yeah. she said, i'll be right over. >> bernadette had only known beth for a few months. not long, but long enough. >> she told me she'd been successful in every part of her life except for love. >> so when bernadette's old friend tom tulin came to her nantucket home, she introduced him to beth. >> it was a connection. it was electric the minute she walked in. it was like, whoa. >> beth had finally met mr. right. but people aren't always what they seem to be, or pretend to be. >> there was a lot to like about beth's new boyfriend, but there was also something a little troubling, especially after he met beth's friends. >> coming up. >> she said something like, i thought you were really sophisticated and, you know, charming. he said, under his breath, boy, i really should have been an actor. >> when "dateline" continues. ons

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in september 2004, beth lochtefeld was a woman in love. her brother, tom, remembers exuberant phone calls about the new man in her life. >> of course she was over the top. i met this guy. friend of a friend. and of course i had learned after many of those phone calls to try not to get too excited for her.

>> at 37, tom toolan was a walking, talking swoon machine. tall, broad shouldered, preppie and beth had a lot in common with him. >> he liked literature and music and he was good looking and came from a catholic family whose parents were still married 30 years later. that was a big attraction for beth. >> she saw someone who she thought was like minded. i guess. >> in many ways, yes. >> tom toolan's childhood friend bernadette, had introduced them. bernadette had known him since he was a toddler. they had grown up in the same apartment building in brooklyn, new york. >> he was four years younger and same age as my brother. he always felt like a little brother to me. we were -- i can't even tell you how close we were. >> tom went to private school and then columbia university. after college, he sold cars for a while and then landed a job as a broker at smith barney. other jobs in finance followed including a stint as a bank executive on wall street. he seemed to have it all with

charm to spare. >> she would call me from the corner of manhattan, i'm just waiting for him here. i have to thank you. this is unbelievable. we're having so much fun. >> tom was smitten too from day one. >> she's a great gal. an amazing gal. >> tom lived in new york and beth in nantucket, they started seeing each other regularly. beth, at 44, was eager for marriage and a family. very soon there was talk of rings although beth's brother says it was mainly tom doing the talking. >> as a matter of fact, it's my understanding that first day he said i'm going to marry you. and she was, like, yeah, right. >> beth may have hesitated as she learned more about her new man. he told her he had drinking problems. but for bernadette, the drinking hardly seemed like a deal breaker. >> i knew he had a drinking problem.

i know a million people with drinking problems. >> other friends had misgivings, louis taught beth martial arts on nantucket and she confided in him. >> she said i met somebody. i said that's great and she smokes and drinks. i said, beth, that doesn't sound like a good mix for you. she said, well, he's a little crazy and she said i'm a little crazy too. >> if she was making excuses for him, she had her reasons. >> she said she felt so good in his arms. he was so protective. she told me this is the first time in 15 years i'm with a man that wants to be with me. >> besides, beth was a fixer. >> when she would date guys, a lot of times she would say to herself, well, he would be really great except for this but i think we can work on that. >> no surprise then that beth decided to work on tom's drinking problem with him. >> i believe, yes, she was trying to help him dry out and

he told her he wanted to stop and wanted to dry out. >> two weeks after they met, beth and tom flew to california together. tom, who was now working as an investment consultant had meetings there and beth decided to tag along. it was their first extended trip together and for beth, it was an eye opener. now she saw things she could not dismiss. >> he's a mess. she said. he couldn't get on the plane. they missed the plane. i said what was he doing? what do you mean? she said i stood back and watched him and he was walking in circles in the hotel room smoking cigarettes, not packed. just a mess. >> beth wanted to introduce tom to her friends on the west coast. tom of the list was leslie costello, beth's college friend leslie lives in san diego and was eager to meet beth's new beau but she was less than impressed. >> he was very informal. i didn't understand him.

>> 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

relationship the four seasons test to see how things stood in a year but it was becoming clear that tom toolan was not inclined to let one season pass let alone four. >> coming up, a troubled relationship becomes a terrifying one. >> why she depth leave that next day i'm not exactly sure. >> when "dateline" continues. tis

in october, 2004, beth lochtefeld went to new york to be with her boyfriend, tom toolan. by then, the two had been dating for six weeks but the relationship was fraying. beth was beginning to see a troubling side of this new guy and she had started to give him ultimatums. >> he would start drinking and he would get really ugly. she would say you're a good guy but when you're drinking, you're an idiot and you need to decide between alcohol and me. he would apologize and say i choose you and i want you. i don't want the alcohol. >> that week beth invited her brother to meet her boyfriend. perhaps she wanted his take on tom. first impression, you see him walk in. >> well, he had longish blond

hair sort of combed back and a double breasted blue blazer on. very pompous. he seemed fake to me. >> that night over dinner, beth's brother kept asking tom toolan what he did for a living. >> and he couldn't really tell me to my satisfaction what he did. >> what was he saying? >> oh, i'm an investor. what do you invest in? he couldn't really give me an answer. >> beth's brother said toolan was drinking during dinner but not to excess. afterwards toolan and beth headed back to his apartment and on the way home beth told friends something shocking happened. she had seen him drunk. she had seen him angry. but she had never seen her new boyfriend like this. >> he had put her into a headlock and was walking down the street saying i want to beat your head in. she shared with me, i went back to his apartment to just get my palm pilot and cell phone and get out of there and i wonder if i shouldn't have just left that stuff behind and left at that moment. >> little did beth know that toolan had apparently been

aggressive with at least one other woman after he had a few drinks. >> i thought, wow, flowers. how nice. i thought he's such a gentleman. >> becky was working as a bartender dating toolan once. >> we had dinner plans. at the new york athletic club. that's a nice date. >> it didn't turn out that way. dinner was pleasant and then came drinks. >> that's when he accused me of flirting with the bartender. i was having a conversation with the bartender. >> she said toolan tried to grope her. when she reached her street, she didn't wait around. >> i jumped out and i ran. i literally ran across the street. >> four years later, beth lochtefeld was in a frightening situation with the same man. that night, instead of grabbing her stuff from toolan's

apartment when she got there, got there, beth stayed and later said that things went from bad to terrible. >> he got very violent with her that night and he sexually assaulted her. i think that beth was probably sort of in a state of -- it's a confusing thing when it is somebody that you're supposedly close to violates you. my guess is that she was just probably in a state of shock and why she didn't leave that next day, i'm not exactly sure. >> by friday, october 22nd, two days after the dinner with her brother, beth decided to leave new york. friends and family say it was clear that she intended to call it quits with toolan. she even left a message at her brother's connecticut home saying she was coming to spend the night. but by now something else was becoming clear. tom toolan was not going to let beth go. >> he wouldn't leave her. he followed her and she said we ended up in the metropolitan and she said i was standing there in front of this painting and it

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.

she was going to get her stuff and get out. at the last minute he hopped in the cab with her and they ended up back at his apartment. >> at some point that night, beth called her brother. in retrospect he says, she sounded terrified. >> her words were very measured. she was talking very slowly and enunciating very clearly. unlike her. she kept saying i'm here with tom in the city and we're trying to work things out. and i didn't even think to ask her are you okay? or cough twice if you're in trouble or something like that. >> he had no idea his sister was in danger. >> i was sort of tired. i didn't want to deal with the breaking up, making up kind of thing. >> later from family and friends he would learn the horrifying details of beth's ordeal that night. >> it is my understanding he was holding her at gunpoint.

>> beth's brother says he has no proof of that or details of exactly what went on that night, but he's pieced together a story from various accounts. >> he held her captive. she tried to get away. he was either drunk or tired and he ended up -- she was laying down in led. he laid on her legs and then going to sleep or passing out himself. >> to prevent her from leaving. >> at which point she slipped out and slipped away. >> i understand that she didn't even want to use the elevator because she was afraid the ding might wake him up so she ended up taking the stairs. >> it was around 4:00 a.m. when beth managed to escape from the apartment. where was she going to go? i know she wanted to get away. >> she was going straight to laguardia to get the next flight to nantucket and get away and get back to her home. >> it was now saturday, october 23rd. at 8:00 a.m., beth called her brother. it would be the last time the two spoke. >> she mentioned she had broken up with him and he had called her about 50 times since on her cell phone and the guy wouldn't stop calling her. >> did that raise any alarm

bells with you? just a guy who's heartbroken? >> yeah. so i was thinking she would go to nantucket and it will be over and it will be fine. >> except that was not going to happen. tragedy was two short days away. >> coming up, a surprise visitor and a panicked phone call. >> he just said to me, barbara, lock your door. don't go out. i'm calling the police. >> when "dateline" continues. . why would somebody want to suffer if there is options that they don't need to. i think dentists will want to recommend sensodyne rapid relief. sensodyne rapid relief builds a layer fast on the tooth's surface over those sensitive areas, which means patients are going to get fast relief from their sensitivity. sensodyne rapid relief is clinically proven to work in 3 days. i think dentists will want to recommend this product because it's going to help their patients and that's what we are trying to do is help patients.

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i'm dara brown with the hour's top stories. a federal judge blocks the trump administration move involving fast tracking deportations. it allows people who entered the u.s. illegally to be deported without allowing them to appear before judges. british prime minister boris johnson is facing a potential probe into his dies to a business woman. authorities in london asked the country's police watch dog to decide whether there are grounds

to investigate johnson for misconduct in public office. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." i'm natalie morales. beth's fairytale romance turned out to be violent. he sexually assaulted her and later held her at gunpoint. once again, here's hoda kotb with murder on nantucket island. after a terrifying night when she was held captive in tom toolan's new york apartment, beth lochtefeld had managed to escape and get home to nantucket, her island refuge. she called her friend, leslie, the morning she got back. >> she did say he has a gun and i'm afraid he might use it. i'm not going to stay here tonight. i'm going to spend the night at my brother's house.

>> that same day, saturday, october 23rd, beth stopped by the nantucket police department to ask about filing a restraining order. for her to get to the point of stopping at the police department, that probably tells you all you need to know about what was going on inside of her. >> yeah, yeah, i would think so. i think she had very well-founded fears especially after the incident in new york where he held her captive. >> beth did not file the paperwork. she spent that night and the next at her brother peter's home. she was frightened enough not to go home. >> i would have to say she had fear that something would happen to her. >> on monday, october 25th, beth returned to her cottage in the morning, collected tom toolan's clothes, parcelled them up and mailed them back to him. she returned to the cottage and chatted with her land lady, barbara. it was just after 10:30. >> she came in the yard. we were talking in the driveway.

she's going to do some work on her computer and we were going to meet again around 1:00. >> beth went inside the cottage to work. >> that's the last i saw of beth. >> barbara continued to garden. a short time later she was filling a wheel barrel. the man was oddly dressed for nantucket in a hat and long >> i turned around and looked right at him. the man was oddly dressed for nantucket in a hat and long overcoat was inquiring about beth's cottage. >> i said i don't know. >> something about him bothered her. >> i know beth had been seeing someone and i thought she more or less told me that i think it's over. i said i guess this boyfriend has come back. >> he moved toward the cottage door. barbara went to her house to have lunch but she was uneasy. >> and as i said, it was an intuition.

>> 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.

for the lochtefeld family, life would never be the same. what did you lose on that day? >> i would have to say i lost probably my best friend and confidant aside from my wife. she was my closest sibling. we got along really well. >> less llie costello got the s call. how do you remember her? >> he said he killed her. i didn't see it coming. it was shocking. >> you knew exactly who the he was? >> oh, yeah, yeah. i did. >> tom toolan was arrested within hours of the murder picked up in rhode island driving a rented car with bottles of beer and vodka in the

car with him. his bloody clothes in a bag on the back seat. the rhode island state police videotaped his arrest and recorded his voice in the cruiser. toolan was held without bail and arraigned a month later. bernadette was in the courtroom. she could barely contain herself. >> it was the reality hitting me. sitting there. this happened. this really happened. he walked in and it was like they were bringing in king kong like a monster. i felt like it was my fault and she's gone. >> toolan was charged with first-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. he pleaded not guilty. ahead lie a trial and explosive revelations about a man finally stripped bare of all pretense. >> coming up, what seemed like

an open and shut case was anything but. >> it was like the perfect storm. you have all of these swirling together inside this man's head. >> when "dateline" continues. human papillomavirus i knew that hpv could lead to certain cancers. i knew her risk for hpv increases as she gets older. i knew there was a vaccine available that could help protect her before she could be exposed to hpv. i knew. so i talked to my child's doctor. now that you know that hpv can lead to certain cancers, don't wait. talk to your child's doctor today.

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wondered through old nantucket town looking for souvenirs, tom toolan went on trial in the center of town. he pleaded not guilty. >> all rise. >> he was as smartly turned at as ever looking for the successful executive he long wanted to be. the kind of guy that would fit right in on the island. the defense would argue that toolan's polished exterior was nothing more than a facade for a profoundly troubled man. they would not say he killed beth lochtefeld but that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. toolan's attorney began by hinting at the turmoil that lurked within tom toolan. >> looks good. suit on and a tie. hair slicked back. certainly someone would say he doesn't look crazy to me. >> the master of the universe

act was just that. redding ton declared, an act. because tom toolan was a mess plagued not just by alcohol abuse but drug addiction too. >> his drink of choice would be absolute vodka right out of the bottle. drink a fifth a day. he had prescriptions legally, he was taking them illegal less i. illegally. >> when beth broke up with him, redington told the court toolan snapped. drinking and drugging and even deeper troubles all of them combined to push him over the edge. >> the evidence will show that thomas toolan was suffering from a mental disease or defect at the time of this incident and he was well within our legal definition of insane. >> and who better to tell the jury about the defendant's demons than the defendant's mother. she recounted the facts of her son's life. >> at some point was it apparent

to you that he had an alcohol problem? >> yes, i would say when he was 16. 17. >> his battle with drugs. >> did you know that he had occasion to make purchases from places other than drug stores? >> he got some prescriptions from the internet. >> she told the court she and her husband tried to straighten him out sending him to rehab several times beginning in 1999. >> how long was he in hazelton for? >> a month. >> now to describe toolan's state in the days before the murder -- >> did you at some point receive a phone call from your son? >> yes. >> she described a conversation with her son two days before the murder. he was inconsolable over the breakup with beth. >> he said she's gone. she's gone. she's taken all her stuff. he said i was asleep. she just left. >> the next day, sunday, the toolans went to manhattan to see their son. he was in terrible shape.

>> his whole body exuded the smell of alcohol. >> the defense believed that established toolan's state in the days before the murder. now for the day itself. when toolan was picked up in rhode island hours after the murder, he had been drinking. sobriety tests later put him at twice the legal limit. >> multiply that by six. >> a forensic toxicologist doing some complicated calculations, estimated his blood alcohol level was .30. >> where does that fit in? >> that fits in the next level above confusion to the stupor phase. >> so toolan was profoundly impaired at the time of the murder and that was just from drinking. add in the drugs -- how much did drugs play in tom toolan's life? >> he would take whatever drugs he could get his hands on. >> such as?

>> methamphetamines, zoloft. >> there was more. the defense revealed that toolan spent years fighting depression and obsessive compulsive disorder and in the late '80s he attempted suicide and finally the defense was ready for its knockout punch. a neuropsychologyist. >> my opinion is that he has profound frontal executive dysfunction. >> he testified that years of substance abuse brought about that mental defect. because of it, toolan could not control his impulses so the defense argued he could not be held criminally responsible for the murder. >> it was like the perfect storm. you have the frontal lobe defect. person is unable to control their emotions and executive function coupled with the lowering of the inhibitions through alcohol all swirling together inside this man's head.

>> the prosecutor's job was to blow that argument away and to argue that tom toolan knew exactly what he was doing and when i murdered beth lochtefeld. that he was so enraged by the break up that he planned and carried out a cold calculated killing. >> the commonwealth will present to you a time line. >> as evidence of premeditation, the prosecutor told the court that on the night before the murder, security guards at new york's laguardia airport stopped toolan from boarding a plane to nantucket because he was carrying a 10-inch knife. when asked about the knife, toolan offered a series of stories. >> he said he forgot it was in there. >> he had it to cut a birthday cake. >> he was having lunch with his sister in nantucket and she wanted him to bring a knife. >> the prosecutor brought evidence to show at that toolan boarded another plane for nantucket this time without a knife but when he landed, he

went shopping for knives. toolan may have been drinking that day, prosecutors argued, but he was used to consuming quantities of alcohol and drugs without showing it. and the prosecutor called witnesses who would testify that toolan didn't seem drunk. that's what the clerk who sold him the knives testified. and at the nantucket airport. >> did he seem intoxicated to you at that time? >> no. >> would you have rented a car to him if he appeared drunk at that time? >> not likely. >> he flew into the airport after the murder arriving at 1:15. jurors could see him renting a car, walking out to get it, and driving away in a gray chevrolet impala. >> you're able to see how he's walking and he's not falling. he's not stumbling. the persons that are interacting

with him are interacting in a normal way. >> and there was audio of toolin in the trooper's cruiser after he was arrested in rhode island. >> tell me what's going on, officer? >> we'll discuss it when we get back to the barracks. >> the prosecutor argued toolin was coherent. he was capable of thinking clearly and of distinguishing right from wrong despite the alcohol. >> dr. martin kelly, please. >> and the prosecution also had a forensic psychiatrist whom they thought would deliver their own knock-out punch. >> were you able to form an opinion concerning the criminal responsibility of thomas toolin iii on or about october 25th of 2004, in respect to the killing of beth lochtefeld? >> on that date he did not have a mental disease or defect. >> and so the prosecutor told the jury tom toolin was criminally responsible when he stabbed beth lochtefeld to

death. the testimony took nine days in all. as the summer arrived on nantucket, the surf and sea begieling visitors, the stores beckoning shoppers inside the nantucket superior court, the jury in toolin's murder trial got the case. >> coming up, the end of a trial. >> is the defendant guilty or not guilty? >> but not the end of the story. when "dateline" continues. ues. aleve it. aleve is proven better on pain than tylenol. when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong. i was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. but my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. for cleaner teeth and healthier gums. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand

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trial took five hours to reach a verdict. >> do you get butterflies every time? >> yes, you do. >> as family members and jurors returned to their seats, the courtroom suddenly seemed too small for a big drama. >> you can hear a pin drop in the courtroom. emotion is palpable. obviously it's high stakes. >> high stakes with subtle hints. >> you can tell if the court officer surround the defendant, you figure things aren't going that well. >> is the defendant guilty or not guilty? >> guilty. >> guilty of first-degree murder. guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. a stoic tom toolan, a distraught mother and no rejoicing from the victim's family. >> we are relieved that this troubled and veng vengeful and

dangerous man can never harm another innocent person. >> tom toolan was sentenced to life in prison and that is where things stood for four years but in august of 2011, everything changed. the massachusetts supreme judicial court overturned tom toolan's conviction. the court said there were flaws in the jury selection process and ordered a new trial. the trial got under way in june. this time at a courthouse on the mainland. for the lochtefeld family going through it a second time was deeply disappointing and worrying. >> all of a sudden he wasn't convicted of killing my sister anymore and he was as far as i was concerned. >> for tom toolan, it was an incredible second chance. this time the defendant looked thinner than during the first trial and this time a new defense attorney argued the case. >> this is not a who done it?

this is not a where, when, how, case. this is a why case. >> robert sheketoff he opened with an admission that toolan did kill beth lochtefeld. what the jury had to decide was why. >> it's a difficult issue to look into somebody's mind and figure out what was going on in that mind. was he a common criminal or was he not? that's the issue. >> it was the insanity defense all over again. dressed up a little differently presented in court by an attorney who was keenly aware he had an uphill battle on his hands. >> the real question is anyone willing to let somebody who has done something this horrific "off the hook" because of the problem with their drug abuse, alcohol abuse and underlying mental issues. >> the prosecutor had the gloves off once again. >> 52 days, ladies and

gentlemen. 52 days from the time elizabeth beth lochtefeld met thomas toolan until he stabbed her to 23 times until she died. he told the jury what he said the first time. >> he said that tom toolan knew what he was doing the day he killed beth lochtefeld. >> a choice he made knowing it was wrong and he understood that at the time and he still chose to do it. that's what criminal responsibility it. >> 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 e. 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

again convicted to life. his sister kathy read a statement in court. ee should doesn't bring her back, but it is a measure of justice. >> for tom lochtefeld it was satisfying. the first conviction was the one that mattered. >> on that day we all took a walk to beth's gravesite after the conviction. and i just remember feeling that it was a beautiful june day, and it felt like, wow, this is finally -- i'm finally not upset to be here any more. and it was, it was good again. >> for those who were close to beth lochtefeld, there is a real sense of closure this time. the trial behind him, beth's father, the artist john lochtefeld, finished the book he and beth had worked on together. it was published after she died. he illustrated her words and dedicated the book to beth and her dreams.

the dream she lived and those that died too soon with her. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> it was horrifying. this was my mom a vibrant woman just ripped out of the world. thaeverg everything that we thought in our life was shattered. he betrayed us to our very core. >> they were a stunning couple. a doctor and a beauty queen. >> she won homecoming queen. she did modelling. >> but the day she was found dead in the tub