garrett exits forever frame left. the mystery surrounding his killing still abides. . i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. i'm craig melvin. >> 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 has 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. 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. 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 killing my sister anymore. >> hello and welcome to "dateline." beth lochtefeld was a savvy entrepreneur who built her own business. tom toolan cut his teeth in the financial world. their connection was instant. but when their summer love cooled tempers flared and their 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 "murder on nantucket island." >> nantucket, massachusetts, a smudge of an 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 got an emergency. my sister, she's not answering her phone. >> it was monday, october 25th, 2004. a gray day. officer daniel furtado of 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'm going to send someone over right now. >> it was a routine matter or so it seemed. furtado was dispatched to check it out. he met his partner at hawthorne lane. there were two houses on the property. both were owned by long-time island resident barbara kodelak. >> i said are you elizabeth? she said, no, she's over there and pointed toward 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 towards sergeant coakley and i told him we had somebody down inside. >> furtado's partner kicked in the door. 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 proceed 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 made the comment, 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. everyone called her beth and she was an unlikely victim. she was 44 years old. a successful businesswoman from new york who 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. >> i would be with her. we would go into a store to run an errand, and she'd be chatting up the clerk at the counter, getting into a conversation. i'd be, come on, beth, let's go, what are you doing? >> smart, vibrant, adventurous, beth was certainly all of that and more. what tom remembers most is her way with people. it sounds like your sister made the other person feel better, bigger, more loved. that'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 and cared for us. my dad was home at 5:30 for dinner at 6:00. >> when school was out, the family headed to nantucket where beth's father, john, 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 out surfing and i said, beth, i think -- she never surfed before. i said, you might have more fun boogie boarding. no. i want to go for it. i want to learn to surf. off she was always willing and wanting to embrace a new experience with joy. >> after college, beth settled in new york and started her own company. in this video she talked about those early days. >> hard work and work your fingers to the bone. your nose to the grindstone.

blood, sweat, and tears. >> 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. >> you know what? she was enormously successful because she was hardworking and she was honest. she shined and people just could trust her. >> 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? >> uh-huh. 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? and i said, yeah. she said, i'll be right over. >> bernadette feeney had only known beth for a few months. not long but long enough. >> she told me she had been successful in every part of her life except for love. >> when bernadette's friend tom toolan came to stay at 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 charming and he said under his breath, boy, i really should have been an actor. >> when "dateline" continues.

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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, he liked music, he was good looking. he 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 feeney had introduced the couple. bernadette had known tom since he was a toddler. they had grown up in the same apartment complex 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 some corner of manhattan, oh my gosh, 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. >> he said, gosh, she's a great gal, she's an amazing gal. even though 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'd had drinking problems. but for bernadette feeney playing cupid, tom's drinking hardly seemed like a deal-breaker. >> i knew that he had a drinking problem.

regardless, i know a million people with drinking problems. >> other friends had misgivings. louis taught beth japanese martial arts on nantucket, and she confided in him. >> she said, well, i met somebody. i said, that's great. she said, he 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 who 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. top of the list was leslie costello, beth's college friend. leslie lives in san diego, and she was eager to meet beth's new beau. but she was less than impressed.

>> he was distant and very formal. and 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 really 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 says that 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? and she said something like, they thought you were really sophisticated and, you know, charming, this and that. and he said under his breath, boy, i really should have been an actor. and she said that just went right 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 didn't leave that next day, i'm not exactly sure. >> when "dateline" continues.

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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'd start drinking, and then he'd get really ugly. she'd just 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. he looked like something off of "the love boat," you know?

very pompous. i don't know. 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. this, that. well 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. you know, i thought this is a really -- he's such a gentleman. >> becky hammons, who was working as a bartender at a new york sports bar, dated toolan once. we had plans to go to dinner at the new york athletic club. i thought, that's nice, 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 being lascivious with the bartender because i was just having a conversation with the bartender. >> they got into a cab to go home and she says toolan tried to grope her. when they reached her street, she didn't wait around. >> i jumped out and ran across the street. >> four years later, beth lochtefeld was in a frightening situation with the same man. but that night, instead of grabbing her stuff from toolan's apartment when she got there, beth stayed. leslie says beth later told her things went from bad to

terrible. >> then he got very violent with her that night. and he sexually assaulted her. and i think that beth was probably sort of in a state of -- it's a confusing thing when it's 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'd 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. and he followed her, and she said we end ed up in the

metropolitan, and she said i was standing there in front of this paining and it was an incredibly dark painting thinking this paint remind me of tom toolan. >> as bizarre as it sounds, that was the moment, beth later told leslie 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'd proposed to beth before, but never like this. >> he pulls this ring out, gets on his knees, you know, and proposed to her again. and she says 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? >> then 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 just going to go back, get her stuff, get out. he in the last minute hopped in the cab with her, 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. and 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's my understanding that he was holding her at gunpoint.

>> beth's brother says he has no proof of that or other 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 the bed, he ended up laying on her legs too, 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 just 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? >> no, doesn't raise alarm bells. >> just a guy who's heartbroken? >> yeah. i was thinking she would go to nantucket and it will be over and everything's going to 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. these are real people, not actors, who've got their eczema under control. with less eczema, you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind

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hello i'm dara brown. here's what's happening, the supreme court rejected the texas lawsuit that sought to overturn joe biden's election victory in four battleground states saying it lacked standing to pursue the case. the electoral college meets monday to formally elect biden as the next presidents. the fda has authorized pfiz pfizer's coronavirus vaccine paving the way for highly

vulnerable americans to be inoculated in the coming days, a major milestone in the pandemic that has killed more than 295,000 people. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." i'm natalie morales. beth lochtefeld's fairy tale romance with tom toolan had turned dark. she told family tom was a heavy drinker with violent tendencies. on a trip to new york she said he sexually assaulted her and later held her at gunpoint. beth had left town, but danger was not far behind. 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 even 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 mean, i think she had very well-founded fears. especially after the incident in new york where he held her captive. >> but 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, parceled them up and mailed them back to him. she returned to the cottage and chatted with her landlady, 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. >> and that's really -- that's the last i saw of beth. >> barbara continued to garden. a short time later she was filling a wheelbarrow when suddenly she heard a voice behind her. >> the voice said, is there anyone here in this house, and i just turned around and looked up. i looked right at him. >> the man was oddly dressed for nantucket in a hat and long overcoat was inquiring about beth lochtefeld's cottage. >> and i said, i don't know. >> something about him bothered her. >> i knew beth had been seeing someone, and i think she more or less told me that, i think it's over. i said, oh, i guess this is the boyfriend that's 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 reach him. she said she called beth's parents but couldn't reach them either. she knew beth was planning to pick up her nephew before 1:00 p.m., but beth's car did not move. and then she noticed the shades in beth's bedroom windows had been drawn. >> i had a bad feeling. had a bad feeling. >> she called peter lochtefeld again and this time she reached him. >> i told him that there was someone in the yard and 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. >> he's come to nantucket, he's at her house now, she won't answer her cell phone. >> it was then that sergeant furtado 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 always got along real well. >> leslie costello got a call that same day. when you heard the news, how was it told to you? >> he killed her. i remember just being in shock. i didn't see it coming. i didn't know it was coming. i was in -- 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 the bag on the back seat. the rhode island state police videotaped the arrest and recorded his voice in the cruiser. toolan was held without bail and arraigned a month later. bernadette feeney was in the courtroom. she could barely contain herself. >> it was the reality hitting me. sitting there. that this -- this happened. this really happened. and he walked in and it was like they were bringing in, you know -- king kong, like a monster, you know. and i felt just, you know -- like it was my fault, you know -- and she's gone. >> toolan was charged with first-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. he pleaded not guilty. ahead lay 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's like the perfect storm. you have all of these swirling together inside this man's head. >> when "dateline" continues. anh of the season into your home. it's air care, redefined. connect to nature this holiday season.

in june 2007, while tourists wandered through old nantucket town looking for souvenirs, tom toolan went on trial for the murder of beth lochtefeld in a courthouse in the center of town. he'd pleaded not guilty.

the defendant was as smartly turned out as ever, looking like the successful executive he'd long wanted to be. the kind of guy that would fit right in on this tony island. the defense would argue that toolan's polished exterior was nothing more than a facade for a profoundly troubled man. they wouldn't say that he did not kill beth lochtefeld, but they would argue that he shouldn't go to prison for it. he was, they said, not guilty by reason of insanity. toolan's attorney, kevin reddington, began by hinting at the turmoil that lurked within tom toolan. >> mr. toolan looks good, he's got a suit on and a tie. hair slicked back, certainly someone like that doesn't look crazy to me. >> but the master of the

universe act was just that, reddington declared, an act. because tom toolan was a man 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 was not on prescriptions legally, he was taking them illegally. >> when beth broke up with him, redington told the court toolan snapped. the 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, that 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. >> my name is dolores toolan. >> she recited the sorry 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 drugstores? >> 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. >> and he said, she's gone, she's gone, she's taken all her stuff, she just -- he said, i was asleep and 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 at the time of the murder, toolan's blood alcohol level was .30. >> the .30, where does that fit in? >> that fits in the next level above confusion to the stupor phase. >> so the defense argued toolan was profoundly impaired at the time of the murder, and that was just from the drinking. add in the drugs -- how much did drugs play in tom toolan's life? >> he would take whatever drugs that he could get his hands on. >> such as? >> methamphetamines, zoloft, paxil.

>> there was more. the defense revealed that toolan spent years fighting depression and obsessive compulsive disorder and in the late '80s he attempted suicide. finally the defense was ready for its knockout punch. a neuropsychologist. >> my opinion is that he has profound frontal executive dysfunction. >> davidoff testified that years of substance abuse had 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 the alcohol. you have all of these swirling together inside this man's head. >> the prosecutor's job was to

blow that argument away, to argue that tom toolan knew exactly what he was doing when he murdered beth lochtefeld, that he was so enraged by the breakup that he planned and carried out a cold, calculated killing. >> the commonwealth will present to you, ladies and gentlemen, a timeline -- >> as evidence of premeditation, prosecutor brian glenny 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 that 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 presented evidence to show that the next morning, toolan boarded another plane bound 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. >> raise your right hand. >> that's what the clerk who sold him the knives testified. >> i would say he was sober. >> and the rental car agent 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 intoxicated to you? >> not likely. >> the prosecutor played a surveillance tape from the airport at hyannis, massachusetts. toolan flew into the airport after the murder arriving at about 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 toolan in the back of the state

trooper's cruiser after he was arrested in rhode island. >> can you tell me what's going on, officer? >> we'll discuss it when we get back. >> the prosecutor argued that toolan was coherent. he was capable of thinking he was capable of thinking clearly and 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 knockout punch. >> were you able to form an opinion concerning the criminal responsibility of thomas toolan 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 toolan 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 beguiling visitors, the stores beckoning shoppers, inside the nantucket superior court the jury in toolan'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. and ♪ ♪ but come ye back when su-- mom, dad. why's jamie here? it's sunday. sunday sing along. and he helped us get a home and auto bundle. he's been our insurance guy for five years now. he makes us feel like we're worth protecting. [ gasps ] why didn't you tell us about these savings, flo? i've literally told you a thousand times. ♪ oh, danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling ♪ i'm just gonna... ♪ from glen to glen shingles doesn't care. i logged 10,000 steps today. shingles doesn't care. i get as much fresh air as possible.

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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. the emotion is palpable, i think, obviously. it's high stakes. >> has the jury reached a verdict? >> yes. >> high stakes with subtle hints. >> you can tell if the court officers 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 vengeful and dangerous man can never harm another innocent person. >> tom toolan was sentenced to life in prison, and that's 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 new trial got under way in june 2013. this time at a courthouse on the mainland in barnstable, massachusetts. for the lochtefeld family, going through it a second time was deeply disappointing and worrying. >> because all of a sudden, he wasn't convicted of killing my sister anymore. >> right. >> 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 he had during the first trial. and this time, a new defense attorney argued the case. >> this is not a whodunit. this is not a where, when, how case. this is a why case.

>> robert sheketoff opened with an admission that the first defense team never made explicitly, 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, is anyone willing to let somebody who's done something this horrific, quote/unquote, off the hook, because of the problem with their drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and underlying mental issues? >> the prosecutor, brian glenny, 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 23 times until she died. >> glenny told this new set of jurors just what he said during the first trial, that tom toolan knew exactly what he was doing the day he killed with beth lochtefeld. >> it was a choice that 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 is. >> this time the trial was considerably shorter and this time when the jurors went out to deliberate, they were back the same day. >> the defendant thomas 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 sentenced again to life. he is appealing his conviction. beth's sister, kathy, read a statement in court. >> this verdict cannot bring beth back, but it does bring a

measure of justice. >> for tom lochtefeld, it was satisfying, even though for him, the first conviction was the one that mattered. >> on that day, we all took a walk up to beth's grave site 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 anymore. and it was good again. >> for those who were close to beth lochtefeld, there's 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 dreams 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. first up on msnbc, breaking news. the fda approves the first covid-19 vaccine for emergency use authorization in the u.s. >> distribution set for rollout immediately. so, who's first in line and how soon can they get it? decision point. top fda officials scheduled to hold a news conference on the agency's decision at 9:00 a.m. eastern. the cdc's advisory committee also meeting this morning, setting up for a critical vote that would green light vaccinations. plus, a fatal blow for president trump. the u.s. supreme court,