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tv   Dateline  MSNBC  March 17, 2024 11:00pm-12:00am PDT

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in some cold case file. now, she says there is justice for the mother and the young son, even though he disagrees with the outcome of the case. >> ultimately, it's all about a boy, isn't it? >> it is. except i would say that i don't think a father who would deprive a boy of the love of a mother, really loves the boy. he loved himself more, it seems to me. >> markers. out west, there is the great open sky. in south florida, the ocean. always the ocean, the vast churning tropical waters. for the aging friends still remembering, it is lynne's marker, too. after a violent death, the place where they prayed she might finally rest in peace. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. hello. i am craig melvin, and this is dateline.
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>> nothing in this case makes sense. >> they say doctors make the worst patients, no matter how sick. but, this dr. was not just sick. he was dying. >> no one knew exactly what it was. >> and then, they found the crystals. but solving the medical mystery did not solve the main mystery, who poison them? >> he took a drink of it and said there is something wrong with this. >> was many the motive, or was there another reason? >> everything about this case is nuts. >> turns out this busy doctor also had a busy love life at home and at work. >> she loved him. who wanted the doctor dead? >> who has motive? it is the person who is not getting what they want.
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>> hello, and welcome to dateline. the top doctor known for saving lives found himself fighting for his own after he was poisoned. cops immediately started looking into the women in his life and they uncovered more than one relationship, so investigators wanted to know which one was toxic. >> there is a place in houston, texas they call the mecca of medicine, m.d. anderson cancer center. >> there goal is making cancer history and so the best and the brightest work there. >> a hive of top-tier physicians researching, saving
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lives. >> i was never a number. i was never just a patient. i was a human being. >> but, what happened when one of their own became dangerously ill? >> i was shocked. it is crazy things happening. >> not with cancer, but still, something lethal and bizarre. >> it was the worst kept secret. >> hollywood cannot write the script. it is unbelievable and that is why it is true. >> it was around midnight, january 27th, 2013, a 48-year- old man wobbled through the doors of md anderson, slurring his words, disoriented. >> keep in mind, he did not go to the emergency room in a standard hospital. >> ryan cores guard is a reporter with nbc station in houston. >> he went to a cancer hospital. >> perhaps just where he felt safe? >> perhaps. his office was also there. >> maybe he felt safe there
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because the sick man was george blumenschein junior. >> the people who worked around him said he revealed very little about his personal life. he did not talk about who we was dating, nothing along those lines. >> now, this very private man was at md anderson to examine his own symptoms. friends urged him to go straight to the e.r. >> it sounded like it was tough to even coax him into the emergency room. >> george's girlfriend, yvette tony, a scientist, shot this video on her cell phone as they sat outside the e.r. she wanted to show george that he was not acting normally and convinced him to check himself
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in. the video would later be crucial to solving the mystery. >> have gotten progressively this coordinated. >> to see the usually articulated -- articulate dr. like this was a strange sight. cindy was a friend and former assistant. >> what was george like? >> very charming. he is a great guy. >> she says george was professional, friendly, and always had a good bedside manner. >> was it just the way he greeted you? >> i thought it was very respectful. patience did call me and make comments about him that he was a great doctor. >> but now, the doctor was the one in need of care. george's research partner, a doctor named ana maria gonzalez- angulo was with him outside the
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e.r. she had seen him at the office that day and later at a business dinner. cell phone video documents her describing his symptoms. >> is a little slurry. for people that know him, he is still sorry. >> finally, george agreed to be examined and in the small world of md anderson, word spread fast that one of their esteemed doctors had checked into the e.r. >> what was your gut telling you about what he could be sick with? >> at first i thought it was high blood pressure, heart attack, what is it? >> doctors suspected george might have suffered a stroke, but his mri was clear. whatever was wrong, it was getting worse.
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>> he is deteriorating quickly. his health is going downhill. >> just a few hours after arriving at the e.r., the doctor was unconscious, his organs failing, and he was rushed to the icu. >> there seem to be concerned he would not make it. >> through the night, george lane near death as his loved ones stood vigil outside the room. inside, the medical staff wondered exactly how had their colleague ended up here, and it was not long before police were wondering the same thing. >> coming up, as doctors work to save one of their own, someone notices something strange. >> we started doing test and that is when we found these crystals. if you're a doctor, you know everything that goes into your body. >> when dateline continues. body. >> when dateline continues. all you have to do is scrape, load, and you're done! cascade platinum plus. dare to dish differently.
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in the early morning hours after he was admitted to the e.r., dr. george blumenschein lay unconscious. he was in critical condition in the icu of the very hospital where he practiced medicine. >> i was worried about him. >> were you just really praying he would come through this? >> of course. he was a great person. >> no one was sure why this perfectly healthy man in his 40s was working one day, and on the brink of death the next. >> it was a race against time because no one knew what it was. >> did they just start running a battery of tests? >> they started doing test and that is when they found these crystals. >> crystals in his system? that could be a sign of anything from dehydration to kidney stones, but looking at those crystals under a microscope, it george's doctors made a startling discovery, an unusual chemical formation, a
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deadly one. it was ethylene glycol, most commonly known as the toxic ingredient in antifreeze. it damages the heart, attacks the kidneys, and just have a cup can kill you. >> this must be just a shock to everyone when they realize that this top-notch doctor has taken ethylene glycol. >> absolutely. if you are a doctor, you know everything that goes into your body. how is this introduced? >> george was in and out of consciousness and being kept alive on dialysis. now that doctors knew what was making him sick, they called and investigators to figure out how it happened. >> it is a poisoning case, which is very rare. we don't see those often. >> assistant district attorney nathan hennigan has a background in science and medical crimes. he and his partner, justin keiter, had to consider every possible way the poison got into george's system. >> he wanted to find out if he
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had accidentally ingested something somewhere else. he would've preferred that than to know someone did this to him. >> accidental poisoning was not so far-fetched. in its pure form, ethylene glycol is used in labs all over md anderson. it is colorless, odorless, and has a sweet taste but after checking out the accident theory, it seemed unlikely. george had not been in the lab recently. >> we could not establish that he had access to ethylene glycol at all. >> lieutenant max sosa was part of the investigative team. the former houston homicide detective took his job at the medical center as a quiet retirement gig. >> you would deal with things like stolen lunches from the communal fridge, a missing dolly , not exactly houston homicide. >> they have their own forms of crimes, but nothing on the same scale as municipal law enforcement.
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>> lieutenant sosa looked at george's case and found it puzzling. if this was not an accident, there were other possibilities. suicide came to mind. >> did you ask dr. blumenschein if you tried to take his own life? >> yes. i asked him, and there was no history of any mental health issues. >> he said no, i take it. >> yes, ma'am. >> satisfied that this is neither suicide nor accident, there was only one conclusion left. someone tried to kill george. it's starting to look like a prominent doctor was poisoned. what is your gut telling you? >> at first, the only thing we can do is try to narrow down who was around the doctor. >> the first person they wanted to talk to, of course, was george's live-in girlfriend, evette toney. >> the woman in charge of the
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emergency room that night had concerns about evette toney and she told you that. >> she indicated that we needed to look at evette toney. she shared food with him. she shared wine with him the night before. >> evette told lieutenant sosa she did not have a clue why someone would want to hurt george. she suggested that maybe it was a random act. >> she was putting out all kinds of hypotheses and hypotheticals. she actually tells detective sosa well, i don't know, maybe he was an unintended victim and he was the victim of some psycho waiter who wanted to hurt a lot of people. >> there was not a psycho waiter. none of evette's theories made sense. investigators wanted to know more about evette and her relationship with george. they found out that the couple dated on and off for about a decade and live together and had broken up, and she had recently moved back in. >> so, dr. blumenschein is somewhat of a commitment phone? >> dr. evette toney said she had real issues with the fact he did not want to commit and she said her remedy for that was they were going to have a baby.
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>> now that they were trying to start a family, george the bachelor was also talking about marriage. he that had once called herself george's common-law wife. investigators wondered if she had anything to gain financially if george was killed. >> is worth several million dollars, and that fact alone is motive. >> they pressed that lead, pulled his insurance papers and requested george's well.
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>> would she have been entitled to his money if he died? >> no. this man did not even have a will and everything was left on the insurance policies to his brother. >> dead-end there. still, lieutenant sosa put in a request to do surveillance on evette in george's house. >> did you ask evette toney, did you have anything to do with this? >> yes, ma'am, i did. she said absolutely not. she offered her financials. she offered anything under the sun. she offered to submit to a polygraph. >> she even turned over the bottle of wine she and george drank the night before he got six. -- sick. test on the bottle came up clean. the lieutenant decided to call off the surveillance. the mild-mannered girlfriend hardly seemed like a killer to him, so it's not evette toney, who in the world wanted dr. george blumenschein dead? >> did you think there was somebody responsible out there? >> yes, if they didn't succeed, they were going to try again. >> that is exactly what investigators were thinking. they placed a guard at george's door. >> at that point in time we didn't know if anyone would attempt to go into his room and try again. >> you are concerned about his life. >> yes, ma'am. very concerned. >> coming up, behind closed doors at the hospital >> i think people started to realize and put pieces together. >> when dateline continues. er. >> when dateline continues. so, ask your vet about nexgard combo®.
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two weeks after he was poisoned, dr. george blumenschein was still
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suffering, his body ravaged by the toxic chemical, ethylene glycol. after digging around in his personal life, investigators were no closer to figuring out who wanted george dead, so they turned their attention to his professional life, but to investigators' surprise, many of the brilliant scientist at md anderson were less than chatty. >> these doctors you are dealing with are very private people, very intelligent. were they eager, willing witnesses? >> no. no one wanted to be part of this case. >> still, one of george's closest colleagues made herself available, dr. ana maria gonzalez-angulo, george's research partner and coworker, who was by his side as he checked into the e.r., fellow workaholic, and a new the details of george's life at the hospital. >> how often were they together working? >> seems like all the time. they traveled together. they worked in either his of his or her office. they were on the phone. >> dr. gonzalez, who was born in columbia, was a fast rising star in breast cancer medicine. >> i truly believe that she holds the cure for women in the world. >> as patients like sylvia
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lieber saw it, dr. gonzalez was a miracle worker. >> she has this compassionate understanding about the disease and about the women she treats. >> dr. gonzalez also treated nadine eichmann. >> you know, i was never a number, never just a patient. i was a human being. >> did she immediately put you at ease? >> she absolutely did. you know, she is really small of stature, but she is feisty and she said we are just going to go after this and i said yeah, you and i are going to get along just fine. >> animate george years earlier when she referred a patient to him. soon after, she invited him to collaborate on her research project. multiple studies followed. they were invited to lecture and travel around the world. after working for george, sandy took a job assisting ana .
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>> i know she was trying to get his career going, writing more grants. he wasn't the most organized person. >> so, she really had an impact on george's life? >> yes. >> was he very grateful for that? >> i think he was. >> how eager were you to talk to dr. gonzalez? >> very eager. she knew his habits and schedule about the timeline i needed information. >> ana provided valuable details about the day george got sick. she told the lieutenant she and george worked in their offices at md anderson then attended a business dinner together that evening. she witnessed his condition slowly worsen, and even followed george as he drove himself to the hospital around midnight. >> and every minute you can account for, i would imagine, helps you put together that crucial timeline. what did she tell you? >> i asked her for an account of the week prior to him going in the hospital. >> ana told him all about
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george's week, the details of his busy schedule. she was sharing a lot, but as lieutenant sosa listened, he had a hunch she might also be leaving something out, so he went back and pressed george and ana's reticent colleagues for more information. what was up with george and ana? >> sosa begins to find out there might be something more than just a working relationship. >> the plot started to thicken. >> i think people started to realize and put pieces together. >> even though the folks at md anderson were not soaking to talk to investigators, that did not keep them from whispering about george and ana among themselves. >> did ana know people were gossiping? >> i'm sure she did and i'm
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sure some of it got to her, too. she and i never really talked about it. >> lieutenant sosa asked in a point-blank, or she and george having an affair? she denied it. he also asked george the same thing, and george also said no, but the investigator was not convinced. the question nagged at him. now, weeks since he was poisoned, george was out of the hospital feeling stronger and back at work. the investigator decided to invite him out for a drive, away from his girlfriend and colleagues. in the car, george finally confessed he and ana were partners in more ways than one. >> were these quick trysts that they were having a was this a deep, emotional connection? >> i never got an indication from dr. blumenschein that there was a deep connection. it was just a fling. >> george told the lieutenant the affair went on for a year and a half. he said it was a casual thing, but sometimes when they traveled to professional conferences, they would share a room, a sort of coworkers with benefits arrangement. in fact, the day he had gotten sick, he had stopped at ana's on the way to work.
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>> they go upstairs, they have a sexual liaison. >> he carried her up the stairs. that sounds like something kind of romantic, not casual. >> they were having some sort of romantic casual sexual romantic thing going on. >> to investigators, this prestigious hospital was looking more and more like the setting of a soapy daytime drama , drama that changed the shape of the investigation. >> anytime you have a love triangle, the different points, the vertices of that triangle are going to be the ones you look at. you have event. maybe she's mad because she has a cheating boyfriend and wants to get revenge and you have ana, who is the other woman. >> poking around george blumenschein's professional life had let investigators right back to his private life, giving them a dramatic new theory of the crime. >> the doctor who is both prominent and very private just had his a here -- affair revealed. one secret is out, but there are many more.
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>> coming up -- >> who has the motive? it is the person who is not getting what they want, who has to have what they know they can't. >> when dateline continues. can't. >> when dateline continues. in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. i chose arexvy. rsv? make it arexvy. (luke) this will be a gold mine of local intel. just you wait. (marci) right. so, tell us about this corn festival? (stylist 1) oooh you got your corn pudding... you got your corn chowder... (marci) so... is it safe around here?
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welcome back to dateline. i am craig melvin. a doctor poisoned nearly to
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death admitted a dark secret, but did his affair have anything to do with the attempt on his life? back with fatal attraction, here is andrea cannon. >> the first big break in the investigation into who poisoned george bloom shine came when the doctor finally admitted he was a cheater. he was carrying on an affair with his esteemed research partner, ana maria gonzalez- angulo, while going home to his girlfriend, evette toney. investigators went back to talk to yvette. she did have a motive. her guy was having an affair with another doctor. >> the thing about yvette is she did not know about this affair until after blumenschein was poisoned. >> evette toney is so naove and clueless as to what is going on she says there's nothing funny going on. i've asked them before and he's told me no. she doesn't know what is going on. >> she told investigators only
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-- george only confessed about the affair after it happened. with yvette cleared again, investigators turn to the other sharp point of this love triangle, dr. gonzalez. in the weeks before his poisoning, and his affections intensified. she called and texted him constantly, showered him with gifts and even started buying the same things he owned. >> buying the same type of car he has, buying the same type of watch. she even buys herself the same type of luggage. >> after george was hospitalized, investigators believe ana may be behind the poisoning. george broke off the affair with ana, but never told her why. instead, he decided to secretly record their calls. >> i feel that you know, i help you a lot and i feel completely betrayed. the fact that you and i, you know, slip together, it's out of the picture.
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it is the friendship that hurts, because i trusted you. that is what hurt. >> george later gave the recordings to investigators, and in those calls, they heard a woman distraught over the lever she could not have, and jealous of the woman who had him. >> it's just not worth it anymore. it's too late, you know. you know, go have a kid, have a good life. i will leave. it will be fine. >> you listen to that and you can hear it in her voice. she says she won. she won.
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>> she needed dr. blumenschein to continue their research. they had a special bond. why would she want him dead? >> little did dr. blumenschein know how special that bond was that she wanted. who has motive? it is the person who is not getting what they want, who has to have what they know they can't. that is her. she wanted more. >> and, it turns out prosecutors thought ana had opportunity, too. she had access to ethylene glycol and her lab and she and george had been together the whole day he got sick, giving her plenty of chances to flip him the poison. on may 29, 2013, police arrested ana on charges of aggravated assault. her patients didn't believe it. >> i didn't understand it. that was devastating for me. she was what helped me together. >> she is incapable of that. she heals people. >> ana's trial began in the fall of 2014. the court room was filled with family and patients there to
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support her. >> she is so highly accomplished. she is about 100 pounds. she does not exactly look like a killer. did you worry that the jury would have a hard time convicting someone like dr. gonzalez? >> worried about it every night and every day. holy smokes, this is a doctor. who in their right mind can look at her and think this was someone who was capable of doing such unimaginable things? >> prosecutors told the jury how this so-called casual affair with george blumenschein was not so casual to ana. >> an absolute obsession. >> a string of colleagues testified ana could not contain her feelings for george. >> it seemed like ana was very infatuated with dr. blumenschein. >> whenever we discussed any topic, really, within a few sentences, george's name would come up. she loved him. >> i think she loved dr. blumenschein. >> the affair was the worst kept secret at md anderson,
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according to this doctor. >> were you ever under the impression that there was more than just a work relationship between the defendant and dr. blumenschein? >> i had heard rumors, yes. >> the doctor also said she and ana were not even close friends but that did not stop ana from volunteering details about the relationship. >> she told me a little bit information about their intimacy. basically, she said they were seeing each other. >> another doctor testified about a curious conversation with ana the morning after george was hospitalized. ana told her george was poisoned. the only problem, this was hours before doctors even confirmed it. >> she told me that george was very sick and he was in icu, and he had ingested ethylene glycol. >> she told you that monday morning? >> monday morning. >> and the witness also recalled a conversation with ana that sounded to her like a confession. >> she then told me well, quite tearful, that she had
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ethylene glycol in her labs . as did most of md anderson. she said, i'm going to get in so much trouble for this. >> knowing the jury would wonder about the other woman in this love triangle, the prosecution called evette toney to the stand. she testified about how she only found out about the affair after george became sick. >> i felt so stupid. i mean i trusted her. i trusted him. >> the prosecution asked yvette what everyone in court was thinking. why was she still with george? >> because i know the affair with the defendant is not the sum of who he really is. we are still working on our relationship. it is a work in progress. >> then, yvette told the jury
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about what happened when she confronted ana. >> did she seem to care? >> no. >> to that hurt worse? >> yes, it did. >> what did you say? >> i said why? >> she said it was just , yvette. >> but the prosecution thought it was about much more than that. >> everything about this case is nuts. you could not write the script in hollywood. it is , lies, and audiotape. >> the jury was about to go on a wild ride full of wicked plots and homicidal obsession. >> coming up, ana is the one on trial, but george is the one in the hot sheet -- seat. when dateline continues. s. conquer hair thinning... ...and fall in love with your hair all over again. only from nature's bounty. i'll be honest. by the end of the day, my floors...yeesh. but who has the time to clean? that's why i love my swiffer wetjet. it's a quick and easy way to get my floors clean. wetjet absorbs and locks grime deep inside. look at that!
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>> make no mistake about this. she is devious, diabolical, and dangerously deadly. >> to the prosecution in the trial of ana maria gonzalez, the defendant was an increasingly unhinged lover. >> she became absolutely and totally obsessed with him, and wanted him. >> they argued that ana, the successful doctor, had been on a downward spiral, doing crazy things to stir up trouble in george's relationship with yvette. things like sending yvette an unsigned letter declaring that ana and george were having a baby together. >> the anonymous letter she is
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dropping off, this is all an attempt to manipulate george away from yvette. >> the prosecution said the manipulation did not end there. she was behind a series of threatening phone calls received at her office. >> md anderson has an incredibly sophisticated phone system that tracks every call. we have all those records and there are not any anonymous phone calls. >> strangest of all, the prosecution contended just a month before the poisoning, ana staged an assault on herself. she told anyone that would listen that yvette orchestrated the whole thing. >> said she worked with a private investigator to try to find out who it was. she said they traced this person back to louisiana, and he was a relative, i believe she said a cousin, of evette toney. >> but, investigator sosa told the jury he thought her wounds were actually self-inflicted. >> you thought they were inconsistent with the suppose it attack? >> that is correct.
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>> the person who had seen in his apparent obsession up close was the object of it. a reluctant george blumenschein took the stand. >> are you a private person? >> i would say yes. >> how private? >> very private. this is not easy. >> the prosecution needed george to rehash their relationship, how sexual relationship turned against him. >> what you often tell her this was a bad idea? >> regularly. >> george accounted for how ana initiated their affair one day in the office. >> she said shut up. let me sit on your knees. she started to kiss me on my neck. i remember what she said. she said i'm going to eat your ear. >> but, the prosecution did not pretend the victim was an angel. >> well, you didn't stop her. >> i didn't, no.
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>> you cheated on yvette. >> i did, and it was the wrong thing to do. >> george that he was always clear with ana, he was not leaving yvette, but ana was still demanding. >> she accused me of not returning phone calls. >> ana, according to george, went over the top with fancy gifts like gold jewelry from columbia and a $5000 watch . >> she butters of the ladies version of it and said i can get you the guys version of it. would you like it? i said i don't want it, that's too expensive and suddenly, i bought it for you. here it is. >> and, he says she forced him to accept the thousand dollars suit. >> ana, i said, i don't want to suit i haven't seen. no no no, you need a suit. i was like fine. if that's what you wanted to go ahead and do it. i ended up giving it to goodwill. i felt like it was pushing a boundary. >> what finally pushed ana over
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the edge, according to prosecutors, is when george and yvette started talking babies and mary's. ana made this bizarre offer. >> she said you know what? i would have a kid with you. i said well, that's kind of you to say. you know i could have a kid with you and move to europe for a year and i could come back and you could be the uncle. no, that's not what we want to do. >> the prosecution argued if ana couldn't have george, no one could. >> is dr. gonzalez glenn close? >> she fits the role, without a doubt. >> she is a bunny boiler. >> and then, the prosecution had george tell the jury about the day he almost died. >> the only thing that had been strange was the cup of coffee, coffee i had on sunday. >> and, that was the key to the prosecution's case. ana served george coffee during their morning rendezvous. it was the only thing he said
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he drank that day, before he felt sick. >> when you started drinking it, did you notice anything strange about? >> it was incredibly sweet. >> ethylene glycol has an intensely sweet flavor. george told the jury ana served the sweet coffee at her home then brought more of it in travel mugs to the hospital. within hours of drinking it, he was lightheaded and slurring. >> i cannot even remember who i was talking to. >> and by night, he was in the icu. >> what is so hard about reliving this part? >> because i almost died. >> to button up their case, the prosecution called a leading expert in ethylene glycol. >> based on the time frame for when symptoms appeared, i would conclude that he had ingested the ethylene glycol on sunday morning. >> the only thing he drank that morning was the coffee, and it
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was the coffee that strangely tasted sickeningly sweet. >> according to the prosecution, ana spent the day with the man she was trying to kill, watching him deteriorate, and following him as he finally drove himself to the hospital. the prosecution entered that cell phone video into evidence, and told the jury to take a good look. ana was right there next to george, smiling, pretending to help, when she knew full well what was wrong. >> coming up, now it is the defense's turn. the case against ana -- >> nothing. >> will the jury see it that way? when dateline continues. way? when dateline continues. everywhere. 4 out of 5 gynecologists would recommend whole body deodorant, which gives you 72 hour odor protection from your pits to your- (sfx: deoderant being sprayed) secret whole body deodorant.
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as the case against dr. ana maria gonzalez unfolded, she stood stoic in a suit that seemingly overwhelmed her frame . her former patient and now friend came to court with ana each day. >> to just check on her emotions because she did not want to fall apart in front of her family but we would get back in the car and we would cry. we would pray. i would scream. >> but now, it was in his defense team's turn to hit back. derek hollingsworth, and billy
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belcourt and his attorneys. >> they called her devious, dangerous, deadly, diabolical, fatal attraction. do you think that started to stick with the jury? >> i mean that is click live what their role was. i thought the prosecutor's theory of the case, this diabolical killer, was a bit of an overreach. >> certainly, the defense told the jury ana cared for george, but not in the outrageous, homicidal way prosecution claimed. >> this case is about a consenting, consensual relationship between two peers. it is not a case of fatal attraction. >> the defense argued ana was not obsessed. she but george gifts because she was generous. all those alleged plots were sheer speculation and under cross-examination, george had positive things to say about ana.
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>> she was a different and somebody i cared about. >> as for ana come -- becoming increasingly unhinged, george told the jury how in the days leading up to his poisoning, their casual relationship showed no signs of trouble. >> this is not a relationship that on the week of january 5th, was under any trouble, was it? >> no. >> in fact, nothing had changed in your relationship with dr. gonzalez at this time had it? >> no. >> in fact, on the morning the prosecution said ana tried to poison george, he actually came onto her. >> you carried her up the stairs, did you not? >> i did. >> you all had a romantic encounter that you initiated, not one that she initiated that day. >> yes, sir. >> in fact, everything that happened in your relationship with this woman was consensual, wasn't it? >> ana's attorneys attack the investigation charging that investigators dismissed the most obvious suspect too
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quickly. >> there could be no doubt that dr. evette toney would be a natural person of interest, and the fact of the matter is, she was never investigated. >> the defense was not buying yvette's story that she had no clue about the affair. >> you are a smart woman, right? >> thank you for saying that. >> ward alarm bells going off in your head? >> i asked him the few times i thought maybe something was going on, and he said no. there's nothing i could do if someone's lying. >> did you ever follow him? >> no. >> did you ever think about it? >> no. it's ridiculous. >> then the defense flipped yvette's cell phone video on its head, said it made her look suspicious. >> family sees the man she is in love with and wants to have children with. she's not sitting next to the guy she's been worried about all day, putting her arms around him, trying to comfort them and make sure he's okay. she's videoing him.
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it's just weird. >> and when it came to ana's behavior on that tape, the defense said she does something only an innocent person would do. she told the doctors about the coffee. >> don't people who commit crimes run away from the crime scene? don't they climb up and be quiet? she's on a video talking about what happened that day. >> but, the defense's biggest target was the science, or lack thereof. they went after the investigation for what they thought was a huge mistake, never testing the coffee cups. >> there is no scientific evidence. there is no scientist to came in here out of 22 witnesses. as they are right, i would guess you would call this the murder weapon, right? if they are right, then this is the deadly weapon. and you don't bother to test it?
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give me a break. >> so, the girl that expert who testified that george could only have ingested the poison sunday morning. turns out, george had been drinking wine and vodka in the days before his symptoms surfaced. the defense got the expert to concede a big point. alcohol, or in technical terms, ethanol, could throw off his findings. >> if it was demonstrated he had been consuming a large amount of ethanol over a long period of time, that would probably change my opinion. >> in the final words to the jury, and as lawyers drove it home. >> what is the state's case missing? this is overly simple, but not one shred of direct evidence in this is nothing. nothing, nothing, nothing. >> after eight long days of testimony from experts, friends, and the well-respected doctors of md anderson, the case against dr. ana maria gonzalez was now in the hands of the jury. both sides paste the halls of
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the courthouse, waiting, hopeful and anxious. then, after five hours of deliberation -- >> we, the jury, find the defendant, ana maria gonzalez, guilty of aggravated assault on a person with whom the defendant had a dating relationship is charged in the indictment. >> she is innocent. she didn't do it. she is a good person. >> in texas, the defendant can ask the jury to determine sentencing, as ana did. ana's patients filed in with pleas for leniency. >> she saved my life and i always feel like she's going to save a lot of people's lives. >> and his punishment could of been up to 99 years in prison, but her character witnesses had an effect on the jury. >> you are sentenced to 10 years in the texas department of criminal justice.
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go with the bailiff. >> ana, once among the top breast cancer doctors in the world, was not just another convict in the texas prison system. >> the medical community has definitely lost a giant not just to us, but future generations. >> dr. blumenstein went back to md anderson. in prison, dr. gonzalez began helping patients in a cancer support group at she surrendered her medical license after the trial. she violated that in the worst possible way. she spun a web of lies, of deceit, manipulation, and in this case, now, she is paying for it. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. . hello. i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline. murder is so personal

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