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tv   Dateline NBC  NBC  June 12, 2015 10:00pm-11:01pm EDT

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it was just such a shock. enter my mind he would be in danger. it's hard to imagine someone could be so evil. >> at last, his dream had come true. new wife. new stepdaughter. a whole new start. >> almost an instant family for him. seemed perfect. >> and that's what made what happened so baffling. suddenly, he was dead on the floor. otherwise healthy 41-year-old man. >> some things aren't adding up. >> could this be murder? there were suspicions from the start. they came from his wife. >> you believe there's a possibility that your husband was poisoned? >> yes, sir. >> poisoned.
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who could have wanted him dead? police zeroed in on someone at work. >> he was very angry. >> angry enough to kill? >> who knows. >> was his new wife in danger, too? >> i am scared to death. >> brace yourself, because this killer was stone-cold evil. >> wow. this is -- this has got me shaking. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here is josh mankiewicz with the devil in disguise. >> reporter: in this world we like to think we can tell the difference between good and evil. but sometimes, evil puts on a mask and comes to life's party as its opposite. a loved one, a friend, someone
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we think we can help. by the tiementme we figure out we're wrong, it's too late. with that in mind meet frank, a guy who went looking for troubled souls. >> he was very drown towards people that were broken, even though i don't have a lot, i just want what i have to give. >> reporter: frank gave a lot. did a lot of good in his life. until he ran across another soul who was not just troubled or broken but pure evil. frank grew up in rural illinois, one of six kids. he played football, loved baseball. his sisters carmen and shirley remember that he loved kidding around with his siblings. >> dry sense of humor.
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>> funny jokes and little tricks and things. >> reporter: after high school, frank joined the navy. it was around that time that he married a local girl. but that line about the sea being a jealous mistress is true. >> first wife was tired of him traveling all over, being gone for six months at a time. after he got out, he was a lost soul. he just didn't know what he wanted to do. then she ended up leaving him anyway. >> reporter: after the divorce, frank was at loose ends. different jobs, different relationships. he felt as if he were floundering. until he found first religion. >> is there any questions? >> reporter: and then a place called angel gate academy. >> he loved that job. he loved working with the kids. >> reporter: angel gate was run by the california national guard from its base on california's
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central coast. it was a military academy where city kids learned order, discipline and respect. how was frank with the kids? >> frank was awesome with the kids. >> reporter: jan was frank's supervisor and friend. >> i never met a person that was better around the kids. if they were acting out, he would kind of like get -- say things to get them to do the right thing. he kind of used me as the bad guy. >> reporter: good cop bad cop? >> exactly. frank was always a good cop. >> reporter: asrewarding as it was, he found it thrilling to take them kayaking or camping or to hang out by the ocean, which many had never seen. it left him wanting kids of his own. >> i remember him talking a lot about he wanted to have kids. i mean, he wanted kids really bad.
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he wanted to start a family. >> reporter: his sisters say he thought his faith would guide him. >> he was big into believing that god was going to give him signs of what was good for his life. >> reporter: and then one day at church, frank ran into a woman he worked with at angel gate. >> he called mom to tell her he had met this woman angelina and that she was his soul mate. our mom was excited. she called me up. she was so excited. frank has met someone. >> reporter: her name was angelina. she had been in the military. she was as devout a christian as frank. their romance was a whirlwind. >> my baby. >> reporter: theyou could hear the excitement about the new love. >> i can't wait to marry you. >> i can't wait to marry you, too. >> reporter: they met in february and married in april. angelina had a 9-year-old
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daughter named autumn. instant family. >> i liked frank. frank was a really good guy. very down to earth. >> reporter: good for her? >> seemed very good for her. >> reporter: this is autumn's dad and angelina's ex. usually a guy in your position is not crazy about the husband after them. >> with frank, it was different. >> reporter: at the wedding, frank vowed to be a good lus andhusband and a promise to ought emto beautumn to be a great stepdad. he was offered a teaching job in los angeles. his life seemed to be coming together the waily he prayed it would. at least, that's how it seemed. when was last time you saw frank? >> i saw frank the tuesday after labor day 2000. >> reporter: frank wanted to earn extra money. he agreed to chaperon a group of
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new students on their way to angel gate. he rode with them on a bus from l.a. where he met up with his old friend and boss. how did he look? >> he looked terrible. >> reporter: four days later, frank was dead. >> what happened to frank? when we come back, a warning from his wife. >> i said, please don't go. >> you believe there's a possibility that your husband was poisoned? >> who could possibly want to do him harm? >> he looked at frank, and i went pow. dead on. eye to eye.
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it was september of 2000, frank rodriguez was finally coming into his own. a new bride, a new family, a new job. but then, after 3:00 a.m., after five months of marriage, frank's new bride angelina found him unconscious on their bedroom floor and called for help. it was too late. frank rodriguez was dead. his family was stunned. he had been a healthy man. >> my mother called me after angelina called her on the day that frank died. mom just said she lost it. she started screaming and slammed the phone. it was horrifying. >> reporter: he was only 41. frank left behind a widow and a 9-year-old stepdaughter to whom
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frank had become very close. how did your daughter react? >> she was devastated, but she was very confused. >> reporter: she wasn't the only one confused. the coroner's office found no obvious cause of death, natural or unnatural. no heart attack, no trauma, nothing. toxicology tests found vicodin in his system but not enough to kill anyone. his family was at a loss, especially his wife who seemed to be groping for answers, trying to make sense of what happened to frank. >> she called me almost every day to talk about it. she thought he was killed. she thought he was poisoned. >> reporter: the idea seemed on the face of it crazy. who would want to kill frank? >> i didn't know what to think. it was a shock. >> reporter: homicide detectives were called in. even though there was zero evidence of a homicide. any chance this was going to turn out not to be a murder and
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what frank died of was natural causes or food poisoning or something like that? >> absolutely. >> reporter: the l.a. county sheriff detective says his job was just to keep moving forward. >> we were dependent upon what the coroner's office was doing, what they would find or wouldn't find. you can't stop investigating. >> reporter: a few days after frank's death, they spoke with angelina about her suspicions. >> we're here because we understand there's a -- you have some information or believe there's a possibility that your husband was poisoned. >> reporter: afrngngelina had a lot to tell the detectives about frank's final days, about what she thought happened and why. >> we will start from the beginning. >> reporter: angelina said after his trip on the bus to angel gate, frank got sick, with what they thought was stomach flu. >> it wasn't like a constant. it was maybe once every half
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hour he would throw a little bit up, a little bit up. >> reporter: then frank got so sick that she took him to the e.r. the doctor said all frank needed was rest and fluids. and he would get better. two days later, frank was dead. angelina now told detectives she didn't believe it had been the stomach flu at all. she thought that something happened to frank on that trip to angel gate. >> was he feeling okay when he went up? >> yes. i got up with him that morning. >> reporter: she said she urged frank not to chaperon the students. and specifically, not to go back to angel gate. >> did you tell him before he went? >> yeah. we argued. i said, please don't go. >> reporter: she was worried that frank, who was so trusting, wouldn't be safe. >> i mean, he looks for the good in everybody. he thinks everybody can change. >> reporter: she then said why she was afraid. it turned out that when she and
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frank worked together at angel gate, they became involved in something potentially dangerous. >> we were both very strong christians. we would pray together. we were both very prophetic. some people would call it -- we both recognized and knew of the situations there. >> reporter: the situations? angelina said she and frank became convinced a person working at angel gate was engaged in inappropriate behavior with some of the students. ainge angelina said she reported the man and he had a motive to hurt her or frank. >> this person had said, if anybody jeopardizes my job, i will kill them.
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he looked at frank and he went like this. and he went, pow. right -- i mean, dead on, eye to eye. >> reporter: despite her fears, angelina said that night when frank returned, he told her everything seemed fine. >> they were great. they walked to me. they hugged me. they missed me. somebody in the office -- he didn't say who. i think he knew i would be upset. somebody in the office said am i hungry or thirsty. >> reporter: now she wondered, was there something in the gatorade? did that friendly welcome hide something much more sinister? because the man angelina said had offered frank food and drink was the same man angelina had accused, the same man she said had threatened frank a month earlier.
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>> my instincts are usually right on. at least that's my track record. >> your instincts right now are what? >> reporter: sergeant hollowway, chad, frank's former boss. frank's friend. >> coming up -- >> i was beyond mad. i can't even describe how angry i was. >> chad holloway from friend to suspect. would you say you would like to put your gun to the head of the person doing this? >> something to that effect i did. >> when "dateline" continues.
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ten days after frank rodriguez died, he was honored like a fallen soldier at the military cemetery in riverside, california. >> it was very hard to come out here for the funeral. >> reporter: autumn, who was in the house when frank died, said good-bye in a way only a child could. >> autumn put a teddy bear in the coffin. she was a sweet little girl. >> reporter: the last good-bye was a struggle for frank's family. >> it was very hard on mom. she did go into a deep depression. >> reporter: as the people who loved him mourned, detectives were trying to find answers. they drove 200 miles north to the rolling hills and small town charm to apgngel gate to check out angelina's story, that she accused frank's friend of misconduct with students.
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that chad was furious over that. and that all of it might be the reason behind frank's unexplained death. >> they were asking us our opinion of who had access to frank. >> reporter: this man worked at angel gate at the time. he told police he hadn't noticed chad talking with frank. but he did remember how upset chad was about angelina's charges. >> chad was beside himself. i have never seen him that angry. >> reporter: he was pretty angry about that accusation. and expressed to some people that he would like to deal reharshrehar harshly. >> we don't know chad very well yet. we get to know him. that's what we needed to do. >> reporter: what detectives call getting to know you doesn't feel quite so friendly when you are a potential murder suspect. >> i was under the impression
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before they talked to me that they were so convinced did i this that they had stopped at the sheriff's department and basically told them to prepare to book me. >> reporter: you are in the cross hairs? >> i'm in the cross hairs. >> reporter: before they met chad, detectives had already learned something important. that the misconduct allegations against him had been thoroughly investigated by local law enforcement and found to be completely baseless. but the detectivo knew a false allegation can still be a very good motive for murder. that's one of the worst things that a teacher or instructor can do to a kid under his or her tutelage or control. >> yes. >> reporter: and it's also one of the worst things to be accused of if you didn't do it.
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>> that was probably the curious thing that it never happened to me in life. a lot of things happen in combat. i had never in my life been that scared. >> reporter: scared and he admitted angry. >> i was beyond mad. i can't even describe how angry i was. >> reporter: did you say you would like to put your gun to the head of the person that was doing this to you? and pull the trigger? >> something to that effect i did. >> reporter: detectives asked him about that. something along the lines of, you were the target of false allegations from the wife of a guy who is now dead and you were pretty angry at the time those false allegations were made. >> i don't remember -- >> reporter: nearly ruining your life over phony allegations. that's enough to make a lot of
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people angry enough to do violence. >> i guess it could be, yes. >> reporter: but chad insisted the detectives and to us, whatever threats he made were out of anger and frustration and he would never have followed through. when you said you wanted to take a gun and put it to the head of the person who made those accusations against you, you didn't know it was angelina you were talking about at the time? >> i did not. >> reporter: once you found out it was angelina who made the accusations, i'm guessing you probably thought of putting your gun to her head. >> absolutely not. no. >> reporter: he said that what angelina told detectives about frank's last visit to angel gate never actually happened. were you in the office? >> i wasn't in the office. >> reporter: when you last saw frank, did you offer him a gatorade? or anything to drink? >> no. >> reporter: clearly, someone was lying. the question was, who?
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>> coming up -- >> i heard -- ask them about antifreeze. >> who and what had killed frank? investigators have a secret mission for sergeant holloway. >> you say i'm in. >> you better believe it. ♪have you ever been down to costa rica♪ all the monkeys down there dance cheek to cheek♪ ♪and the lizards in the trees make a freaky squeak♪l lucky you can sneak a peek♪ i love making sunday dinners. but when my back hurt, cooking all day... forget about it.
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>> reporter: when her husband died, angelina quickly shared >> your instincts are what? >> reporter: so far, no solid evidence against chad. detectives looked at everyone who was close to frank, including his new wife. you talk to other people about frank and angelina's marriage? >> yes. >> reporter: and? >> we find interesting things out. >> reporter: frank was angelina's fourth husband. but not necessarily her first choice. people who worked with angelina
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and frank at angel gate said angelina initially had her eye on a different guy. >> she was interested in a gentleman that worked there also that was somewhat of a cowboy, wore cowboy boots. she showed up with a bumper sticker on her car and a hat in the back seat. >> reporter: she's a cow girl? >> now she's a cow girl. when he didn't want anything to do with her, she recognized frank was a religious man. >> reporter: the next thing you know? >> she has a bible in the back window in her car. >> reporter: it seemed angelina was shopping pretty hard for a man. and would do what was necessary to get one. >> she was pretty much like a chameleon based on behaviors we learned about her. >> reporter: they learned that after meeting angelina, frank had become less close to many of his friends at apgle gate. then when the couple moved south, frank seemed to cut off his own family.
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>> he called me on mother's day and said, i can't talk long. she's monitoring my calls. >> reporter: none of that fit the profile of a loving wife or later a grieving widow. when soon after frank's death, angelina moved back up north and left behind some of frank's things. >> we found it odd that she took his dress shoes from the service, some of his uniform stuff, some of his medals and stuff like that that he had and they were all in the trash. >> reporter: she threw them away? >> the things in the trash were sock ing shocking. >> reporter: that was curious. but there was one thing above all others that made detectives suspect angelina might be involved in frank's death. something straight out of homicide 101. it was the way angelina kept bringing up frank's life insurance. >> frank and i sat down when we got married and said, we need to cover our butts.
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if something should happen to either one of us. >> reporter: how long did she call to enter a claim? >> within eight hour. >> reporter: same day? >> same morning. >> now insurance is like, well, they probably won't pay because it's so new until the coroner says what the cause of death is. what do i do? sleep in my car? >> reporter: as the days went on and the coroner didn't rule, angelina grew more and more impatient. >> i have a question. >> go ahead. >> did you get anything at all from the coroner? >> reporter: she kept calling and they kept recording the calls. >> no word from the coroner? >> well, they don't have anything yet. it takes time for this stuff. unless they know what they are looking for. >> reporter: detectives saw an opportunity. remember, they needed the same thing angelina did, just for different reasons. >> we need a cause of death. at this time we're thinking she
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knows what that cause of death is. >> reporter: they thought angelina might be telling the truth about one thing, that frank had been poisoned. and they also knew what frank's sister told them, something very strange that angelina had said to her. >> she said, there are lots of ways you can poison someone. we have a flower out here. >> reporter: it thrives in warm climates like southern california. the leaves and flowers are toxic, but only deadly in large quantities or if the poison is concentrated. she seemed to know how to do that. >> she said gs, you can make a tea or a soup out of it. it's a poison. when we were in the limousine, pointed out, those are the bushes. >> reporter: detectives found the bushes in another place, angelina and frank's backyard. now they wondered, since angelina was so eager to get a
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death certificate and collect the life insurance, would she slip up and tell them what killed frank? they spoke with her again and again. all the while telling her they were gathering evidence against frank's co-worker. >> we ask her, angelina, what poison would chad have given frank? >> it could be anything. it could be the flowers on the road. it could be something -- >> flowers on the road? >> yeah. what the heck are those? you know, they grow in the middle of the highway. i think they're azalea. >> weve she knows exactly what it is. >> reporter: she's trying to get you to say it? >> she would rather have us say it. we would rather have her say it. >> reporter: try as they might, they couldn't get angelina to say the word oleander. she kept calling them about chad. one day delivered another clue straight to investigators.
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someone had called her, she said, and told her something big. >> okay. it was about maybe five or ten after 8:00. >> in the morning? >> yeah. because i was on my way back from dropping my daughter off at school. i would get this call and it was -- it was blocked. they said they wanted to tell me what was going on, because they had a lot of respect for frank but they couldn't tell me who they were because they know how holloway is. they said, you need to know a conversation i had with holloway. he had said if they try to track it down, they can't pin me and they said -- >> they can't pin me? >> they can't pin me. all i heard was, ask them about antifreeze. >> reporter: antifreeze. >> not oleander. >> reporter: had it been on your radar screen? >> i don't believe so. >> reporter: naming a new poison was one interesting detail in
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the conversation. remember, angelina said the ale none -- the informant called her shortly after 8:00 a.m. you got her phone records. >> yes. >> reporter: there had not been any calls anywhere near incoming or outgoing to angelina's phone at that time. >> reporter: in trying once again to implicate chad holloway, angelina had implicated herself. now, detectives again went to see chad. this time, to talk about angelina. >> angelina rodriguez, that was the last person that i ever wanted to see, ever wanted to hear her name, have anything to do with whatsoever. >> reporter: then the investigators say to you, we want you to help build a case against her. and you say, i'm in. >> you better believe it. . >> coming up. we befendriended her. >> detectives device a plan to trap angelina.
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but angelina has a plan of her own. >> this is -- this has me shaking. >> when "dateline" continues. burning or stinging, blisters, and pain. smash it! make the call and ask your doctor if jublia is right for you. new larger size now available. mmmmmm yoplait! good news everybody! there is now 25% less sugar in yoplait original. say "adieu" to that sugar. because it still tastes good! yoplait! welcome to the sleep revolution. all new emergen-zzzz. a natural way to power down. with melatonin plus vitamin c and other antioxidants. to work their magic while you sleep. don't just sleep, revitalize.
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for three months, detectives had been talking with angelina, who was eager to collect on her husband's life insurance. she let slip some tantalizing bits of information. first, that her husband may have been poisoned. and that the poison might be what she called that flower in the road.
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or possibly antifreeze. finally, the coroner's report came back. the finding? frank rodriguez was killed by the key ingredient in antifreeze. the tox screen also found oleander. they knew for sure frank had been murdered. they knew how and they thought they knew who. not chad, but angelina. to make this case stick, they would need a little more. so they kept angelina talking. >> we befriended her. she offered us coffee. my partner and i kept kicking each other under table. we're good. thank you. we're good. >> my instincts are -- >> reporter: angelina tried to cast suspicion frank's friend and co-worker chad holloway. chad, she said, was the killer. but detectives didn't believe her. and instead, enlisted chad to
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help set a trap for her. the idea is what here? >> see what kind of mistake she may make. >> reporter: they asked chad to call angelina while they listened in. she had done her best to put chad in the sights of law enforcement. now came his chance to return the favor. >> hello? >> angelina? >> yes. >> why did you tell the police that i poisoned frank with antifreeze? >> who is this? >> my main question, angelina -- >> how did you get my number? >> i want -- i'm wondering how in the world -- this could ruin my life. >> reporter: at one point you say, you are going to ruin my life. which actually, although it's maybe part of the script for that call, kind of true given what she tried to do to you before. >> it was. but inside, i knew that it's the other way around.
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you are not going to ruin my life anymore. it is your life that's going to be ruined because of this. >> you need to call the investigator. i'm ending this conversation. >> okay, angelina. >> reporter: then within a minute of chad hanging up, angelina called the cops and gave them quite a different version of the call they had just listened to. >> i just got a phone call from holloway. he said, how can you -- the detectives told me that they think i killed frank with antifreeze. >> that's what we told him. >> he says, you know, i wouldn't go spreading these things around. what are you talking about? i don't need to talk to you. and he said, well, they will never be able to catch me. but he said, you know -- >> he said -- >> he said you better watch your back. i am scared to death. >> reporter: what she should
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have been scared of was the cops were on to her obvious lies. this one about what chad supposedly said to her and the previous call about antifreeze. angelina still hadn't admitted anything, at least not to detectives. then they found a good friend of angelina's, a confidant. she told the cops that just months after the wedding, angelina was already bored with frank and cheating on him. >> they were sitting around like girls do and talking about killing their husbands. how they would do it. >> reporter: as girls do. >> my wife is probably doing right now. >> reporter: the friend quoted angelina as saying that she didn't want to divorce frank because he had just bought life insurance. >> another conversation on the telephone. angelina told her she was making a milk shake for frank. and special milkshake for him.
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she questioned whether frank was sick. and angelina told her, not yet. >> reporter: not yet? >> not yet. >> reporter: of course, angelina had no idea what the cops knew. she thought they were still investigating chad. and she was still happy to help them do that. for example, detectives told angelina they couldn't figure out how chad knew when frank was coming to angel gate. he would have had to have kn when, they told her, so that he could have his poison ready. miraculously? >> a fax shows up. >> reporter: it was a roster for the day of frank's visit with frank's name written in. the fax that came right to sheriff's homicide? >> correct. >> reporter: that was convenient. >> very. >> reporter: the fax did not include the sender's name. but it did send a clear message. the cover sheet to the fax that
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was received anonymously at sheriff's homicide. why is chad still free? chad never knew how hard angelina had pushed the cops to arrest him. >> wow. this is -- this has got me shaking. >> reporter: five months after her husband's death, police dropped in at angelina's house. >> good morning. >> reporter: angelina thinks their next stop will be chad's place. it won't. >> holloway couldn't have done this. >> reporter: for the next 35 minutes, they try to get angelina to give it up. they lay out the facts. >> the only information, the only person that supplied any information that frank was poisoned was you. no one else. knew frank was poisoned. only you. only you knew oleander, in
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addition to that, antifreeze. nobody in this entire investigation told us about antifreeze. >> reporter: they tell her the poisons were still in frank's stomach, which meant he ingested them day after his return from angel gate. and within hours of his death. meaning angelina was the only one that could have given them to him. and detectives tell her while she thought she was playing them, they were playing her. >> this entire time, we have used everything you said and followed up on everything you have done and said. and quite frankly, it's hard to remember all those lies. >> reporter: angelina told them they were wrong. >> i didn't kill my husband. >> okay. you need to stand up. >> are you arresting me? >> yes. you are under arrest for the murder. >> no.
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i didn't kill my husband. no. >> we have a search warrant for your apartment. >> i swear i didn't kill my husband. >> we can prove that you did. >> reporter: angelina might seem beaten, but she had a few more punches in her. just wait. >> i didn't kill my husband. i swear. >> coming up -- a secret plan from inside prison. and another undercover sting. >> something is happening to your friend. >> a haunting question from deep in the past. had angelina killed before? >> it was like reliving her death all over again.
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angelina was charged with the murder of her husband frank. it turned out, that might not be the worst thing she had ever done or ever would do. >> you think that if they made it look like a suicide, they would be bright enough to figure that -- to figure a way do that? >> reporter: what you are hearing is the wheels of a mind turning, that's angelina in jail, speaking through the air vent with her neighborhood in solitary. >> they can do it, robly gone lybery gone bad. they can look like the boyfriend gone bad. >> reporter: angelina believed the statements about how angelina was bored with frank
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and wanted a life insurance payout were the most damaging evidence against her. it seemed she made a decision, hire someone to get rid of her friend. this is angelina inside the jail trying to set up a hit outside? >> correct. >> reporter: to keep her from testifying? >> correct. >> reporter: the inmate angelina was talking with turned her in. soon, detectives were recording angelina's conversation. >> i think cyanide then, you know, that would do it real quick. you know what i'm saying? >> reporter: if that sounds cold blooded, consider this. angelina made clear she would help care for the children after, that is, she had their mother killed. >> if it came down to it, i would adopt her kids. that's how much i love her kids. i don't love her anymore. does that make sense? >> you will take care of the kids, but she got to go? >> yeah.
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that was what i was thinking. >> reporter: police told her what angelina was up to and asked for her help. this time, they got really creative. >> basically stage her death. we would have her on the -- her bed in her house with a fake bullet hole and blood. >> reporter: it was convincing. >> yes. >> reporter: they sent a cop posing as a bad guy with pictures in hand to visit angelina in jail. >> something happened to your friend. >> who? what? >> okay? >> where did you get those from? >> oh, my god. >> angelina's initial response was, oh, my god. i was only kidding. >> i thought she was kidding. >> shortly thereafter, it was, oh, my god, i'm going home. >> i am so ready to go home. >> reporter: she killed her husband. >> no doubt.
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>> reporter: she tried to kill a witness against her. >> correct. >> reporter: anybody else? >> her baby. >> reporter: in the course of their investigation into frank's death, detectives found out that in 1993, angelina's daughter choked on her pacifier and died. they also learned that angelina sued the manufacturer and settled for more than $700,000. what's more, she collected life insurance on her 13-month-old baby, just as she had tried to do with frank. detectives reviewed the evidence and came to believe alicia's death was no accident. you were confident after the investigation that that pacifier was tampered with, the baby didn't do it and it didn't come apart naturally? >> absolutely. >> reporter: tom fuller, angelina's ex, was alicia's father. >> i went ten years thinking that alicia's death was an
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accident. so it was like reliving her death all over again. >> reporter: angelina says she did not kill her baby. and she was never charged with that. she did stand trial for the murder of frank rodriguez. a prosecution expert testified angelina poisoned frank at least twice. first with oleander which made him sick enough to go to the e.r. but not to kill him. then when she was giving him fluid fluids, she was dosing them with antifreeze, which was fatal. the jury found her guilty of first degree murder for financial gain but couldn't reach a verdict on whether she tried to kill that witness. in the sentencing phase, the judge allowed the jury to hear evidence implicateing angelina in her daughter's death. then the jury agreed on a sentence. >> you should be put to death. >> reporter: even facing a death
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sentence, she seemed unfazed. she addressed the court but admitted only to some errors. >> i broke and made a few terrible, stupid mistakes which i regret. we all make mistakes. i picked the wrong time to make mine. murder is not on that list. >> reporter: frank thought angelina was the god-fearing woman of his dreams. he was wrong. tom fuller thought she was a nurturing mother who would protect their daughter. he will never know for sure if he was lured into a terrible mistake. chad understands. he knows now just how close pure evil came to him. he says he let it go with the gratitude that unlike i had friend frank, he at least survived with his reputation and his life intact. >> people need to know how evil angelina was, how many lives she ruined to try to get a little bit of money.
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and she wasn't going to stop at nothing until she got what she wanted. i want angelina to know, you didn't ruin me. you didn't ruin me at all. >> reporter: in the bible, we are warned that satan disguises himself and sometimes he is pretty good at it. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." we will see you again sunday at 7:00, 6:00 central. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good
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now at 11, searching for a driver in a deadly hit-and-run. new tonight, the connection to another deadly crash. a prison worker behind bars charged with helping two inmates escape. tonight police say it's just the tip of the iceberg. >> we're going d

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