Give Tom News Today

Contaminated. >> what are you thinking when you hear that? >> well, im thinking a couple things. im thinking, "thats gonna be a problem at trial because of the contamination." but im also thinking, "thank god, we get a little break. >> and after all the additional testing, the medical examiner finally had a cause of death, acute midazolam poisoning. investigators took everything they had to a special prosecutor and argued they were sure gilberto nunez had killed the man he called his best friend...

Youre there with your significant other, shes behind you texting her lover? they werent repairing things. >> so gil had no reason to kill tom, the defense said because he didnt think the affair was over. >> reporter, james nani. >> linda admitted on the stand that up to the night before mr. kolman died that they had still seen each other, they had still spoken via text. i think that weakens the prosecutions narrative that there is an obsessive person thatll do anything to get this person, to get...

We were playinhis game so that he wouldnt kill himself over the holidays. so yeah, it was just a dirty, stupid game. >> the defense set out to dismantle the rest of the prosecutions case point by point. all that business about the cia they said was more like a joke, hardly criminal. and irrelevant to the charge of second degree murder. and there was ample evidence that gilberto cared too much about tom to ever hurt him. >> tom kolman and gilberto nunez were best friends. did spend time together....

Meeting for sex. and by spring, gil had separated from his wife and was living in an apartment above his dental practice. >> you had a busy life, a job, husband, children, in a small town. how are you carrying on this affair? >> i still was the wife and the mother. i was home for my kids every night after work. and i would see him lunchtime. >> linda thought it was a well-kept secret. but maybe, not so much. a few months into the affair, someone tipped off tom with an anonymous text message. >> ...

>> they send it to me. and i put it in there, and the rest of them, they get tossed. >> okay. so let me just say this, then. if theres midazolam in the emergency kit -- >> okay. >> then your fingerprints would be on it, because you put it in there. >> yeah. >> and when investigators asked gil about those text messages to tom, tipping him off about the affair, he had an explanation for that too. >> i would say, okay im going to try to figure out how to let him know. >> yeah. >> because if he was ...

You know gil was in the c.i.a. no, i didnt know that. >> did you believe that? >> no. and then, he pulled out an id that said, "the c.i.a." on top of it. it had gils picture on it and his name. and then it has this badge in there that said, "special officer." the badge was obviously from walmart or kmart, it was definitely fake. >> nick says he refused to participate and never heard about the plan to scare tom again. >> you have to wonder what -- what a juror makes out of all this. >> reporter j...

They plotted together to get rid of tom. >> coming up, under the microscope. >> she took a polygraph? >> yes. pass fail? >> and gils alibi. >> i was home. >> thats no alibi. >> when "dateline" continues. one role of a lifetime...one sore throat. but she had enough. she took new mucinex instasoothe sore throat lozenges. show your sore throat whos boss.

It was almost five years of hope and like the, the beautiful possibility of closure and leaving it behind, just taken it away. >> was that a tough blow for your family? >> absolutely. >> yeah. my family believes he had a hand in it. >> but of course, gilbertos supporters felt the exact opposite, amazing relief. >> we were just crying all of us. we were just, like, clinging to each other and crying. it was years and years of just not knowing whats gonna happen. you know, we were just so happy. >>...

Maybe eager to get tom out of the way. remember the anonymous texts to tom, the one telling him about gil and lindas affair. she said they came from gil and when she found out she confronted him. >> i just screamed at him. >> very devious. >> very. >> according to linda, gil cried, said he only did it because tom should know the truth. said he begged for forgiveness and threatened to harm himself. >> tom felt bad he felt suicidal. tom was that kind of guy. i know this is a really crazy situation...

>> and i said, "this is whats been goinon." i -- i cleared the table. you know, "i have been having an affair. it was with him." >> was there any part of it that felt, i dont wanna use the word "good, " but you got it off your chest, you werent carrying -- >> yeah. >> -- around this secret anymore? >> it did. because then, because then at least i could talk to tom about it. at one point he said to me, linda, i can see he has some kind of hold on you. hes like, i see it. and he did. >> and linda ...