Tom Toolin News Today

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. >> hes a mess. she said. he couldnt get on the plane. they missed the plane. i said what was he doing? what do you mean? she said i stood back and watche...

>> she had fear that something would happen to her. >> it did. >> my sister, shes 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 wasnt convicted of murdering my sister anymore. >> hello and welcome to "dateline." beth lochtefeld was a salvy entrepreneur who built her own business. tom cut his teeth in the financial world. their connection was instant. but when their summer love cooled...

In october, 2004, beth lochtefeld went to new york to be with her boyfriend, tom toolan. by then, the two had been dating for six weeks but the relationship was fraying. beth was beginning to see a troubling side of this new guy and she had started to give him ultimatums. >> he would start drinking and he would get really ugly. she would say youre a good guy but when youre drinking, youre an idiot and you need to decide between alcohol and me. he would apologize and say i choose you and i want y...

Charm to spare. >> she would call me from the corner of manhattan, im just waiting for him here. i have to thank you. this is unbelievable. were having so much fun. >> tom was smitten too from day one. >> shes a great gal. an amazing gal. >> tom lived in new york and beth in nantucket, they started seeing each other regularly. beth, at 44, was eager for marriage and a family. very soon there was talk of rings although beths brother says it was mainly tom doing the talking. >> as a matter of fact...

With him are interacting in a normal way. >> and there was audio of toolin in the troopers cruiser after he was arrested in rhode island. >> tell me whats going on, officer? >> well discuss it when we get back to the barracks. >> the prosecutor argued toolin was coherent. he was capable of thinking clearly and of distinguishing right from wrong despite the alcohol. >> dr. martin kelly, please. >> and the prosecution also had a forensic psychiatrist whom they thought would deliver their own knock...

Lochtefeld, but everyone called her beth, and she was an unlikely victim. she was 44 years old, a successful business woman from new york who had sold her company for a tidy profit and moved to this nantucket cottage just months before. >> beth had this incredible gift of making people feel comfortable around her. >> beths brother tom lochtefeld. >> i would be with her. we would go into the store to run an errand and she would be chatting up the clerk at the counter, guesting into a conversation...

>> at 37, tom toolan was a walking, talking swoon machine. tall, broad shouldered, preppie and beth had a lot in common with him. >> he liked literature and music and he was good looking and came from a catholic family whose parents were still married 30 years later. that was a big attraction for beth. >> she saw someone who she thought was like minded. i guess. >> in many ways, yes. >> tom toolans childhood friend bernadette, had introduced them. bernadette had known him since he was a toddler....