48 Hours - Death and the Dentist

Episode Date: September 18, 2016

A New York dentist vows that he didn't kill his lover's husband.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Real people. Real crimes. Real life drama. Thomas Coleman was dead. I don't know if he's breathing. Ma'am, I need you to just stay with me for a second, okay?

Thomas Coleman was dead. In a vehicle, in a parking lot of a fitness plaza. The car was sitting here? Yes, actually this particular spot right in front of us. There was nothing in the car that would suggest anything of him being attacked or anything obvious of physical trauma. When I was told that my father died, everything I had ever known changed in a second. My dad was an amazing father to four kids and a great man. At first we thought it was a heart attack,

something natural but sudden. After the autopsy, we knew something was wrong. Something happened to him. The doctor labeled it as acute midazolam poisoning. Poisoning? Yes. Midazolam. What is midazolam? It's a conscious sedative.

It's used in hospital settings, also in dentist offices who do oral surgery. There was no reason for it to be in his system. Is it like that, that you change your mind and go, this is a homicide? Basically, yeah. We knew Kohl's had video on the corner of their building. Told them, I need this video. Why don't you pull it up real quick? We'll take a look at it to see if there's any cars that meet him there. And sure enough, there's a car that pulls in, parks first.

So he shuts the car down. This is Tom Coleman's car pulling in right there. It's 4.54 a.m. Our victim, Tom Coleman, pulls up side by side. Here's the suspect vehicle. And now next to it is Tom Coleman's car. That was basically, holy s***. Somebody had knowledge of literally speaking with our victim that morning. See the white SUV here, leaving.

It appeared to be some type of SUV. It was like a white SUV. We started thinking with a circle of people close to Tom Coleman, and the only person with a white SUV was Gilberto Nunez. They suspected Gil Nunez, who was my dad's best friend, who we had met, who we knew. It was shocking. It's emotional for you. Of course. very emotional.

Because Tomo was my best friend, truly. He was like a brother to me. We had Nunez come meet us for an interview. I know you met Tom at Planet Fitness early that morning. No. I know you were there. No. You know, I wasn't there.

Probably said it over a hundred times. I wasn't there. I mean, what do you want me to tell you? We had a video. Well, I wasn't know you were there. No, you know, I wasn't there. Probably said it over a hundred times. I wasn't there. I mean, what do you want me to tell you? We have a video. Well, I wasn't there. You gave him a drug that you have access to. Mr. Nunez, his profession was a dentist. Hello, I'm Dr. Gilberto Nunez.

Besides treating my patients with dignity and doing everything I do for them, I just like to serve people, not to hurt anybody. You fed him something that killed him. Yes, you did. I'm innocent. I haven't done anything wrong. This is a murder case without a murder.

I'm Richard Schlesinger. Tonight on 48 Hours... Death and the Dentist. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that was still a virgin.

It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island

to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's

darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defence attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list.

She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C True Crime shows early and ad-free right now. It was unusual. This individual, the way he was positioned in the car and where he was parked, it was unusual. On November 29th, 2011, Detective Michael Thomas answered the call when 44-year-old Tom Coleman was found dead in his car. He was actually in the driver's seat, but yet he was laying almost flat, as you would as if you were sleeping.

It was in the Kingston Planet Fitness parking lot in Ulster County, New York. It wasn't parking or building. That's the strange thing. If you're going to work out in the morning, you're going to park close to the building. The car's location caught the attention of fellow detective Brian Reavy and Lieutenant Kyle Berardi. I think we were intrigued, interested. This whole case was odd.

1,800 miles away in Colorado. Tom is dead, and I couldn't process it. Tom's ex-wife, Michelle, could not believe that Tom, who seemed healthy, had died. Never crossed my mind that it could be anything other than something tragic health-related. Michelle and Tom had been divorced for 12 years, but they remained close. They had two children, Jillian, who was then 15, and Bradley, who was 17. Michelle had to tell the kids their father was dead. I didn't know how I was going to say it, so I just figured, just get it over with.

You heard the words. Your dad is dead. My immediate instinct was, no. I'm going to call him, and he will answer, because he always has. He has to be fine. That's just, he has to be. He just had a kindness about him. He was just always there for everybody. Tom's mother, Marie, and his father, Tom Sr., were proud of their son, who had a doctorate in physical therapy.

You're raising somebody, you have hopes, and they fulfill those hopes, and they become successful. It's great. Tom was more focused on spending time with his family than with friends, but he did have one very close friend, Gilberto Nunez. Nunez was going through a divorce but was still a devoted father. He met the Colmans at their kid's school, devoted father. He met the Coleman's at their kid's school and soon Tom, Gil and Tom's wife Linda all grew close. I was looking for my husband and I found him in his car and I don't know if he's leaving. It was Linda who found Tom. After she learned he didn't show up for work she went out

searching. Linda knew that Tom went to Planet Fitness most mornings, so that's where she went. And it's where Gil went when he said he heard something bad had happened. When he initially got there, he ran towards Thomas Coleman's vehicle. What happened? What happened? He's my best friend. I didn't see anybody trying to do cpr i didn't see anybody doing anything so i'm like what what's going on this is the first time nunez has publicly told his story and that's when i found out that tom is dead you know there's nothing you can do for him he dropped to his knees i was just really upset that, you know, my best friend was dead. Did it seem

overdramatic to you? Overdramatic, absolutely, 110 percent. Gilberto Nunez is originally from the Dominican Republic. He is well known in Kingston. He's a volunteer firefighter with a thriving dental practice. Dr. Nunez is one of the best dentists that I've ever worked for. Mariela McManus has spent the past 13 years as Dr. Nunez's dental hygienist. I have never heard him raise his voice, be angry, or fly off the handle. But detectives had questions about Nunez. They were still waiting for the final autopsy results, but they remembered something from the day they met him. He arrived at the scene in a white SUV,

and they believed that surveillance footage, though very blurry, also showed a white SUV. Bells and whistles went off. It's very hard to see, but that's Tom's car next to it in the nearly empty parking lot. So police called Nunez in for an interview three days after Tom's death. We were trying to figure out what happened. At that point, it was an informational meeting, kind of seeing... What can you tell us about Tom?

What he wanted us to know. meeting, kind of seeing what he wanted us to know. And he wanted them to know a lot, especially about his love life and Tom's wife. Police had heard rumors of an affair between Nunez and Linda Coleman, but they hadn't confirmed anything. Turns out they got all the help they needed with that from, of all people, Nunez himself. He told them all about their 11-month liaison. last time you were with linda um like you mean like easily or just yeah no um or like i don't know two and a half three weeks this was a guy who was sitting with detectives saying oh by the way i had an affair with the wife of the dead guy well he was still in love with her too. Right. He wanted to make that clear.

So that seems to me anyway to be unusual. Am I wrong here? Yeah, this is very unusual. I didn't want to keep something that I knew they were going to find out anyway, first to begin with, and second, it would make me look like I'm not being honest with them about anything I'm saying to them. Did it bother you that she was married? I guess at the time, no. This guy was your

friend? Yes, he was my friend. That's awkward. That is really awkward. It might have been awkward, but it didn't stop Gil or Linda. When they weren't together, they texted constantly, more like teenagers than middle-aged lovers. Love you and miss you. I wish you were here. teenagers than middle-aged lovers. Love you and miss you. I wish you were here. They celebrated anniversaries monthly with cards like this from Linda to Gil, her little devil stud muffin. Did you urge her to leave her husband? No, I wasn't, you know, we're not thinking or talking about that.

We wanted to ask Linda about her relationship with Tom and Gil, but she declined our request to be interviewed. Gil says the affair was going well and kept going even after Linda's husband, the man he called his best friend, learned all about it. Not my definition of a best friend. How did he hear about it? That is one of the most peculiar parts of this case. Nothing kind of surprises us anymore, but that was definitely at the top of the list. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural

killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there. And we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created.

Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?

Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans,

discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. I wanted to talk to him so I can explain to him that this is not something that I planned on or something. It was just something that happened.

Chances are pretty good you've never heard of an affair quite like the one Dr. Gilberto Nunez was having with his best friend's wife, Linda Coleman. For one thing, Núñez wanted to tell his friend Tom Coleman all about it. How did Tom Coleman find out about the relationship? Through me, actually. You told him? Not directly. Not quite directly.

In July 2011, Tom and Linda Coleman both got text messages from a number neither of them recognized. The messages told each of them that the other was having an affair. The one saying Tom was cheating was a lie. But of course, the one saying Linda was cheating was the truth. So they figured out all of these messages were coming from the same phone? Yeah. And did they figure out who had that phone?

Yes, they did. And who had that phone? Gilberto Nunez. The unknown number was a burner phone that belonged to Gil Nunez. He admitted sending the texts. He said he was feeling guilty about the affair, and that's why he told Tom. How did he react to that?

Well, at first, he confronted her one day and said, like, I know you're having an affair, you know, with Gil. And so she acknowledged that and just said, yes, you know, I'm having an affair. So probably for like three, four days or something, he didn't talk to me. I tried to call him. Not surprisingly, the friendship was damaged. And I felt horrible because I was like, he actually was my friend, you know, and I don't have too many friends. A few days later, Gil says he went to beg Tom for forgiveness.

I actually got on my knees and I said, you know, I'm really, really sorry. You got on your knees, literally? Yes, I did. I literally did. So he said, get up. So I get up. And he actually gave me a hug, you know. Gave you a hug? He gave me a hug. Was that the reaction you were expecting?

No, I thought he was going to hit me. What's strange is Tom and Gil's friendship continued. What's even stranger is the affair continued too, and perhaps strangest of all, according to Gil, both relationships grew even stronger. From that moment on, every time he'll ask me, you know, did you see Linda today? And I would say yes. He would know that I was being honest to him, that I wasn't, like, you know, and then we started getting, like, more, like, closer together. You and Tom started getting closer together? Yeah, yeah, because Tom and I came to a point where we used to text a lot,

a lot, I mean, hundreds of texts every day. The love triangle was news to the rest of the Coleman family, who did not learn about the affair until after Tom's death. Do you believe that he approved of this affair? That's one of the hardest things for me to believe. And Tom's not here to tell us. The man that I knew probably would have done anything to keep his family together. And I could understand where he was thinking it would work out in the end. In fact, Tom did seem okay with things. In text messages, Tom and Gil called each other bro

and sometimes signed off, love you. And in a text, Tom referred to Linda, his own wife, as Gil's girlfriend, telling Gil, your girlfriend is baking. To which Nunez responded, great, I love her so much. People can say, you know, anything they want or feel whichever way they want, but he was truly my best friend. Tom was not just Gil's friend, he was also his patient. And Gil told police about Tom's medical history in that interview three days after Tom's death. Gil told detectives Tom suffered from sleep apnea

that can cause people to stop breathing in their sleep. It was something I share, trying to help them to maybe help the medical examiner or something, figure out what could have happened to him, you know, if it was a heart attack, if it was whatever the case might be. In fact, the autopsy did note Tom suffered from an enlarged heart and mild obesity. But two weeks later, the toxicology report came back, finding that midazolam in Tom's body. Did you use midazolam? No. Dentists do though, right? Oral surgeons that do sedation do, and there are some dentists that they specialize in sedation, but I never used midazolam.

This is a general practitioner office. We don't use any sedation at all. We don't even have nitrous oxide. The amount of midazolam in Tom's system would not normally kill somebody, but because there was no explanation for why the drug would be there, his death was classified acute midazolam poisoning. I'm not a chemistry guy, but in terms of that being a lot, no.

Volume-wise, no. However, the effects are different on people that have medical conditions. I mean, I guess the real question is, is that enough to kill a guy? I think it is, yes, because especially someone with sleep apnea. It could shut down his respiratory system. But remember, it was Nunez himself who first alerted police to Tom's sleep apnea. You know, the sleep apnea always comes from, okay. The midazolam in his system did change everything.

Murray Weiss, criminal justice editor for DNA Info and a 48 Hours consultant, has written about murder cases for decades. Police believe that Dr. Nunes met Tom Coleman outside his gym and while sitting with him and talking to him, gave him a cup of coffee that was laced with the midazolam. Detectives would routinely have to eliminate other people who might have access to midazolam.

There was obviously people, and that goes with every investigation. People of interest. So detectives also looked at other people in Tom's life, including his wife, Linda, who worked at a local hospital. How long was she looked at? Quite some time. Family is always looked at. You always start close to home. Police still could not prove much about Tom Coleman's death.

How did that midazolam get into his body? If it was in a cup of coffee, where was the cup? Was that Gilberto Nunez's white car next to Coleman's in the surveillance tape? And why was Coleman's body found this way? His pants were undone and his fly was, I think, partially down or all the way down. That looked kind of staged. Police were thinking Gilberto Nunez staged the scene to make it look like Tom was having a sexual encounter when he died. By now, Nunez was their only suspect. We looked at them both equally, Linda and Gil. Linda had passed a polygraph test.

Eventually, we ruled out Linda. Linda and Tom's house was never searched. A search of the hospital where Linda worked as an administrative assistant found no missing midazolam. So in February of 2012, two months after Tom's death, police called Nunez in again. We were just trying to get the background from somebody that was close with him. But soon, the tone of the interview turned i know you met with tom at planet fitness early that morning and i kept saying i wasn't there no i wasn't there

if i would be there i would have said so this was the first time you'd heard that you were a suspect yes if i look you in the eye and tell you I know you were there, then I'm telling you that you don't know because it's not true. I have you and your vehicle parked in the Planet Fitness parking lot with Tom that night. They also had this surveillance video from local businesses

showing what they say is his car driving on the way to the parking lot. You parked with that stand, okay? You fed him something that killed him. To take him out of the picture hoping you would have him for the rest of your life. Yes, you did. No, I did not.

Holy. You're a lying. Nunez never wavered. I didn't even tell him. Stop saying it. Through nearly seven hours of questioning, willingly, without a lawyer. I was not there. I didn't think that I needed an attorney just to speak the truth.

He quickly changed his mind when he found out that while he was being questioned, police were searching his office and home. When I left, that I went home, my place destroyed. That's when it really came into me that, oh my God, these people really believe that I did something to Tom. And the next morning I decided to get an attorney. Investigators seized the office computer and files, but what really caught their attention were two emergency medical kits. And when you opened it up, what did you see? Two vials of midazolam. Midazolam, the drug found in Tom's body.

The vials in Nunez's office were full and unopened, and they did not have Nunez's fingerprints on them. Neither did Tom's car. In fact, when police examined it, there was no trace of Nunez whatsoever. No outside DNA, nothing absolutely out of the ordinary. Still, the police thought evidence against Nunez was piling up. They believe he wanted Linda all to himself. And Linda gave them a strange email she received months earlier from Nunez's mother, supposedly.

That was him claiming to be his mother. His mother. His mother? Yeah. He was pretending to be his mother? Yes. Sending his girlfriend messages? Yes.

The email, which Nunez later admitted to writing, pleaded with Linda to leave Tom, saying Linda and Gil would only be happy if they spend the rest of your lives loving each other. Any idea why he would have sent a message pretending to be his mother? To break up the Coleman's. Why would you oppose your mother? Just the stupid things that we do in life, you know. Can I tell you, doctor, I've done a lot of stupid things in my life. Yeah. I've never sent a text saying I was my mother trying to get a woman to fall in love with me. I understand that.

So was that manipulative? Was that obsessive? No, I think that probably was looking into getting a closer relationship, I guess, between my mother and her. Police also learned from Linda that Gil did something possibly even more preposterous. He gave her a letter from what he described as his contacts inside the CIA, supposedly reporting on charges that Tom was having an affair. Police also found this fake CIA ID on Nunez's computer. That was just like a stupid game. That's all it was. It's a stupid game.

But detectives say it was all part of an elaborate plan. They say Nunez hired a friend to pose as a CIA agent to presumably intimidate Tom. Oh, that never happened. That never happened? No. I did a lot of stupid things in the relationship, you know. It made Nunez look wacky, but not necessarily guilty. That doesn't make me a murderer. Police needed to prove that car in the parking lot next to Tom's was Nunez's. When we're looking at vehicles. So investigators hired Grant Frederick. Looking at physical characteristics that we can compare. Frederick's has spent decades analyzing forensic video for law

enforcement. This is the we'll call it the suspect vehicle. Okay. Police had that surveillance footage from businesses along a road leading to the parking lot that showed a car they believed was the same one seen next to Coleman's. They could not find any video of a car leaving Nunez's home. Still, they believed the car on the surveillance tapes was this car, a Nissan Pathfinder that belonged to Gil Nunez. I'm looking through this to try to determine any features that would be consistent. Fredericks thinks he can identify the car caught on the tapes with this database.

This is like facial recognition. Yes. So this is a Pathfinder, which is the same make, model, and year of the Nunez vehicle. This might be a Nissan Pathfinder, but Fredericks could not say it was Nunez's. His car had decals. It also had emergency lights inside the car because he was a volunteer fireman. And you don't see any of those on the surveillance. There just isn't enough resolution.

So we can't say whether or not those features exist. But Fredericks did notice something he thought might be unique to the car and the surveillance tape, an unusual pool of light on the road coming from one of the headlights. In most cases, you'll see two uniform headlight patterns from most vehicles. This was different. Fredericks specializes in what is called headlight spread pattern analysis. He believes cars can be identified partly by their headlight beams. Is this what you're talking about? This is the pool of light right here? Yes. Fredericks needed to see if Nunez's car projected the same kind of light pool as the car in the surveillance video. So police got Nunez's car projected the same kind of light pool as the car in the surveillance

video. So police got Nunez's car. This is the car that Dr. Nunez owned? Yes. And videotaped it driving along the same route. Fredericks compared the headlight spread pattern with the vehicle on the surveillance tape. He compared two other Nissan Pathfinders to see if their headlights projected that same pool of light. They did not. And Fredericks feels he has enough to make a conclusion. It is bad for Nunez.

The science says that the vehicle is indistinguishable from Dr. Nunes' vehicle. For years, we only knew 5% of what they knew. They were convinced that Gil was guilty. And at this point, I wasn't. You were not. Not really, no. For four years, Jillian Coleman didn't know exactly what had happened to her father. The police weren't sharing many details with the Coleman family. I didn't want to push him because I didn't want to aggravate them.

How hard was it to be patient? It was very hard. They'd all struggled with Tom's loss, but his son, Bradley, took it the hardest, according to his mother, Michelle. The one-year anniversary came up in late 2012, and a few weeks later, Brad attempted suicide with over-the-counter medications of sleeping pills. And he said, I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up with Dad.

And what happened next? Three months later, he committed suicide. Bradley was just 18. The Colmans were now coping with two deaths. But life went on for Gilberto Nunez. He continued working and dabbled in online dating, where on Match.com, he met the woman who would become his new wife, Jameel. I knew he was innocent, but it was always looming over our heads, over our relationship.

And then what they feared would happen, happened. Just a year into their marriage, in October 2015, police arrested Gilberto Nunez and charged him with second-degree murder. He was also charged with forgery because of the fake CIA report and ID. They're trying to make a way out of no way and a case out of no case. Nunez retained top New York City criminal defense attorneys Gerald Chargel and Evan Lipton. Here's the detective at the scene. They got Nunez out on $1 million bail.

He had spent one month in jail. We don't believe that Tom Coleman was murdered. This case is about obsession. In May of 2016, four and a half years after Tom Coleman's death. Gilberto Nunez was obsessed with Linda Coleman. Gilberto Nunez's trial began. He used deception and he used manipulation to get Linda for himself. Senior Assistant District Attorney Mary Ellen Albanese told the jury the only person who would want Tom Coleman dead is Gilberto Nunez.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, good afternoon. Shargel's argument? Gil had no reason to kill his best friend, who accepted the affair. There was no bad blood between Tom and Gil. Absolutely none. And Tom died, Chargel says, of natural causes. It may have been a heart attack, because he had an enlarged heart. But Tom did have midazolam in his body and police found those two unused vials of it in Dr. Nunez's office. Midazolam that was found was an amount that was too small to cause anyone's death. Except the prosecution argues it was enough to stop someone

from breathing if, like Tom, they had sleep apnea. But the DA's had no DNA or fingerprints tying Nunez to the car, so they had to rely on Grant Fredericks and his headlight spread pattern analysis. The vehicle was consistent in shape, color, the same kind of vehicle. It had the pool of light and the timing matched perfectly. They matched. I remember sitting there thinking, oh my God, it's true. He did it. It was a lot of hocus pocus and, in my view, junk science. Nunez did not take the stand,

but the woman in the middle of the love triangle did. Linda said she planned on staying with her husband and was working on their marriage. She was still in love with Tom. She was in love with the family. She wanted to keep that. But emails Linda sent to Gil seemed to tell a different story. That her marriage was crumbling.

And that Gil was still very much in the picture. Did you get the impression that she might break up with you after that? No, no, not at all. It's a key point for the defense. That undercuts any motive for him to want to kill Tom Coleman because he didn't know that he was going to be dumped. In fact, just the day before Tom died, he and Gil texted 62 times. Gil says the texts were about a football game. Police recovered Tom's phone the next day and, curiously,

all the texts were missing. Did you delete those texts? No, of course not. How did these texts end up being deleted? Well, you know, you tell me. They touched the phones. Do you believe that the police deleted those texts? I do, to be honest with you. I do. It was not convenient for them to see that all me and Tom were talking about was football. Police testified they were able to recover a few texts, and they were just about the football game. And in an unexpected move, the last person the defense calls to the stand was

the police supervisor who oversaw the case against Nunez. I think they're trying to undermine the investigation. They're trying to undermine my oversight of the investigation by things that we didn't do. One thing police didn't do was look into an unopened email Tom received on the day he died. It was from an adult website called be naughty.com. Just a spam email, basically. If that had been followed up, I think that the investigation would have by necessity taken a different direction. So you match be naughty.com with the way in which his body was found, reclined, and with his pants open. Something was in Kosher. If their theory is going to be that he met a lady from BeNaughty.com

that drove a white SUV and had access to midazolam at 5.30 in the morning at Planet Fitness. They ought to start playing a lotto on that one if that's the case. They ought to start playing a lot on that one if that's the case. Three weeks after the trial began, it was time for closing arguments. This investigation started and ended with Gilberto Nunez, and much about Thomas Coleman remains unknown. Ladies and gentlemen, this man, Gilberto Nunez, is not Thomas Coleman's best friend. Prosecutors know they have only circumstantial evidence against Nunez, but they say it's more than enough to convict. The evidence of the defendant's guilt is overwhelming.

I'm anxious and I'm scared. I'm not going to say I'm not scared. With the case in the hands of the jury, Gilberto Nunez can do nothing but wait, knowing if he is convicted, it could mean life in prison. This is the most important day of Gilberto Nunez's life. The jury in his murder trial is deliberating. I'm scared and I'm anxious. In a split second, my whole life can change. The rest of his life could be spent in prison if he's convicted of murder.

I get up in the morning and I say to my wife, you know, this might be the last time I sleep in my bed. We'll never know. It's out of our hands. We hope the jury sees what we all see. Nunez would learn his fate sooner than most people expected. Were you surprised when you heard that they had a verdict so quickly? I was. After a four-year investigation, a three-week trial, and testimony from more than 50 witnesses,

the jury reached a verdict in just six hours. I was thinking that's a guilty verdict. Their mind was already made up. All rise, jury entering. It feels like your heart is coming out of your chest. My whole body was shaking. I understand that the jury has reached a verdict. Is that correct? That's correct. Mr. Foreperson, how's the use of count one, charging the defendant, Gilberto Nunez,

with murder in a second degree? Find the defendant not guilty. Is that very unanimous? Yes, sir. Not guilty of murder. But before both sides could process that, Nunez was found guilty of forgery because of the fake CIA documents. And even though those charges could mean prison for Nunez, he and his attorneys are relieved. His former lover, Linda Coleman, is not.

Like a piece of s**t. Psychotic. Sociopath. Shh, shh, shh. Stop, stop, stop. Shh, shh, shh. You are officially, legally not guilty of murder. Yes. I knew it. I was innocent. My family knew it. But knowing it and then everybody now knows it. So what are you going to do now? Work. Let me understand this.

You've just been acquitted of murder. Yes. And just like that, you're going back to drilling people's cavities? Yes, I'm going back to what I love to do. Open up. So when you heard the verdict, what did you think? I couldn't believe it. Shocked.

I was shocked. Utter disappointment. We got involved in the case. We lived that case. The family had faith in us. The Coleman's say the police did their jobs, but the jurors did not. I felt like the jury betrayed us. Justice was not done.

The words not guilty haunt me. So you guys are still feeling good about your verdict? Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. According to jurors Francis Kwok and Michael Doherty, they didn't need much time to reach a verdict. So when you took that vote on the murder charge, how many not guilty votes? Ten, right off the bat. The jurors say there were too many questions left unanswered.

To me, there was holes in all of it. I don't think the Madazza lamb is what killed him. What do you think caused his death? A enlarged heart, which is a ticking time bomb. More natural causes than murder. Yes. How did you feel about the be naughty.com stuff on his phone? Is that important? Could be. For me, it was another thing that really wasn't looked into. And what was the strongest bit of evidence arguing for his conviction? Maybe the vehicle.

The vehicle, yeah. It was very compelling. Now, my opinion was his vehicle could not be eliminated. I didn't offer the opinion that that is therefore his vehicle. But then he even said, you know, it couldn't be excluded. He never said, that's the car. That's the car. Exactly. Correct.

On the other hand, those forgery charges were a slam dunk. They were all guilty. And for those charges, Nunez is facing up to 14 years in prison. Are you ready for that? You know, we haven't finished fighting. A lot of people call making appointments. So I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. Tomorrow, I have a full day already. Wow. I'm scared about our future. I'm scared that he might go to prison. I'm scared for my children. Do you take any comfort at all knowing that Nunez could go to prison?

Absolutely. Even if it's not for murder? It's okay. We've disrupted his life now. Of course, the Coleman's lives can never be the same. Just trying to get through it. Tom's parents rarely communicate with Linda. She brought this man into their lives.

And if that had never happened, the outcome would have been a lot different. Nothing's ever going to bring Tom back or Bradley. And that is what Tom's daughter Jillian can never forget. She is now a college student, facing a life that has seen tremendous pain, but still holds tremendous promise. It's hard not having them here, and I don't think that any verdict. I mean, he could be in prison for the rest of his life. Dad's still gone, my brother's still gone. I carry Brad with me every day.

I try to make Dad proud every day, and I think that I do. Gilberto Nunez is expected to be sentenced on his forgery-related charges later this year. How do you think Tom Coleman died? Chat now with correspondent Richard Schlesinger on Twitter. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.