Inside mysterious ‘poison plot’ death that left cops baffled – from messy love triangle to teen suicide & sinister twist
WHEN Tom Kolman was found dead at the wheel of his car outside a gym, no one could have anticipated the sinister twists and turns the investigation into his death would take.
Police initially presumed he’d suffered a heart attack, but when they dug a little deeper, detectives soon suspected there was more to the 44-year-old’s sudden demise.
CCTV revealed someone was with Tom just before his death, while the post-mortem report suggested Tom could have been poisoned.
The plot soon thickened as it emerged Tom’s wife-of-10-years, Linda, had been having an affair with his best friend, local dentist Dr Gilberto Nunez – who became the prime suspect.
Nunez, originally from the Dominican Republic, denied any wrongdoing, and was tried and later acquitted for Tom’s murder – but still imprisoned on fraud charges.
Now, the bizarre tale is set to be the focus of a new HBO drama called My Dentist’s Murder Trial, with actors Pedro Pascal and Stranger Things star David Harbour heading up the cast.
READ MORE TRUE CRIME FEATURES
The series is reportedly based around a New Yorker article about the case by journalist James Lasdun, who was one of Dr Nunez’ patients.
Here we unpick the mystery surrounding the baffling case.
On the surface, family man Tom lived an ordinary, unremarkable life.
He went to the gym every morning before work as a physical therapy supervisor and had a happy marriage to Linda.
Most read in News
The couple, who married in a Vegas-themed casino wedding, lived in the small town of Saugerties, a few hours north of New York, where they were raising their young family.
Speaking to Dateline about what attracted her to Tom, Linda said: “He had a shyness about him that was sweet.”
However, all was not as it seemed.
‘Poison plot’
One morning in November 2011, after a Thanksgiving weekend spent with family and watching football, Tom got up to go to the gym as normal, but failed to show up at work after.
Worried Linda jumped in her car and retraced his steps – and discovered his lifeless body in his car outside Planet Fitness.
Horrified, she called 911. Recalling the scene, Linda said: “His hands were really, really cold, and then I realised his nails were blue.”
The medical examiner couldn’t find any evidence of a heart attack, so toxicology tests were carried out to determine cause of death.
Tom was found to have had a sedative called midazolam in his system commonly used in medicine by dentists or doctors, though the amount wasn’t enough to kill someone unless used in conjunction with something else.
Tom did suffer from sleep apnoea, meaning the drug could have had a more severe impact on his respiratory system.
His hands were really, really cold, and then I realised his nails were blue
Linda Kolman
Meanwhile CCTV showed Tom arrived at the car park at 4:30am, followed by another unidentifiable white SUV about ten minutes later – similar to Nunez’s car.
Police questioned Nunez – who had raced to the scene that morning after Tom’s body was found – and discovered the bombshell news he’d been having an 11-month affair with Tom’s wife.
They’d become close in 2010 while taking their kids to karate lessons, and Linda and Tom were having marriage troubles.
When Tom found out about the affair, bizarrely he didn’t pressure Linda to end things, and the two men continued to be friends.
Police discovered vials of the same sedative that was in Tom’s system in Nunez’ practice – which he initially denied any knowledge of having.
As the evidence stacked up against him, a detective told Dateline: “We have a gentleman who’s friends with the family, is having an affair with the wife, [and] drives the same vehicle that we have on video.”
Avalanche of evidence
While Linda initially refused to believe it, she quickly became suspicious that her lover had killed her husband.
It was Nunez who “anonymously” tipped off Tom about the affair, and he’d even bought Linda a ring, indicating he wanted to be with her properly, while she had decided she was going to give her marriage another go.
Nunez also declined to take a polygraph to prove his innocence.
There was other evidence that didn’t add up. Tom was found with his seat back, shirt untucked and his belt undone. The DNA of an unknown male – not Nunez – was found on the inside of the belt.
No arrests were made, and Nunez continued to practice dentistry. He even went on to marry in 2014 after meeting wife Yameil on Match.com.
Tragic suicide
Meanwhile Tom’s teenage children whom he shared with ex-wife Michele struggled to come to terms with their dad’s death. Three months after the first anniversary, his son Bradley took his own life aged 18.
Just a year into Nunez and Yameil’s marriage in October 2015 – four years after Tom’s death – Nunez was arrested and charged with second degree murder.
In 2017, journalist James Lasdun wrote an article describing how he’d visited Nunez for dental work while he was on bail after his attorneys paid $1million.
Having resigned himself to looking for a new dentist, he broke a tooth in April 2016 and needed urgent attention.
Nunez had spent 41 days in jail but was out on bail, and he thanked Lasdun for “his support” when he said he was “sorry for his troubles”.
Shocking revelations
At trial in May 2016, prosecutors presented evidence to show how “obsessed” Nunez had become with Linda, with one email he sent saying: “I am not going to let you just walk away from me. Never.”
Nunez even told Linda he was in the CIA, tried to pay someone to intimidate Tom and showed Linda a fake ID card – leading police to charge Nunez with forgery.
Nunez’s defence claimed he had no idea his affair with Linda was over and she was stringing him along, so he had no reason to want Tom dead.
In the days before Tom’s death, he and Nunez had texted more than 60 times, chatting about football.
There was also no DNA or fingerprints belonging to him at the scene, and Tom had received an email from a hook-up website, which had never been investigated.
Linda and Tom’s house was never searched – though a search of the hospital where Linda worked as an admin assistant revealed no missing midazolam.
After a three week trial, the jury found Nunez not guilty – much to Linda’s disgust, who stormed out of the court room calling her ex-lover “psychotic”.
He was however found guilty of two forgery charges because of the faked CIA documents, and an unrelated insurance fraud charge.
He was sentenced to two to seven years in prison before being released in 2017.
Read More on The Sun
Ultimately, the trial left many mysteries unresolved, as well as Nunez’s reputation in tatters and a family torn apart.
For confidential support, log on to samaritans.org or call the Samaritans on 116123.