Murder Mystery: Tragedy or Poisoning?

April 5, 2007 — -- Cindy Sommer spends her days in a San Diego jail cell -- the last place she says she belongs -- convicted of poisoning her husband and watching him die.

Her husband, Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer, was the father of Cindy's youngest child, and her three children from a previous marriage also called him Dad. Cindy was arrested and charged with Todd's murder in November 2005, but she insists that she did not kill her husband. She's had few chances to see her children since her arrest.

She was convicted of murdering Todd in January and now awaits sentencing.

A Sudden Death

In 2002, just before Valentine's Day, Todd Sommer died suddenly in his home at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. He was 23 years old at the time of his death. Doctors at the hospital told Cindy that Todd had died of cardiac arrhythmia, and while he'd been experiencing flulike symptoms, just two weeks before he died he had passed his Marine physical in perfect shape.

Before Todd's death, most who knew the couple thought Cindy and Todd were very much in love. They'd met through friends in 1999, and they married soon after Cindy's divorce.

"I loved my husband. I did everything that I could for him," said Cindy. "He was my life. And our family was my life."

But according to Cindy's close friends, who spoke exclusively to "20/20," there was also a less wholesome side to Cindy and Todd's relationship. A few friends had intimate knowledge of Cindy's life, much of which would eventually be used against her during the trial.

Dana Benton said that she'd been invited to participate in a threesome with the couple.

"She came to me one day and said Todd thought that I was pretty, and wanted to know if I wanted to join in with them," Benton said. "But I told them that I'm not like that. So I turned it down."

After Todd's funeral, friends and family gathered at Cindy's house to mourn Todd's death. Mourning led to drinking, and later that night, Cindy and her friends left the somber gathering and headed to a strip club. Cindy's friends found her actions to be unusual but decided not to question them.

"I thought it was weird, but that's what she wanted to do, and some people take out their sadness differently," one of her friends said.

Murder According to 'Melrose Place'?

Initial autopsy reports conducted immediately after Todd Sommer's death showed that he died of a heart attack. Even though his body had been cremated, a few tissue samples remained.

Fifteen months later, a military investigator decided to conduct one more test, and Todd's remaining tissues revealed high levels of arsenic. The sudden death of the young, healthy Marine had turned into a homicide investigation.

Arsenic, the poison that prosecutors say killed Todd, may just be the perfect murder weapon. It's tasteless, odorless and, according to prosecutors, readily available. But arsenic also left a gaping hole in the case against Cindy. Prosecutors, after examining her Internet, financial, telephone, library and computer records, tried to find evidence to suggest that she had talked about or had access to arsenic.

"They've been investigating me [about the] arsenic and haven't been able to find anything," Cindy said. "They've looked everywhere that they can think of looking and there isn't anybody that said that I've questioned it, looked into it, asked about it."

Investigators even analyzed "Melrose Place," a TV show Cindy watched. Rick Rendon, a military investigator, said during the trial, "There was six episodes that was poisoning, two of them which were with spousal poisoning."

Though poisoning does seem to be a recurring theme on "Melrose Place," it doesn't offer much in the way of evidence for a real-life murder trial, according to Cindy's defense attorney, Bob Udell.

Suspicious Behavior

Attention turned to Cindy's behavior after Todd's death, which prosecutors said was not appropriate for a grieving widow.

Prosecutor Laura Gunn said Cindy made "four inquiries about money in the first five hours" of Todd's death. Among other things, Cindy received $250,000 from Todd's military insurance, nearly half of which she put into a trust fund for herself and her children. Cindy spent much of the money, buying one thing that raised eyebrows: breast implants.

"It wasn't that I want, you know, Pamela Anderson boobs," she said. "I wanted something that would make me feel like a normal person."

According to friends, after Todd's death Cindy's flirtatious and bold sexual behavior attracted one Marine after another. Her friend, Chantra Wells, said that "she was like the queen of searching out Marines."

Some were just friends. Others hung around hoping for romantic possibilities. And others became sexually involved with Cindy, according to her friends. The night Todd died, Cindy called Chris Reed, a close Marine friend, and his wife Julie to come pray with her at the hospital. But Reed testified that a few weeks later, Cindy called for a new reason. "She's like, 'Well get ready, me and Julie are coming over to have sex with you right now,'" he said.

Two other Marines also admitted to having sex with Cindy, sometimes even more than once, during the first two months after Todd's death. Gunn said in her closing arguments that Cindy's behavior was "not consistent with somebody who just lost the love of their life."

'Ugly Coping'

Cindy's friends say that she was definitely grieving, but that she also needed the attention of having people around. She and her friends liked to go to Tijuana, Mexico, where a raucous bar scene caters to young Americans. At the bars in Tijuana, Cindy found the perfect environment to show off her newly enhanced breasts. She even went as far as to enter a thong contest where young women show their underwear to a rowdy bar crowd.

Gunn argued during the trial that someone who behaves that way "is not somebody who's grieving. This is somebody who's celebrating."

But is that a stereotype? Columbia University professor George Bonanno is a grief and bereavement expert, and he says that Cindy's behavior could be a form of "ugly coping" -- behavior that is generally not healthy or socially acceptable, but it is one's way of getting through an undesirable event.

"Bereaved people, as a group, are more likely to engage in sexual risk behavior," Bonanno said. "The defendant did this with unusual rapidity, which raises eyebrows, but it isn't illogical to me and it doesn't seem like it's so aberrant."

Bonanno said there's no research to back up the prosecutor's claim that Cindy's immediate concerns about money indicate a lack of appropriate grief. He says studies have shown that many people have financial worries after the death of a spouse. "People often become confused or irrational and they are not thinking clearly after a loss, so their worries can get the best of them, "he said.

'That's Not the Kind of Person I Am'

In the end, only Cindy knows whether or not she murdered Todd. Her friend Shannon Tinker says that Cindy did not have a fair trial because it was "based off her actions.

"Anyone can act any way after death. There's no evidence of arsenic. It's not fair," Tinker said.

The jury deliberated for about 12 hours over three days before returning its verdict. Cindy was found guilty on Jan. 30, 2007, of poisoning Todd for financial gain.

"I couldn't believe it. I thought at first I didn't hear the 'not' part of the guilty," she said. "And I guess I didn't, I didn't hear it."

Cindy now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Her sentencing has been postponed until May 31 to give her lawyer time to draft a motion for a new trial.

Cindy Sommer is now 33 years old, and she says she's not a murderer. She recalls a photograph she took a month before Todd died.

"There's a picture … of us playing together and me giving him a birthday cake on his birthday. And a month later, I kill him? It's not in my nature. That's not the kind of person I am."