Chapter 1: What circumstances led to Todd Sommer's unexpected death?
Hey, it's Josh Mankiewicz from Dateline with a special preview of my new podcast called Trace of Suspicion. Death comes for us all eventually. We can never know exactly when, where, or how. What is known is that the Grim Reaper is always out there, waiting, checking our names against a list, like some bill collector on commission.
United States Marine Sergeant Todd Sommer had every reason to think his appointment with death was still decades away. After all, he was only 23. Except sometimes the years don't matter. As he got ready for bed that night in February 2002, the Reaper was watching. Todd had been battling some kind of bug for more than a week. Nausea, diarrhea, stomach pains, chills, fever.
Chapter 2: What were the initial reactions and actions taken by Cindy after Todd's collapse?
The full menu of misery. The doctors at the Miramar Marine Base in San Diego thought this might be food poisoning. Maybe that gas station egg roll he had eaten. We do not know how much sleep Todd Summer actually got that night. We do know that at about 1.30 in the morning, his wife Cindy was awakened by the sound of her husband gasping for breath.
He got up and he walked towards the bathroom and turned around and just looked at me and like just couldn't catch his breath. Years later, the memory of that night is still fresh for Cindy. I went over to him. I'm like, what's the matter? He just looked at me and he said, I'm all right.
Chapter 3: How did investigators begin to suspect foul play in Todd's death?
I'm okay. I'm fine. And then he just fell down and I just kind of freaked out. That is Cindy back in 2002 on the phone to 911. Cindy remembered the basics of CPR from her days as a swimmer in middle school and says she did what she could. I had never done it before, other than on a dummy, so I really wasn't sure the exact sequence of how things should go.
A platoon of paramedics, EMTs, and cops were only minutes away. But by then, it seemed, the Grim Reaper had her husband in a death embrace. Then police and fire got there, and it was just, they had taken me out of the room, and it was just all a blur from there. This story is about the why and the how of Todd Summers' death that night.
Chapter 4: What behaviors raised suspicions about Cindy after Todd's death?
Come on, I don't want to be here. It is about the wife he left behind and the questions that have persisted for more than 20 years. Well, we learned that they had some money issues. It is a story about private behavior and public shame. She started having a lot of people over and a lot of parties shortly after his funeral. I understand everybody says it's the sex.
We understood how it doesn't look good. The experts say that people do some pretty strange things in their grieving. And it is the story about investigators who found reasons to believe Todd Summer's sudden death was really a cold and calculated case of murder. This was really strange for a 23-year-old seemingly healthy Marine to die.
Chapter 5: What evidence suggested poisoning as a cause of Todd's death?
So why don't we run one more test? Because poison could have been an option here. I'm Josh Mankiewicz. Thanks for listening. Search for Trace of Suspicion to hear the full episode now.