University Case Study: Death and the Dentist Crime Investigation

This case study examines the 'Death and the Dentist' crime, focusing on the death of Tom Kolmann and the subsequent investigation. The case involves a love triangle, with Tom's wife, Linda, and his best friend, Gil Nunez, entangled in an affair. Tom was found dead in his car, leading to a complex investigation by Detective Michael Thomas, involving crime scene analysis, forensic evidence, and suspect profiling. The investigation highlights the use of forensic video analysis, toxicology reports (specifically the presence of midazolam), and the elimination of suspects. The study explores the role of various experts, including forensic video specialists, and the challenges faced in connecting the suspect, Gil Nunez, to the crime. It also touches upon the legal proceedings and the importance of crime scene preservation and analysis, including the involvement of various specialists like planimetric, ballistic, and medical experts. The conclusion critiques the handling of evidence and the evaluation of alternative possibilities, emphasizing the importance of a thorough investigation.

1
Name:
Course
Professor’s name
University name
City, State
Date of submission

2
Introduction
Death and the Dentist
Tom Kolmann and Gil Nunez were best friends. In this very intriguing crime of passion that led
to the death of Tom was Linda, Tom’s wife and Gil Nunez girlfriend. Yes, Linda had a love
triangle with best friends and by the look of it, all parties were comfortable. The dentist had an
affair with toms wife, Linda and although they kept it under wraps for quite some time, guilt
trips led to them revealing of the affair. It must have been devastating for Tom who was also a
patient of the dentist. However, surprisingly enough, Tom, was okay with the love triangle. What
surprised many including his parents was the fact that Tom never told anybody about the love
triangle. On November 29 , year 2011, 44-year old Tom was found dead in his car in the
Kingston Planet Fitness parking lot in New York(Fisher and Fisher, 2012).
Background
Detective Michael Thomas was the first in the crime scene and realized how unusual Tom was
positioned in the car. Additionally, where and how the car was positioned was also very unusual.
In an interview with 48 Hours correspondent, Richard Schlesinger, the detective said that he
found Tom Laying almost flat as if he was sleeping yet he was in the driver’s seat.
In the crime scene, nothing in the car would suggest an attack or physical harm or trauma. There
was absolutely nothing suspicious about that could warrant that it was a murder but the detective
who was later joined by detective Kyle Berardi and Detective Brian Reavy also caught the
attention of how far the car was parked from the gym. It is unusual that a car can be parked that
far by someone who is going to the gym. It was not parked near the building and that to them

3
was very strange. Tom’s parents, Marie and Tom snr were also shocked about his death. His ex-
wife whom they had divorced for twelve years was also in utter shock(Grant, Rodriguez and
Perkins, 2008).
Linda was the first at the crime scene after Tom failed to report to work. It was then that she
made a distressing call to 911 and the detectives responded. However, it was the over
dramatization of the whole incident by Gil Nunez that raised eyebrows. Nunez even dropped on
his knees saying that Tom was his best friend and that he did not see any CPR being done. He
knew that Tom was dead. Tom had a medical condition called sleep apnea. Gilberto Nunez was a
well-known dentist in Kingston area and also a fire fighter volunteer with a big general
practitioner dental hospital.
Crime scene examination
This was not necessarily a crime of passion but all pointers led to that. While there were no clear
leads, the detectives were waiting for the full report of the autopsy report. They knew that Gil
came with a white SUV , a Nissan pathfinder and remembered clearly that the surveillance
footage showed a white SUV although very blurry.
In the report, it was noted that tom had an enlarged heart. This could easily be the lead of his
death in case he suffered from a cardiac arrest or a heart attack. He also suffered from mild
obesity and the symptoms of a cardiac arrest(Collins, 2003). Gil was the first to disclose to the
detectives that Tom had sleep apnea because he was his doctor. Sleep apnea is a condition where
a person suffering from it may die in his sleep due to suffocated breath. Two weeks after his
death, the autopsy noted that there was midazolam in his body from the toxicology report.

4
Nunez told Schlesinger of CBN 48 Hours that general practitioners don’t use midazolam and
only dental surgeons are allowed its access. In crime investigations, elimination method is
what’s used to get to the bottom of the crime. This was a medical substance and only a health
practitioner could have access to it. Linda worked in a hospital as an administrative assistant but
when a search was conducted, nothing was missing. His death was classified as acute midazolam
poisoning but the levels found in his body would not kill somebody. However, there was no
explanation as to why the drug would be found in his body(Newton, 2008).
Midazolam has different effects on different people. According to Murray Weiss who is an editor
for DNA info and has worked in crime scenes for over twenty years said that the midazolam in
toms body changed everything. The real question in this crime was whether the drug in his body
was enough to kill a guy. The detectives believe that Gil met Tom at the gym before giving him a
cup of coffee laced with midazolam. It was enough to shut down his respiratory system. They
have eliminated everyone and only Dr. Nunez was in a position to have Midazolam with him.
The people of interest and the obvious people here with its access was either Linda or Gil. Linda
had been eliminated and Gil was the main suspect now. The only problem was to connect
midazolam with him and his contact with Tom at the crime scene(Newton, 2008).
Sole suspect
After eliminating Linda as a suspect, the police were left with only Nunez as the main suspect.
Police could not prove who killed Tom. But they had lead with the surveillance footage and the
midazolam which only led to one suspect, Gil Nunez. The questions that needed to be asked

5
were, how did midazolam get into Toms body? Was that the Nissan Pathfinder that Nunez uses
that was in the footage really his? If Tom was laced with midazolam, where was the cup of
coffee and why toms body was found in the position it was found at? His pants were undone and
Gil had sent tom a link of a porn website. It was expected to be believed that Tom’s death was
as a result of a sexual encounter with a call girl who laced him with the drug. The detectives had
to rely on Grant Fredericks an expert on forensic video solutions who has extensive knowledge
on car lighting systems and the shape. According to Grant, the SUV in the surveillance footage
match that of Nunez. It is a Nissan pathfinder and has the physical characteristics that are
comparable to Nunez SUV. It was a Nissan Pathfinder SUV but Grant could not point out if it
was Nunez. There is no enough resolution in the lights which shows that the car might not
belong to Nunez. It also did not have the decals which are emergency lighting that his car has as
he is a volunteer fire fighter(Newton, 2008). Grant however, noted that the beam of light in one
of the headlights matched that of Nunez car. This was not enough evidence as in most of the
cases the headlight beam does match in both of the headlights. After videotaping Nunez car in
the same place, Fredericks felt that he could make a conclusion. The car projected the same kind
of light as the car in the video. It was indistinguishable from Nunez.
The police summoned Nunez again for questioning. This time they had obtained a search warrant
to search his work place and his house. Upon being summoned some went to do the search and it
is there in his office that they found a full pack of midazolam drug. He was the only one with the
information on how midazolam work(Orr, n.d.). There was also other incriminating evidence to
show that Nunez was obsessed with Linda and wanted to eliminate Tom to have her all by him.
He had hired a person who was supposedly supposed to pose as a CIA officer and had evidence

6
that Tom was cheating on his wife. He had sent email to Linda and wanted Linda to leave Tom
for him. He was also texting Tom and Linda like teenagers.
Crime scene investigation
There are very many thing that detectives look in a crime scene; marks on the floor, blood drops,
something like a nail or hair etc. Every detail in an investigation is fundamental and detectives
know that the slightest mistake can jeopardize the rest of the investigation. Thus, crime scene
analysis must meet several requirements , which also involve input of different specialists(Baum,
n.d.).
An crime scene analysis is carried out in the following way. Step 1 involves cordoning and
preservation of the scene or place of crime. When the establishment of the perimeter is done, an
optical inspection is carried out. After inspection is done, detectives nominate different parts of
the crime scene to begin lifting of clues. All these elements may become useful evidence in the
framework of the investigation. Therefore, it is important that the conditions and steps in which
the survey is carried out and also there should be integrity in the way the subsequent chain of
custody is carried out.
In addition to the team of experts, a witness (a person over 18 who does not have a direct
relationship with the victims or the case) and a representative of the prosecutor's office must
participate in this process.
The experts
In any analysis of a crime scene there should be: a planimetric expert, a photographer, a trail
specialist, a ballistic expert, a medical and a chemical expert. Some specialists may or may not

7
participate according to the nature of the crime.Each of the experts must keep a record of the
work done in a spreadsheet. There will be indicated a chronological order of the work, the
description of environmental and climatic phenomena, the topographic characteristics(Kellerman
and Kellerman, n.d.).
This work presents in the first instance a historical approach to Criminology and Criminalistics,
secondly, the management of the scene of crime, then, the procedure of the National Police in the
Scene of Crime and legal support thereof; in the same way, the procedure of the Judicial
Technical Police and its legal basis is presented. Then, it is exposed on the legal foundations of
the Right to Due Process, to later, enter the analysis of a jurisprudence (Kellerman and
Kellerman, n.d.) .
Instruct participants about the importance and value of the preliminary investigation at the crime
scene and its subjection to the right to due process.
- Identify and demonstrate this subject according to the principles and norms established in the
course of Applied Criminology.
- Know all the parameters used by institutions that in one way or another have to relate to the
Crime Scene as they are: the National Police, the Judicial Technical Police and some judicial
dependencies.
Criminology
It is an empirical and interdisciplinary science, which deals with the study of crime, the person of
the offender, the victim and the social control of criminal behavior and tries to provide valid,

8
contrasted information about the genesis, dynamics and main variables of the crime(Kellerman
and Kellerman, n.d.).
Conclusion
The way the investigators handled the case was not professional. First, it shows that they did not
handle the evidence very well, when Tom’s phone was found with no messages. This shows that
someone had deleted the text messages that were from Nunez to Tom showing that they were
only discussing about football. The detectives tried too hard to implicate Nunez as the murderer
and forgot to evaluate other possible options that could have led to Toms death. According to
Gils lawyer, the fact that Tom had visited GetNaughty.com site could have explained the
presence of the white SUV and why Tom’s fly was partially undone and the position that he was
in when they found his lifeless body.
However, there were all indications that the car (white SUV) in the crime scene belonged to
Nunez because it had matching headlight patterns. It is clear that the jury did not consider this
evidence provided by police when giving their verdict. All the evidence points out at Nunez who
would have wanted to get Tom out of the picture so that he could remain with Linda (Fish,
2015).
while all the evidence show that Nunez was the main suspect, for example the presence of
Midazolam in Toms body , the percentage could not have had any fatal effect on him. The
theory that any Midazolam in a body of a person with Sleep Apnea condition led to his death

9
does not hold any water because it is not proven. It is obvious that detectives tried too hard to
implicate Nunez as the murderer while forgetting to follow other leads.
According to the jury, Gil was not guilty of second degree murder. The evidence did not point
directly to him who was heartbreaking to both Tom’s family and detectives. Tom was killed by
Midazolam laced in his body according to toxicology and autopsy report. Dr. Nunez car A
Nissan Pathfinder was seen by the surveillance footage in the crime scene and after a search at
the Doctors office and home, they found Midazolam which is not used by general practitioners
and also Gil had denied to ever using this drug. Gil was psychotic, manipulative and obsessive
and perhaps wanted to get Tom out of the picture. This was a crime of passion.(Fish, 2015)

10
References
Baum, D. (n.d.). Crime scene investigations.
Careers in forensic science. (2010). Chicago, IL: Institute for Career Research.
Collins, M. (2003). CSI, crime scene investigation. New York: Pocket Star Books.
Fish, J. (2015). Crime scene investigation. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Fisher, B. and Fisher, D. (2012). Techniques of crime scene investigation. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC
Press.
Grant, S., Rodriguez, G. and Perkins, S. (2008). CSI. San Diego, Calif.: IDW.
Kellerman, J. and Kellerman, J. (n.d.). Crime scene.
Newton, M. (2008). The encyclopedia of crime scene investigation. New York: Infobase Pub.
Orr, T. (n.d.). Crime scene investigator.
.

11