An Invisible Enemy

The NCIS Investigates The Death Of A Young Marine

(CBS)  It was in February 2002 when Cynthia Sommer and her husband Todd, a Marine, were coming home from a family weekend at an amusement park. With their four children, Cynthia and Todd were the very picture of happiness.

But as Bill Lagattuta reports, no one could have predicted the rollercoaster ride was just beginning.

---

"Came back home on Sunday, got the kids to bed. And he said that his heart felt like it had fluttered. I said, 'Should we go to the hospital?' He said 'No, I'm fine. I'm just gonna go to bed,'" Cynthia remembers.

Hours later, she made a panicked 911 call, when Todd collapsed in the middle of the night in their home. When Todd was pronounced dead a couple of hours later at the hospital, it seemed his heart had just given out.

"They explained it the same as - hear of kids playing baseball and just falling over, that there's no symptoms, there's no warning sign, there's nothing,'" Cynthia remembers.

But there was something: Todd had started feeling sick ten days before he died. His symptoms had started on Friday, Feb. 8.

Cynthia says the next day, Saturday, her husband exhibited signs of food poisoning. She says Todd had told her he had eaten egg rolls.

On Sunday, Todd went to the base clinic, where a doctor thought it might be food poisoning and told him to wait it out. But when his symptoms got worse, Cynthia appeared frustrated.

"The conversation would be, 'Mom, Todd’s fever is up to 102. What should I do?' And, 'I just can’t stop him from throwing up,' and, 'What else can I give him?'" Cynthia's mother Jan Lippert remembers. "I'd tell her the usual mother’s remedies."

Desperate for an answer to what was wrong, Todd went back to the doctor two days later. Cynthia says they gave Todd IV fluids and prescription medications.

And by that Saturday, Feb. 16, he seemed to make a miraculous recovery, well enough for that family outing to the amusement park.

But 48 hours later he would be dead.

Cynthia's mother rushed to be by her daughter's side. "It was a scene that I will never in my entire life forget. She was upstairs in their bed and she had one of Todd's shirts," Jan recalls. "She was just clinging onto his shirt, and saying how it smelled like Todd and this is all she had left of him, that he was gone."

The couple had met three years earlier when Todd was just 19, and Cynthia was a 25-year-old divorced mother of three.

Within six months, Todd and Cynthia were married in the Florida Keys, where Todd grew up. They set out for the West Coast, where Todd was assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The newlyweds soon added another member to their family.

After Todd's death, Cynthia's life would never be the same. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened an investigation into the death, something they do whenever someone in the military dies. As the investigation began, NCIS agents found nothing unusual. The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia -- Todd's heart had simply stopped beating.

A year later, as the shock of Todd's death wore off, Cynthia had moved on. She and the children had begun a new life in Florida with a new boyfriend. Almost everyone had accepted the explanation that a healthy young Marine had suddenly collapsed and died at the age of 23.

Almost everyone accepted it, but not NCIS special agent Mark Ridley. "There were some odd things goin’ on with the investigation that I thought needed additional work," he says.

Ridley was the man in charge of Todd's death review panel, an NCIS process of making sure all leads are pursued in military deaths, especially when someone so young dies unexpectedly. "They were lookin' at the case as being a natural death from the beginning," Ridley says.

Ridley felt the autopsy had overlooked important clues -- those symptoms Todd was suffering in the days before he died. "When you look through the medical record it showed that he had vomited several times, maybe 12 to 15 times in the space of a short period of time," he says.

Ridley suspected that Todd's symptoms and sudden death were related. It reminded him of a 1986 poisoning case in North Carolina that he learned about during his training days. "It just so happens that Todd Sommer was exhibiting some of the same things that were found in the victims associated with the Blanche Taylor Moore case," Ridley explains. "It resonated with me and when I read that case file it just made me a little bit uncomfortable."

Rather than close the investigation, Ridley ordered a rare heavy metals test on Todd's tissue samples, which had been removed during the autopsy. If Todd had been poisoned, NCIS investigators had a lot of questions.

[jvnsa88]

Cynthia Sommer was just granted a new trial this week, in large part on the basis of the admissibility of her behavior after Todd''s death. Guilty or not, she deserves an untainted jury pool; airing this story before that jury is chosen doesn''t serve justice at all.

[dreaken]

Selecting a new jury may be more difficult, but from seeing the show, it appears to be the right decision. She was convicted on her actions after the death, not the evidence.

[shuswap3]

Having Just watched the episode, I think it indicated that the first day Tod Sommer was sick was after being in the field that day , possibly with his unit.

I''m wondering if the arsenic was given to him by one of his men that he spent the day with?

[irisheyes555]

I am a mother and grandmother, meaning I''m not naive and gullible. Usually in these cases, I''d say the spouse is guilty 99% of the time. But this young woman convinced me of her innocence through her interview on the show, and her mother''s testimony, even though that unfortunately lead to testimony regarding the young widow''s behavior. Her mother stated her daughter wouldn''t even know what arsenic is, and I know my youngest two daughters wouldn''t know what it is either, and they are around the same age. Additionally, many young people in that age group that I know personally sleep around in this manner, party like this, whether I like it or not. Other than her behavior, what have they got? Not much, except those breast implants, but even that was explained by the Valentine''s card that indicated her husband wanted her to have them too. But I agree, how can she get an untained jury after this 48 hours mystery show? Even before this show, I had read about her online several times, and I don''t live anywhere even close to where this happened. May the truth come out, and may the truth set Cynthia free. Just my opinion.

[jshiver2]

I am wondering if it would have been possible for you to be anymore biased in the report %u201CThe Invisible Enemy%u201D than you were last night. How could you run this story without all the facts and with the lies that were told?

Dr. Poklis and the two other witnesses that you so kindly omitted from your story are the crux of this case.
Where I can understand about the bad behavior being shown, the science in this case should have been explored much further than you did. Why wasn%u2019t it mentioned about the testing procedures, lack of proper training for these tests, lack of a standard operating procedure and the new machines? Why wasn%u2019t it brought out that somehow between the testing at AFIP and the testing at NMS labs that some of these tissues mysteriously gained weight?

Lee Cantrell%u2019s statement about the amount of arsenic that it would take to kill someone is the same misleading statement that Laura Gunn used in the trial. Yes, that amount may be fatal but there is no way it would come even close to equaling the amount that was found in Sgt. Sommer%u2019s tissues.
The substance that you showed in your article is misleading because according to the prosecutor, it was not in a powder form but something that she would have had to scrape out of ant traps. I will also add that it would have taken many, many of those ant traps to equal the amounts that they say they found.
CONT:

[jshiver2]

Terwillger%u2019s account of being able to purchase arsenic was also misleading. What he failed to disclose, and what the defense attorney found out after the trial, is that people cannot just go into these places and purchase arsenic the way he claimed. He could only do it in an official manner with paperwork to do so.
He also mentioned the %u201Cmissing%u201D computer but he failed to tell your reporter that they really don%u2019t know what they asked her about this. One said he asked her if this was the computer she had when Todd died. The other one said that he asked if this was the computer she had in California. She testified that it was the latter. And yes, she did have that computer in California. She purchased it a few months after Sgt. Sommer died. He failed to tell you that they never asked Cindy anymore about the computer. They did not tell her that they knew this was a new one and they never asked her what she did with the old. In fact, last night was the first time I had heard her speak of what happened to it. No one ever asked her before. Terwillger also failed to mention how they questioned Cindy. What about the broken tape recorder and them going back to their motel to %u201Cremember%u201D her statements? He did not tell you that this is normal practice for NCIS agents. It is a well known fact that they do not like to record statements and have had one case that I know of overturned because of that. Something always seems to happen to their recording equipment.

[jshiver2]

On Sgt Sommer being deceased an hour or more before 911 was called; you were sure to tell about how Cassandra Stroud said that Todd%u2019s body was cold and mottled but you left out the part where the FIRST RESPONDERS got agonal breathing and a slight pulse. So much that attempted to revive him.

Eva Stoner conveniently left out the part where before they stopped for cigarettes that morning; she also stopped off at her barracks for some unknown reason. She also failed to talk about where on at least one occasion she was seen at the Sommer%u2019s home after Sgt. Sommer%u2019s death, partying it up with everyone else.

Now we get to NCIS special agent Mark Ridley. Is he lying in your story or was the account of the investigation lied about in court. In court, it was testified to that this case was closed. The tissues were sent off because they %u201Cwanted to close out the case%u201D and it was %u201Cnormal%u201D procedure.

Glenn Wagner failed to mention that he was the former boss of Jose Centeno who ran up the ENVIRONMENTAL lab that conducted these tests. I also did not hear mention that this was an UNACCREDITED environmental lab, not an ACCREDITED forensics lab, which most states, if not all require for forensics testing.

[jshiver2]

All of these comments that she made after Sgt. Sommer%u2019s death about money. How is it that none of these people mentioned any of this for more than a year later? If it was so suspicious as Ridley would like everyone to believe, why was there no through search of the home for more than two years? In fact, why take fifteen months to send these tissues off for heavy metals testing?

I do not know Cynthia Sommer. I came across the trial while it was showing on Court TV. In the beginning, I assumed that she was guilty because after all they had gotten the case inside a courtroom. I waited and waited for something to show me that this woman killed her husband but it never came. In fact, proof came in the form of scientific experts whom stated that this was not an arsenic poisoning. They explained why it could not be an arsenic poisoning. Not with sleazy escapades of Mrs. Sommer, but actual scientific proof.

I am very disappointed in the way you presented this story. I have always enjoyed 48 Hours Mystery but now I wonder how many other stories have been biased and untruthful the way this one was? How could you be so irresponsible?

[jwrhea]

Somebody killed this healthy young man. But i fear that too much time had passed before anyone bothered to do anything about it. It would be next to impossible to find the evidence at this point. If the widow did it and gets away with it. Maybe we will in 10 years or so when money gets tight and her looks start to fail hear about her again as another husband dies. to die because of little *******. lol i have heard it all.

[carlylaine]

When I first watched Court TV concerning this case of Cynthia''s husband''s death...I kept thinking..."they haven''t proven she did it." I was absolutely shocked that because she went a little wayward after Todd''s demise that the jury would convict her OF MURDER.

I am happy that this may soon be over for her.

Not every death is from murder. I almost think that the prosecutors invent evidence just to have more feathers for their caps when they move to private defense practice. The more lives they destroy the more money they can demand.

[pcaves]

Todd Sommer did not die from arsenic poisoning. Todd Sommer died from Sudden Cardiac Arrhythmia. He developed a ventricular fibrillation after ingesting a lethal cocktail of a questionable antibiotic, Levaquin, sports drinks & Yellow Jackets (both containing Ephedra, i.e. fen fen, which has been removed from the market because it adfects the heart adversely and has caused many sudden deaths). He also was on a "float" medication to combat seasickness. Any one of these, or combined, could ultimately create a sudden death in an otherwise healthy marine. And let''s not forget, if any of us have experienced food poisoning, it''s brutal and leaves us in a very weakened state for days after.

[plumberry-2009]

I can''t believe all you people are assuming she is innocent! Are you all off your rockers?! As a MILITARY WIFE I have experienced many financial hardships with my children but have never even thought about what I would do if my husband died! This is a sad sad world that this ho got off the way she did. Are all you girls hos too? If my husband died, I would be GRIEVING with my children! Computers don''t go missing, widows don''t go partying or get new breasts. This ho planned it all out right down to the 911 call and if none if you can see that, you guys are just as sick too. The justice system has failed again. Put this murderering witch behind bars where she belongs. My heart goes out to his family SO SAD!

[pcaves]

Cynthia Sommer has been wrongfully accused and has spent the last 2 years imprisoned as a result. But she will be exonnerated. Of that I have no doubt. And no thanks to you, 48 Hours. I believe this case will generate new legislation and hopefully force an accountability on those that purposefully twist the facts to suit their made up stories full of ***, deceit, manipulation, and drama. Remember Walter Cronkite? He was one of the best examples of how to report the news, not sensationalize it. I''m very disappointed in 48 Hours.

Facts: (1) 1000 times acceptable level of Arsenic found in husband''s body, (2) arsenic poisoning symptoms occur within hour or so after ingesting and wife proven to be only person who was with victim during this time (unless you want to include his kids), (3) Arsenic easy to buy over internet and wife lies about getting a new computer and then can not explain what happened to the old one (yeah! right!), (4) surveillance video in nightclub shows wife having a blast on the dance floor just days after husband dies, (5) husband has $250,000 life insurance policy and wife is beneficiary, (6) wife schedules herself for a breast implants. Does this sound like an innocent, grieving wife? Get real!! She has guilt written all over her face.

[nlhd59]

I totally agree with pcaves, CarlyLaine, and jshiver2 that there was insufficient evidence to prove that this young woman murdered her husband. How dare other internet readers, such as Plumberry, accuse these people of being "hos" just because they have a different opinion than he/she does? How judgmental they are (and probably the jurors too considering the outcome of the trial). It just goes to show how ignorant people can be when they don''t look at the overall picture of a case and instead inflict their own prejudicial thoughts upon intelligent, thought-provoking individuals. That''s what is so wrong with the world today. Sometimes I even doubt that there can be unbiased juries at all in our court systems. Just because a woman gets implants and goes a little "crazy" after the death of a loved one doesn''t mean that she is capable of murder. Maybe we should instead focus our thoughts on murderers of whom we KNOW for a fact committed heinous crimes against innocent people. Until we know beyond a reasonable doubt that Cynthia Sommer killed her husband, we should refrain from judgment. Also, I applaud jshiver2 for his/her intelligent postings where some very good points were brought up about this case. My heart goes out to both families in this situation. Life must be unbearable for all of them.

[rubypach]

in my opinion she is guilty,a mother of 4 kids killing probably for money lets face it marines don''t make a lot of money.250G=yeah!some people will even kill for 10G and people say shes a mom she wouldn''t kill welcome to the real life many parents don''t care about their kids or they wouldn''t party knowing they have young one who need to be taken care of they would be home taking care of their kids seeing if they needed anything and just taking care of them, being with them period.oh but she put half of it in a trust fund for her kids...so would any person to cover up their tracks, i would be like. money what money. im not interested in money, i put half of in , in a trust fund for my kids, see! ha you see, no one wants to go to jail, no one is stupid.her husband was her shinning armor...lol and a few days later decides to party..i have been with my boyfriend for 2 years!.. two..i know that if he were ever to pass away i would not be partying in tj.it would be hard for me to go out and like someone else right away

[rubypach]

.i don''t see how people can grieve partying thats more like enjoying someone died.125,000=lifesexparty when i heard her 911 calls.so unreal.i love listening to 911 phone calls but if you paid attention to that one it was weird.it sounded like it was acted out.if you haven''t heard it you should listen to it.i can probably make the same voice as her.shes too fake for me to take true.everything she said about that day.how she moved and lost her computer...i mean she said she doesn;t know where it is.how can you lose something like that?making an appointment for new boobs when you don''t have any money only 150 in your bank account.guilty. freak. who loves partying and money , *** more than her children, more than her 250G marine husband.he had a Cardiac Arrhythmia, and his heart stopped at age 23!people''s heart don''t just stop for no reason.they found arsenic in his body more than 1,000 times of what you should have.at this rate it isn''t called cardiac Arrhythmia its called murder.

[rowdytexan2]

How come he had 1,000 times to much arsenic in his system? How did it get there?

How come he was stone cold dead when the paramedics arrived? Did it take them a couple of hours to get there?

And what kind of selfish b***ch would be pressing her husband for $5,000 worth of fake boobs when they had $250 in the bank and four children to feed? Where''s the money he had saved to provide them?

I know it''s a strange world and I certainly haven''t lived in all of it. But in every case of spousal death (sudden, or lengthy illness either one)that I have encountered where two people have truly loved each other, it takes weeks for the spouse left behind to even let go enough to believe they''re not really coming home ever again.

Sounds to me like she had a little test run the week before to see how much it would take. Then delivered the lelthal dose and stood over him and watched him die. But then I''m no expert at all.

At this point, I''ll just pray that justice is served, whichever way it goes.

[sillyhuang09]

The elder woman seems to me a clever, witty, caniving, brutal wife. She married him not because love but for a purpose - catched a naiive, innocent,simple 19 year old young boy.
If not his wife posion him where and how his body organ carried 1000 times storng arsenic? Since the crice secene had been past there is hard to catch the evidents what she did to him this is almost a perfect muder to her. All the signs 100% prove she no one else has the motive to kill that poor boy. I pray the justice return to him, to his loving mother and someone like me soon.
Silly Huang

[al812-2009]

I agree with pcaves in a lot of ways,as a vet myself dealing with the va now for health problems.
The ammount of hands that the evidence had passed through is enough to screw anyone up,keep in mind that sometimes the simplest mistake can ruin a good sample of anything for testing or sway the outcome.There are many ways that arsnic or arsnic traits can show up in a persons body for some unknown reason.If he was on meds and drinking there are certin things that make arsnic in your body,just like carbon monoxide.Bleach and amonia are fine by themselves with in reason.But you mix them to together without knowledge of the outcome will find yourself dead as a rock.When you pass your body creates things that are''nt normally in your system until that point anyway.Why is it always easier to accuss than to go the route and see what happened for sure? The milatary has some good att. granted but as like most people when they think something is a certain way then thats all there is to it.It sounds to me like the prosacuter or the military att. may have influenced the witness''s to say what they felt was a correct way of thinking.Anyone thats been in the military knows that with enough pressure they can get anyone to do or say what they feel needs to be said.The misplacement of a single simple word can make anything seem what it''s not when there is alot of evidence against anyone for any reason.Why would anyone do this well look at it as maybe she rubbed someone wrong in the investigation

[pelostilaho]

At Luke Air Force Base in Arizona lives a widow. She''s the wife of the Air Force Wing Commander whose F-16 crashed in Iraq this time last year.

Instead of partying, painting the town, or purchasing a boob job, she prays, raises her kids, is supported NOT by a bunch of bedmates but by her Church and Military Community.

She misses her husband too - much more sincerely than this honey does.

Granted, there are different ways to express grief. But partying and spending new - blood - money isn''t one of them. This Judge Deddeh has the brains of a gnat. If this babe didn''t kill Todd, then who did? Her new boyfriend? Wonder if there was an investigation of him? At any rate, Cynthia deserves to remain locked in jail.

[luvtrucrime]

as far as the missing computer? yes, it does sound fishy but anyone who''s moved, i''m sure, can attest to the fact that things just go missing. i lost a tv when i moved cross country 4 yrs. ago. what happened to it? i have absolutely no idea.
ok, so this partying widow? well, it just doesn''t spell out murder. she had just lost her husband. she was lonely and ***** - and probably very scared about her future and what she was going to do with 4 kids all alone. perhaps she was just seeking some quick companionship or escaping from the reality of her life. anyone who''s had a 1-night stand knows what those emotions are about.
breast implants? - being an insecure woman with body issues doesn''t make her a killer. obviously there was some feelings of lack in her life and - like most people these days - she was seeking some kind of external solution. she''s only in her 20''s, which makes clear, mature thinking almost an impossibility. i say give this girl a break. as someone else said in thier posting - she has been tried solely on her behaviour after the death of her husband.

[cepe10-2009]

Sounds like Yvonne Sommer the guy''s mother had a grudge to settle and did it by sabotaging the trial during her testimony.... The defense would not have called her.

The evidence is completely underwhelming and inconclusive.

Maybe he knew too much about something...

[dommino02]

i have followed this fromm trial until now i do not see proof of a murder or any evidence of one 1st if you die by arsenic posing it would be in large leves in all his organs and his blood and urine as well we all have arsenic in our system but the tests were flawed and not accepted by the medical community pepole who jude cindy by her behavior are just moral nuts that dress up to go to church on sunday then sin all week long behind closed doors you judge pepole in court on evidence not charter there are a ot of heatheans telling us all how to live how we live is our own choice so just look at the evidence ther is none that is reiable enough to be used in a court of law in this case do not judge this case by what 48 hrs just glossed over the facts do the research and then make up your mind but only look at he evidence if you can find any that is reailable

[dumbfounded5]

I feel like the same thing happened to my brother Todd a couple years ago. I feel his wife poisoned him because he was the picture of health and the next day he was dying. After he died she had him cremated before his body was cold. We as his family had no say in anything after that. We will never know.

[rtclifford]

dommino02
you are an idiot. maybe you should rethink school and spelling. i make light of your education because if you had one, you would know wny arsenic is one of the most popular poisons . . . because it is very hard to detect if you are not looking for it. mothers who suffer from munschhausen by proxy use it to put forth their "sick" children who they wait on hand and foot. it is after the child dies, regretably, that it is discovered that they had ingested arsenic over long periods of time. as for the defendant and that judge . . . ineffective counsel does not mean because you have an ineffective defense STRATEGY that you should get a second bite of the apple . . . that is just plain bu****it. i have known wives like that in my 23 investigative years in the military and guess what, if the ncis looked hard enough they would find out she was "partying hard" when he was deployed and chances might be good that "his" child ain''t (''scuse the english) his. ''nuff said.

[daniel808-2009]

she killed him end of story i hope her implants boobs sag to her knees

[aggiekat2004]

Uh...who was watching the kids while she was out competing in wet t-shirt and thong contests?

[jshiver2]

To cepe10, although I do believe Cynthia is innocent, and I agree about the evidence, I would never speak poorly of Mr. or Mrs. Sommer. She did not do anything to sabotage the trial. She answered the questions she was asked, honestly and openly in my opinion. They have been through more than any parent should be. Please don''t trash her.

To rtclifford, you are just a very rude person.

[zootallures2]

A..... Pictures of Matchstick Women and You? Sell your soul for new t-ts...LOL! You gonna burn b*tch...for a long lnog long long long ...time.

[opedanderson]

You people seem to want to give this woman a break because she is a woman. If a man had his wife die under similar circumstances and behaved that way after her death, he would be waiting to get a needle in his arm.....

[nathan8804-2009]

This girl was a *** before Todd hooked up with her. She had three kids and divorced by 25. Tell me what a 25 year old women wants with a 19 yr old kid? In her case a daddy and stable paycheck. She admits to having *** with several Marine friends of Todd shortly after his death. And in the grieving process attending wet t-shirt/thong contest in Mexico. Sounds like she was really heart broken.

[dommino02]

i see alll heatheans got there 2cents worth in they are not looking at the evidence they are just judge what they saw on 48 hrs which i once though presented both sides of an issue and let it up to the person to come to there own conclussions if the judge was comfortable with the verdict she would be on the way upstate ca. and he had to listen to both sides of this and saw all the evidence he evidently thinks it is a weak case he also mentioned the defense not challangeing that they could not connect her to the arsenic in any way i feel the judge knows the facts better than 48 hrs and the heathens out there i abde by his judgement i do not go to church i belive in a superior power than human intellenge in the universe we gve it the name god because noby knows what controlls the unverise i feel she is innocent until PROVEN guilty which the judge evidently feels the smae way or there would be no re-trial if you look up his record he is pro proscution which gives this decison by him all the more power of having his doubts

[dommino02]

the missing computer was reformated for her daughter by one of the mps that was a friend of hers on the base and todds also get your facts straight

[dommino02]

learn your medicine when you posin someone with arsenic it is found in all the organs and also destories or damages them his organs where in excellent condition after he died i know i can''t spell very well but i listen to the facts and then make my judgements i know a lot abt medince i have gone through a liver transplant and varius other medical problems and have done a lot of reasearch just to stay alive because of what i have been through rember eistein could not tie his own shoes and he his consider a genius

[rudy654-2009]

I am also convinced that she is guilty. Notice the sudden disappearance of the computer. Who loses a computer and just uh, doesn''t know it? Then there is the fake nonsense of doing CPR. As a CPR instructor, I can say that there is no way she could be talking on the phone and doing CPR at the same time. It is exhausting and anyone doing it knows that you don''t stop doing it until the ambulance arrives. So, I believe she did it. I want to feel sorry for her, but just can''t. I wish there was more evidence and I think they could have found it had they tried a little more. However, I honestly believe that they had less evidence in the Scott Peterson case than they do in this case.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by dommino02 at 03:28 PM

You seem to be questioning that this poor fellow was killed by arsenic. Well question no more, because he did and that is a fact. It is also a fact that the only person who could have done it was his so-called wife. Now argue about that, but not that he didn''t die from arsenic. It has been proven that he did.