Addicted To Love

A Plastic Surgeon's Risky Affair With A Patient Turns Deadly

(CBS)  Investigators now believe it was Koulis who introduced Lesa to the idea of using drugs to enhance their sexual encounters.

"I don't think there's a shred of evidence that she was a drug addict," Anderson says. The detective, like Lesa's family, believes Lesa only used drugs when Dr. Koulis gave them to her.

But Koulis claims he knew Lesa better than anyone, and like it or not, he says she was a drug addict. "She had certain demons, just like we all do. And one of them was drug abuse," he claims.

Koulis says Lesa hid her IV drug use by injecting herself in concealed areas of her body like her groin.

But detectives aren't buying it. And after a five-month long investigation, Christ Koulis is arrested and charged with murder. They say he supplied the drugs, injected her, and that he is responsible for Lesa's death.

Charged with killing his girlfriend Lesa, Koulis faces the possibility of spending the next 25 years in prison. But he says he’s innocent.

The autopsy concluded that Lesa died of an overdose of oxycodone. During the search of her apartment, detectives found only one mostly intact oxycodone pill, but the used syringes contained crushed pills and liquid, mixed into a slush.

Prosecutors say Lesa was injected with that slush at least three times that weekend. And in Koulis' travel bag, detectives found an unopened 18-guage needle, the same kind that had been used.

Koulis is not only accused of injecting Lesa with the drugs, but of supplying them as well. Despite his denials, he is about to be put on trial facing four charges, ranging from simple assault to second degree murder.

"The evidence supports the fact that it was this defendant who was injecting Lesa Buchanan with that oxycodone mixture," argues Kim Helper, who is prosecuting Koulis.

"So what does the evidence show? It shows he didn't do it," says defense attorney Lee Ofman. "From the facts I could not see how he could be convicted of anything."

But prosecutors are convinced they have a strong circumstantial case, thanks in part to a small video cassette detectives found in Lesa's apartment. "They had videotaped these sex acts all weekend long," Anderson says.

It documents the final hours of Lesa's life and provides clues to her death. The tape is disturbingly graphic, and in some scenes Lesa seems barely conscious. So the jurors from this fairly religious and conservative southern city must sit through a screening of the entire two hours of the sex tape in open court.

"That video clearly showed she enjoyed what she was doing. She participated willingly," says Ofman.

Koulis' attorneys believe the tape is more damaging to Lesa than to their client. "I think the prosecution made a mistake in trying to portray her as just a victim with no fault. Because clearly she was not," Ofman says.

But prosecutors are convinced Koulis injected Lesa with drugs to control and dominate her.

The tape does not show who gave Lesa the injections. On the tape, Lesa is seen holding gauze against her groin, covering fresh injection marks. Incriminating evidence, prosecutors say, against Koulis.

"The evidence on the video clearly shows Christ Koulis clearly being aware of those pads and the presence of syringes," prosecutor Kim Helper says.

On the tape, Koulis can be heard telling Lesa to apply pressure to the area to stop some bleeding. But he maintains Lesa injected herself in the groin that weekend, and that it's quite easy to do.