SAN DIEGO (Jan. 30) - In the weeks after Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer collapsed in his bedroom and died, his widow lived like a woman set free, hosting loud parties at their home and using his $250,000 death benefit to finance breast implants and shopping sprees.
That was enough to arouse the suspicion of military investigators who refused to accept that the 23-year-old died of natural causes - and enough for a jury to convict Cynthia Sommer on Tuesday of murdering her husband with arsenic to get the cash.
The jury also found Sommer, 33, guilty of special circumstances counts of poisoning and murder for financial gain, meaning she will be automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Sommer may appeal the verdict after her March 23 sentencing.
Prosecutors argued that Sommer wanted a more luxurious lifestyle than she could afford on her husband's $1,700 monthly salary and saw the life insurance money as a way to "set herself free."
"We have somebody in the end who was not acting aggrieved at the death of her husband," said Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn told reporters after the verdict.
Sommer stared silently ahead as the verdict was read but wept briefly into her hands after the jury filed out.
In the court's spectator area, her mother burst into tears at the verdict and sobbed. Family members left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
The members of the jury also did not to talk to reporters.
"I'm deeply disappointed," defense attorney Robert Udell said after the verdict. "I don't believe Cindy killed Todd."
Of his client, he said, "She's quite stunned."
During the trial, Udell told the jury repeatedly returned to the absence of any paper trail linking Sommer to the arsenic.
With no proof that Sommer was the source of the arsenic detected in her husband's liver, Gunn relied heavily on circumstantial evidence of Sommer's financial debt and later spending sprees to show that she had a motive to kill her 23-year-old husband.
Todd Sommer was in top condition when he collapsed and died at the couple's home at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego on Feb. 18, 2002.
His death was initially ruled a heart attack.
Cynthia Sommer's friends and co-workers testified during the trial that she threw wild parties, got her breasts enlarged and had casual sex with multiple partners in the weeks after her husband's collapse.
Her in-laws testified that she initially objected when they asked her to put the bulk of the $250,000 death benefit in trust for herself, their baby and her three children from a previous marriage.
Gunn asserted that the defendant was the only person with the motive and access to poison the Marine.
"It's not a case where there was a one big smoking gun," Gunn said after the verdict.
Gunn said she had few qualms about prosecuting the case after heavy-metals testing by military labs more than a year after the Marine's death found levels of arsenic 1,020 times above normal.
"From the outset, the fact is that everybody thought it was a natural death," she said. "For so many years, the defendant really did in many respects get away with it."
Todd Sommer spiked a 103-degree fever and visited an urgent care clinic on base complaining of gastrointestinal pain a week before his death.
Cynthia Sommer was extradited last March to California from her current home in West Palm Beach, Fla.
WTF!!!!!!!!
What the hell is this?
Moderator: Priests of Syrinx
-
Walkinghairball
- Posts: 25037
- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:42 pm
- Location: In a rock an roll venue near you....as long as you are in the Pacific Northwest.
What the hell is this?
This space for rent
Re: What the hell is this?
That makes me want to hurl Bro.Walkinghairball wrote:SAN DIEGO (Jan. 30) - In the weeks after Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer collapsed in his bedroom and died, his widow lived like a woman set free, hosting loud parties at their home and using his $250,000 death benefit to finance breast implants and shopping sprees.
That was enough to arouse the suspicion of military investigators who refused to accept that the 23-year-old died of natural causes - and enough for a jury to convict Cynthia Sommer on Tuesday of murdering her husband with arsenic to get the cash.
The jury also found Sommer, 33, guilty of special circumstances counts of poisoning and murder for financial gain, meaning she will be automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Sommer may appeal the verdict after her March 23 sentencing.
Prosecutors argued that Sommer wanted a more luxurious lifestyle than she could afford on her husband's $1,700 monthly salary and saw the life insurance money as a way to "set herself free."
"We have somebody in the end who was not acting aggrieved at the death of her husband," said Deputy District Attorney Laura Gunn told reporters after the verdict.
Sommer stared silently ahead as the verdict was read but wept briefly into her hands after the jury filed out.
In the court's spectator area, her mother burst into tears at the verdict and sobbed. Family members left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
The members of the jury also did not to talk to reporters.
"I'm deeply disappointed," defense attorney Robert Udell said after the verdict. "I don't believe Cindy killed Todd."
Of his client, he said, "She's quite stunned."
During the trial, Udell told the jury repeatedly returned to the absence of any paper trail linking Sommer to the arsenic.
With no proof that Sommer was the source of the arsenic detected in her husband's liver, Gunn relied heavily on circumstantial evidence of Sommer's financial debt and later spending sprees to show that she had a motive to kill her 23-year-old husband.
Todd Sommer was in top condition when he collapsed and died at the couple's home at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego on Feb. 18, 2002.
His death was initially ruled a heart attack.
Cynthia Sommer's friends and co-workers testified during the trial that she threw wild parties, got her breasts enlarged and had casual sex with multiple partners in the weeks after her husband's collapse.
Her in-laws testified that she initially objected when they asked her to put the bulk of the $250,000 death benefit in trust for herself, their baby and her three children from a previous marriage.
Gunn asserted that the defendant was the only person with the motive and access to poison the Marine.
"It's not a case where there was a one big smoking gun," Gunn said after the verdict.
Gunn said she had few qualms about prosecuting the case after heavy-metals testing by military labs more than a year after the Marine's death found levels of arsenic 1,020 times above normal.
"From the outset, the fact is that everybody thought it was a natural death," she said. "For so many years, the defendant really did in many respects get away with it."
Todd Sommer spiked a 103-degree fever and visited an urgent care clinic on base complaining of gastrointestinal pain a week before his death.
Cynthia Sommer was extradited last March to California from her current home in West Palm Beach, Fla.
WTF!!!!!!!!
Evil Bitch. Someone.... PLEASE....
....remove her from the gene pool.
Don't start none...won't be none.
Do you like to read a good murder mystery?
Not even Law and Order would attempt to capture THIS mess.
What a unbelievable twist of fate...
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS
President Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal
complications of a bizarre death.
Here is the story:
On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus
and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opus
had jumped from the top of a ten story building intending to commit
suicide.
He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell
past the ninth floor his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast
passing through a window, which killed him instantly.
Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net
had been installed just below the eight floor level to protect
building workers, and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to
complete his suicide the way he had planned.
"Ordinarily," Dr. Milles continued, "Someone who sets out to commit
suicide and ultimately succeeds, even thought the mechanism might not
be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide." That
Mr. Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not
have been successful because of the safety net, caused the Medical
Examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands.
The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was
occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing
vigorously, and he was threatening her with a shotgun. The man was
so upset that, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his
wife and the shotgun blast went through the window striking Mr. Opus.
(When one intends to kill subject "A" and kills subject "B" in the
attempt, one is guilty of murder of subject "B.")
When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife
were both adamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was
not loaded. (The old man said it was a long standing habit to
threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun.) He had no intention
to murder her.
Therefore, the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that
is, assuming the gun had been accidentally loaded. The continuing
investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son
loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident.
It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial
support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the
shotgun threateningly, loaded the shotgun - with the expectation
that his father would shoot his mother. (Since the loader of the gun
was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder - even thought he did
not actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of murder on
the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.)
Now Comes The "Twist"
Further investigation revealed that the son was in fact, Ronald Opus.
He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt
to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten
story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast
passed through the ninth story window.
The son had actually murdered himself, so the medical examiner
closed the case as a suicide.
Not even Law and Order would attempt to capture THIS mess.
What a unbelievable twist of fate...
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS
President Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal
complications of a bizarre death.
Here is the story:
On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus
and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opus
had jumped from the top of a ten story building intending to commit
suicide.
He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell
past the ninth floor his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast
passing through a window, which killed him instantly.
Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net
had been installed just below the eight floor level to protect
building workers, and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to
complete his suicide the way he had planned.
"Ordinarily," Dr. Milles continued, "Someone who sets out to commit
suicide and ultimately succeeds, even thought the mechanism might not
be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide." That
Mr. Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not
have been successful because of the safety net, caused the Medical
Examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands.
The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was
occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing
vigorously, and he was threatening her with a shotgun. The man was
so upset that, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his
wife and the shotgun blast went through the window striking Mr. Opus.
(When one intends to kill subject "A" and kills subject "B" in the
attempt, one is guilty of murder of subject "B.")
When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife
were both adamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was
not loaded. (The old man said it was a long standing habit to
threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun.) He had no intention
to murder her.
Therefore, the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that
is, assuming the gun had been accidentally loaded. The continuing
investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son
loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident.
It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial
support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the
shotgun threateningly, loaded the shotgun - with the expectation
that his father would shoot his mother. (Since the loader of the gun
was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder - even thought he did
not actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of murder on
the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.)
Now Comes The "Twist"
Further investigation revealed that the son was in fact, Ronald Opus.
He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt
to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten
story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast
passed through the ninth story window.
The son had actually murdered himself, so the medical examiner
closed the case as a suicide.
Don't start none...won't be none.
-
Walkinghairball
- Posts: 25037
- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:42 pm
- Location: In a rock an roll venue near you....as long as you are in the Pacific Northwest.
Re: What the hell is this?
My maiden name is SOMMER!!!Walkinghairball wrote:SAN DIEGO (Jan. 30) - In the weeks after Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer collapsed in his bedroom and died, his widow lived like a woman set free, hosting loud parties at their home and using his $250,000 death benefit to finance breast implants and shopping sprees.
Watch out everyone, especially you, RF... You know how I am about my true crime... Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
I don't have faith in faith, I don't believe in belief, You can call me faithless, I still cling to hope, And I believe in love, And that's faith enough for me... Neil Peart
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Big Blue Owl
- Posts: 7457
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:31 am
- Location: Somewhere between the darkness and the light
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Walkinghairball
- Posts: 25037
- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:42 pm
- Location: In a rock an roll venue near you....as long as you are in the Pacific Northwest.
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rushfanfla
- Posts: 104
- Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 10:26 pm
- Location: New Jersey - right next to PV
Re: What the hell is this?
So this is my first post after moving in with PV?PV wrote:My maiden name is SOMMER!!!Walkinghairball wrote:SAN DIEGO (Jan. 30) - In the weeks after Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer collapsed in his bedroom and died, his widow lived like a woman set free, hosting loud parties at their home and using his $250,000 death benefit to finance breast implants and shopping sprees.
Watch out everyone, especially you, RF... You know how I am about my true crime... Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
I may never sleep the same again!
