Why a Military Wife Sought $20 Million After Being Convicted of Poisoning Her Husband

U.S. Marine Sgt. Todd Sommer was just 23 years old when he died unexpectedly after collapsing in the bedroom of the home he shared with his wife, Cynthia Sommer, on the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego. The events that followed February 18, 2002, would initially paint Cynthia as a bored military wife who would do just about anything for financial freedom—but the truth was far more complicated than that.

The morning of Todd’s death, Cynthia called 911 to report that her husband had fallen and was turning blue. Paramedics arriving on the scene were able to revive Todd, but he died at a nearby hospital soon after in what was initially ruled to be a heart attack. The Armed Forces medical examiner stated that he died of natural causes and attributed the cause of his death to cardiac arrhythmia. 

Almost immediately after she suddenly became a widow, then-28-year-old Cynthia began throwing parties at the home she previously shared with Todd. Authorities said that she would show off her newly augmented breasts—which were paid for using the proceeds from her late husband’s $250,000 life insurance policy—to her Marine wife guests and at a wet T-shirt contest at a bar. The mother of four started dating another Marine two months after Todd’s death. 

Testing on tissue samples taken from Todd’s body in May 2003 revealed the presence of a level of arsenic—a naturally occurring toxic chemical found most commonly in groundwater, wood preservatives and some pesticides—that was 1,020 times higher than normal, according to testimony. The case was reclassified as a homicide and the San Diego County Medical Examiner updated Todd’s cause of death to acute arsenic poisoning.

Cynthia was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for financial gain and murder by poison in November 2005. NCIS agent Rob Terwilliger said in a court statement that the widow was the only suspect with the motive or access to kill Todd. 

In January 2007, a jury convicted Cynthia of poisoning her husband, and she faced a sentence of life in prison without parole. Prosecutor Laura Gunn admitted in a post-trial news conference that it was “not the kind of case where there was one big smoking gun” in the form of direct evidence, per the Union-Tribune. Still, Gunn felt “pleased the jury saw it the way we saw it.” 

As the prosecutors saw it, Cynthia had killed her husband to collect his life insurance policy and survivor benefits in order to live the sort of life she’d dreamed of. But after her conviction, Cynthia retained a new attorney who pushed for a new trial in light of questions raised over the AFIP’s lab results that pegged Todd’s death to arsenic poisoning. 

As noted by the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE), NCIS investigators had consulted with Alphonse Poklis, a board-certified forensic toxicologist and arsenic poisoning expert, in October 2003. Poklis told investigators that the AFIP results finding elevated levels of arsenic “didn’t make any sense” and were “false.” Poklis also testified on behalf of the defense in Cynthia’s trial. He said that of the six samples tested by AFIP, only two indicated a high level of arsenic, while the other four—as well as blood and urine samples—all tested negative for the chemical, indicating that the arsenic-positive samples were likely contaminated. Additionally, Poklis argued that Todd’s medical records did not indicate he was particularly sick in the days leading up to his death, which was also inconsistent with arsenic poisoning.

Todd was feeling ill and had gone to a medical clinic where he was diagnosed with gastroenteritis on February 10, 2002—about a week before his death. He went back to work from February 13 through February 15. On February 16, Todd was feeling well enough to ride a Knotts Berry Farm roller coaster with his family. 

In November 2007, before Cynthia was sentenced, San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh vacated Cynthia’s conviction. Deddeh granted her a new trial after ruling that Cynthia had received ineffective representation by her previous attorney, who had allowed evidence concerning her behavior after her husband’s death to enter into the case. A new round of testing on samples from Todd’s body found no evidence of arsenic poisoning in March 2008. The next month, prosecutors requested that the court dismiss the charges against Cynthia due to the new testing; she was released from custody after more than two years behind bars.

“I knew that eventually—one way or another, that I would be free,” Cynthia told NBC News after her 2008 release. “...You can’t lose hope, and you can’t stop fighting.”

Cynthia sought compensation from the State of California under Penal Code Section 4900, but her claim was denied in August 2009. The next month, Cynthia filed a $20 million lawsuit against the federal government, NCIS agents, the San Diego District Attorney and others alleging that prosecutors and investigators had “violated her civil rights by investigating, arresting and charging her with murder despite knowing or having reason to know that the evidence against her was false and fabricated.” Four years later, Cynthia’s lawsuit was dismissed. “The evidence does not support plaintiff’s theory that NCIS agents fabricated evidence or knowingly withheld evidence that they understood to be exculpatory,” U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo wrote in her ruling “There is no evidence showing NCIS willfully acted in a wrongful manner.”