Caitlin Rother - Poisoned Love

ROSSUM FAMILY

Kristin Rossum, oldest child

Ralph Rossum, father

Constance Rossum, mother

Brent Rossum, middle child

Pierce Rossum, youngest child

DE VILLERS FAMILY

Greg T. de Villers, oldest brother and Kristins husband

Jerome T. de Villers, middle brother

Bertrand T. de Villers, youngest brother

Yves T. de Villers, father

Marie T. de Villers, mother

SAN DIEGO POLICE DEPARTMENT

Detective Laurie Agnew, lead detective on the case

Sergeant Howard Williams, Agnews boss

Detective Jimmy Valle

Detective Felix Zavala

Detective Lynn Rydalch

Detective George Randy Alldredge

UCSD CAMPUS POLICE

Detective Sergeant Bob Jones

Officer Edward Scott Garcia

Officer Bill MacIntyre

Officer Karen Scofield

PROSECUTION TEAM

Deputy District Attorney Dan Goldstein

Deputy District Attorney Dave Hendren

Frank Eaton, investigator

Meredith Dent, paralegal

District Attorney Paul Pfingst

DEFENSE ATTORNEYS

Deputy Public Defender Alex Loebig, Kristins criminal attorney

Deputy Public Defender Vic Eriksen, Kristins criminal attorney

Michael Pancer, private attorney

Gretchen von Helms, fill-in attorney for Pancer

JUDGES

Superior Court Judge John Thompson, criminal trial judge

Superior Court Judge John S. Meyer, civil trial judge

REGIONAL COMPUTER FORENSIC LABORATORY

Bob Petrachek, examiner

MEDICAL EXAMINERS OFFICE

Dr. Brian Blackbourne, chief medical examiner

Lloyd Amborn, office administrator

Michael Robertson, Kristins married lover and boss in toxicology lab

Donald Russ Lowe, toxicologist, did drug audits

Angie Wagner, investigator on Gregs case

Frank Barnhart, Kristins friend and mentor, later changed

jobs to sheriffs crime lab

Cathy Hamm, toxicologist

Ray Gary, toxicologist

Dr. Harry Bonnell, pathologist

Bob Sutton, manager of autopsy exam room

KRISTINS FRIENDS/ADVOCATES

Melissa Prager, high school friend

Chris Elliott, friend

Rick Hogrefe, head of TriLink Biotechnologies

Kelly Christianson, Kristins lab manager at TriLink

Claire Becker, Kristins coworker at TriLink

Jessica Vanella, Kristins coworker at TriLink

Kathy Vanella, Jessicas mother, took Kristin in before trial

GREGS FRIENDS/ADVOCATES

Bill Leger, high school friend

Aaron Wallo, high school friend

Christian Colantoni, high school friend

Stefan Gruenwald, his boss at Orbigen

Terry Huang, office manager at Orbigen

MICHAELS ASSOCIATES

Nicole Robertson, Michaels wife

Dan Anderson, supervising toxicologist in Los Angeles

County coroners office

Chuck Goldberg, Michaels criminal attorney

ATTORNEYS FOR APPEAL

Lynda Romero, Kristins criminal appellate attorney Deputy Attorney

General Niki Shaffer, states appellate attorney

ATTORNEYS IN CIVIL CASE

Craig McClellan, de Villers familys attorney

John Gomez, de Villers familys attorney

Cindy Lane, de Villers familys attorney

Michael Gardiner, Michael Robertsons attorney

Walter Tribbey, Kristins attorney

Deborah McCarthy, attorney for San Diego County

It was a Monday morning, November 6, 2000, when Stefan Gruenwald pulled up to the building his small biotech company shared with three others. He was surprised to see that his licensing manager wasnt at his desk, making calls.

Typically, Greg de Villers had already started his day by the time his boss arrived. He was a dependable guy. Meticulous, diligent, and a team player to boot. Gruenwald had known Greg since hed hired him several years earlier at another biotech company. After Gruenwald left to start his own business, he lured Greg away to work for him.

Greg was one of only eight employees at Orbigen, so it didnt take long for Gruenwald to poke his head in each office to ask if anyone had seen Greg that morning. They hadnt. Greg was rarely late, and when he was, he always called to let Gruenwald know. Hed never missed a day of work without calling.

Gruenwald wondered if Greg was having car problems. Maybe hed broken down somewhere. Greg had no cell phone, so around 10:10 A.M ., Gruenwald called the apartment in the San Diego neighborhood of University City, where Greg lived with Kristin Rossum, his pretty, petite, blond wife of seventeen months. He let it ring for a while. But no one picked up.

Although Greg tended not to socialize with his coworkers after hours, he did drink a Coke or a beer with them at the occasional TGIF gatherings, and Gruenwald had worked with him long enough to feel that he knew Greg pretty well. Greg had good manners and was liked by his colleagues, who thought he was a nice guy and a bit of a health nut. Hed gone on a fishing trip with them to Mexico once but said he was anxious to get home to Kristin rather than go out for drinks on the way back. She, his two brothers, and the small circle of close friends hed made over the years were the people with whom he liked to spend his spare time.

Greg wasnt the kind of outgoing guy who got noticed in a crowd for his strong personality. He was more of an easygoing, middle-of-the-road kind of guy, a little on the shy side around new people and somewhat soft-spoken. Kristin, on the other hand, had more of an allure, especially when it came to men. Greg really seemed to be in love with her, always rushing home to eat one of her special dinners and watch a video. The only time Gruenwald had seen Greg stay late at the office was the week in early October, when Kristin went to a conference in Milwaukee. Kristin worked as a toxicologist at the San Diego County Medical Examiners Office, where she conducted tests to determine what drugs may have caused suspicious or sudden deaths.