but it was out of her control. She wasn’t getting what she needed emotionally from Greg, and Michael felt the same way about his relationship with his wife, Nicole.
Kristin and Michael quickly developed a close bond of friendship, sharing their feelings, their frustrations, and their dreams with each other. They soon realized they were kindred spirits, both in marriages with partners who did not share their values, beliefs, goals, or interests. She and Michael, she wrote, were “inspired by art and love reading, [and] we share a passion for music.” They also realized they had something else in common that was very dear to Kristin: They were both “die-hard romantics.”
“We just shared so many philosophies on what it means to have a good life; what is important in life; basic, fundamental ideals,” Kristin wrote as she traced back her feelings months later. She described Michael as “witty, charming, intelligent, and handsome,” saying she admired him and was inspired by him and his professional accomplishments. He made her feel thrilled to go to work.
“I realized that I really loved him and was truly in love with him,” she wrote.
And the feeling was mutual.
Michael already had a history of extramarital flirtations, at least one of which led to an affair. When he first started working in San Diego, a woman from Pennsylvania frequently used to call the lab. He would speak to her in low tones so no one else could hear. She and Michael communicated by e-mail at least through March 2000.
The woman sent Michael an e-mail on March 17, saying she wished she had more photos of the two of them. She wrote that she could look at photos of him all day and wished she could hang one up at work, but then everyone would know about them. She said she’d even take one to work on a Saturday so she could look at it, but she never worked alone. She added that she would try to call him from work one morning when no one else was around, because the weekends were rough when she couldn’t talk to him. It drove her crazy, particularly if she was at home without enough to do.
“Am I pathetic or what,” she wrote. “You probably think I’m crazy and obsessed.”
On March 27, she sent Michael another e-mail, thanking him for writing her every day while she was in the hospital, even when she wasn’t there to receive his notes. She had just reread all of his recent e-mails and realized she’d missed a “get well” card from him.
“Some days I don’t know which is worse, the pain in my side from the operation or the pain in my heart from missing you so much,” she wrote.
Michael told some of his friends about his extramarital activities, but others knew nothing about them and thought he was happily married.
Dan Anderson, a fellow toxicologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, fell into the latter group. He and Michael were both members of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT), an organization formed in 1970 for the “express purpose of promoting understanding and goodwill” among professionals in their shared field. The two men first met in 1996 at a SOFT conference in Denver.
“We drummed around a little bit in Denver, and we became friends,” Anderson said. “He was a really nice guy.”
While Anderson and Michael were on a bus, Michael told him how he’d met the love of his life in Australia—his wife, Nicole—who came with him to the United States. Anderson got the feeling that they were married after only a few months of knowing each other. Nicole worked as an auditor of medical research.
The two men met up at another five-day SOFT conference in October 1999. This one was held at a resort in Puerto Rico, so both of their wives came along and made it a vacation. Cocktails were expensive, so Anderson and his wife invited a bunch of friends, including Michael and Nicole, to party in their room. They bought a blender, a few cases of beer, and fixings for banana daiquiris at Wal-Mart, filled their bathtub with ice and spent most of the time partying. They would lie by the pool or play volleyball during the day and go out to restaurants at night, piling far too many people into their rental car.
Anderson thought that Nicole, whom he described as about five-feet-five-inches and sandy blond, was a pretty girl with a bubbly personality. She and Michael were affectionate with each other and seemed happy together, although Michael did confide in Anderson that she was very insecure and constantly needed reaffirmation of his feelings for her.
While they were in Puerto Rico, Michael told Anderson he was getting ready to leave Pennsylvania and was hopeful after interviewing for a job in San Diego.
The next month Anderson attended a California Association of Toxicologists (CAT) conference at a hotel on Shelter Island in San Diego. He saw an attractive blond girl working at the registration table and asked a colleague who she was. He was told that she was Kristin Rossum, a student worker at the local Medical Examiner’s Office who was helping out toxicologists Russ Lowe and Cathy Hamm, the conference hosts.
Anderson gave a talk that afternoon titled “Basic Drugs: Extractions, Methods and New Drugs.” The day’s agenda also included a presentation on services offered by the poison control system.
Anderson didn’t actually meet Kristin until the state toxicologists’ conference in May 2000, which was held at the Holiday Inn in North Hollywood. Kristin came with Michael, her new boss, who gave a talk on the pharmacology of rave drugs entitled “Why all the RAVE?”
During his presentation, Michael described the history, street names, effects, and chemical makeup of drugs such as ecstasy, methamphetamine, mushrooms, LSD, GHB, ketamine, also known as Special K, and the date-rape drugs Rohypnol and clonazepam.
He said methamphetamine was first made in 1919 from amphetamine and was currently available for the treatment of obesity. It was used in World War II by the military to keep the soldiers alert in the United States, Japan, and Germany. Hitler was reported to be a meth abuser.
In 1997, he said, 4.4 percent of high school seniors had used crystal meth, compared to 2.7 percent in 1990. He said the drug caused symptoms such as dilated pupils, constriction of blood vessels, hypothermia, and hot and clammy skin.
Anderson hosted the conference. And because he knew that Michael was temporarily working without pay at his new job, Anderson invited Michael a month or two in advance to share a hotel room. Initially, Michael had accepted, but when Anderson saw him the first day, Michael said he didn’t need the room after all.
That night a group of toxicologists went to dinner at Universal CityWalk, near Universal Studios in Hollywood. Anderson sat between Kristin and Michael at the bar but didn’t notice anything going on. Later that night, two female colleagues told Anderson they noticed an obvious attraction between Kristin and Michael. They saw her flirting and giving him the eye.
Anderson was in denial about it at first and didn’t put it all together until later. “I think they were sleeping together at that conference,” he said.
Based on e-mails that Michael sent right after the conference to a friend in Australia and shortly thereafter to Kristin, Anderson appeared to be correct.
On Tuesday, May 9, Michael wrote to a female friend asking for advice. Yes, he said, he knew he was married, but he’d met a woman in the lab who’d swept him off his feet, calling it “déjà vu again.”
“She, too, is married, and the feelings between us are mutual, both very confused and both trying hard to find a solution,” he wrote.
Despite Nicole’s mood swings and emotional issues, he told her, he’d thought he was happy with his wife.
