A Mother's Grief

When police first told Thelma of Mark's lies, she says she regarded them as "ludicrous."

"That was probably the biggest shock I have ever received in my life. We had lived that lie with him for so long," says Thelma, who has known Mark for about 10 years. She says Mark treated Lori "like she was something precious to him."

"Everybody that knew the two of them would say that they adored each other," Thelma says. "They were in love. There was no question in our minds or in my mind, especially…I have thought back—tried to think of things that she might have said that would have been a warning…There was nothing."

Thelma saw Mark in the hospital the day after her meeting with police.

"I just walked around up to him and put my arms around him like that and I said, 'Oh, Mark. Didn't you know that my love for you wasn't dependent on your becoming a doctor? Didn't you know that I loved you because of the way you treated Lori and because you were so good to me?"

"And then he…shook my shoulders. Promised me twice. 'I promise. I promise I had nothing to do with this,' he said."