The Cyanide Killer
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Some people get on a plane and they skip town. Go to the other side of the world. It's almost a cat and mouse game. A lot of countries, a lot of miles, and that's where a lot of this starts.

I've been working international fugitives with the FBI about 26 years. We've arrested a lot of bad guys. It pumps up your adrenaline. This is a once-in-a-lifetime case, and it was certainly one of the tougher ones I ever worked on. When first responders arrived at the scene of Rosie's car accident, they found her on the brink of unconsciousness, slumped in the driver's side seat, clutching her open cell phone. She was trying to call her husband.

Yazeed Issa was what every woman dreams of, of the perfect man. Hello. Doctor, businessman. Piercing blue eyes. A beautiful house, beautiful wife. She was the last person in the world you'd ever think this would happen to. Rosie was rushed to the hospital. She went unconscious and died shortly after that. Her death immediately was suspicious because she didn't suffer any physical injuries from her car accident. His life crumbled.

His wife's dead. And he was gone. Boom. We gotta get out of here. Poof. He's gone. Bye-bye! He fled the country before the coroner had even ruled that her death was a homicide. It was much more than a car accident. He was spotted in Toronto, Syria. He was in Lebanon. Why are you hiding? And why don't you care about the amount of pain that you're causing to this entire family? He lived a double life.

Family man on one side, playboy on the other. It causes you to ask yourself how well you can ever know someone else. There is so much spin in this case. He fled the country. He's got to be guilty. But when you look at this very closely, I think you see something completely different. He got scared to death. He's not a killer.

He had finances. He had people he knew overseas. The more we dug into it, we knew Issa would be a tough guy to catch. It was nice when it finally came to an end and we could actually say we have this guy in custody. Now we're sitting next to him on a plane. I'm thinking at that point, you're going to court. It was a long road, but you're going to court. FBI Special Agent Phil Torsney remembers the moment in January 2009 when this cell phone video was taken.

the moment a three-year international manhunt came to an end. That guy is Dr. Yazeed Issa, charged with the mysterious murder of his wife Rosemary in Cleveland, Ohio. Her family has been waiting ever since to hear the truth about what happened to her. I think we got a beautiful future together. And her husband's odyssey in five countries.

forged documents, foreign prisons, safe houses, and secret affairs. It's a story Issa's friends say is too bizarre to believe. If you were to watch this in a movie, you wouldn't even believe that this

It's also a story his lawyers, Stephen Bradley and Mark Marine believe is too bizarre to be true. - A cold-blooded, calculated, intentional killing. - Two months before Yazeed Issa goes to court, they're conducting a mock trial. - The defendant is not guilty. Raise your hand. - I think it was pretty powerful. Mission accomplished.

It's a high-stakes mission in a case that Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Leila Atassi says has taken on a high profile, too. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone in the greater Cleveland area who hasn't heard of this case. Just the mere mention of the last name Issa will dredge up, you know, at least details, shadowy details of what happened. What happened to Rosie tore a hole in her tight-knit family.

Parents Rocco and Gigi still host their kids and grandkids for supper most Sunday nights. She was a friend of our family. Rosie's brother Dominic, an attorney, says she always loved a good dinner time debate. Rosie called a spade a spade. She never let my head get too big. And he says his little sister never missed a chance to look out for others. Rosie always rooted for the underdog.

That calling led Rosie to become a nurse at Cleveland's now defunct Mount Sinai Hospital. She was on ER rotation in 1995 when she met a dashing young doctor named Yazeed Issa.

Everyone knew him as Yaz. And so I said, "Well, who's this guy Yaz everybody's talking about?" Dr. Bob Kadar became Yaz Issa's best friend. He was very funny. He had kind of a "I don't care" attitude. Smart. Yes. Skilled physician. Yes.

Yaz always wanted to be a doctor and he wanted to be a successful businessman. Yaz's brother Firas says growing up in a Palestinian-American family, they learned about life on the mean streets of Detroit before they moved to Cleveland in 1988 for Yaz to go to med school. As if Yaz wasn't busy enough with his studies, he and Firas started a beeper business. They would eventually own a satellite TV company worth millions.

He was the kind that made everyone laugh. He made everyone feel comfortable. I mean, he even charmed my dog groomer. Alexandra Herrera wasn't looking for love when she met Yazeed Issa at work in the hospital in 1995. But she found his lust for life impossible to resist. So you were drawn to him? Very drawn to him.

Within months, they were living together, but about a year later, she began to suspect he was seeing someone else. Sure enough, one day while she wasn't home, Yaz suddenly packed up and left. There was a letter that said that he wasn't my bitch anymore.

I remember asking, "What is it about this new person in your life that is so special?" And that person was Rosemary? That person was Rosemary.

She says Yaz couldn't stand her suspicions and told her and Rosie he found someone who didn't ask questions. Renounce you husband and wife. About a year later, Rosie and Yazeed got married. It was September 11, 1999. There's many years of happiness. Congratulations. Welcome to the family. The next year they had a son, Armand.

and a daughter Lena two years after that. Lena's swimming. She liked being a mom? She loved being a mom. It's all she ever wanted. She was so happy being a mother. Her sister-in-law Julie says they seemed to have it all. A comfortable home, loving marriage, two beautiful children, and even planning a third. But tragedy struck on February 24, 2005. At about 2:00 p.m., Rosie left home to meet her sister for a movie.

She was driving slowly down, headed westbound. She was only driving about 10 miles an hour when at this intersection, she had a fender bender with another car, and her near perfect life came to a bizarre halt. Her eyes were still open, and her chest was gurgling, and she was just slumped there clutching her cell phone.

I drove 100 miles an hour to the hospital thinking it was bad, and I was praying the whole way that she would, that it wouldn't be bad.

But it was bad. Rosie was pronounced dead at 3:02 p.m., an almost impossible reality for her family because she was just 38, otherwise healthy. And her brother Rocky says she didn't have a scratch on her. I mean, my father was right at Rosie's head. He was just cradling her. And my mom was on one side, I was on the other side. You know, it was chaotic. It was so emotional.

As more relatives gathered, Yaz stood quietly apart. His behavior struck everyone as strange. Just kind of like this, like this, rocking against the wall, all upset. And you know, and he just kind of-- we made eye contact, and he just kind of shook his head. Yaz said he had no idea how Rosie could have died. Nobody else did either. But one thing was clear. It was obvious to everybody in the room. I mean, clearly she didn't die in the car accident.

Now, Yazeed Issa is about to go on trial for murder. - This is gonna be contentious. - Sir, listen to my questions. - Gonna be a ball-busting, down-in-the-trenches trial. - I had a romantic relationship with him. - He had engaged in sexual relations? - Yes.

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On January 25th, 2010, nearly five years after Rosemarie Issa's mysterious death... She's right here, always. She's right with us. ...testimony in her husband's murder trial is about to begin. All rise for the jury, ladies and gentlemen.

His lawyers have honed their arguments in that mock trial. And let me begin by saying that... Now they're ready for the real one. Let me begin by saying that the death of Rosemarie Issa is senseless and certainly tragic. Whole life's on the line here, so naturally there's a lot of anxiety. Right away, defense attorney Stephen Bradley and prosecutor Steve Dever begin a battle to define Yazeed Issa for the jury.

What we're going to do is present to you a picture of a narcissistic sociopath who calculated an evil plan to kill his wife. There was no motive whatsoever for him to have committed this crime. The state calls Julie DiPuccio. As the state presents its case... This was an unbelievable shock. Rosie's family is forced to relive that horrible day in the hospital. I saw my husband Dominic waiting outside.

of the emergency room. He told me that she didn't make it. Julie remembers that Yaz remained distant as the DiPuccios gathered later that evening, a gathering that took a chilling turn about two hours later when Dominic got a phone call from Rosie's best friend, Eva McGregor. And I told her Rosie died. And the first words out of her mouth were, "Oh my God, that son of a bitch, he killed her."

Eva told him Rosie had called her that same afternoon from the car on the way to the movies. Now, five years later, she tells the jury the same story. Yazeed had insisted Rosie take calcium supplements that morning.

Eva immediately suspected he tampered with those capsules and testifies she confronted him at Rosie's funeral. And I said, "Could there have been something wrong with the calcium pill?" I didn't know what was in the pill, but I wanted to make sure everybody knew that he gave it to me. I was really struggling with believing that he had anything to do with it. Every time I saw him, "Are you all right? What do you need? I'm fine. Everything's fine."

In retrospect, Dominic says, Yazd seemed fine much too soon. He refused the family's offers of help with the kids and instead hired a pair of nannies, Margarita Montanez and Michelle Madeline. He was sexually active with other partners throughout his marriage. Detective Gary McKee began investigating the strange case for the Highland Heights Police Department soon after Rosie died and discovered Yazd's nannies were taken care of more

than the children. We did not know that they were his girlfriends. What was your reaction? It was disgusting. I mean, because those women were in the house within days of her dying. Back in court, one of those women, Nanny Margarita Montanez, tells the jury she met Yazeed at one of his beeper stores and started sleeping with him in 2001 while both of them were married. Yazeed asked me out for drinks at the Winking Lizard.

and we went to Motel 6 after. He kissed me and it progressed from there. Yazeed's other nanny, Michelle Madeline, is still struggling to put the relationship behind her and asked the judge to prohibit the media from showing her face on the witness stand. Were you falling in love with him?

Eventually, yes. They tell each other they love each other. There are trips taken together. There are flowers sent. Michelle testifies she also became involved with Yazeed before Rosie died. They worked together at the hospital, but would meet regularly on Wednesday nights in an apartment he kept upstairs from his satellite TV office. Did the defendant describe to you then what was...

wrong with his relationship with Rosie. He wasn't in love with her. He would say she was a good person, but she was cold. He would call her a manna. A manna. What does that mean? The refrigerator brand. But Firas Issa says Yazeed only cared for his wife and children. There were no problems in the marriage? Not that I was aware of. He's happy in his marriage, but at the same time, he continues to have all of these sexual affairs? Yeah. Do you know whether Rosemarie...

Until now, Farras has done everything he could to protect his brother at any cost. But in court and under oath, he's about to be caught in a lie. No.

But prosecutors introduced evidence recorded on prison phone lines that the Issa brothers did discuss exactly that. Can you cue that up, please? He clearly perjured himself. He was looking at very serious jail times. At this time, I want to advise you of your right against self-incrimination. You can step down. Thank you. For us, Issa is dismissed for the time being so he can consult with an attorney.

Through it all, Yazeed looks on, seemingly unmoved. The same way Detective Gary McKee remembers him when he questioned Yaz three weeks after Rosie died and first developed his own suspicions about those calcium capsules he'd given her.

Yazeed was apparently unconcerned about handing over the remaining pills to police, but Julie DiPuccio believes he was actually in a panic. When the police interviewed him, I think it really flipped him out.

The proof, she says, came just days later when Yazeed Issa vanished. I just knew right then he did it. He did something to hurt Rosie, and he's gone. And when the lab results came back, police discovered Yazeed Issa had good reason to run. The evidence was in those calcium capsules. She died of cyanide poisoning.

In the second week of Yazeed Issa's murder trial, the state focuses on his bizarre disappearance and on a startling piece of evidence Dominic and Julie DiPuccio discovered in his house almost immediately afterwards. I noticed that there was an envelope on the table from the passport department and it had been ripped open. And I just, I looked at my wife and I just said to her, I said, he's gone.

We found out that he fled and we tried and tried and tried to find him. Like a needle in a haystack it felt like sometimes. And it was killing us not knowing. After Yazeed disappeared, the DiPuccios took on an even bigger burden, making a home for Yaz and Rosie's children, Armand and Lena.

They already had four children of their own. Happy birthday, Dad. Daddy, can I help you? It was very difficult in the beginning, bringing in two more children who had just lost both their parents. And that was very difficult to do when you're falling apart. You don't even know if you can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And all I'm thinking is, my head is spinning and I need it to be quiet so I can think and we can figure out where he went and what happened to him.

In April 2005, just two months after Rosie's death, FBI agent Phil Torsney, a veteran fugitive hunter, was assigned to figure out where the successful doctor and businessman was. This is the location where Dr. Issa purchased his ticket, where the investigation started for us. Torsney picked up Issa's trail at this travel agency and soon uncovered evidence that Yaz had used a kind of underground railroad for his escape.

Next stop is here in Detroit at the casino. Meet up with some buddies and do some gambling. Issa crossed the border from the United States into Canada, possibly here at the tunnel, where he proceeded to Toronto where he boarded his flight overseas. - Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the run-in Heathrow. - Heathrow over to Cyprus. That's where we sort of came to a standstill at some point. We knew from Cyprus he was probably in the Middle East.

Using a network of family and business contacts, Yazeed Issa made his way all the way here to Beirut, Lebanon, where at first he went underground, moving from safe house to safe house all over the city. Lebanon was no random destination. This country doesn't have an extradition treaty with the United States, so while authorities use credit cards and emails to track Issa to Beirut,

They wouldn't be able to lay a hand on him if they found him. He knew we were looking for him. I believe he felt he was safe over there. Did the authorities clue you in to his movements, how he was conducting himself, the lifestyle he led? No, we knew nothing. You knew nothing? As far as we knew, nobody knew where he was. I got a phone call. He needs some help in Lebanon. Please help him. Take care of him. Yazeed's protector in Lebanon was this man, Jamal Khalifeh.

a self-described businessman who had once lived in Michigan where his family knew the Isas. If I was trying to stay one step ahead of the law and I was in Beirut, you could help me. Yes. You could provide me with a new passport. Yes. You could get me a new identity. Yes. You could help me stay out of jail. Hell yes. Hell yes. Don't worry about nothing. We'll take care of you.

So, Jamal took care of Yazeed. He gave him a gun, a slew of fake IDs, and safe houses to hide in. But Yaz didn't remain underground for long. Here he is at a wedding with Jamal while he was in hiding. Was he living large in Beirut? Yeah, he was living large.

- Suñez was living a bit too large for his own good. He spent his days drinking in pubs and cafes on Beirut's waterfront, and his nights partying in discos all over town. To support his lavish lifestyle, investigators say he had his brother Feras wire him thousands of dollars at a time. - I know he was trying to create a new life for himself. He had to figure out a way to survive there.

So it sounds like he was on vacation. He was on vacation. Is he dating women? Is he seeing women? Yeah, he was dating. So you thought you had a future with him? Yeah, I thought that. Naila Souki met Yazeed Issa in an online chat room about three months after he arrived in Beirut. What was his email address? Fugitive at hotmail.com Fugitive at hotmail.com Yeah.

The 38-year-old teacher says she never thought that was suspicious. He wanted to see me and I said, "Why not?" And we started seeing each other more often. By the spring of 2006, Yazeed's relationship with Naila was getting serious. He cut ties with Jamal and moved to her neighborhood. You live here. Yeah. And what floor was he? The first porch, the balcony here. The first one. Yeah.

They saw each other every day. We went to movies, we went for dinner sometimes, to the mountains, to the beach. They had a lot of time to talk and Yazeed Issa had a lot to say. He said they were accusing him of killing his wife to be with another woman and that he didn't do it. Did you ever ask him the question directly, Naila? Did you kill your wife?

I think I did it once and he said, "Don't you believe me? I would never do it." The way the story was, like leaving the pills or giving them to the police, would he do it? Would he convict himself? He's a smart man. He's very clever. If he wanted to do something bad to his wife, he wouldn't do it this way.

But Jamal says Yazeed wasn't acting smart at all. Well, how was he behaving? Stupid. Stupid? Drinking, bragging, being the big shot with money. I told him to change his ways. Have a lower profile? Lower profile.

But in October 2006, Yaz boarded a plane to Cyprus, a country that does have an extradition treaty with the United States. His recklessness finally caught up with him.

Interpol and the FBI had tipped off Cyprus police that Yazid Issa might be on board, traveling under an alias. Sergeant Marius Ioannou of the Larnaca police was waiting at the airport when the plane landed. We knew that he was supposed to use a passport with his photo, but with a different name, Maurice Khalif. Maurice Khalif. Yes. Maurice Khalife was Jamal's cousin. Yazid had been using his identity for months.

As passengers filed off the plane, Ioannou compared them to a grainy photo he'd been given. What did he look like in the photo? You were looking for a bald man? Ioannou was beginning to think his information was bad when the last passengers came into view.

One looked vaguely familiar. - He had long hair. - Yes. - This is the passport that you saw? - Yes. - But when Ioannou called him in for questioning and fingerprinting, the prints were an instant match to Yazeed.

Yazeed was arrested for using a doctorate passport and held in the Cyprus prison for US authorities. He had changed his appearance, he had done a lot of things but fingerprints don't lie. After 19 months, Phil Toursney finally had his man. For two years, Yazeed Issa would fight extradition until Toursney was finally able to put him on that plane to Cleveland in January 2009.

Yet it didn't take nearly that long for his former protector, Jamal Khalife, to turn on him, says prosecutor Matt Meyer. -Jamal remembered transactions, amounts, dates, places. -I gave him evidence, papers. -Jamal knew things that nobody knew.

including something so explosive that prosecutors will bring Khalife all the way from the Middle East to the Midwest to testify at Yazeed Issa's murder trial. You believe Yazeed Issa killed Rosemary? I know it for a fact. As Yazeed Issa's murder trial enters its second week, the state calls its star witness. Do you know the defendant, Dr. Issa? Yes. Yaz's one-time protector, Jamal Khalife,

who has traveled all the way from Beirut to lay out the sordid details of Issa's Underground Railroad escape and his 19 months on the run.

Good morning, sir. If you would come forward, please, and raise your right hand. There's one detail that Assistant DA Matt Meyer hopes will turn this case into a slam dunk for the state. Jamal knew things that nobody knew. I know that he killed his wife. How do you know? He told me. And what did he tell you about the death of his wife in Sinai? He told me the whole story. He grounded Sinai, refilled the pills,

Defense attorneys Mark Marine and Stephen Bradley know they'll never win this trial without discrediting Jamal Khalifa. And they've got a lot to work with. In a 29-count charge of money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States,

Turns out, Jamal became a fugitive long before Yazeed Issa ever was. In 1994, Jamal was under investigation for money laundering and a weapons charge in Michigan.

potentially facing a long prison sentence, he fled the US for his native Lebanon. He always wanted a way back to America, says the defense. And when Yazeed Issa walked into his life in 2005, Jamal saw his chance. - He recognized that Yazeed Issa was his get out of jail free card. - Is there something funny

I noticed that you're laughing. Is there something funny? Defense attorneys are convinced Jamal has cut a deal with the state for his testimony, but getting him to admit it is a different matter. Just listen to my question. Don't scream in my face. Listen to my questions. Gentlemen. Okay? Let's calm down, all right? You ask the question. Sir, you answer the question. The fact of the matter is...

You've been negotiating with these people all along. Isn't that true? What I'm going to get them to do? I'm asking you. No, I'm asking you. I'm asking the question. I'm turning on my phone. Sir, I will ask you questions. You will provide me with responses. Do we understand each other? All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to take... What does Jamal Khalifa get in return for sharing his story? He doesn't get prosecuted for helping us eat.

Actually, Jamal Khalifa gets a lot more than that. Two days after testifying against Yazeed Issa, a judge ruling on those Michigan charges lets him off with probation. He cut a deal, and the proof's in the pudding because he's back in the country and he's not in a jail facility. The defense hopes exposing Khalifa's plea deal will discredit him with the jury.

But the Issa defense is about to be handed a stunning setback that nobody is expecting. You remain under oath, obviously. Two weeks after he was caught lying on the stand-- --which he accepted. --Yazid Issa's brother, Firas, suddenly reappears in court. Good afternoon, Mr. Issa.

You're here today to testify, to give complete and truthful testimony. Is that correct? Yes. So he really had a stark choice to make, deal with his own issues or continue holding the bag for his brother. It must have been nerve-wracking for you to testify. It was. I can't describe how much love I have for my brother. It was gut-wrenching.

If he lies again, Farras faces up to 16 years in prison on perjury and obstruction of justice. I don't know. What he says at this moment could very well seal his brother's fate or seal his own. So as you sit here today before this jury, before Rosie's family in the back of the courtroom, did the defendant tell you who put the cyanide into the calcium pills? He told me he did. When you found out that information, what did you say to your brother? He told me it was a f***.

And why did you say that? Because he took Rosie's life. I loved her. He just ruined his whole family. Have you told your brother-- After everything Dominic DiPuccio has been through in the last five years, he can't believe his ears. He looked like a man on an island. And in a weird way, I just felt sorry for him. Did you speak to your brother at all today?

In closing arguments, the defense reminds the jury to stick with the basics. There's no motive in this case, and investigators found no DNA and no usable fingerprints. There's still no proof, they say, that Yazeed Issa ever actually possessed cyanide.

Nor is there an explanation for why he gave the murder weapon to police. Presumably, an intelligent individual who had spiked calcium capsules would have taken those capsules and flushed them down the toilet or done something with them. He did nothing. In the state's closings-- She was calling to him for help, and you didn't help her, did you?

Prosecutor Anna Faraglia says Yazeed Issa did plenty. A health care professional takes an oath to preserve life, not destroy it.

With all eyes on him, Yazeed Issa decides not to testify, leaving the lawyers to argue about whether he's a victim of circumstance... Did you find any evidence that he... ...or a predator who planned the perfect murder at the expense of those who needed him the most. One day, these children are going to come and try to find out what happened to their mother.

He thinks he can fool these 12 people. I'm sure of it. His life is on the line. Ladies and gentlemen, I understand that you have reached a verdict in this case. Is that correct? Yes. Very good. Mr. Foreperson, if you would hand me the verdict. After five weeks of testimony-- Let your verdict be fair and impartial. --the jury begins to deliberate Yazeed Issa's fate. One agonizing day--

Turns into two, then three. On the fourth day of deliberations... What do you expect, sir? Finally, a verdict. Ladies and gentlemen, I understand that you have reached a verdict in this case. For Rosie's family, the tension is unbearable as Judge Dina Calabrese delivers the verdict. We, the jury in this case, being duly impaneled and sworn, do find the defendant, Yazeed Issa, guilty.

Guilty of aggravated murder. For the DiPuccios and their loved ones, five years of pain and exhaustion give way to tears. She was tough. She did good. I didn't think I was going to make it, but I did. Rosie's going to rest in peace now. Prosecutors savor an emotional victory. At the end of the day, truth prevails.

You know, I visited that home shortly after Yazeed fled and I remember seeing high chairs. He was wrong. The defense team is in no mood to linger. Four days later, after Yazeed trades in his expensive suits for prison clothes... There is no closure. I mean, we were changed forever.

Rosie's family addresses the court. Maybe there'll be less fights that my wife cries herself to sleep. I stand before you with strong conviction that Yazeed Issa receives the maximum sentence. He had no regrets about killing Rosie or abandoning his children. After years of struggling to face his worst fears about Yazeed Issa, Dominic DiPuccia will finally address his sister's killer directly.

I challenge him to find the courage today to admit what he did. It was me versus Yaz. He was the leader of his family. I'm the leader of mine. Are you man enough? Are you? It's your last chance to save your soul. Right here, right now. Are you a man or not? Protecting his chances for a successful appeal, Yazeed Issa doesn't say a word and barely flinches as the judge reads the sentence.

I cannot imagine the evil that you have done to these people. At this time, I sentence you to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years. If he would have said the right things and explained to us that he did it, why he did it, that he was sorry for he did it, that would have gone a long way. Do you think you'll ever understand? No. There's no reason to try and understand. It's all about coping.

It's not easy to deal with. For us, Issa will have to cope with the knowledge that he, more than anyone, helped send his brother to prison. What is your relationship with your brother today? It's the same as it's always been. We're just as close as we were the day I was born and we'll be that way until the day we die. Many people would find that surprising. Many people aren't my brother. And he wasn't angered.

Nothing's going to change our relationship, period. Could this have been a perfect crime? Perfect in the sense that he could have gotten away with it. I think so, yeah. If she flips her car doing 60 miles an hour on the freeway, nobody has any reason to believe that it wasn't anything other than a car accident. Dominic DiPuccio has become legal guardian of Yazeed Issa's children, and he is looking into changing their last names to his own, cutting Yazeed's ties to the son and daughter he left behind.

in honor of the woman he took away. I talk to her every day. I ask her for advice. I ask her, "What would you do? Can you help me? Can you help me figure this out because this is a hard one?" But I will do whatever it takes for Rosie. In 2011, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Yazeed Issa's appeal.