[narrator] they were the family that seemed to have it all.
It's a robot!
Every morning we'd wake up and you know,
We'd say we're the kohnles.
We had the four-car garage. We had the pool.
His business went gangbusters. He had tons of clients.
And he was the kindest, most gentle man
You'll ever meet in your life.
[narrator] until a fire left their lives in ruins.
[zac] it's what they refer to as a full alarm.
Dispatch three engines and a ladder truck, and an ems unit.
One day we're living the dream, and the next day,
We don't know what we're going to do.
[narrator] as authorities try to make sense of this tragedy,
Secrets soon emerge from the ashes.
Having this illness, he's not able to work as much,
Can't provide for the family.
They were close to the house going into foreclosure.
It was very bleak for them.
[narrator] was this the last act
Of a devoted and desperate father
Or a cold-blooded betrayal?
Her affairs had been going on for a while.
He caught her several times.
Once actually in the act of cheating on him.
[adam] she would benefit highly if you have a fire
That takes out the home and the husband.
[theme music]
[narrator] June 29, 2007, ringgold, georgia.
It's 9:34 am in the quiet town along the tennessee border,
When a proprietor of a local grocery store sees smoke
Rising from a nearby home.
Gary carlock owned his family store,
Carlock's grocery.
He was the one that first saw the flames and the smoke,
And called it in.
[narrator] seven miles away, firefighters with engine eight
Are starting their day when they get the call.
[bell ringing]
[zac] it's what they refer to as a full alarm.
Dispatch three engines and a ladder truck
And an ems unit.
They'll relay, there's now flames visible.
So you're trying to get your game plan,
Trying to think your way through it.
[narrator] firefighters arrive at 9:42 am to learn
From command they can't contain this from the outside.
They are going in.
The fire looked like it was on the rear side of the home.
We come in from the unburnt side.
[zac] so when we talk about the importance of priorities,
You think you may be putting a fire out,
You may also be having a victim in there.
We go through this first hallway,
And we're immediately met with extreme heat
And smoke conditions.
The visibility was pretty low. We made it to the back bedroom.
We'd realized that was the fire room for sure.
We had suppressed that fire back and one of the guys with us,
He was using a thermal imaging camera.
[narrator] the technology is capable of picking up a person'
Heat signature through smoke.
As the fireman scans the room, an unsettling shape
Appears on the screen.
[zac] he notified us that he did see what looked like
To be a victim towards the backside of the bed.
[drew] when we made it around to him, from what I remember is
He was kneeling by the bed in a sense, um,
Almost as if he was praying or something.
He was unconscious,
But he didn't appear to have thermal burns.
He definitely had, you know, smoke on his clothes,
On his skin.
[zac] usually victims are found very close to the door.
They succumb or they just physically can't exert any more
Energy while they're trying to, to remove their selves
From an environment.
[narrator] they preliminarily id the victim as the homeowner,
James kohnle.
Jim kohnle was a local chiropractor
Who had a practice in dalton, georgia nearby.
[narrator] although jim kohnle wasn't from north georgia,
He found it the perfect place to build a career
As a small-town chiropractor.
[caleb] my dad kind of grew up all over the place.
We come from a kind of a wealthy background.
My great-grandfather was frederick kohnle,
Who founded monarch markings
And invented one of the first price tag machines.
They have over 300 patents.
[narrator] however, jim bucked the family business
And the money that came with it to make a name for himself
In a new profession.
[bonnie] the first time I met him, he had just started out.
And he was in the back of a beauty shop.
He had his chiropractor business back there.
And I went in there for adjustments.
I did his books.
And he did the chiropractic adjustments
For all my kids and grandchildren.
[narrator] from those humble beginnings,
Jim worked hard to build a successful and caring practice.
Jim's business went gangbusters. He had tons of clients.
When he worked on you, you felt good just being around him.
Jim was the kindest, most gentle man
You'll ever meet in your life.
[narrator] with his business growing by the year,
Jim knew he needed additional employees.
The woman that answered his help wanted ad
Was 21-year-old teresa boggs.
As his business started growing, teresa was his receptionist.
[narrator] by 1994, teresa and jim's working relationship
Had evolved into a new kind of partnership.
There's a more than 20-year age difference
Between teresa and jim.
Teresa is in her 20's. He's in his 50's.
But they were in love with each other.
And the two of them embark on a life together.
[narrator] in 1996, jim and teresa welcomed a son, caleb.
I think it was love at first sight when he seen caleb.
That became his entire world. He was a fantastic dad.
They had me, got married a year later and opened up
Their practice together, the alpha wellness center.
[nameeta] the two of them embarked
On this life goal together, of building a successful business.
It was an all-inclusive health and well-being center.
Teresa upgraded her own education
And became a trained massage therapist.
[caleb] my mom, she was from harlan, kentucky.
Harlan's more of like a small-town mindset, ya know.
Women stay home and take care of their man,
And that was just never for my mom.
My mom always wanted to take care of herself,
Go off and do bigger, better things.
She was a great massage therapist, she really was.
They were both great.
[narrator] as their business continued to grow,
So did their family.
Their second child, allyson, was born in 2000.
The family settled into a pretty house
On an expansive lot in ringgold
Growing up was probably like any little kid's dream.
My parents' business was just booming at the time.
Every morning, we'd wake up and, you know, we'd say,
We're the kohnles.
We had the four-car garage. We had the pool.
It's a robot!
Jim and teresa were very doting.
The kids did just about everything they wanted.
If they wanted it, they had it.
They made me grow up believing that I could be anything,
Everything, you know. It was amazing.
It really was. They were great parents.
[narrator] but on the morning of June 29, 2007,
That charmed life comes to an abrupt end
When a fire breaks out in the kohnles' home.
[zac] at this point, we immediately conduct
A quick search of making sure
That there is no other victims in there.
[narrator] fortunately,
There's no sign of any additional victims.
But the fight to save jim kohnle's life isn't so lucky.
[drew] after we made entry,
He was unconscious when we had carried him out.
They tried to resuscitate him, but they were unsuccessful.
[narrator] jim kohnle is pronounced dead at the scene.
Jim's 34-year-old wife, teresa, is traveling with their two kid
To visit her parents out of state when she gets the call
From georgia authorities.
[caleb] my mom's friend, robin, answered the phone.
And I remember robin screamin' at my mom, you know,
Teresa, pull over the car. Teresa, pull over the car.
You know, and she's just like, why? Why?
Just tell me. Just tell me.
And we pulled over.
My mom just fell to the ground screaming and crying.
[narrator] coming up...
Investigators sift through the ashes of a life upended.
[buzz] at the time of the fire ,
They had got behind on their mortgage.
Their finances were not in good shape at all.
[music]
[narrator] June 29, 2007. A house fire has claimed
The life of beloved husband and father,
57-year-old jim kohnle.
News of the tragedy has reached jim's 34-year-old wife, teresa,
Who is racing back home from a trip to knoxville, tennessee.
My mom couldn't even talk.
And I remember them telling me that my dad had died
And that our house was gone.
And I just, I don't know, I just kind of went numb.
[narrator] at the scene of the fire,
Investigators from the catoosa county sheriff's office arrive
And examine the victim's body.
[buzz] he had burns on the soles of his feet.
He could have burned his feet by trying to put out the fire.
Or his feet were exposed to the super-heated air
From lying there on the bed.
It appeared that the cause of death was smoke inhalation.
But they want to send the body for an autopsy.
[drew] any time we have a, you know, a house fire
With a fatality, it's automatically investigated,
So the fire marshal was called out at that time.
Based on the amount of material that's been burned
In the residence and the scope that the smoke
Has taken over the house,
It was established that the fire started around 9 o'clock.
They want to look for a point of origin of the fire
To determine whether it was some sort of accidental cause
Or a non-accidental cause.
You can determine that often by looking by the fire markings
On the walls.
[narrator] as the fire marshal walks through the home,
Two things in the kitchen catch his attention.
[buzz] the oven was on.
And toast was in the little toaster oven on the countertop.
But it appeared the oven hadn't really been used,
Although it was on.
Could there have been a fire started here, you know,
Or is it just coincidental?
[narrator] the fire marshal moves on to the back
Of the house, where the damage is more severe.
[zac] the bulk of the fire was in the master bedroom
And a side, like, office sitting area
Where you had a lot of fire damage.
The arson investigators decided the origin of the fire
Was along a common wall between the office
And the bedroom where the victim was found.
[narrator] teresa arrives at the scene just after 4:00 pm
With 11-year-old caleb and teresa's best friend,
Robin simmons.
[caleb] my mom was just so distraught.
I mean, she was just like me.
Her whole life was gone in a day.
[narrator] detectives at the scene start by asking teresa
To lay out her timeline of the morning.
[buzz] teresa kohnle indicated she and her friend,
Robin simmons, and her two children
Left her home around 8:15.
And she was on her way to meet her parents
In knoxville to pick up a car.
Shortly after she left her residence,
They went to chick-fil-a in fort oglethorpe, georgia.
[narrator] teresa says they then dropped her daughter, ally
Off with a babysitter
And started the two-hour drive to her parents' house.
Robin simmons confirms teresa's story with one difference.
Teresa said they left 8:10 to 8:15 am.
Her driver, robin simmons, said it was at least 8:45 am.
[buzz] her time was a little bit different from teresa kohnle's,
But you wouldn't expect people who had just gone through
Such trauma as that to have a precise timeline.
[narrator] investigators intend to follow up with both women
At a later date.
For now,
They give teresa time to grieve with her family and friends.
[caleb] I mean, here everything's falling apart.
We don't know what we're going to do.
We stayed with my mom's friend, robin, that night, um,
That it happened.
[narrator] as the kohnles grapple with their loss,
Inside the family home, the fir investigation continues.
[zac] the georgia state fire marshal's office,
Those guys are trained to an extremely high level
In locating the cause of these fires.
They can look for, you know, naturally caused fires,
Gases, fuels, lightning strikes,
Things that are in electrical wires.
They're trained to look for accelerants.
[narrator] a specially-trained dog
Named smokey is brought to the scene.
Within moments, he makes a startling discovery.
[buzz] he found presence of an accelerant placed
In that location where he determined
The fire had originated.
It was pretty clear that it was an arson
As opposed to an accidental origin for the fire.
Authorities start to realize this is, in fact, an arson case.
And carpet samples are taken and sent off to the lab.
Authorities don't initially know who set the fire
And why somebody would set a fire at the home.
And naturally, authorities want to talk to teresa.
[narrator] on July 5th, six days after the death of jim kohnle,
Investigators bring his wife, teresa,
Into the sheriff's office for questioning.
Investigators tell teresa they need an exact chronology
For the morning of the 29th.
The timeline is pretty critical.
They can give a fairly accurate indication
Of when the fire started,
And it was established that the fire started around 9 o'clock.
If they had left around 8 o'clock to 8:30,
As teresa kohnle originally said,
Then she would have been on the road
At the time the fire was likely to have been started.
[narrator] investigators press teresa
About the state of her marriage
[narrator] teresa reveals that recently
The family has been under quite a bit of strain.
[buzz] at the time of the fire, the kohnles had
Got behind on their mortgage.
Their finances were not in good shape at all.
[caleb] both of my parents' vehicles
Had just been repossessed.
And my grandparents were giving my mom a car.
So we were meeting them in knoxville that morning
Halfway so that they could give us the car.
And we were driving the rental car.
[narrator] teresa explains that their financial problems
Began when jim contracted lyme disease a few years earlier.
[narrator] 45 minutes into the interview,
Detectives put their cards on the table.
[narrator] teresa seems dumbfounded.
She tells investigators she has no idea
Who started the fire inside their home.
[narrator] coming up...
How a debilitating disease undermined a happy life.
The fact that he felt that he couldn't take care of his family
Was more than he could take.
[narrator] and could a grieving wife be hiding her own secrets?
There were whispers that there was some infidelity
Going on, her seeing other men.
[music]
[narrator] a week has passed since
The sudden death of jim kohnle.
After locating an accelerant inside the kohnle residence,
The case is officially labeled arson,
Leaving detectives questioning,
Who would have motive to set the fire?
When the fire marshal looked at this one,
He said, yeah, this is an arson.
Somebody poured the accelerant and set it up.
[narrator] during the days that follow,
Investigators find that jim's finances had been in decline
After a recent diagnosis.
[caleb] my dad was diagnosed with lyme disease.
He received it from a tick,
Either running in the woods or camping.
We're not really exactly for sure where he got it at.
His work days went from five days a week,
Sometimes six, to two or three, sometimes none.
[narrator] and when jim didn't work,
He didn't get paid.
Friends say he fell into a deep depression.
[bonnie] his business started dying down
People started going to other chiropractors
That they could see.
They were close to the house going into foreclosure.
It was very bleak for them.
The fact that things were happening the way they were
For my dad killed him inside.
The fact that he felt that he couldn't take care of his famil
Was more than he could take.
[narrator] was jim so depressed that he took his own life?
The theory gains momentum
When a friend of jim's contacts detectives.
[mccracken] there was an issue of a crude will
That jim supposedly wrote and sent to a friend.
Now, it had no value as a will because it wasn't properly
Executed under georgia law.
But I think had he really wanted it to be effective,
He would have done it properly with counsel.
But it did have some value potentially
As to show his intent.
[narrator] the handwritten will is dated may 2nd,
Less than two months before jim's death.
It threw some fuel toward the fact that perhaps
He knew he was going to die.
[narrator] however, there's one stumbling block
For investigators.
Even if jim was suicidal,
Self-immolation is a rare and extreme act.
[buzz] I've never seen anyone intentionally
Commit suicide by fire.
That seems to be a real stretch.
If you're gonna commit suicide,
There are a lot easier ways to do it.
[narrator] when jim's autopsy report is completed,
The findings raise even more suspicion.
[nameeta] the mode of death is smoke inhalation.
But toxicology results come back and there were antidepressants
And sedatives in jim's system.
When we factor that in with where the burn was
On his body, most significantly at the soles of his feet,
That could be because he tried to stamp out the fire.
These things don't quite add up to somebody who was going
To kill themselves and going to do so by fire.
[narrator] the coroner rules jim's death a homicide.
When detectives interview jim and teresa's co-workers
At the wellness center, they uncover more secrets.
[adam] there were whispers
That there was some infidelity going on,
Her seeing other men.
[bonnie] everybody kind of knew it.
Her affairs had been going on for a while,
But it got worse as time went on.
[narrator] co-workers also report inappropriate emails
Between teresa and the business's former accountant.
Witnesses talked about times when teresa and this individual
Would go into a massage room for somewhere
Between two and three hours,
Far longer than any massage clients were ever seen.
[narrator] it's an important clue.
Detectives wonder,
Did this love triangle turn violent?
[buzz] when they interview the accountant,
He basically says that
He did become close to teresa kohnle.
But he denied a sexual relationship,
But he did admit that they had had some sort of
Romantic connection.
And that's the reason that he stopped coming over there
To dr. Kohnle's office.
Teresa kohnle denied having the affair as well.
[narrator] the accountant claims he hasn't been in contac
With teresa in years and has no reason to want jim dead.
With no evidence that the accountant had any involvement
In the crime, and autopsy results
Indicating jim could not have done this himself,
Investigators must determine who was the last person
To leave the kohnle home that morning.
[buzz] during the course of an investigation,
You consider all possibilities.
They looked at teresa kohnle and robin simmons,
Since the timeline was pretty far off.
I don't think they were free to ignore any discrepancies.
[narrator] investigators circle back to robin simmons
And press her further about their conflicting timelines.
Robin said she and the kids, they were in the driveway
For 15, 20 minutes waiting on teresa.
She had gone back in to do, they did not know what,
But had gone back in.
[buzz] again, she claimed they left at a much later time
Than what teresa kohnle had been saying.
And she said teresa was trying to convince her
That they left at 8:15
And she wants robin to say that as well to investigators.
[narrator] investigators ask robin point blank,
Did you see the fire?
Robin simmons never indicated that
She saw any fire or smoke at the residence.
Shortly after they left her residence,
They went to chick-fil-a in fort oglethorpe, georgia.
[narrator] investigators head to the restaurant hoping to obtain
Video surveillance from the day of the fire.
The cameras at the chick-fil-a in fort oglethorpe,
Which is less than 10 minutes away,
Showed them driving through at 9:17 am.
[narrator] investigators time the drive
From the kohnle residence multiple times.
And not once does it take more than eight minutes.
She claims they're leaving around 8:15,
And then video surveillance says that she's there
More than an hour later, around 9:20 or so.
As the officers kept investigating the timeline,
They discovered teresa would've been at the house about
The time the fire had started.
[narrator] having punched a hole in teresa's timeline,
Investigators obtain a warrant to search the home.
[mccraken] fire investigators are really smart.
They look for what isn't there--
Personal photos, things that are irreplaceable.
They found out in the garage,
A lot of the clothes for the kids had been put out there,
So they weren't smoke damaged or fire damaged.
She had taken stuff that arsonists take.
Pictures of the children. Stuff that you can't replace.
[narrator] as investigators continue their search
Of the home, they find more incriminating evidence.
[buzz] they found an insurance policy for a lot of money
On dr. Kohnle's life.
And there was also some divorce papers that apparently
Had never been filed that were found there in the residence.
He had papers drawn up several times for divorce.
And he was gonna leave her.
[adam] if you have a fire that takes out the home
And the husband,
Teresa would benefit highly from jim being gone
And the house being in shambles.
[narrator] coming up...
Suddenly teresa's story starts to change.
[narrator] and devastating allegations
Come hurling teresa's way.
[buzz] several months prior to the arson,
Teresa kohnle had a miscarriage.
After she lost the baby, she got real depressed
And started doing the drugs.
[music]
[narrator] 10 days after the death of jim kohnle,
Georgia authorities are homing in on one suspect,
His wife, teresa.
[nameeta] teresa has presented them as a happy couple
With no problems, no difficulties,
But authorities have located documentation that they were,
In fact, going to file for divorce.
[narrator] detectives widen the scope of their investigation,
Interviewing several former employees,
Starting with bonnie white.
The detectives learned that several months
Prior to the arson,
Teresa kohnle had a miscarriage.
[bonnie] after teresa had the miscarriage,
She wasn't working for three or four months.
And she got real depressed and started doing the drugs.
[buzz] according to people who worked at dr. Kohnle's office,
She was using marijuana and methamphetamine.
[narrator] according to bonnie, it was around that time
She noticed that teresa was embezzling money.
[bonnie] I went to jim.
And I said, I think teresa's stealing from you.
One month she had wrote 16 checks to herself.
He confronted her in front of me.
And she said, no, those checks were voided.
And I said, well, voided checks don't clear the bank.
Here's the bank statement. They're highlighted.
[narrator] bonnie says she quit her job after that incident.
While detectives find that teresa was never charged
With embezzlement, other past employees
Come forward with even more alarming allegations.
Teresa has told several witnesses
That she has been putting lithium in her husband's coffee.
She says this basically keeps him quiet and sedates him.
Dr. Kohnle himself has suspected that she's doing this.
And has told people that he thinks teresa
Has been drugging him.
So it seems pretty certain that this has been going on
For several months.
[narrator] lithium can be used as a medical treatment
In small amounts,
But if not carefully administered,
It's highly toxic.
For a person who is being given
Higher than normal doses over a cumulative period of time,
Lithium toxicity can be incredibly damaging
To the internal organ functioning of a human being.
Authorities now start to ask the question,
Did she intend to kill him?
Maybe she thought if she slowly poisoned him
And his system and his health slowly declined,
Maybe he would eventually just die,
And people would assume it was lyme disease.
[narrator] on June 9th,
Investigators bring teresa in again and demand the truth.
Much to their surprise,
She agrees to a lie detector test.
[david] I explained that nobody can make her take a polygraph.
And that if she tells me the truth,
That she'll pass the polygraph.
If she does not, she'll absolutely fail the polygraph.
In georgia, polygraphs are inadmissible
Unless you sign a stipulation first
That says it will be admissible.
And they convinced her to do that.
[narrator] after administering the exam,
Detective scroggins studies the results.
Polygraph chart scoring is a mathematical kind of thing
The computer indicated her level of deception
Was in excess of 100%.
People come in thinking, I can beat this test.
I can go in here and convince them I didn't do anything wrong.
And I'll tell ya, you can't.
[narrator] and then teresa drops a bombshell.
Almost immediately, within the first 60, 90 seconds,
She makes her first admission.
[narrator] detective scroggins brings in
The two lead investigators, who reveal another
Shocking piece of information.
The detectives at the catoosa county sheriff's office
Had sent out subpoenas for the telephone records
Of teresa kohnle's cell phone.
[narrator] the accusation is clear.
[narrator] investigators arrest teresa
And charge her with malice murder and first-degree arson.
[caleb] I'll never forget this day.
She reaches up to me.
She's got her handcuffs on, so she puts 'em around my neck,
And she's just bawling.
And you know, she's just like, it's okay, baby.
It's okay. Everything's going to be okay.
You know, you've got to be strong for your little sister.
We're going to get through this.
You know we're the kohnles, remember?
We can handle anything.
And then they walked her back
And put me and my sister both in interrogation rooms.
[narrator] caleb is decidedly closed mouthed.
Caleb's traumatized. He's grieving.
He's clinging to the parent that he knows and loves.
And initially, he gives them nothing.
[narrator] coming up...
A stunning admission.
She told me not to worry about it, and she said, okay.
So we just kept driving.
[music]
[narrator] six-year-old allyson and 11-year-old caleb kohnle
Are placed in the care
Of georgia's children and family services
On July 9, 2007 following the arrest of their mother, teresa.
On July 16th, investigators obtain permission to speak
To caleb again, this time with the help of an expert.
Forensic examiners at the children's advocate center
Are specially trained in how to interview children
And know how to establish that rapport
And to make the child comfortable.
[caleb] we would burn stuff every day out in the yard.
My mom was big on burning boxes
My mom would go around and pile them all up and burn them.
She told me not to worry about it, and she said, okay.
So we just kept driving.
[buzz] it, of course, made absolutely no sense
That she would've chosen that time to burn some papers
That early in the morning, when you're getting ready
To go on a trip out of town.
[nameeta] by him being satisfied by his mother's explanation
That they were burning trash,
That allows caleb to preserve his affection for his mom.
[narrator] for investigators,
It's the final piece of the puzzle.
They believe they know what happened on June 29, 2007.
I think teresa had probably planned this out for some time.
They were in financial straits.
If she killed her husband, she would get insurance money
For the loss of her husband.
She wouldn't have to worry about the dangers of a divorce,
Where she might possibly lose her kids
Because she was having affairs and using drugs herself.
She gets jim up that morning.
She knows she's going to be leaving to establish her alibi.
She drugs him through the coffee.
He ends up going back to bed.
She then sets the fire immediately before she goes out
Then they drive off with the house burning behind them.
All indications were that he had enough in him,
Even under the sedation, to move about a little bit,
So he ended up getting off the bed.
But that was as far as he was able to make it
When he died from the smoke inhalation.
[narrator] with the evidence stacked against her,
Teresa's defense team does all they can
To delay her day in court.
[mccraken] the state put together
What I felt was an almost insurmountable
Circumstantial evidence case.
I advised her that it was very bleak,
But that she had the right to a trial.
And that's what every, every defendant has.
[adam] they were supposed to go to trial on Monday.
And the Friday before, I get this call.
And well, hey, we've got a plea deal.
[narrator] in lieu of malice murder,
Teresa agrees to plead guilty to felony murder
And first and second-degree arson.
[buzz] teresa kohnle ended up claiming in her plea of guilty
That she was involved in setting the fire
That ultimately killed her husband.
Her husband decided that he would save the family
By burning the residence down,
And then getting the insurance money.
And he accidentally killed himself in doing this.
[mccraken] she admitted taking instructions
From jim to help set the fire, essentially.
She denied, and still denies to this day,
Killing jim with any intent.
[nameeta] when we start to ask the question about,
Did she intend to kill him?
The fact that she made the decision to systematically
And slowly poison him,
It seems only reasonable that her primary focus
In this situation and goal was to end jim's life.
[narrator] in December of 2010,
Teresa is sentenced to life in prison
With the possibility of parole after 30 years.
[caleb] I lost both my parents. I was just 11 years old.
My dad loved helping people.
He just, he just loved putting a smile on someone else's faces
And I think that's how most people remember my father.
And I think that's how anybody should want to be remembered.
[music]