Was a Young Mother's Death Murder?

May 27, 2005 — -- In 12 years of marriage Mark and Linda Adanalian had built a respectable upper-middle class life for themselves in Fresno, Calif. Mark, 49, was a successful carpet salesman and Linda was a homemaker raising their four children. To outsiders, the couple was doing well. But family and friends say the couple was struggling -- so much so that Linda was recording their arguments. Did the marital stress lead to something more sinister that led the vibrant 37-year-old mother to simply drop dead one day?

The original coroner could not determine a cause of death, but Linda's family is convinced she didn't die of any natural cause. They believe Mark killed her.

But is Mark a victim of a grieving family's search for answers?

Initially, by most accounts, the marriage was one of love for Mark and practicality for Linda. He pursued her and eventually won her over. She was looking for a marriage that would give her stability and a chance to have children.

Dave Dalition, Linda's brother says even before the wedding, Linda kept one goal front and center -- becoming a mother. "She wanted a stable family life, and she wanted to have children who were raised in a stable family," he told "20/20."

By 2000, Linda had that family: four children -- three girls and a boy -- and the couple had bought an expensive new home in Fresno.

But the growing family had put a strain on the marriage, Dalition said. "Linda wanted a big family. Mark did not," he said.

Linda's sister Meg Bakich agrees that Mark felt burdened by the latest addition to the family. "He was mad. He did not want to have another child, Linda said, 'What do you want me to do? She's here," Bakich said.

Shortly after the birth of his daughter, Mark became ill and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The once-loving couple's relationship continued to deteriorate. Mark was angry and his health was declining. They were no longer affectionate with each other. They went two years without having sex.

Linda was so concerned that she was heading toward divorce, she began recording what she calls Mark's rage, apparently as protection should their ever be a custody battle.

In one of the recorded fights, Mark tells Linda, "Two years, we haven't touched each other -- two years, over two years. And it's going to get worse Linda, because I'll tell you something right now, this is f------- miserable."

Linda's sister Meg says she witnessed Mark's fits of rage. He was, she says, "red-faced, spit coming from his mouth, nose to nose with her. Frightening. Frightening."

Linda also shared her fears of Mark with her friend Rita Gagliarde.

Gagliarde said Linda compared him to O. J. Simpson. She told "20/20" that Linda told her, "Everyone who knows him, thinks he's a friendly guy. But you don't see what he's like at home and with the kids. And I mean it, if anything happens to me, you need to be suspicious of him and check it out.'"

The day after their youngest child's second birthday, Linda took the kids to a "Disney on Ice" show. Afterwards she stumbled in pain across the street to the steps of the church where she and Mark had married 12 years earlier. With her kids screaming by her side, she collapsed.Three hours later, Linda was pronounced dead.

Her death left a slew of unanswered questions. What had killed her?

Linda had no apparent health problems or heart trouble. Her sudden death simply didn't make sense.

The family immediately became suspicious of Mark as Linda's words of caution before her death loomed ominously in their minds.

Mark's behavior after Linda's death didn't make sense to the family either. When first asked about Linda's health, the family claims, Mark told them that Linda had no health complaints at the time of her death. However, after seeing Linda at the hospital, the family says Mark approached the emergency room doctor and said he recalled that Linda had been complaining of chest and left arm pain in the days before her death.

That was the beginning of what Linda's family says was a litany of strange behavior that made them more and more suspicious that Mark had something to do with Linda's death.

They say they never saw Mark cry, and say they saw him practice his golf swing and make a pass at one of Linda's friends at the funeral home.

The family raised their suspicions to the Fresno police, but authorities found no physical evidence tying Mark -- or anyone else -- to Linda's death, and an autopsy reveals nothing.

Unsatisfied, Linda's family pushed the coroner for answers and he called for Linda's body to be exhumed. What he found only raised more questions.

In Linda's blood, liver and kidneys, was an elevated level of the mineral selenium. In small doses it can be taken as a supplement, but it is also found in high concentrations in over-the-counter gun-cleaning fluid.

Medical examiners failed to agree that the selenium found in Linda's body was enough to kill her, but the coroner ultimately ruled the cause of death to be acute selenium toxicity.

But was it homicide?

Warren Paboojian, the best man at Mark's wedding, and now his attorney, says the family is wrong to suspect Mark played a role in Linda's death.

He acknowledged the couple was having typical marital problems.

"He was angry. They were both angry. I mean, you know this is a tough time. You're diagnosed with a disease that there is no cure for. You have a new baby. You're starting a new business. Everybody is under a lot of stress," Paboojian said.

The family claims Paboojian went so far as to warn Linda weeks before her death to leave Mark. But he says the family is misrepresenting his comments. "I told Linda, if she's so unhappy in the marriage that she should leave him. And she says, 'I can't. My family has told me that I have to stay in the marriage and make it work,' " he said.

He also claims that, contrary to what the family says, he saw Mark grieve in his own way following Linda's death.

At the request of a victims' advocacy group, veteran prosecutor Lela Henke-Dobroth reviewed the evidence of the case with the aim of delivering an objective law enforcement perspective.

Her conclusion? "The bottom line was that this case should have at all times been investigated as a homicide and that Mark Adanalian should be, and should have been at all times, the primary suspect and that was not done," she said.

Mark, struggling with multiple sclerosis, maintains his innocence.

In a statement to "20/20," he wrote, "Losing my wife and the mother of my children has been devastating. I have fully cooperated with the Fresno Police Department regarding my wife's death. I have passed a lie detector test and have provided those results to the Fresno Police Department. I had nothing to do with my wife's death."

Paboojian says the family is adding more pain to the already devastating loss. "They've orchestrated an excellent campaign to basically try to convince the public that this man with multiple sclerosis somehow had the motive and the opportunity and the means to do this to his wife and it's basically destroying his life and his children's life and that's the second part of the tragedy of Linda's death," he said.

As the family has continued its allegations against Mark, he has now barred them from seeing his children -- only adding to the family friction. Linda's parents are now fighting for visitation rights, and the family is still pressing for answers about Linda's death.

"I can tell you something about Linda. She was a type of person who was a go getter. Very active. And she would want us to find out how she died and who did this to her," her brother said.

The frustration of Linda's family and the media attention have been heard by the Fresno Police Department. It says the case is still open and under investigation by both police and the District Attorney's office.