HIGH FALLS – Residents of the hamlet of High Falls, and readers of this paper, may have seen the ads and fliers for a "Must See TV" event in which a local High Falls resident is asked by Dr. Phil if he was responsible for his wife's 2011 drowning death.

Kelly Dumond says that he has been harassed to the point of being cut off from his lifelong community for a crime he didn't commit, and that he was tricked into appearing on the television program. Former neighbor Nancy Tardibuono believes a corrupt law-enforcement system has kept Dumond out of jail for the death of his wife Peggy, and has vowed to continue the campaign against he whom she brands a "grifter."

According to Tardibuono, the circumstantial case against Dumond is "quite strong." His wife Margaret, called Peggy, visited her neighbors across the street the day she died, advising that she was leaving her husband of five years and making sure he wouldn't get any money. Later on, she was discovered dead of drowning in the bathtub, with, according to Tardibuono, bruises on her neck. She points to the fact that Dumond has a felony conviction and "moved in with Peg right out of jail" as further proof of his unsavory character.

Dumond agrees that the main issue causing the furor is money, but not that of his late wife.

"I didn't know she had insurance," he said, talking about how Tardibuono and her family had inherited a large amount when elderly relatives died and didn't want people with less means living across the street. "They inherited a house and four million dollars, while Peggy would go to three different nursing homes every weekend to visit their relatives... they never visited."

The posters and ads about the Dr. Phil episode were part of a broad campaign of harassment, Dumond said, one which included investigations into welfare fraud, firearms possession, and animal cruelty. The password to his bank account, held jointly with his wife, was changed but no money was taken. The word "murderer" was scrawled on his mail box. His truck was damaged. On one occasion someone threw a caustic substance in his face.

Tardibuono admitted that she and a friend gained access to the bank account. Much of their circumstantial evidence against Dumond has to do with financial transactions, such as quickly putting the house in his name alone and selling many of his late wife's possessions in a yard sale soon after her death. She describes Dumond as opportunistic, living off the wealth accumulated by her wife when she was an executive at Playboy and NBC.

"I have tax returns to show that she didn't pay for everything," Dumond counters. "$26,000 is the most she ever made while working in the city."

Allegations that he is a longtime partier, which are rooted in his own admitted drinking problem, he explains away with how he now, "Works nights; I don't go out drinking."

His wife's death was ruled a suicide, and Dumond has stated that she was addicted to pain medications and alcohol. The only two domestic violence calls to their home, he said, "Were me calling about her. She was drunk and attacked me, and I just wanted it on the record."

Those allegations against Margaret by her widower have been characterized by a fan of the "Justice for Margaret" Facebook page as being the sort of deflection which is to be expected of a "classic abuser." The commenter writes, "His smug attitude, minimization of his past domestic violence, desire to smear Margaret by bringing up alcohol and drug use, and obvious difficulty handling himself when asked tough questions are all red flags."

The attack with the caustic substance is what led Dumond to agree to his Dr. Phil interview.

"I thought that's what the program was about," he explained, saying that the show's producers were misleading.

The program itself included Dumond taking a lie-detector test, one which Dr. Phil's expert said he did not pass. Dumond dismissed those results, pointing out that he had passed such a test at the Hurley state police barracks, at which time he was under much more stress. He claims that the test administered for the television program was designed for him to fail it.

"They can stomp their feet up and down, but the police won't charge me," Dumond said. "I did not kill my wife."

Tardibuono acknowledges that, two years later, there's no physical evidence of murder, but says that the circumstantial case against Dumond is strong. She believes that Dumond has never been charged because he's in cozy with the state police stationed in Ellenville, and because he hired John Rusk, who is also an assistant district attorney for Ulster County, as his lawyer.

"The trooper said that the only way we'll get a conviction is to get him to confess," she admitted.

The case was closed on July 2, a lieutenant in the state police advised her.

A confession may not be in the cards, but Dumond certainly feels less a part of the community since the Dr. Phil program first aired in February, and was rebroadcast earlier this month.

"I was foolish to do the program," he said. "It turned the community against me. I still hold my head up high. People don't actually ask me about it, but they beat around the bush. I guess they're hoping I'll just pack up and leave the place I've lived all my life."

That wouldn't be enough for Tardibuono, who says that she won't stop until Dumond is in jail for a murder that no police agency has yet to say he committed.