Tom Starr (Clint Howard) first appeared on The Bold and The Beautiful as a homeless man who directed Deacon and Finn to a warehouse where Sheila was unconscious. Deacon was so grateful to find her that he hired Tom to work at Il Giardino and allowed the former musician to perform for restaurant patrons. However, viewers saw a mystery person lurking backstage who put something in Tom's drink, and shortly after, Tom dropped dead.
During Tom's short time at the restaurant, he bumped into Penelope "Poppy" Nozawa (Lisa Yamada). Tom confronted Poppy, claiming that he was the father of her daughter, Luna. Poppy adamantly denied it, but it was clear that the two had had a relationship around the same time Poppy met Bill -- when Luna was conceived.
Many people are possible suspects in Tom's murder, such as Poppy; her sister, Li; and Sheila Carter. Poppy wouldn't want a paternity conflict exposed, and Li has issues with Luna's paternity. As for Sheila, she always seems to have dead bodies in her vicinity.
Tom was a former addict, but it was surprising to all when his autopsy determined he had drugs in his system. Poppy has been acting suspiciously on various levels but is also known to use and carry recreational drugs with her. Poppy recently reunited with Bill Spencer, and finding out that he is Luna's father boosted her lifestyle. She and Luna moved into his mansion and are living a life of luxury.
However, Bill's ex-wife Katie didn't like what she saw. Her son, Will, suddenly got a half-sister, and Katie lost her status as lady of the manor at the Spencer estate. Katie doesn't like taking secondary status behind Poppy, and worse, she constantly reminds Poppy that Poppy isn't good enough to be her replacement in Bill's life.
Katie decided to make it her mission to find out why Poppy gave her bad vibes. She went to Li's office at the hospital and asked what Li knew about Luna's paternity test. Li assured Katie that she'd had her own doubts, so she'd insisted on performing the test herself -- and the test had correctly identified Bill as Luna's father.
Katie then scrubbed the Internet for information and found an article about the musical festival that Bill and Poppy had been at together many years ago -- and discovered that Tom Starr had been one of the performers.
With Katie investigating her, Poppy made a preemptive strike and told Bill that Tom had thought he was Luna's father.
Poppy and Luna returned to the apartment they had been living in to get the rest of their things to bring to Bill's. While there, they discovered that Tom's backpack was in the apartment, filled with letters to Poppy, claiming to be Luna's father. Poppy swore she had no idea how the backpack had gotten there but told Luna that she'd known of his paternity claims and told Bill about it already.
Luna was shaken up and questioned her mom about Tom. Poppy admitted that she'd known Tom had been working at Il Giardino and that he had delivered pizza to them on the night of his concert -- with a flyer about the performance taped to the box. Poppy told Luna that she'd decided to "take matters into her own hands" that night and talked to Tom before he'd performed, telling him to stop saying he was Luna's father.
Luna noted that not long after that, Tom had died. After Poppy left to return to Bill's, Luna told R.J. about the disturbing evidence at the apartment and her mother's revelations. R.J. immediately told Katie, who then called the police before heading straight for Bill's to warn him that Poppy could be a murderer.
While Katie was at Bill's, Poppy arrived, and Katie confronted her. Luna entered as Katie shared her suspicions and accusations. Just then, Chief Baker (Dan Martin) arrived and announced that thanks to Katie's tips, they'd gotten a search warrant and had the evidence to arrest Poppy for suspicion of murder.
The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS.
Has Poppy actually killed Tom and, possibly, Hollis, as well to prevent the paternity of Luna from being questioned? Or is there more to the story, such as Poppy being set up? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
