The Perfect Poison

The Foxglove Stake: How a Gardener Quietly Poisoned a Neighbor A handmade wooden label that read FOXGLOVE was pressed into a kitchen herb bed beside a woman who had not planted it - and by spring the stake was gone while traces of Digitalis stayed in the soil. A homeowner collapsed face-down among rosemary and thyme; her autopsy cited cardiac arrhythmia, but forensic chemistry later found plant-based cardiac glycosides concentrated where the label had been. Who put foxglove into a kitchen herb bed, and why did the evidence disappear? In this episode, we lay out the timeline from the first sighting of the label to the later soil tests and missing stake. You’ll hear how neighbors, a landscaper who became a regular presence, and an initial medical conclusion intersect with a later chemical finding that reframes the death. Person: Judith Clark Age: 44 Date: November 14 (found), late August (symptoms began) Location: 4 Collier Lane, Stokely, Missouri Toxin: Digitalis glycoside (Digitalis purpurea) - The wooden stake labeled "FOXGLOVE" was photographed in place beside Judith’s hand on November 14. - Judith lost 11 pounds and developed slowed heart rate and yellowed vision starting in late August. - The medical examiner’s initial cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia secondary to underlying cardiac disease. - Forensic soil testing in March found digitalis glycoside residue concentrated in a six-inch radius around the herb bed’s northeast corner. - The foxglove label photographed in November was missing when investigators returned in March.

He Dosed the Sugar Bowl: How a Caretaker Weaponized Meals The smell of metal and a grayish-white crystalline powder in a faded blue-rooster sugar bowl led a parish minister to call 9-1-1 and start an investigation that would uncover a deliberate pattern of poisoning tied to shared meals. Arsenic in hair and bone, fourteen meal trays to one resident before death, and unexplained hospitalizations later pointed to a system rather than a single incident-who was putting poison into the food, and why? In this episode, we follow the timeline from the October 14, 2009 emergency call to the hospital admission and the subsequent forensic findings, tracing how routine meal service at a six-resident boarding house became the vehicle for harm. What the sugar bowl revealed about Mapleton House and the people who lived and worked there drives the questions we unpack. Person: Angela Quinn Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Mapleton House, Kellerton, Indiana Cause: arsenic detected in exhumed remains and hair samples Staff: cook Chad Powell, employed six years - Angela Quinn received eleven meal trays in the six weeks before her hospitalization. - The 9-1-1 call reporting the sugar bowl was placed on the morning of October 14, 2009. - Angela was admitted on October 14, 2009, never regained consciousness, and died on October 17, 2009. - George Ellison received fourteen meal trays in the two months before his death in March 2008; bone and hair showed arsenic consistent with chronic poisoning. - Patricia Nance was hospitalized four days in November 2007 with severe gastrointestinal illness, and hair samples showed elevated arsenic levels highest during her residency.

The Thermos in the Tree: How Aconitine Exposed a Volunteer Killer A cold green-and-silver thermos, four feet up in a river birch and dry after an evening rain, carried a name - Gail Sullivan - eleven days after she died and six days after she was cremated. The thermos held aconitine residue, a toxin that mimics late-stage pulmonary lupus and does not appear on standard toxicology unless specifically sought; who placed it in the tree, and why, becomes the central question. In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from a neighbor's photograph on the Stanley Simpson Trail to the medical examiner's decision to reopen a closed case. We trace how a volunteer's routine, a lab vial, and one misplaced thermos led investigators to ask whether a natural disease was actually a deliberate poisoning. Person: Gail Sullivan Age: 54 Location: Marrow Creek Park (Stanley Simpson Trail) and Crestfield Date of discovery: Thermos found six days after cremation; thermos photographed at 6:17 a.m. Toxin identified: Aconitine - Gail Sullivan collapsed during a volunteer shift on the second Wednesday of September and was pronounced dead with cause listed as acute respiratory failure secondary to lupus-associated pulmonary involvement. - Gail had a blood draw two days before she died; those samples were stored in cold storage and became the only remaining biological evidence. - The thermos was found wedged in a river birch four feet off the ground and was dry despite the ground being damp from the previous evening's rain. - Nursing supervisor Jan Poole confirmed in writing that Gail Sullivan never brought a thermos to her Crestfield Comfort Care shifts and no approval for outside food or drink had been filed. - Nine days after the medical examiner requested analysis of the thermos contents, lab results returned positive for aconitine.

The Lunchbox Notebook: How a River Revealed a Ten-Year Poison Plot Cold water hid a red lunchbox weighted with a river stone, and inside a dry notebook dated back to June 2004 with names, doses and symptoms-was this the paper trail of a decade-long poisoning? The discovery links a 2004 death to a pattern that stretches years; who kept meticulous notes on victims and why did they wait until after a rain to throw the box in the creek? In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from a fisherman in Sutter Creek to hospital records and a forensic review, outlining what the notebook contains and how it reframes Bruce Mason’s death; could a ledger of dates, quantities and symptoms be the key to reopening a closed case? Person: Bruce Mason Date: June 2004 Location: Crane Street apartment above a laundry, Kelton, Missouri Status: Deceased (age 22) Case: Notebook with 31 pages found in lunchbox in Sutter Creek - The lunchbox was found 40 yards from the eastern bank of Sutter Creek on the morning of August 9, 2014. - The notebook inside the lunchbox had 31 pages and was sealed in a zip-lock bag and bone dry inside despite a rain two days earlier. - The first notebook entry is dated June 2004 and lists the name Bruce Mason with dates, quantities and symptoms. - Bruce Mason was admitted mid-July 2004 to Sutter Valley Regional Hospital with nausea, peripheral numbness and fatigue and was discharged before dying on August 3, 2004. - Diane Mason kept a half-full yellow sports drink bottle from Bruce’s belongings in a cardboard box in her basement for ten years.

The Teacup in the Grass: How a Neighbor's Brew Killed Emily A dry white teacup with a narrow blue rim sat upright in overgrown grass after 1.5 inches of rain - and inside was a brownish dried residue that would later be linked to Emily Christensen's death. How did that cup, dry despite recent rain, become the physical clue to a method that had left no other trace? In this episode, we present the timeline and discoveries around Emily Christensen's final weeks, the teacup found by a county surveyor, the neighbors who shared rituals with her, and the medical notes that misattributed early symptoms - could a neighbor’s tea have been the lethal instrument? Person: Emily Christensen Date: July 11, 2019 Location: 42 Fennimore Street Person: Gail Underwood Person: Wayne Vickers - The teacup was found on July 11, 2019, sitting upright in an alley strip nine feet from Bob Kimura’s back gate. - It had a white porcelain body with a narrow blue band at the rim and a bone-dry interior despite 1.5 inches of rain two days earlier. - Emily Christensen was thirty-eight and had been dead for four days when the cup was discovered. - Emily kept a health journal replaced every January first and noted tingling in her hands and fatigue in late May through June. - Dr. Harold Foss documented low ferritin and borderline B12 on July 3 and prescribed a B-complex supplement two days before Emily was admitted to the hospital.

The Dropper Bottle That Unmasked a Daughter's Poison Trail The smell of damp behind an access panel led a pump technician to a brown glass dropper bottle that did not belong - and that single bottle would redirect months of medical certainty and end with an unexpected confession in open court. How did a compound so rarely prescribed appear in a small-town pharmacy ledger, and whose hands reached for it? In this episode, we follow the timeline from routine maintenance to a pharmacy compliance review and a sheriff’s call that reopened a certified death. The episode covers the medical notes, the pharmacy records for thallium acetate, and the people closest to the deceased - and asks who obtained and administered the compound. Person: Frances Fleming Date: June 22, 2019 (date of death) Location: 14 Alderman Court, Calverton Memorial area, Tate County Event: Pharmacy dispensing records showing two dispenses of thallium acetate Person: Vicki Simmons (pump technician who found the bottle) - The bottle was found inside the well pump housing at 14 Alderman Court on June 26, 2019, four days after Frances Fleming was buried. - Frances Fleming’s decline began in late 2018 with tremor, cognitive slowing, and gastrointestinal instability documented by Dr. Alan Reese and specialist Dr. Marcus Cho. - Pharmacy quarterly compliance review at Hartley Drug revealed two dispensing events for thallium acetate tied to Frances Fleming. - The dispensing record included a DEA registration number that traced to an out-of-state physician who had reported stolen credentials 14 months earlier. - Dr. Alan Reese had no record of ordering thallium acetate for Frances Fleming or for any patient and contacted the Tate County Sheriff’s Office the same day.

The Mason Jar, the Pump, and the Arsenic That Never Left A mason jar with a faint white residue sat beside a hand-pump well on a Tennessee farm for months while a 26-year-old woman drank from that water and then died of acute liver failure on September 3, 2008-her death certified as idiopathic hepatitis and closed without toxicology. Who noticed the tubing and residue later, and how did those discoveries connect purchases and a visitor to the farm into a case that would eventually link two unexplained deaths? In this episode, we follow the timeline from the farm well and the mason jar to the exhumation request and the investigations that followed, tracing what the episode covers and asking how arsenic moved through a hand-pump well and who put it there. Person: Brenda Dempsey Date: September 3, 2008 Location: Callum, Tennessee Event: Death certified as acute liver failure (idiopathic hepatitis) Person: Bruce Berry - Brenda Dempsey was 26 years old when she died on September 3, 2008. - A mason jar with faint white residue was found on the stone apron beside the hand-pump well used by Brenda. - Bruce Berry purchased an agricultural clarifying compound and rodenticides including arsenic trioxide on May 19, 2008. - Brenda first reported symptoms in late June 2008 and saw Dr. Pete Calloway multiple times that summer. - Dr. Jerry Whitley requested an exhumation in February 2009, prompting reopening of the case.

The Brown Dropper: How a Nurse Turned Supplements into Murder The smell hit Vernon Perry before he reached the front steps of 14 Orchard Terrace at 6:15 a.m. on Thursday, April 11, 2019 - a brown dropper bottle labeled "ELECTROLYTE SUPPLEMENT" was two-thirds empty on the kitchen counter and would link to four certified deaths that had been quietly filed. Who placed that bottle in Chad Brown’s home, and how did a legal ionic mineral supplement become a lethal, nearly invisible weapon? In this episode, we lay out the timeline and the key evidence uncovered after Chad Brown’s death and the odd entries logged at Fennick Regional’s third-floor break room, asking whether routine hospital access and a common supplement could hide a pattern of intentional harm. Person: Chad Brown Date: April 11, 2019 Location: 14 Orchard Terrace; Fennick Regional Medical Center third-floor break room Person: Edward Baker Occupation: Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) with six years at the hospital - Chad Brown was 48 years old and had worked eleven years as a charge nurse on the third-floor orthopedic unit at Fennick Regional. - Vernon Perry, age 14, discovered the doorway and called 9-1-1 at 6:15 a.m, on April 11, 2019. - A brown dropper bottle labeled "ELECTROLYTE SUPPLEMENT - two droppers per glass, twice daily" was found two-thirds empty on Chad Brown’s kitchen counter. - Chad badged into the third-floor break room on April 5, 2019; Edward Baker badged into the same room eleven minutes later. - The supplement sold at Bountiful Earth, four miles from Fennick Regional, is a concentrated liquid ionic mineral that at high doses can disrupt potassium and magnesium and mimic fatal cardiac arrhythmia, while standard toxicology panels do not flag it.

He Hid Thallium in the Soup - How a Lunch Turned Deadly at Linden Pines A stainless-steel food carrier was found sealed and upright in a gully a mile from Linden Pines Hospital, its two quarts of cream of potato soup laced with thallium sulfate at roughly six times the concentration of the batch served five days earlier - and one woman was dead within four days. How did a lunch poisoned with thallium bypass every routine check and kill a 32-year-old billing coordinator before anyone realized what to test for? In this episode, we tell how a hospital staff cluster of unexplained nausea, peripheral tingling, and cognitive change led one internist to order a thallium test by name, how that result connected a found food container to multiple patients, and how the timeline from March 9 to March 13 revealed the toxin’s delayed destruction. Person: Frances Carter Date: March 9-13, 2009 Location: Linden Pines Hospital (administrative wing and cafeteria) Toxin: Thallium sulfate Case: Four patients with matching symptoms; one fatality - A stainless-steel insulated food carrier containing two quarts of cream of potato soup was found in a gully by a road-grader operator on the morning of March 14, 2009. - The soup in the carrier was laced with thallium sulfate at roughly six times the concentration of the batch served in the hospital cafeteria five days earlier. - Frances Carter, age 32, ate a full bowl of the soup on March 9 and was found dead on March 13. - Four hospital employees (Frances Carter, Paul Grady age 51, Bev Holloman age 38, and Terrence Obi) developed matching symptoms of gastrointestinal distress, peripheral neuropathy/tingling, and cognitive change with no fever. - Dr. Donna Harrison ordered a thallium panel on March 12 after recognizing the symptom pattern from a residency case conference; toxicology confirmed thallium sulfate on March 13.

The Soup That Steamed Over a Poisoned Life: The Arsenic Trail The morning Susan Peterson was found, a pot of soup on the stove was still warm enough to steam while her body lay on the kitchen floor; three people intimately connected to her died in February with gastrointestinal causes and metallic taste was noted in her chart. What linked the warm soup, the repeated February deaths, and the missing toxicology that a pathologist later spotted? In this episode, we follow the paperwork trail and the small, concrete details that turned routine file review into a homicide inquiry, and we ask how routine medical notes and a single cremation decision could hide a lethal pattern. Person: Susan Peterson Date: February 9, 2019 Location: 414 Osler Road, Kellum, Denton County Person: Dennis Oakes Person: Phil Brent - Susan Peterson was 52 years old when she died on February 9, 2019. - A pot of soup on the stove at 414 Osler Road was warm and steaming when Frank Boyd entered the house at 5:40 a.m. - The county medical examiner estimated Susan had been dead between 8 and 12 hours. - Susan's medical chart three weeks earlier recorded nausea, fatigue, and a metallic taste noted by Dr. Roy Sims. - Gail Padgett, a state forensic pathologist, discovered that Dennis Oakes (died February 2008) was buried, providing tissue for testing, while Susan had been cremated.