MURDERED: Mary Yoder Part 1

The gist

In July 2015, Mary Yoder's sudden death from colchicine poisoning—a prescription drug used to treat gout that she had no reason to take—initially baffled authorities. When her husband Bill had her cremated before toxicology results came back and later began a relationship with Mary's own sister Kathleen just months after her death, suspicion fell on him. However, an anonymous letter in November 2015 accused Mary's 25-year-old son Adam of poisoning her, and police found a bottle of colchicine exactly where the letter said it would be—under the passenger seat of Adam's Jeep, complete with a receipt using his email address.

Key takeaways

• Mary Yoder collapsed on July 20, 2015, with sudden nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, and died less than 48 hours later on July 22 after her heart stopped seven times
• Toxicology testing took nearly two months to identify the cause: colchicine overdose in a lethal dose, though Mary had no medical reason to take it
• Bill Yoder had Mary cremated just days after her death before toxicology results came back, and the sheriff's office wasn't even notified of the suspicious death until Mary's sister Sharon called in October
• In late November, just four months after Mary's death, Bill announced he was in a relationship with Kathleen, one of Mary's own sisters, claiming they bonded over grief
• An anonymous typewritten letter arrived at police on November 23 accusing Adam of the poisoning, stating he'd ordered colchicine online, put it in Mary's vitamins on Father's Day, and that the bottle was under his Jeep's passenger seat
• Police found the colchicine bottle exactly where described, with a receipt from January 2015 using the email mister.AdamYoder1990@Gmail.com and shipped to the Yoder chiropractic office
• Adam denied ordering it and provided an alibi (he was on Long Island when Mary got sick), and detectives found the evidence too "perfectly" presented, suspecting it was a frame job
• Katie Conley, the 22-year-old office manager and Adam's ex-girlfriend, told police Adam was controlling and violent, mentioned a 2014 sexual assault report against him, and described suspicious behavior—but her statements matched the anonymous letter so closely that investigators began wondering if she wrote it

Notable quotes

• From the anonymous letter: "He got a bottle of colchicine off online and put the toxin in one of her vitamins when he was over at his parents' house...now the colchicine container is under the front seat passenger side of his Jeep."
• From an investigator: "There's a lot of unanswered questions that we have...You're gonna have to help us rule you out. Just like we gotta rule out Adam or Bill or whoever is not responsible for this."

Worth a full listen?

True crime fans invested in complex family dynamics and mysterious poisonings should listen to part one to understand the setup before part two reveals the identity of the actual perpetrator and why justice took over a decade.