189: The Heartbroken Poisoner 42:29

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Sign up for your trial today at Noom.com. Today, Noom has helped more than 5.2 million people lose weight. Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. Well, we just want everyone to know that we did our live show and it went swell. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came and supported us and all the messages.

it was actually really fun oh it was a blast i might have cried on stage a little bit a reminder a couple times if you want to watch our first ever live show you can do that over on patreon you can also listen on patreon and apple subscriptions it was crazy to see everyone there live again thank you to everyone who supported us and came what an overwhelming surreal feeling it was to walk out on stage and see people who've come

as like as a part of this community to talk true crime with you like it was just I couldn't even believe it it was crazy it was a crazy experience yeah I don't know I mean it's it's hard it was it was awesome it's fun we had a good time so thank you to everyone and we hope to see everyone soon maybe coming to a city near you all right Gare it's time for your 10 seconds well

I've always had this issue. Sometimes, you know, issues are just built into your DNA and there's nothing you can do, right? What's the issue? I leave my credit card always at places when we go eat. I mean, okay, it's not that big of an issue. It's not like I do it every time we go eat, but I just did it again and now we've got to go back to the place, get the credit card, come back, blah, blah, blah. But I do it, I would say I do it once a month.

Yeah. It used to be worse. I used to lose my wallet everywhere I went. Do you remember that when we first started dating? Now it's his wedding rings or his credit card, but it did used to be the wallet. Sometimes it's the keys. I just like, I don't know. I'm always putting it down places or just not paying attention to it. Anyways, left my credit card. I have to go get that tomorrow. So we're recording this episode a little earlier than we normally do. Tomorrow is Halloween.

Peyton and I are gonna be sitting inside handing out some candy. I'm gonna be scaring little kids, making them cry to their moms. Just kidding, not gonna do that. - All I know is one of our neighbors had a fricking big

big party the other day and they did not invite us. Oh my gosh. So listen, our neighbors had the biggest party ever. And I was thinking, why can't that be us? And I realized Peyton and I only have one friend and it's each other. So that's why it's not us. So between the big party that we didn't get invited to, my credit card is at the restaurant. That kind of sucks, but looking forward to scaring some kids. That's what we got going for us. Let's hop into today's episode.

Our sources for this episode are Toxic Love by Thomas Gillian, The New Yorker, ForensicFiles.com, The Washington Post, Sword and Scale, Court Documents from Casetext.com, and Justice US Law. Trigger warning. This episode features discussions of suicidal ideations, so please listen with care. So when you think of a murder weapon, you imagine your choices are pretty limited, right? We think guns, knives, poison, maybe a rope.

Or, as we heard recently, even the occasional garden hose. Especially if a murder is premeditated. Someone usually goes in pretty well prepared. But today's killer plotted out his murder for months. And he used one technique that no one would have ever considered. His weapon of choice was to give his victim cancer.

I did not know you could do that. Now Garrett has his biggest fear. And while his wrath was focused on the woman he'd loved and lost, his method was so quick, so effective that it didn't just ruin her life. It ruined the lives of nearly everyone she loved.

To start today's journey, I want to travel back to 1961 to the city of Omaha, Nebraska. Good old Nebraska. It's a warm April afternoon. It's one of the small neighborhoods along the Missouri River. A brave and inquisitive nine-year-old boy named Stephen Roy Harper is playing with his brother and a few friends out in a junkyard across from their home.

It's there that the kids spot a snake and boys will be boys, right? So what do they do? They start tormenting it, poking it with sticks, daring each other to pick the snake up until one of them comes up with an idea. What if we just light the snake on fire? Stephen's unsure of whether this is a good idea. After all, he really likes animals. He wants to become a vet one day.

But with the older kids peer pressuring him, he keeps his mouth shut. Especially when one of them comes up with the idiotic idea to pour kerosene on the fire to make it bigger. And it's with that decision that Stephen Roy Harper's life changes forever. Without time to dodge the growing flames, Stephen himself gets caught in the blaze.

His entire body lights up like a human torch as he remembers what he was taught in school. Stop, drop, and roll. Stephen's mother heard the commotion and came running out in time to rush her son to the hospital. There they learned that over 65% of Stephen's body had been covered in burns. They didn't think he would survive his wounds, but Stephen did. He pushed through the constant pain, which was especially worse when they changed his bandages.

Even swallowing food and water created an agony like no other. But the worst part might have been Stephen Roy Harper no longer recognized his young self in the mirror. Over the course of that summer, Stephen underwent a dozen operations and skin grafts, procedures that he would continue to endure well into his adult life.

but the nine-year-old stephen worried most about one thing going back to school in the fall which is such a valid worry at that age man we just started off just sorry nice and sad and sad what would the other kids think of how he looked now surely they would whisper behind his back be afraid to look in his direction and that was exactly what happened which was why stephen then put up a wall

While he focused intently on his studies, he kept a distance from the other kids, refusing to socialize with anyone outside of his immediate family.

But the other parents, well, they thought highly of Stephen. He was a survivor, they said. For a nine-year-old boy, he had persevered and had gone through so much and still managed to come back to school and focus on his education. He was admired in the community, trusted by other adults to take on responsibilities as he got older. Things like paying him to watch their car while they were away on vacation.

One family even hired him to help care for their daughter who lived with an intellectual disability. This little community in Omaha saw Stephen Roy Harper as a kind and gentle soul, a boy who only wanted to help, who had dreams of becoming a veterinarian.

and cared tirelessly for the family's menagerie of animals, from turkeys to sheep to cats and dogs, well, in due time, nine-year-old Stephen Roy Harper would grow up and go on to prove all of them wrong.

In 1971, the now 18-year-old Stephen began college at Omaha's Creighton University, but his relationship with other people, particularly girls, hadn't changed. Sure, Stephen wanted to have a romantic partnership. He wanted to court women just like other guys his age were doing, but the insecurities about his scars still lingered. This was despite the fact that Stephen had healed rather well and had grown into a pretty handsome young man. But

But the problem was, Stephen never knew how to approach women. He had no experience in the matter. He'd never even gone on a date, had his first kiss, anything. However, that all changed in 1973 when Stephen received an unexpected phone call from someone he'd gone to high school with.

It was June, when a guy named Ron Betten gave Steven a ring. He mentioned that his sister, Sandra, had been asking about him. She'd recently gotten divorced and was hoping to get back into the dating game. When Ron reminded her of Steven, she perked up and asked if he would give him a call, see if he was still single. Of course, Steven was.

Ron gave Stephen Sandra's number and suggested he give her a call sometime, maybe take her out on the town. And Stephen remembered Sandra almost immediately. She was the petite blonde with blue eyes and wavy hair that sat near him in history class. But what Stephen didn't know was Sandy had a complicated history of her own.

Sandy had always been a bit shy and soft-spoken. Much of her free time was spent cleaning and cooking for their large family, acting as the matriarch while her mother spent late hours working.

But Sandy, while seemingly reserved, also liked the attention she got from other boys her age. In 1968, Sandra met a 17-year-old guy named Jim Murphy at a school dance, and the two fell madly for one another. The following year, when Jim graduated from high school, he asked the now 17-year-old Sandra if she would be interested in dropping out of school and playing the role of wife.

And Sandra was elated, but their marriage quickly soured usually over unmerited jealousy. I mean, this is, that's pretty insane that he graduates and it's like, why don't you drop out and be my wife? Puppy love turned into ugly arguments, which led to domestic violence. So when you say dropped out of school, do you mean in college or high school? High school. She's 17. So she dropped out at 17, got married to him. Then it quickly soured and turned violent. Okay.

The final straw came when Jim punched Sandy in the face and then called her mother to come pick her up.

When her mother and brothers got there, they found an unconscious Sandy still lying on the floor. Sandy filed for divorce in June of 1973. But only a few days later, Sandy complained of being lonely. She was ready for the attention of another man and asked her brother Ron if there was anyone from high school who wasn't yet married. And that's when the name Stephen Roy Harper came up.

Of course, Stephen's parents were ecstatic to hear he'd be going on his first date with a real woman.

But even though the dating experience was entirely new for Steven, he must have done his research because after their first date, the 20 year old asked Sandy if she'd be interested in coming back to his parents' house. They were out of town on vacation and they'd have the place all to themselves. Oh man. According to Steve, Sandy was the one who made the first move that evening. She taught him how to kiss, how to be intimate with a woman. She was patient and empathetic.

And the experience for Steven, well, it was unlike any other. Yeah. Sorry. It's not funny. It's almost a little cringy. Like, I don't know. You know what I'm saying? From that moment. You know, good for Steven, man. Good for Steven. That's what I'm talking about. From that moment on, he was obsessed with Sandra, which I think is, I mean, he had not even had his first kiss. Now he goes on his first date. Got his first kiss, first date, first, a lot of stuff. Home run. Yeah. Yeah.

And the feelings actually seemed to be mutual. The two met up multiple times a week. And very quickly, Sandy started throwing around those three little words, I love you. And of course, Stephen tossed them right back.

The summer romance was a complete whirlwind. But when the fall came, Stephen knew it was time to focus back on his studies. He told Sandy that he was worried if they continued at this pace, their relationship would be a distraction. But Sandy, who had dropped out of high school to make her last relationship work, couldn't sympathize. Stephen told her that this would only be temporary, that he just wanted to make sure he could juggle both school and the relationship.

But Sandy gave him an ultimatum. Marry her or she was walking away. Oh man, Sandy. After consulting with both his mother and his pastor, Stephen decided to follow their advice. Let Sandy go, focus on school, and if things were meant to be, they'd work out in the end. And the plan worked. Sort of.

by the following summer sandy and stephen were back together she focused on getting her ged as stephen resumed his studies in the fall this time he agreed to try and juggle both their relationship and his final semesters but that resulted in petty fights between the two usually over the fact that sandy wanted to go out and have fun but stephen had to stay in and study then one evening when sandy compared him to her ex-husband jim

Stephen completely lost it. A blind rage washed over Stephen as he turned to Sandy and placed his hands around her neck. Oh, wait, what? He began squeezing tighter and tighter as Sandy's face turned blue. Finally, Stephen snapped out of it and released his hands from Sandy's neck as she began coughing and sucking up air. Okay, first of all, what are the chances that Sandy's now in two...

domestic violent relationships yeah that sucks it sucks after that night the couple didn't speak for two straight months oh they shouldn't have spoke ever again eventually Stephen called her to apologize hoping she would find it in her heart to forgive him to take him back but when she answered his call she told him nah it's over she'd already met someone new his name was Dwayne Johnson

Not the rock, unfortunately. Okay. And she and Dwayne were already talking about getting married. He wanted to buy her a rock, if you know what I mean. I know what you mean, babe. But she didn't stop there. She told Stephen that she never really loved him. That she just needed a warm body, a rebound from her first marriage. Oh, no. Plus, Dwayne was taller than him. I know. I know what's going to happen. Stephen began to seethe.

He couldn't imagine her just throwing away everything they were working towards. Despite his childhood accident, Steven had never felt pain quite like this. He spent the next several days calling Sandy, relentlessly begging for her to change her mind about Duane. He sent her gifts and flowers at work. And when she didn't accept, he began showing up at her office, trying to get her to talk to him. Some nights, he'd wait outside till she left and follow her to her car.

But Sandy wanted nothing to do with Steven. In her eyes, it was completely done. In January 1975, Dwayne and Sandy tied the knot. And Steven had no choice but to focus back on his studies.

He managed to graduate from Creighton in June of 1975 with an honors degree in biology. But once he was out of school, there wasn't much left to distract him. After all, this was the time Stephen had planned to marry Sandy once he was done getting his degree. It should have been him standing up there on the altar with her. Him taking her on a honeymoon to a tropical destination.

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I can't feel bad for Steven because he laid his hands on her, but I'm also thinking about all the psychology behind what happened to him when he was young. And obviously there's triggers or stuff going on. I'm not excusing it. Laid his hands on her. Don't do that. They shouldn't be together. Simple as that. - But a part of you is acknowledging that he also went through something hard. It's not an excuse, just an acknowledgement. - Exactly. I'm acknowledging he went through something hard. Does that mean you should be able to do X next? No way.

just oh i know that was funny then on the evening of june 20th stephen exploded after a violent fight with his father he drove off into the night with a shotgun prepared to take his own life at around 1am he parked his car on a hill with a clear view of sandy and duane's new home wanting to get one final glance at the woman he loved

He sat there and waited for their car to arrive back in the driveway. He figured it must only be a matter of time. And about 10 minutes later, he spotted their blue Chevy coming down the road. It was then that Stephen altered his original plan. As Duane, Sandy, her sister, her brother, and two friends piled out of the Chevy, Stephen peeled to a stop in front of the driveway.

Sandy approached the rolled down window of the car and began asking Steven what he wanted. He grabbed Sandy's arm through the window, but Dwayne interfered. He came over to the car and told Steven to keep his hands off his new bride. And that's when Steven pointed the shotgun towards Dwayne's head. Acting fast, Dwayne grabbed the barrel of the gun and forced it downward as Steven fired the first shot, nearly hitting Dwayne in the foot.

But then, Steven got out of the car. He started pursuing Dwayne, as well as Sandy and her other family members. Sandra's brother stepped forward to try and negotiate with Steven, but instead, Steven fired at him twice. Sandy's mother, who was living across the street from them, yelled from her window as Sandy's brother hit the ground. Steven then turned and fired a shot right through the house, managing to hit Sandy's mother just below the eye. Trying to figure out what shotgun he has, because now he's fired four times.

He then tosses his gun in the bed of his pickup truck and fled the scene. Sandy's mother and brother were both rushed to the hospital and surprisingly, both survived their injuries. The following day, police found Stephen's pickup truck abandoned at a Creighton University parking lot, but Stephen was missing in action. For the next several weeks, police tried desperately to track him down, but it was like Stephen had disappeared into thin air.

By July, Sandy and Dwayne hoped that Stephen would keep his head down and stay out of their lives for good. After all, he was now wanted for attempted murder. If he did show his face again, he was certain to get arrested and spend time behind bars, but that wasn't exactly the case. About a month after the shooting, Sandy began receiving letters in the mail. They hadn't been postmarked, which meant someone had hand-delivered them to her mailbox.

Each time they offered the same threatening message. Dwayne will never have Sandy. At one point, one of those envelopes was void of a message. Instead, it included a few cutouts from a witchcraft magazine.

The truth was, Stephen had been watching them, and he wasn't very far away. He'd been staying at a friend's house near the university, but in August, he hopped a bus for Tulsa, Oklahoma to stay with a relative. And the police still haven't caught him, obviously, at this point? It wasn't until July 10th of 1976, the following year,

that Stephen was finally tracked down by police and pulled over on his motorcycle. He was arrested and charged with shooting with intent to kill, wound, or maim. Stephen pleaded no contest and was sentenced to one to five years in a Nebraska prison. Man, it's a whole conversation. I feel like I say it over and over and over again. You try to kill someone and you don't kill them. You get this and you get one to five years.

And then they get out and try to kill him again. And then they try out and they get out and actually kill them. Yep. It's like, how do we, come on, we got to figure something else out. With Steven behind bars, Sandy and Dwayne felt like they could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They moved into their dream home, a three bedroom A-frame house in the north end of Omaha, just a few miles from downtown. By 1978, the couple had two kids, a three month old son named Michael and a two year old daughter named Sherry.

Sandy's pregnant sister Susan was also living with the couple. On the evening of September 9th, Dwayne and Sandy took the kids over to her parents' house where they often spent Saturday evenings playing cards. They came home around 1:00 a.m. and tucked the sleeping kids into their beds. But the following day, things took a bizarre turn.

That morning, around 9 a.m., Sandy woke up and got Sherry breakfast, cereal with milk. Dwayne came in shortly after, poured himself a glass of milk, and joined them. He complained to Sandy that the milk tasted funny and might have turned sour. She poured the rest down the sink and then got ready to run a few errands. Oh no. Around 10.30, as Sandy and Sherry were headed to Kmart, Sherry began complaining of a stomach ache.

When Sherry started throwing up, Sandy realized it was time to take her home. Meanwhile, back home, Dwayne spent the afternoon painting the exterior of the house when Sandy's father, Harold, and stepmother, Elaine, stopped by to return their lawnmower. Dwayne invited them inside and offered them some lemonade. They declined, but watched as Dwayne chugged some himself. A few minutes later, they left, but Elaine couldn't help but ask Harold,

Did Dwayne seem a little off to you? She noticed he was slurring his speech a bit. Shortly after they left, Dwayne found himself hovering over the toilet as well. When Sandy came home, she realized Dwayne and Sherry must have come down with the same stomach bug. She let them both sleep it off upstairs while her sister, Sally Shelton, kept her plans to swing by in the afternoon.

It was about 2 p.m. when Sally, her husband Bruce, and their 11-month-old baby Chad came by the house after a day of shopping. I think just needless to say, Sandy got along with her family well, as they just seemed to be sopping by. Yeah.

Sandy offered them some lemonade and they chatted for about an hour before heading to their home. By the time Sally had returned to her house, she was feeling queasy as well. Before the end of the night, her baby Chad was also unwell. They figured they must have caught whatever was going around the Johnson household.

for the next two days both the johnsons and the sheltons were in a living hell i'm trying to figure out is he putting in the lemonade like what is he how'd he get in like what's he putting it in like what is going on

Dwayne and his daughter Sherry were so lethargic they could hardly get out of bed, and they couldn't keep any food down. By Tuesday, September 12th, Dwayne was also suffering from constant nosebleeds. Alright, it's time to go to the doctor. Well, that same morning, Sally realized her 11-month-old son, Chad, wasn't improving either. He could hardly lift his head from the pillow.

Oh, no. Oh, no.

It appeared he was suffering from liver damage. Doctors ran tests for everything. By the end of the day, doctors moved Chad to a nearby children's hospital for more specialized care. And that's when Chad's condition really deteriorated. He began having seizures. Shortly after receiving a blood transfusion, he coughed up blood, indicating to doctors that he was bleeding internally. Remember, he's 11 months old.

So he's also killing the kids? Yeah. Like what is up with that? That's insane. Over at the Johnson household, Dwayne and Sherry had gotten much worse. The following morning on September 13th, Dwayne woke to find his eyes blood red with clots. Plus he had blood leaking from his gums.

By that point, Sally had contacted Sandy about Chad's condition, and this is sort of strange, but both families think the illnesses are unrelated. Maybe because Chad's doctor have eliminated the possibility of food poisoning or the flu, and his symptoms are presenting differently than Dwayne's and Sherry's? Dwayne's, the symptoms that he has, like...

That's crazy. Get to the doctor. So for the most part, the families feel confident this is just a coincidence that they both have very sick family members at the same time. Still around 3 p.m. that day, Sandy took Dwayne and Sherry to the doctor to get them checked out. But he dismissed their conditions as minor infections. Instead, he told Dwayne to come back if the bleeding continued for another two days. Oh, no way. This is giving me anxiety.

Well, I knew it would. Like, get to the doctor. What happens next? Is everyone safe? Let me know. Garrett has a bit of health anxiety. Well, I just want to know if they're safe or not. Well, by that evening, Dwayne was bleeding from the nose and gums so much that he was

Sandy was like, "Okay, screw that doctor. We're going to the emergency room." - Okay, good, good, good, good. - What's even wilder is that same night, the other sister who was living with the Johnsons, the pregnant one, Susan, goes into labor and needs to be driven to the hospital too. So now there's three different families, technically all one family, but three separate families at the hospital. It's just absolute chaos for this family. And knowing that, I guess it kind of makes sense that this just feels like the perfect storm.

Completely unrelated events all happening at once.

In the middle of the night on September 14th, baby Chad is still over at the children's hospital. And around 4 a.m., his vitals go haywire. His heart rate drops and doctors call out a code blue. And by 4.30 a.m., the 11th month old Chad was pronounced dead. What the freak, man. This is just three days shy of his first birthday. Oh, that is heartbreaking. But no one had any idea why.

By noon that day, Dwayne was also fighting for his life at Emmanuel Hospital, where Chad was originally being cared for. And now his symptoms were starting to resemble Chad's. Swelling in the brain was causing him to have seizures. His internal bleeding was irreparable and his heart rate was declining. It wasn't until that afternoon when nurses began comparing notes that they realized Chad and Dwayne had to be suffering from the same mysterious condition,

And now hospital staff are wondering the worst. If this isn't flu or food poisoning, are we dealing with some sort of deadly infectious disease? Well, by the morning of the 15th, this mysterious condition, whatever it was, finally claimed the life of Dwayne Johnson as well.

At 10:25 a.m. that morning, the 24-year-old Duane was declared dead. Autopsies performed on both baby Chad and Duane reflected the same horrible fate. Something had devoured their brain and liver so badly that large portions of each organ were literally missing. Oh, I don't like this. I do not like this. The pathologist had never seen anything quite like it before.

Luckily, Sally Shelton and Sherry Johnson were able to recover. However, Sherry required multiple blood transfusions to get her back on track. I am confused how obviously whatever is going on, Sandy is not contracting any of it. Like Sandy's fine. Yeah. There's no issues with Sandy. I'm not saying she's a suspect. It's just that's a little crazy. Right. And both of them lived with chronic liver issues for the rest of their lives.

But now authorities were faced with a new challenge, getting to the bottom of this bizarre medical mystery. On Monday, September 18th, a group of 30 doctors and public health officials gathered to review the case. And they realized that all of the victims had been in the Johnson household the day their symptoms began.

After analyzing those symptoms, they figured the most likely cause was some sort of toxic substance. So a team of investigators in hazmat suits were dispatched to the Johnsons' home to comb for evidence. They checked everything from the air conditioner to the plumbing to the cabinets and the refrigerator, taking samples every step along the way, but nothing jumped out at them.

So detectives questioned the family members about what they had eaten that day. Chances were the toxin was ingested since it targeted the stomach and the digestive system first. But there were only two things in that fridge that every victim had touched, the lemonade and the milk, both of which had since been poured down the sink, meaning any additional evidence had been destroyed.

But toxins this deadly don't just appear in liquids like that. They have to be put there intentionally, which got investigators thinking, maybe this is some sort of poisoning. After tissue samples from the victims were sent to the CDC, their report came back with one big conclusive finding. Chad and Dwayne both had high levels of DMN in their bodies.

DMN is a carcinogen often seen in research labs. It is used to create cancer of the liver so that scientists can test for cures. How did he get that? Suddenly, the Omaha Police Department is certain.

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so the police start by questioning sandy the night she and duane were out late playing cards did they notice anything strange when they returned smashed windows unlocked doors could someone have broken in while they were out sandy doesn't think so and when they ask if she has any stalkers or old boyfriends that could be a threat sandy oddly says no oh

even though she had an ex-boyfriend who shot her brother and her mother. Which is extremely odd. And when Sandy's mom comes in for questioning, she tells the police that Steven was a problem in the past, but he's in jail now. So this couldn't have been him doing it, right? There's no way he's in jail. Well, Steven Roy Harper had been released on parole back in November 1977, almost a year prior.

Afterwards, he went back to live with his parents in Omaha and applied for a veterinary school while also landing a job as a research assistant at the Epley Research Institute. There we go. A place that studied the effects of cancer on rats.

Which meant, surprise, surprise, Stephen Roy Harper had access to carcinogenic drugs like DMN. What's even more disgusting was Stephen supposedly tested these methods out on his family pets back in August of 1978.

I don't want to get into the details, but they had a new puppy and their cat. They both had to take it to the vet on the same day, both suffering from the same symptoms, and they died a day later. Then about a week later, Stephen just up and quit his position at Epley, like abruptly. After hearing this, police focused their attention solely on Stephen Roy Harper.

They obtain a search warrant and raid his Omaha home on October 3rd, 1978. Oh, it's 100% him. Inside, they find a bunch of empty animal cages similar to the ones used at Epley. And they discover empty vials. When those vials are tested back at the lab, they come up positive for traces of DMN and arsenic.

So yeah, they definitely have enough now to arrest Stephen Roy Harper. Shortly after, the FBI tracks him down in an airport in Texas and places him in cuffs. But police are still wondering, how in the world did he pull this off? Well, how in the world is Sandy not sick, but everyone else is? Well, luckily for them, Stephen answers these questions in a full confession shortly after his arrest.

Stephen claimed that the summer leading up to the crime, he was having vivid dreams and hallucinations about Sandy. Even though she was in his past, visions of her clouded his mind, consuming every second of his existence. Whether he was working, socializing, sleeping, Sandy was there. And the more he thought about her, the more humiliated he felt about her rejection. Stephen turned to drinking and drugs, but it didn't help.

The thought of suicide also crossed his mind, until one day while working at the lab, he found something that suited him better. Why not slip her the same drug that they gave the lab rats? He thought it would offer her a slow, torturous death, one that would kill her years later and leave Stephen free of any suspicion. So he slipped a vial of the drug into his pocket and took it home to conduct his first experiments.

Geez. When he realized how quick and effective the drug was, he figured he could dilute the dose for Sandy, make the process even slower. Then he put his plan in motion. He quit his job so he could spend his days following Sandy and Dwayne, learning their routines, when they came and whence.

By the end of August, he knew what time they woke up and when they went to bed, what they ate for every meal. And he knew that every Saturday night, they'd go to her parents' house to play cards. And they typically didn't return until around 1:00 AM. So on the night of September 9th, while the family was away, Stephen went to their bedroom window with a vial in hand. With the window unlocked, he snuck in and slipped into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and analyzed what was inside.

He spotted the lemonade and poured most of the vial's contents inside. Then, for safekeeping, dumped a little extra into the carton of milk. So, obviously...

The whole diluting thing went out the window. I assume if you dumped the whole vial into the lemonade. I think he thought that by mixing it with another substance, it would dilute it. Got it. That's disgusting. After Steven left their house that evening, he said he felt elated. It was the cure he needed. All of the visions of Sandy stopped. He no longer had thoughts of suicide and stopped drinking and doing drugs.

In due time, Sandy would no longer be a problem. But clearly things weren't going as Stephen had planned. Sandy did not drink enough of the milk or lemonade to get sick. Okay. After his confession, Stephen was charged with two counts of murder in the first degree and three counts of poisoning with the intent to kill, wound, or harm. Stephen's trial began a year after the murders in September 1979.

And at first, the story of an aspiring vet slipping into his girlfriend's home and poisoning her family's lemonade seemed almost farcical, like a scene out of a bad movie. But there was one witness who turned that all around, a man who stole the show and put the final nail in Stephen Roy Harper's coffin. His name was William Trout, a former fellow inmate of Stephen's from when he served time for his attempted murder charge.

According to William, all Stephen seemed to think about during his years behind bars was how much he wanted to get revenge on Sandy. The first thing he was going to do when he was released from prison was find Sandy and make her pay. After they were both released, William and Stephen met up in Omaha where Stephen proceeded to tell him that he'd discovered the perfect murder weapon. Stephen even pitched the idea of selling DMN on the street for anyone seeking a creative way to kill.

William claimed he had no idea that Stephen actually went through with the plot to try and kill Sandy until October. Oh man, all I know is I don't want to be worried about what I'm drinking. Once Stephen realized the police were onto him, he reached out to William to find a way out of the country. After hearing William's testimony, the jury was completely swayed. His

His story plugged a lot of the holes in the narrative and made the entire plot seem a lot more credible. It was enough to send Stephen Roy Harper away for good. Stephen was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to die by the electric chair in February of 1980. Instead, Stephen spent the next 12 years behind bars filing appeal after appeal.

Most of the time, his mind was hazy with antipsychotic medications. But in 1990, Stephen began secretly stashing his meds instead of taking them. On December 6th of that year, Stephen woke clear-minded. He spent the afternoon in the yard with his fellow inmates, taking in the fresh air, something he hadn't done in years.

At 8pm that evening, he went down for his medication, pretended to swallow it, and went back to his cell. He wrote a quick Christmas note to his parents, placed it in a red envelope, and turned off the lights.

Then he located all of the pills he'd been storing up over the last several months, swallowed them down at once, got under the covers, and drifted off to sleep. Okay. And Stephen Roy Harper never woke up again. And that is the story of Stephen Roy Harper and how he poisoned almost an entire family. So he killed the nephew and Sandy's husband. Yep. And then...

It's messed up. That's insane. Gave lasting problems to both Dwayne's daughter and Chad's mom. That's actually scary how easy of access he had to this drug and that maybe other people have. Yeah. That's kind of...

It's kind of worrying. I'm not going to lie. I also think over on Binged, we did an entire set about poisonings that you can actually go binge now. It was one of the first ones. And it's kind of eerie. Like poisoning to death is eerie. People just slowly trying to watch you die in agonizing, painful ways. Also, how easy it is. Yes. Just slipping it into your drink. It's so scary. It's so sad that... Oh, man. I can't believe they couldn't find...

I get frustrated because I can't believe he only got a few years for trying to shoot people. I know. I just, they knew he was going to come back and try to kill him. It was obvious. And that sucks. All right, you guys. Well, that was our episode for this week and we will see you next with another episode and a bonus episode. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.