MURDERED: Mary Yoder Part 1

0:00Ashley Flowers:This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. For some of us, summer means more juggling, which can lead to overwhelm and worry. BetterHelp makes it easy to get the support you need. Having served over 6 million people globally, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. They'll match you with a quality licensed therapist so you can focus on your therapy goals. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support in therapy. Sign up and get 10 % off at betterhelp.com slash crimejunkie. That's betterhelp.com slash crimejunkie. Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt. And I have big news.

0:32Ashley Flowers:One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season. And it is wild. Host Delia D 'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now, wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today is more like 10 stories in one, with twists and turns and betrayals that sound like they've been ripped from a screenplay.

1:13Because it starts in the most ordinary way. A woman goes to work, feels sick, and everyone assumes it's just a bug. But within two days, she's dead. And what initially seems like a medical mystery unravels into a murder investigation that divided a family and a community. This is the story of Mary Yoder.

2:08In late August 2015, a woman named Janine is taking her mom to a doctor's appointment in central New York near Utica. This should be a routine visit, but it's anything but. You see, Janine had just suffered a devastating loss. Her sister, Mary Yoder, had died suddenly and unexpectedly just the month before in that very same medical complex. And truly, when I say suddenly, her 60-year-old sister went from being totally fine, like chipper, working a normal day at her chiropractic office, to being violently ill, put in the ICU, and having to be revived seven times until her heart finally gave out and she died, all within less than 48 hours.

2:49Ashley Flowers:Did she have heart issues? No, Mary was strong and healthy. The only medical conditions she had were mild asthma and high cholesterol, nothing that should have caused her death. So you can imagine the trauma that this medical complex holds for Janine and how difficult this appointment is for her. Because not only is she right near where her sister died, but her mom's doctor actually was the one who was Mary's regular doctor. He had overseen her care when she was hospitalized. So naturally, at this appointment, Mary comes up. Now, Janine and her mom and siblings were under the impression that Mary died of ascending cholangitis, which is this infection of the bile ducts.

3:33But according to Janine, when she mentioned that to the doctor, he looked kind of taken aback, like confused even. And he told Janine that was never a real diagnosis, just one of the many possibilities tossed out, like, early on after Mary came in, like when they couldn't figure out what was making her sick or why her heart kept giving out. All they really knew at that point, even when she's coming there to the doctor, is that they didn't know how she died. And they were still waiting for toxicology testing to tell them more. But before Janine left, the doctor asked her something. Where's the husband?

4:12The implication feels clear to Janine in that moment. And the whole drive home, her mind is just spinning. And that's when something hits her. Bill Yoder, Mary's husband, had her cremated just days after she died, even though no one knew what killed her. And she just can't make sense of things. Bill and Mary's daughter, Leanna, who's actually a doctor herself, had been telling family that Mary died of that infection. So she contacts Leanna again. And when she presses her on it, Leanna confirms, no, that is not what killed her. And yes, she's been cremated. But that was after samples were taken.

4:52The toxicology testing that Mary's doctor mentioned was still underway. And as it turns out, that testing was extensive. Because from the second that the pathologist, Dr. Kenneth Clark, began Mary's autopsy, he knew something was very wrong. Her organs were discolored, almost like her body had already started decomposing while she was still alive. And under a microscope, her tissue showed signs of a massive toxic attack, as if she had undergone aggressive chemotherapy, which she hadn't, like, ever. So Dr. Clark tests for all the usual poison suspects, right, like arsenic, cyanide. But when those come back negative, he works with poison control resources trying to match Mary's symptoms to something in their database.

5:39And this stretches on all the way through August and into September. But finally, nearly two months after Mary's death, they figure it out. Mary died from an overdose of colchizine.

5:54Ashley Flowers:I've never heard of that. Most people haven't. I hadn't before this case. colchicine is typically used to treat gout. But Mary didn't have gout. So there is no reason that she should have been taking it at all, let alone the amount found in her system, which was enough to kill her many, many times over. And I assume this isn't like an over-the-counter kind of thing. No, no, no, no. You need a prescription. And it's not like there's like a street market for this thing either. Right, it's for gout. Right. So at first, poison control and everyone is thinking that there could be basically like accidental ways that this got into her system, both of which they need to identify fast because other people could be at risk.

6:34And so the first thought they have is, okay, she could have gotten it through contact with plants. Mary was this avid gardener and colchizine comes from a plant. So maybe she ingested something that she grew.

6:46Ashley Flowers:Okay, I don't know the ins and outs of this drug, but I feel like you'd probably have to ingest a lot of a plant to die from it. And I don't see that happening by accident. It actually doesn't take that much. The lethal dose is remarkably low, but there is a second even scarier possibility. Mary was known to take a lot of supplements, a lot of vitamins, and she even sold them out of her practice. So they start thinking like, oh, my God, what if something that she was taking got contaminated during manufacturing? At least if it was her garden, the problem would be contained to her household. With this, I mean, they could be looking at a public health crisis.

7:25So they have her family go and collect and turn over everything they can find that she took regularly. And even though it seems far-fetched, they do go even check her garden. But everything comes back clean. The simplest explanations are all getting ruled out. And without those scenarios, it's hard not to go somewhere darker. Like maybe someone did this on purpose. And with that one doctor's words echoing in Janine's mind, she starts sharing her suspicions with another of her sisters, Sharon. They feel like, you know, they've been pretty much in the dark. They keep expecting to hear an update or to be contacted by police or something, but it feels like nothing is happening.

8:10So in mid-October, Sharon contacts the Oneida County Sheriff's Office herself. And she's like, hey, I'm just calling to see if you know what's going on with my sister Mary Yoder's mysterious death. And they're like, what? Never heard of it. Like, what are you talking about? And she's like, my sister, she died of an overdose from a random medication that she wasn't even taking. And we're all over here just like waiting for someone to tell us what happened. But the lieutenant confirms there is no open case on Mary Yoder. Did she call the wrong jurisdiction? Oh, no, it takes some figuring out. But what it seems like is that the M.E.

8:48never notified the authorities of the findings. And oddly enough, Bill didn't either. But once the sheriff's office knows what's what, they quickly open a case with Lieutenant Robert Nelson and investigator Mark Van Namy at the helm. They know that poisoning requires access and opportunity. If this was intentional, it had to be someone close to her. So it's no surprise that they look at Bill first. And not just because he's the husband. I mean, there is literally no one else anyone can think of. Mary is the last person you would expect something like this to happen to. She had the most unassuming happy life.

9:30Like she and her husband owned their own practice. They were both chiropractors. And Mary especially was like adored by her patients, some of which had been seeing her for decades. She was a staple in the community. And her hobbies were simple too. Like she loved wellness and fitness and gardening. And her life was just full of people who really loved her. her three adult children. She had grandkids, a bunch of siblings and friends, and Bill, who has been her husband of nearly 40 years. Now, according to Bill, he and Mary were happy. No affairs, no major issues. I mean, they had big plans for the future, including this upcoming trip to Europe that they had both been excited about.

10:11And by some accounts, he was barely functioning after she died. But a group of Mary's sisters, Janine, Sharon, and Sally, they're just not so sure that's true. They say that the marriage had problems, including financial stress, and it raised eyebrows that Bill took monthly solo weekend trips to a hotel, supposedly to write, like he had published a couple of self-help books.

10:37Ashley Flowers:They worked together though, right? I guess the solo trips feels like maybe they needed some time apart. Yeah. Like just some space. Yeah. They had worked together their whole career. But recently Bill had, I guess, scaled back some. Like the office was open three days a week and Bill and Mary's shifts were often split or rotated with Mary seeing more patients while Bill focused on like the business or back end of things like finances, administrative stuff. But even still, like, I mean, I get what you're saying. Everyone finds like what works for them, especially if you like work together. I'm not reading into the like solo trips too much either.

11:09But the sisters also have questions about his behavior. when Mary was hospitalized. Cape Fear is a new series now streaming on Apple TV. This 10-episode psychological thriller is executive produced by Martin Scorsese and stars Academy Award winner Javier Bardem, Academy Award nominee Amy Adams, and Emmy nominee Patrick Wilson. When convicted murderer Max Cady is released from prison, he begins infiltrating the family of the married attorneys who helped put him behind bars. Watch Cape Fear streaming now on Apple TV.

12:10Ashley Flowers:Free and easy to use, just search for your prescription on the website or app, compare prices, and get a free coupon to show your pharmacist. Use GoodRx to save at over 70 ,000 pharmacies nationwide, including Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Publix, Kroger, and many more. GoodRx is not insurance, but it works whether you have insurance or not, and it could even beat your copay price. Save time and money at the pharmacy this summer. Go to GoodRx.com slash Crime Junkie. That's GoodRx.com slash Crime Junkie, or download the free GoodRx app. Remember, Mary's health deteriorated fast. It's not like she was hospitalized for weeks or months.

12:50We're talking less than 48 hours here, starting on Monday, July 20th. Now, Mary was at work that day. Everything was normal. She was seeing patients, happy, energetic, just like usual. But that afternoon, there was just this swift and noticeable change. A wave of nausea just hit her out of nowhere, then vomiting and abdominal pain. By the time she was finishing up with her last patient around six, it was clear to everyone around her that something was wrong. And she told people that she had never felt so sick before. So she went home, spent the night in and out of the bathroom, and by Tuesday morning, this is the 21st, she was even worse.

13:30So around 9 a.m., Bill drove her to the hospital. She spent the day there while doctors ran blood work and scans trying to figure out what was going on. And the medical attention seemed to help. Mary was feeling a little bit better. Now, doctors still decided to keep her there overnight for observation, but there didn't seem to be any, like, you know, real alarm. So Bill assumed that she just had this nasty stomach bug, which is maybe why he did something a few of Mary's sisters found off. He went home that night to rest. Which, whatever, Mary wanted to sleep too. But before going to bed, Bill says that he put his phone in another room to charge.

14:13So he didn't wake up as the hospital called him again and again and again. Because around 10 p.m., this is about an hour after Bill left, not even that long, Mary's condition took this sharp turn for the worse. First, she fell down while trying to use the bathroom. Then she was moved to the ICU. And in the early morning hours of Wednesday the 22nd, she just kept spiraling. Her heart stopped at 4.17, then again less than 20 minutes later. And when staff still weren't able to reach Bill by then, they actually sent state troopers to his door to wake him up. And when they do, Bill calls the hospital immediately.

14:55But even though the Yoder's house is just 15 minutes away, it took him an hour to get there. And Mary coded again just after 10 a.m., then once an hour after that, a total of seven times. Doctors brought her back over and over again until it was just too much and they couldn't anymore. She was pronounced dead at 2.54 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22nd. So to some of Mary's sisters, Bill's lack of urgency, the fact that you don't make sure your phone is right next to you while your wife's in the hospital, that you aren't rushing out the door when troopers have to wake you up about your wife's condition, it feels wrong to them.

15:37And listen, like I said, I get going home that night. Mary seemed to be getting better. She wanted to sleep. And to add more context, Bill probably had every reason to believe that it was some kind of stomach bug because their 25-year-old son, Adam, had actually come down with something really similar just a few months earlier. He even went to the hospital. Now, he wasn't admitted like Mary, but it was pretty bad. And though it had taken a while, he bounced back.

16:05Ashley Flowers:Yeah, but like, I'm sorry, keep your phone close on you? That seems like such a no-brainer thing. I know. His excuse was that Mary had moved the phone charger months earlier, so he just like plugged it in where she left it and just like... So move the charger. I know, it's like a little bit of a husband answer. It's like, what's where you put it? I don't know. And especially, listen, like once you know she's in the intensive care unit, Like, hustle. Yeah. That's kind of my thing. And listen, there's something else that Mary's sister shares with detectives that bothers her. Once she learned that her sister died of a colchicine overdose, she started researching the drug.

16:40Because, just like you and me, she'd never heard of it before. And she found something really interesting. Apparently, colchicine can be used to grow super potent marijuana, which jogs this memory for her. Back in the early 1980s, Bill had grown some of his own marijuana using some kind of special process with the seeds to make the plants stronger. And just to be clear, like at this point, Bill had been saying he'd never even heard of colchicine before Mary died. But like knowing this, and again, they're like connecting dots or like that, you know, we can't prove, but like the sisters aren't buying it.

17:15Ashley Flowers:But what's the why here? Like, is there a life insurance policy? Is it an actual affair? Like, I know we've seen it all at this point, but it's definitely more rare to see a spouse kill their partner after 40 years of marriage. That's a long time. Yeah. And I assume there weren't like a bunch of red flags before this or it wouldn't have been such a shock to Janine at the doctor's office when he's like, hey, where's Bill? Right. So that's the part that no one can totally figure out. If Bill did something to Mary, why? To answer your question, there wasn't any life insurance. I mean, they seem to be getting along fine.

17:52There were no accusations of domestic violence that I know of. And whatever Mary may have told her sister about financial struggles, it's not like he was like, again, walking away with a million dollar life insurance policy. And it doesn't seem that she ever mentioned being afraid of Bill or that he had cheated on her or anything. But if there was a time when Janine, Sharon, or Sally were questioning themselves, like cataloging all of this, all the years that Mary and Bill had been together, thinking how devoted you have to be to a person to build a life with them over four decades, just when they might have thought they were barking up the wrong tree.

18:31Bill does something in late November that finally convinces some that he did have a motive. that maybe he wanted out of his marriage. And this thing would become central to this case for the next 10 plus years to come. Four months after his wife unexpectedly died by poisoning, Bill gathers his three kids together for this big announcement. Bill's in love again. Not just like a little crush or a date or anything, like in love.

19:04Ashley Flowers:So it's not like he just met this woman. Well, no. Like, there is no scenario where this looks good. Either you have to admit you met her, like, the second your wife died, and while everyone else was grieving, you were boning her and just moved on super fast. Or you have to admit that there's overlap, and you met her before your wife died. Somehow, there is a worse third option that kind of combines both. What do you mean? The woman that he is in a relationship with, that he is in love with now, is one of Mary's own sisters. Yeah. Okay. I have so many questions, but let's pause for a second. Walk me through this.

19:49Ashley Flowers:How does someone go from thinking Bill killed their sister to being in a relationship with him in a matter of months? So they don't. It is not Janine, Sharon, or Sally that Bill is announcing he's in love with. So it's not that. They have another sister, Kathleen. That's who Bill is seeing in love with, whatever. And look, I know grief can bring people together in unexpected ways. But this seems fast, to say the least. And basically, Bill says that, like, after Mary died, he and Kathleen just, like, leaned on each other. They were both mourning because Kathleen's own husband had died after this long illness the year before.

20:31And they understood what the other was going through. And then in September, things got romantic.

20:39Ashley Flowers:So we're talking about this four months after Mary died, but it got romantic two months later? Correct. Dude, I would haunt the shit out of my husband and my sister. If I'm still around, if I'm still around, I don't need to haunt them. I will go for them for you. I mean, I'm not saying never be happy again. But not like this. No. And according to ABC News Studios, which actually made this Hulu docuseries about this case, this is suspicious to a lot of people. I mean, family and investigators alike. They wonder if the relationship started before Mary died. Same. Maybe he wanted to be with Kathleen and got rid of Mary to make that happen.

21:22So detectives are obviously like catching wind of all of this. And they quietly start to subpoena phone records and bank statements. They also talk to the Yoder children who are in this like impossible position. Like they're cooperating with law enforcement while pretending with their father that like nothing is going on.

21:40Ashley Flowers:And what are they thinking at this time? Like this has got to be a little suspicious to them too, right? I mean, they love their dad, but they're starting to face the thought that he might be responsible for this. I mean, at least that's what Bill and Mary's daughters, Leanna and Tamron, kind of describe and how like terrifying the thought of this is. They talk about it during an interview with ABC News. And they said, you know, they were surprised to say the least about his relationship with Kathleen. And one of the other things they're really honest about is Tamron tells police about this odd conversation she had with her dad not long after their mom died about this inheritance that Bill had recently received when his own father passed away.

22:23He got close to like half a million dollars. And according to Tamron, he said that while the money wasn't really enough for two people to retire on, it was for one. So you have this like, no, there's no affair, but you have this weird Kathleen thing. And no, there was no life insurance on Mary. But there was like a financial thing. Could there have been financial motive after all? Maybe not the normal kind where, you know, someone's in a lot of debt or something, but like a financial motive nonetheless. less. But then, just as Lieutenant Nelson and Investigator Van Namy are starting to really dig into Bill, the strangest thing happens.

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