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[Music] when members of a seemingly ordinary blended family begin falling ill one
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after the other a remarkably dedicated investigation revealed a murder plot that can only be described as
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diabolical I'm Olivia Lavo the Creator and host of the case File presents Bakersfield 3 podcast Casey and I have
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selected some of Case Files most memorable cases to be featured here where you'll have a visual Guide to the
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story today we're diving into case number 239 Peggy car it began as a typical Sunday for waitress Peggy car it was a
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warm October morning in 1988 in South Central Florida where the 41-year-old attended her shift at the
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Nicholas Family Restaurant but somewhat suddenly Peggy began to feel unwell and it came came on strong she felt a sharp
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pain that seared in the middle of her chest she instantly feared the worst and thought perhaps it was a heart attack
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but one of her regular customers reassured her that wasn't the case pointing out to Peggy that her breathing
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imp pulse were normal and the bright pink shade of her fingernails indicated she was getting plenty of oxygen but as
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the day went on Peggy continued to feel awful around lunchtime her adult daughter Galina arrived at the
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restaurant where both mother and daughter work together Galina noticed something was off with her mother right
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away Peggy was not one to complain about feeling sick she told her daughter her hands were numb and her legs were aching
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Galina touched her mother's hands and they were ice cold eventually Peggy decided to leave work early and go lay
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down at home later that afternoon Peggy's husband pie car came home from a hunting trip Pi noticed immediately his
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new wife was Ill even her voice was quite weak the two had only been married for about 6 months it was both of their
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second marriage that resulted from a whirlwind courtship after the wedding Peggy moved into Pi's home when Peggy
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moved in she brought her daughter jelina and Jolina's 2-year-old daughter she also brought her 17-year-old son Dwayne
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it was a full house as Pi also had two of his own children living with him his 18-year-old tamy and 16-year-old son
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Travis it was an adjustment as the large blended family got used to their new living arrangements but Peggy and piie
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were committed to making it work when pi found Peggy sick on the couch his first
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instinct was to call his sister Carolyn who was a nurse but Carolyn couldn't find anything that was obviously wrong
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with Peggy she told her all of her vitals were fine aside from slightly high blood pressure which she wasn't
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overly concerned about but Peggy's daughter knew something was wrong when she got home from her shift at the
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restaurant she found Peggy in bed her skin was deathly White and her lips were badly chapped Peggy was so weak that she
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couldn't even get up to walk to the bathroom in a whisper Peggy told her daughter quote you don't know how bad it
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hurts do you hear what I'm saying I am just hurting though initially he was reluctant gelina convinced pie that her
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mother needed to go to the hospital at the ER Peggy said it was excruciating to even have a doctor lightly touch her arm
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she describes the pain saying I feel like I'm on fire the doctors were at a loss to what could possibly be going on
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with her tests they performed all came back normal prompting one doctor to suggest that Peggy's symptoms might be
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psychosomatic caused by a mental factor meaning essentially it was all in her head this theory of course upset Peggy
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whatever her illness was she knew it hadn't been caused by stress or Her Imagination Peggy spent 3 days in the
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hospital and although no one could figure out what had made her sick she soon began to improve she became well
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enough to sit up in bed drink coffee and even eat by herself when she complained
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about the quality of the hospital's food her daughter knew she was getting better
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so Peggy was sent home that next day P sister Carolyn brought over Fried Chicken for the family and served it
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alongside glass glasses of Coca-Cola the next morning Pi's 16-year-old son Travis
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and Peggy's 17-year-old son Dwayne felt sick and when their feet began to tingle
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it became clear they were suffering from the same symptoms that Peggy had soon after the boys felt a burning sensation
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in their bodies Peggy's symptoms all started to come back as well and even worse than they were before the next day
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she was taken back to the hospital by ambulance this time Peggy was taken to Winter Haven hospital where she was
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examined by a neurologist named Dr T Richard holster the doctor asked Peggy to try to keep her eyes shut while he
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tried to open them her eyes opened easily which apparently is very unusual for a healthy adult Peggy was also
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extremely sensitive to touch and her mouth was filled with ulcers Peggy told the neurologist that her feet felt like
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they were on fire Dr holster began to theorized that Peggy could have been poisoned by some kind of heavy metal and
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when he found out that two of the family's children were also starting to have the same symptoms that strengthened
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his conviction the doctor asked that Travis and Dwayne be brought in for observation as well according to Pi
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there was no reason that a heavy metal should have been present in the home nonetheless the doctors decided to have
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Peggy tested for lead arsenic Mercury and thallium poisoning the first three were common as far as heavy metal
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poisonings go but thalium not so much it's colorless odorless and tasteless thallium was once widely used throughout
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the United States as a rat poison and pesticide but in 1972 the US banned its use due to safety concerns thalium is so
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highly toxic that mild contact with skin alone can be extremely dangerous the fact that thallium was illegal made it
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rare and therefore extremely unlik ly that Peggy car could have encountered it in her home accidentally yet the doctor
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was intrigued by Peggy's description of feeling like she was burning to death Peggy's Health continued to deteriorate
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rapidly that evening She was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit where she lay
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in a bed surrounded by machines and tubes that were attached to her nose and mouth pek's wrists had been tied down so
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she couldn't pull the tubes out she had lost her ability to speak and open her eyes but she was still conscious and
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aware when she was being spoken to both of Peggy's parents had been deaf and she
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had learned signed language as a child which now very much came in handy when Peggy's sister asked the now
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unrecognizable Peggy how she was feeling all she could do was sign back hurt the
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results of Peggy's test came back quickly and just as her doctor suspected she tested positive for thallium in fact
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the amount of th in her system exceeded the amount the lab could measure Dwayne and Travis tested positive for thalium
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as well but at much lower levels this is so heartbreaking with the amount of thallium that Peggy had in her body
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doctors knew it would be impossible for her to ever recover the thallium was causing her nerves to waste away and die
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her symptoms would soon progress to paralysis coma and then death in 198 88 it was almost unheard of for someone to
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experience thalium poisoning as it simply wasn't something people would encounter in their day-to-day lives Dr
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holster was certain that Peggy's poisoning was not a tragic accident it must have been deliberate doctors broke
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the news to Peggy's husband piie who in turn told Peggy as she lay in a hospital
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bed with her eyes closed machines breathing for her quote Peggy do you know why you're here no Peggy signed
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back Peggy you've been poisoned Pi told her all Peggy could do in response was sign the same word over and over why why
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why Dr holster told P he believed someone had tried to poison his family and somehow Pi had been spared Pi
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responded I don't think anyone dislikes us enough to do that meanwhile Dwayne and Travis continued to get sicker while
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Peggy became completely unresponsive 3 days after Peggy arrived at Winter Haven Hospital police attempted to
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interview her to see if she knew who might want to harm her but she was unable to do anything except squeeze her
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sister's hand the thalium eventually caused Peggy's muscles to become entirely paralyzed she lost the ability
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to close her eyes and simply stared up blankly unable to link it was inevitable that ulcers would form on her corn is I
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mean this is just what nightmares are made of this has to be absolutely one of the worst ways to die doctors had to
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literally sew her eyes shut to protect them within weeks Peggy fell into a coma which turned to months while Dwayne and
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Travis eventually did make full recoveries Peggy's family came to accept that she however would never get better
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they continued to visit and talk to her all the time but on March 3rd 1989 about 4 and A2 months after Peggy
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first became sick the decision was made to take her off of life support Peggy's two oldest children had their suspicions
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about who would want to kill their mother see when Peggy remarried initially her children were happy for
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her they felt she deserved some Joy after her other relationships hadn't worked out and piie seemed to make her
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happy but as the months went by peky experienced some doubt and it did not help when the couple's children began
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fighting with each other Pi was employed at a Phosphate Mine and worked incredibly long hours and apparently
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Peggy began to suspect that something else was going on one night when pi said he had to work late Peggy and her
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daughter decided to investigate and they found Peggy's suspicions were right there were only two cars in the parking
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lot at the mine pie and his former girlfriend who it turned out he was having an affair with
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Peggy left the family home with her children and granddaughter and she left a note for pie that read quote I do love
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you very very much right now I'm at the point that I don't really know how you feel I told you I could handle anything
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as long as I had you now I'm not sure I'm going to give you some time to think about this I can't live like we have
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been no respect from the kids not talking not caring I love you and I want to be your wife key word is wife I don't
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know if this is right or not what I'm doing but I don't know what else to do I can't imagine living without you but I
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can if you don't want me there's no question in my mind whether or not I want you and I love you is there a
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question in your mind I'll be okay if anyone is interested I love you with all my heart Peggy just a few days later the
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couple reconciled and Peggy moved back into the home that same day Pi left for a previously scheduled hunting trip
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which would keep him away all weekend when he returned Peggy was sick on the couch her daughter had been disturbed by
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Pi's initial reluctance to take her mother to the hospital she immediately began to wonder if he was behind Peggy's
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illness jelina confided in a coworker that she thought piie and his sister Carolyn were poisoning her mother and
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Peggy's son Allan soon began to feel the same way the siblings weren't alone Larry duberly who was Peggy's ex-husband
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and Dwayne's father was spending time at the hospital with his sick son he overheard Pi being questioned about the
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poisoning by a police officer afterwards he noticed that Pi was trembling all over on another occasion Larry was
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outside the hospital room where both teenage boys were staying when he heard a commotion from inside he rushed in and
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saw pi and Carolyn standing there as Pi's own son Travis screamed Larry help me they're trying to kill me pi's sister
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Carolyn tried to reassure everyone in the room they weren't trying to harm either boy but Larry had noticed how
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Carolyn brought food to the hospital for the teens and wondered about her motives
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Larry also claimed that Peggy had told him that Pi had taken out life insurance policies for her and both the boys
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880,000 for Peggy and 60,000 for each boy and then Larry mentioned another troubling Story one day several family
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members were gathered around discussing the thallium poisoning one person speculated it may had come from the
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phosphate mines Pi's ex-wife who was present faced pie and said you've been working at Silver City mines all these
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years they've got two chemist Labs out there do y'all have any of that [ __ ] out
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there do you know anything about this according to Larry Pi told his ex-wife you shut your goddamn mouth but on the
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other side there were people including Dr holster and the family's Minister who told investigators they didn't find pie
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car suspicious at all they saw how Pi spent weeks by Peggy's side talking to her constantly even when she was
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unresponsive eventually the entire car household was tested for thallium and everyone except for Pi's daughter Tammy
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had traces of heavy metal in their system even Pi had enough in his body to make a smaller person unwell but due to
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his size Pi experienced only some slight aches and pains so of course the fact that Pi also had thallium in his system
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made detectives less suspicious of him the fastest way they could get to the bottom of the crime was to figure out
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how and where the family had been exposed to thallium this would also help calm residents of the ordinarily sleepy
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Florida Town who were panicking after learning about the poisoning just in case the exposure had been accidental
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environmental officials started testing the fields orange groves and water wells
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surrounding the area these tests came up negative for salium p car's workplace was searched and a tin of rat poison was
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recovered but that tested negative for thallium detectives turned their attention towards the car home they
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performed multiple sweeps of the house cing off item after item to be sent off to a lab for testing and nothing
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resulted positive for thalium and then during a final inspection of the house one detective noticed some broken glass
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on the kitchen floor kneeling down he looked behind a nearby counter and there was a trash bin underneath and behind
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that was a carton of glass bottles of Coca-Cola there were eight bottles in total and three of them were empty while
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four were unopened the final bottle had a broken neck which was presumably where
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the broken glass had come from the Coke bottles were tested and it was found that they each had half a gram to 1 gam
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of thallium in each bottle one gram is enough to kill an adult by the way and less is required to kill a child the
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empty bottles all had thalium residue at the bottom 6 years earlier in 1982 seven
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people died in Chicago after taking Tylenol capsules that had been laced with Cyanide and then sold on Pharmacy
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shelves as covered in episode 118 of case File the case became known as the Chicago Tylenol murders the story made
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national headlines and had huge Ripple effects around the country investigators now on this case had to consider whether
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they were dealing with a similar crime their initial observations was there was no obvious signs that the Coke bottles
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had been tampered with and in the full bottles the liquid appeared to be the same color and consistency as a regular
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bottle of coke and although there were no reports of anyone else suffering from thallium poisoning investigators visited
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the nearest Coca-Cola Bottling plant in Tampa Florida after inspecting the way the plant's Machinery operated and how
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the bottles were distributed They concluded that it would have been impossible for anyone to place eight
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poison bottles on the assembly line and have them put in the same carton it appeared that the car family had been
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deliberately targeted with a carton that was tampered with after it was bought at
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a store so here's where it starts to get crazy evidently no one in the family actually knew where these bottles had
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come from they had just appeared underneath the counter in the car home one day and this was notable because the
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family usually purchased Pepsi instead of Coke but that said no nobody thought anything of it at least not enough to
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discuss it Pi recalled that when Peggy had first become sick he had made himself a whiskey and Coke from one of
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the bottles Pi's sister Carolyn said she had poured a glass of Coke for Peggy after she returned from her first
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hospital visit thinking that Peggy had some kind of virus Carolyn encouraged her to keep her fluids up but all this
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had done was increased the level of thallium in Peggy's body Caroline had also given Dwayne and TR Coke when they
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complained of feeling sick the bottles were sent to the FBI for examination underneath an extremely powerful
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microscope they detected tiny scratch marks on a diagonal angle this indicated that someone had removed the caps with
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something like a screwdriver or can opener put the thallium inside and then screwed the Caps back on although the
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liquid in the full bottles looked like regular Coca-Cola testing revealed it had lost some of its carbonation whoever
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had poisoned the bottles knew exactly what they were doing it would have also taken some work for them to figure out
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how to get the correct ratio of thalium to use to ensure the liquid didn't change color or overflow from the bottle
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while Peggy's two eldest children still suspected piie and Carolyn detectives now were not so sure they hadn't found
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any evidence of the supposed life insurance policies Pi had taken out on his wife son and stepson they also found
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it extremely unlikely that Pi would have put his entire family at risk if he were
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looking to end his relationship with his new wife and in general they didn't find
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his behavior suspicious and remember Pi's daughter Tammy was the only member of the family who did not test positive
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for traces of thallium so this led to her being questioned as a possible suspect as well her explanation was that
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she only drank diet sodas which is why she hadn't consumed any of the Coke in time detectives ruled her out I think
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that sounds like a reasonable explanation in time the detectives ruled out all the family members and believed
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that the culprit was someone who had came in from outside the home tampered with the bottles and snuck them into the
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house when no one else was there but who in the world would have it out for this
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newly blended family to go to this extent I mean when you think about it whoever did this knew they could
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possibly take out an entire family pie car could not think of anyone who would do this and found it really hard to
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believe that it was possible that someone would have it out for them to this extreme but Peggy's sister surely
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told investigators something that immediately caught their attention 4 months before the poisonings the car
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family had received a threatening letter when pi was asked about the letter he said he had forgotten all about it but
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he managed to dig back up the envelope it had been addressed to P car and inside was a small yellow piece of paper
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with a typed message that read quote you and all your so-called family have two weeks to move out of Florida forever or
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else you will all die this is no joke the family had all gathered together to study the note the writer had misspelled
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Pi's first name as p i e instead of py given that everyone who knew him knew the correct spelling p and Peggy's
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children dismissed this as some sort of sick joke but Peggy apparently was taking it seriously and told her kids to
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be extra careful saying I want you to stay close to the house and be nice to people this could be real our story
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pivots now but stay with me we're introducing you to a woman 33-year-old Sherry gowin in the spring of 1989
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33-year-old Sherry came across a newspaper advertisement for an intriguing event it was a murder mystery
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weekend taking place at a hotel in Winter Haven Florida the event was being hosted by a couple who were leaders of
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the local chapter of Mena an organization for people possessing an IQ in the top 2% of the population Sherry
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typed a letter to one of the event hosts Whose name was George tree pal Dear George this letter is to request further
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information on the upcoming Mena murder mystery weekend as I'm considering moving to this County I am compelled to
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find some type of stimulating entertainment although I'm acquainted with the renowned Mena organization
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never before have I been involved in a lifestyle that would permit such Endeavors my background consists of
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years of dedicated service to my perfidious mate who took took up his thriving career and moved upwards and
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onwards alone a weekend filled with Intrigue and intellect could be just what the doctor ordered sincerely Sharon
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Sherry go in shortly after sending the letter Sherry received a registration form and was excited to participate she
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arrived at the Winter Haven holiday in to attend the murder mystery weekend at the registration desk she met
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39-year-old George Tre pal a small man with thinning hair and thick glasses he handed Cherry a pamphlet of information
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for the weekend and each guest was assigned a different role for the murder mystery such as bystander victim or
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murderer at some point the victims would pretend to be killed and other attendees
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would have to observe the events that followed closely looking for Clues as to who the murderers were Sherry was given
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the role of bystander and over the course of the weekend Sherry struck up a couple of conversations with George
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George spent most of his time organizing Mena get togethers programming computers
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and working as a freelance technical writer his wife and co-host Diana worked as a doctor Sherry learned that the
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couple were thinking about selling their home and her interest immediately peaked
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Sherry was in the process of divorcing her lawyer husband and would be able to buy a new place to live as part of the
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settlement so George invited Sherry to come over and look at the house a few days later Sherry headed out to George's
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property for a tour George lived in an isolated area amongst some orange groves the house was decorated with 1970s Decor
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including yellow curtains and orange cabinets it had a library crammed with books on scientific subjects the main
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bedroom was also filled with books which were mostly detective novels another room which George described as his junk
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room was full of crystals rocks and minerals visible through the junk room window was a small brownish yellow
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colored building George explained it was a garage that his neighbors had converted into an apartment George had
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reported them to the local building board for doing so as they had not obtained the proper permit the incident
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had caused some bad blood between George and his neighbors who lived on the only
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other property in the immediate vicinity George had not liked them especially because one of them apparently
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constantly tried to sell him things like a pickup truck George to the neighbors had moved out and were possibly trying
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to sell the property for way over its value finally George took Sherry through his garage Workshop inside were lots of
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tools and jugs of what appeared to be chemicals ultimately Sherry decided the house was way too big for her but she
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stayed in touch with George and in time considered him a friend George was sympathetic about Sherry's difficult
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divorce with her soon Tobe ex-husband Richard and apparently George hated lawyers and Richard Sherry's a AR
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strange husband was a lawyer so George was very much into helping Sherry rid herself of him one of George's ideas was
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to try to get George arrested by accusing him of molesting a child another idea was to send a threatening
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note to then President George Bush and sign it with Richard's name he also joked that Sherry should send him a
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poisoned flower delivery and then in November of 1989 about a year after the car family was poisoned George and his
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wife Diana left their home in alturus and moved to a town about 40 miles away with their home now empty George told
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Sherry she was welcome to move in if she wanted to rent the home while looking for a house to buy Sherry moved in In
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December 1989 about a month later she called George to tell him she needed to meet
00:27:08
and speak with him face to face immediately Sherry did not waste any time getting to the point she explained
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that shortly after moving into George's home she had received a visit from a sheriff's deputy who was living next
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door Sherry's voice shook as she said I think you neglected to tell me that something happened in the neighborhood
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George sounded calm and unbothered as he replied oh yeah somebody got poisoned next door oh oh yeah somebody got
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poisoned next door you see George's property bordered the house where pie and Peggy car had lived it had been 15
00:27:47
months now since Peggy car's poisoning and 10 months since her death P car and the rest of the family had moved out of
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the house within 2 months of Peggy first getting sick now George had never mentioned the
00:28:00
unsolved murder to Sherry and all the time they had been friends and Sherry thought this was odd especially given
00:28:07
his love for Murder Mysteries and detective novels Sherry was struck by the matter OFA tone in which George
00:28:14
discussed Peggy's poisoning she reportedly said to him that might not be a lot to you but it's a lot to me George
00:28:22
laughed and apologized to Sherry that might not be a lot to you but it's a lot to me
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oh well sorry they said they never caught the person that did it and it really frightened me Sher asked George
00:28:35
if the poisoning was what prompted him and Diana to leave the neighborhood and if they were scared George said back
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something along the lines of no apparently it was some sort of personal Vendetta George said it's not like
00:28:49
they're running around poisoning everybody Sherry explained that some detective had dropped by to speak with
00:28:55
her they' asked about George and his whereabouts Sherry handed the detective's business card over to George
00:29:02
and he suddenly fell quiet he told Sherry that he and Diana had already spoken to investigators twice and he
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couldn't understand why they would be looking for him now or why they'd be talking to Sherry about it I hope I'm
00:29:15
not the prime suspect George added that could be messy I hope I'm not a prime suspect that could be NY as it turned
00:29:24
out George and his wife Diana had a history of issues with the car family long before Peggy or her children ever
00:29:32
lived on the property the issues seemed to stem from Pi's dog jumping over the fence to George's yard and chasing his
00:29:39
cats when that young healthy dog fell ill and died P suspected the pup had been poisoned but couldn't imagine who
00:29:47
would actually do such a thing when Peggy moved in years later tensions flared again between the neighbors
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apparently George and Diana thought the car household told was much too noisy and in retaliation George disconnected
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the water supply for the well that the cars used George was also unhappy about the way that Peggy and Pi's teenage Sons
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rode their motorcycles through the area there was a lake besides George's house and he had added some sand to the area
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to create a little beach Pi's son Travis had once ridden his motorbike on the beach messing up the sand and upset
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George had reported the incident to pie who replied kids will be kids in October
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1988 George and Diana had made several complaints about how loud the car's Sons were playing their radio while hanging
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out in the garage while Pi was away on his hunting trip Diana came over to complain and a verbal altercation broke
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out between her and Peggy the next day Peggy fell ill from the poisoning that eventually ended her life when the
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detectives investigating Peggy car's homicide learned that a threatening letter had been sent to the family
00:31:01
months before Peggy's death warning them to quote move out of Florida or else you
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all die they initially wondered whether P car himself could have written it it seemed unbelievable that he had
00:31:14
forgotten to mention this letter they asked Pi of course if he knew of anyone who would want to harm his family while
00:31:21
Pi initially couldn't think of anyone he did manage to say that the only people they had ever had trouble with were
00:31:28
their neighbors George and his wife Diana this was a major breakthrough for detectives who were already fairly
00:31:34
confident that the car family had been targeted by an outsider instead of from within but the remote location of their
00:31:41
property meant it would have been incredibly difficult for someone to sneak in a poisoned carton of Coca-Cola
00:31:48
without being seen someone was almost always at home and they would have noticed if any strange cars were in the
00:31:53
area whoever had committed the crime had to have struck when the house was empty
00:31:59
the only house with a view of the car residence was George Tre Pal's and get this in the past Pi's teenage daughter
00:32:06
tamy had received obscene phone calls when she was Home Alone the caller often called right after Tammy's mother left
00:32:14
the house and he would describe exactly what Tammy was wearing indicating that he was watching her two days before
00:32:22
Peggy got sick there had been a window of time when no one was home the back door the car property didn't always
00:32:29
latch properly and could sometimes be opened when it appeared to be locked around the time that Peggy and the two
00:32:36
teenagers had been admitted to the hospital Pi found the back door open a profile of Peggy's poisoner had been
00:32:42
built by an agent from the FBI's Behavioral Science unit the agent said that most people who choose poison as
00:32:49
their murder weapon were intelligent individuals who liked to solve problems without direct
00:32:55
confrontation the agent also believed that the culprit would be an educated white man in his mid-30s he would see
00:33:03
himself as intellectually Superior to others George tree pal fit the profile almost to a te a little digging revealed
00:33:13
that George had a criminal record in September 1975 he was arrested by a federal agent with the Drug Enforcement
00:33:20
Administration he had been operating a large illegal methamphetamine lab in North Carolina and was involved D in
00:33:28
manufacturing the drug himself the agent described George as quote probably the smartest chemist that I've ever known to
00:33:37
make methamphetamine George used a chemical known as P2P although this could be bought
00:33:44
legally federal drug agents kept records of people who purchased it to get around
00:33:49
this problem George sometimes brewed his own P2P homemade P2P was sometimes made
00:33:56
using the heavy metal thallium after being convicted of running an illicit drug lab George was sentenced to 3 years
00:34:04
in federal prison George found himself frustrated by his fellow inmates in particular he hated how loud some of
00:34:12
them played their radios he even sent a lengthy memo to prison officials complaining about the matter not long
00:34:20
after it was determined that Peggy car had been poisoned detectives visited George at home George sounded slightly
00:34:27
ner nervous and hesitant and didn't express any sorrow for what the cars had gone through he said he didn't know his
00:34:34
neighbors well but they would wave and say hello when they saw each other they're not really our kind of people
00:34:41
George added when asked if he had any problems with P car and his family George became more animated he
00:34:49
complained that Pi had always tried to sell him things like a barbecue pit made from a 50 gallon drum random which
00:34:58
apparently really irritated George the detectives asked George what he knew about thallium he said he knew nothing
00:35:05
at all except what he had heard on news reports about the case why would someone
00:35:10
want to poison the car family one of the detectives asked it was a standard question they'd been asking everyone
00:35:16
they spoke to in relation to the case the details of the threatening letter had never been made public most people
00:35:24
said they had no idea why or suggested the culprit must have hated the family but George's answer was unique he nodded
00:35:33
his head towards the car property and said to get them to move like they did George trepal was becoming an
00:35:40
increasingly likely suspect but with no physical evidence linking him to the case prosecutors decided to hold off on
00:35:47
pressing charges but detectives had an idea they recruited a colleague at the pulk County Sheriff's Office to help
00:35:54
with the investigation colleague was 3 3-year-old Susan gork she worked on a number of
00:36:01
undercovered drug cases before and was eager to help uncover evidence the investigation into George was dubbed
00:36:08
operation Pale Horse a reference to the Agatha Christie novel in which the killer murders his victims with thallium
00:36:17
agent goric spent several weeks reading up on George and observing him as he went about his Daily Business she and a
00:36:24
colleague also searched a dumpster outside of his office looking for incriminating evidence ideally something
00:36:30
linking him to a thallium supplier but nothing was found after Peggy car died detectives decided they needed to try a
00:36:38
different approach they would assign an undercover agent to try to get close to George in the hopes that he might
00:36:45
confide his Secrets they thought a woman would be best as George would have viewed her as
00:36:51
nonthreatening Susan goric was given the task she constructed her Alter Ego a divorce a named Sherry Goen knowing that
00:37:01
George tripal hated lawyers agent goric decided her fictional ex-husband would be an abrasive attorney she would
00:37:08
flatter George and earn his Sympathy by discussing her marital problems with him
00:37:14
am Mena murder mystery weekend that George was hosting was agent gor's in she sent him a letter she may remember
00:37:22
posing as Sherry asking to attend and over the course of that weekend agent goric looked for Clues and took numerous
00:37:30
photographs she took particular notes of a pamphlet that George had written up for the weekend which was titled Voodoo
00:37:38
for Fun and Profit the title was a nod to the theme of the murder mystery which was centered around Voodoo practitioners
00:37:48
an excerpt of the pamphlet read few voods believe they can be killed by psychic means but not one doubts that he
00:37:56
can be poisoned when a death threat appears on the doorstep prudent people throw out all
00:38:02
their food and watch what they eat hardly anyone dies from Magic most items at the doorstep are just a neighbor's
00:38:10
way of saying I don't like you you move or else to investigators this appeared to be a not so subtle reference to The
00:38:19
Poisoned Coca-Cola bottles that appeared at the car home over the course of eight
00:38:24
months agent goric built a friendship with George she complained to him about her fictional ex-husband hoping that it
00:38:31
might coax a confession out of him the undercover operation was a long slow process and eventually the higher-ups
00:38:39
began to complain about the lack of results but a breakthrough finally occurred when George and his wife Diana
00:38:45
moved out of their home in November 1989 agent Gerrick then asked to rent the home giving her complete access to the
00:38:54
property after agent goric moved into the home crime scen Tex descended on the property that same night there was an
00:39:01
incredibly thorough process to look for traces of thallium Tex also zeroed in on
00:39:06
George's Garage which he hadn't bothered to clear out a couple of small bottles were found on George's workbench one was
00:39:14
made of brown glass and had white residue inside these were packaged up to be examined at the FBI lab while
00:39:22
investigators were waiting for the results to come back agent goric met with George as Sherry to tell him that
00:39:29
she knew about the poisoning next store she hoped that he might be shocked into giving something away although George
00:39:36
did seem to be rattled he didn't say anything incriminating in March 1990 one year after Peggy car's death the results
00:39:44
came back from the property search the brown bottle found in the garage had tested positive for thallium soon after
00:39:52
agent goric called George and said in a shaky voice hi George it's Shar those two investigators came to the
00:39:59
house again this morning they were asking about you again something about some chemicals I don't know what they're
00:40:06
talking about do you George told agent grick to calm down as she was growing increasingly distra the two chatted for
00:40:14
a while and then agent goric heard a disturbance on George's end in a calm tone George suddenly said Sherry by
00:40:23
coincidence the police are here you'll have to call back while agent goric had been talking to George investigators had
00:40:30
been making their way to his home armed with a warrant for his arrest George's wife Diana tried to refuse them entry
00:40:37
and had to be pulled from the doorway to the front yard Diana yelled and swore at
00:40:42
the police but George seemed relaxed as he met them at the top of the stairs oh here's a fun fact he apparently was
00:40:50
wearing only a pair of women's bikini briefs George got dressed and was then placed under arrest for the murder of
00:40:57
Peggy car meanwhile investigators carried out a search of George's new residence among his belongings they
00:41:04
found a loose leaf binder filled with Pages taken from scientific textbooks George had written a title on the front
00:41:13
General poisoning guides inside the binder featured information for law enforcement on
00:41:20
identifying poisoning cases and there was another book titled poison detection in human organs and there was a detailed
00:41:29
paragraph in there about thallium and then there was this a large amount of bondage equipment and toys were found in
00:41:37
a closet in another room a secret compartment behind a peg board lined with tools revealed a tiny soundproofed
00:41:45
room it had black paneled walls and no windows on the floor was a wooden platform the size of a bed with manacles
00:41:55
attached to it I don't even know that is it looks as though the room had only been recently built and to detectives
00:42:02
George had made his own little torture chamber news of George's arrest came as a shock to his fellow menum members to
00:42:10
them George was a friendly man who rescued Stray Cats Peggy car's children were also in disbelief that their
00:42:17
eccentric former neighbor could do such a thing especially over something as minor as loud music George pleaded not
00:42:26
guilty and his trial began in January 1991 FBI scientists testified about the way that Peggy had been poisoned and the
00:42:35
bottles with traces of thallium found in George's home agent Susan goric was the
00:42:40
state's star witness of course the day after she testified about her undercover work on the case George's wife Diana
00:42:47
approached the agent outside the courtroom and screamed I hope you know what a [ __ ] you are George's defense
00:42:55
was that the evidence against him him was entirely circumstantial his defense team pointed
00:43:01
out the other possible suspects whom they felt investigators hadn't considered such as George's wife
00:43:09
Diana they also queried why detectives had been so quick to rule out Peggy Carr's husband given that the couple had
00:43:16
been having marital issues this is interesting his defense team cited a Jack Daniels bottle that had been found
00:43:23
in the car's shed and was filled with some sort of pesticide that Health officials had never tested so they
00:43:30
couldn't say whether or not that bottle had thallium in it which is pretty crazy
00:43:35
too bad we don't have more details on that it's a good defense anyhow the trial ran for 4 weeks the jury
00:43:41
ultimately found George treal guilty of 15 counts including one count of first-degree murder and six counts of
00:43:49
attempted first-degree murder at the jury's recommendation George was sentenced to death by lethal injection
00:43:55
32 years later George trepal remains on death row he is now 74 years old and maintains his innocence all of his
00:44:04
appeals however have been unsuccessful to this day George has what seems to be a decent amount of supporters who
00:44:12
believe he is innocent and feel the case against him is very circumstantial they
00:44:18
describe George as a gentle man that they have never known to be violent but investigators including agent Susan
00:44:26
goric who spent a year getting to know George have no doubt that the man dubbed the menum murderer is in fact guilty in
00:44:36
1995 agent goric co-wrote a book about the case with journalist Jeffrey good titled poison mind the book details
00:44:45
agent G's undercover work as Sher go in and examines the impact that the case had on Peggy car's family sadly Peggy's
00:44:54
children drifted away from their stepfather p P car and his kids and apparently they all have mixed feelings
00:45:01
about George's death sentence P car told the ler newspaper that he's still waiting for the day when he can see the
00:45:09
death sentence carried out he said quote I still want to be there when he's executed but I don't have anything to
00:45:15
say to him I don't think I could control myself if I were to talk to him two of Peggy's children Dwayne and Galina say
00:45:24
they have forgiven George and don't believe he should be executed but Peggy's son Allan disagrees he believes
00:45:31
that George losing his life is a consequence he must suffer for his actions I think this is truly an
00:45:39
unbelievable Story I mean when you think about the lengths that George tree pal went to it seems just to get the car
00:45:46
family to move out and it's sickening to think of the horrific death that Peggy car went through I mean her eyes had to
00:45:54
be SE and shut unreal thank you for watching I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments until next time