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Hi Crime Junkies, I'm your host Ashley Flowers. >> And I'm Britt. And the story I have for
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you today is [music] more like 10 stories in one with twists and turns and betrayals that sound like they've been
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ripped from a screenplay. Because it starts in the most ordinary way. A woman goes to work, feels sick, and
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everyone assumes it's just a bug. But within 2 days, she's dead. And what initially seems like a medical mystery
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unravels into a murder investigation that divided a family >> [music] >> and a community.
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This is the story of Mary Yoder. In late August 2015, a woman named Janine is taking her mom to a doctor's
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appointment in Central New York near Utica. This should be a routine visit, but it's anything but. You see, Janine
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had just suffered a devastating loss. Her sister, Mary Yoder, had died suddenly and unexpectedly [music]
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just a month before in that very same medical complex. And truly, when I say suddenly, her 60-year-old sister went
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[music] from being totally fine, like chipper, working a normal day at her chiropractic office, to being violently
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ill, put in the ICU, and having to be revived seven times until her heart finally gave out [music] and she died,
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all within less than 48 hours. >> Did she have heart issues? No, Mary was strong and healthy. The only medical
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condition she had were mild asthma and high cholesterol. Nothing that should have caused her death. So, you can
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imagine the trauma that this medical [music] complex holds for Janine and how difficult this appointment is for her.
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[music] Because not only is she right near where her sister died, but her mom's doctor actually was the one who
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was Mary's regular doctor. He had overseen her care when she was hospitalized. So, naturally, at this appointment, Mary
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comes up. Now, Janine and her mom and siblings were under the impression that Mary died of ascending cholangitis,
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which is this infection of the bile ducts. But according to Janine, when she mentioned that to the doctor, he looked
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kind of taken aback, like confused even. And he told Janine, that was never a real diagnosis, just one of the many
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possibilities tossed out like early on after Mary came in. Like when they couldn't figure out what was making her
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sick or why her heart kept giving out. All they really knew at that point, even when she's coming there to the doctor,
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is that they didn't know how she died. And they were still waiting for toxicology testing to tell them more.
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But before Janine left, the doctor asked her something. Where's the husband? The
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implication feels clear to Janine in that moment. And the whole drive home, her mind is just spinning. And that's
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when something hits her. Bill Yoder, Mary's husband, had her cremated just days after she died, even though no one
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knew what killed her. And she just can't make sense of things. Bill and Mary's daughter, Leanna, who's actually a
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doctor herself, had been telling family that Mary died of that infection. So, she contacts Leanna again, and when she
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presses her on it, Leanna confirms, no, that is not what killed her. And yes, she's been cremated, but that was after
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samples were taken. The toxicology testing that Mary's doctor mentioned was still underway. And as it turns out,
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that testing was extensive. [music] Because from the second that the pathologist, Dr. Kenneth Clark, began
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Mary's autopsy, he knew something was very wrong. Her organs were discolored, almost like her body had already started
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decomposing while she was still alive. And under a microscope, her tissue showed signs of a massive toxic attack,
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[music] as if she had undergone aggressive chemotherapy, which she hadn't, like ever. So, Dr. Clark tests for all the
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usual poison suspects, right? Like arsenic, cyanide. But when those come back negative, he works with poison
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control resources trying to match Mary's symptoms [music] to something in their database. And this
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stretches on all the way through August and into September. But finally, nearly 2 months after
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Mary's death, they figure it out. Mary died from an overdose of colchicine. I've never heard of that.
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>> Most people haven't. I hadn't before this case. Colchicine is typically used to treat
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gout. But Mary didn't have gout. So, there is no reason that she should have been
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taking it at all, let alone the amount found in her system, which was enough to kill her many, many times over.
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>> And I assume this isn't like an over-the-counter kind of thing. >> No, no, no, no. You need a prescription.
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And it's not like there's like a street market for this thing either. >> gout. >> Right. So, at first, poison control and
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everyone is thinking that there could be basically like accidental waste [music]
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that's gotten into her system. Both of which they need to identify fast because other people could be at risk. And so,
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the first thought they have is, okay, she could have gotten it through contact with plants. Mary was this avid gardener
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and colchicine comes from a plant. So, maybe she ingested something that she grew. Okay, I don't know the ins and
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outs of this drug, but I feel like you'd probably have to ingest a lot of a plant
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to die from it. And I I don't see that happening by accident. >> It actually doesn't take that much. The
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lethal dose is remarkably low, but there is a second, even scarier possibility. Mary was known to take a lot of
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supplements, a lot of vitamins, and she even sold them out of her practice. So, they start thinking like, oh my god,
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what if something that she was taking got contaminated during manufacturing? At least if it was her garden, the
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problem would be contained to her household. >> Right. With this, I mean, they could be
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looking at a public health crisis. So, [music] they have her family go and collect and
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turn over everything they can find that she took regularly. And even though it seems far-fetched, they do go even check
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her garden. But everything comes back clean. The simplest explanations are all getting
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ruled out. And without those scenarios, it's hard not to go somewhere darker. Like maybe
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someone did this on purpose. And with that one doctor's words [music] echoing in Janine's mind, she starts sharing her
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suspicions with another of her sister, Sharon. They feel like, you know, they've been pretty much in the dark.
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They keep expecting to hear an update or to be contacted by police or something,
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but it feels like nothing is happening. So, in mid-October, Sharon contacts the Oneida County Sheriff's Office herself.
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And she's like, hey, I'm just calling to see if you know [music] what's going on
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with my sister Mary Yoder's mysterious death. And they're like, what? Never heard of it. Like, what are you
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talking about? And she's like, my sister, she died of this overdose from a random medication that she wasn't even
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taking, and we're all over here just like waiting for someone to tell us what happened. But the lieutenant confirms,
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there is no open case on Mary Yoder. Did she call the wrong jurisdiction? Oh, no.
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It takes some figuring out, but what it seems like is that the ME never notified
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the authorities of the findings. And oddly enough, Bill didn't either. But once the Sheriff's Office knows
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what's what, they quickly open a case with Lieutenant Robert Nelson and Investigator Mark Van Namey at the helm.
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They know that poisoning requires access and opportunity. If this was intentional, it had to be someone close
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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
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literally no one else anyone can think of. Mary is the last person you would expect something like this to happen to.
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She had the most unassuming, happy life. Like she and her husband owned their own
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practice. They were both chiropractors. And Mary especially was like adored by her patients, some of which had been
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seeing her for decades. She was a staple in the community. And her hobbies were simple, too. Like she loved wellness and
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fitness and gardening. And her life was just full of people who really loved her. Her three adult children, she had
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grandkids, a bunch of siblings and friends, and Bill, who has been her husband of nearly 40 years. Now,
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according to Bill, he and Mary were happy. No affairs, no major issues. I mean, they had big plans for the future,
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including this upcoming trip to Europe that they had both been excited about. [music]
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And by some accounts, he was barely functioning after she [music] died. But a group of Mary's sisters, Janine,
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Sharon, and Sally, [music] they're just not so sure that's true. They say that the marriage had problems, including
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[music] financial stress. And it raised eyebrows that Bill took monthly solo weekend trips to a hotel, supposedly to
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write. Like he had published a couple of self-help books. They worked together, though, right? Like
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I know I guess like the solo trips feels like maybe they needed some time apart. Like just some space.
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>> Yeah, they had worked together their whole career, but recently, Bill had I guess scaled back
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some. Like the office was open 3 days a week, and Bill and Mary's shifts were often split or rotated with Mary seeing
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more patients while Bill focused on like the business or back end of things, like
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finances, administrative stuff. But even still, like I mean, I get what you're saying. Everyone finds like what works
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for them, especially if you like work together. I'm not reading into the like solo trips too much either. But the
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sisters also have questions about his behavior when Mary was hospitalized. Some cases fade from headlines. Some
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never made it there to begin with. I'm Ashley Flowers, and on [music] my podcast, The Deck, I tell you the
00:09:55
stories of cold cases featured [music] on playing cards distributed in prisons designed to spark new leads and bring
00:10:02
long overdue justice because these stories deserve to be heard and the loved ones of these victims still
00:10:09
deserve answers. Are you ready to be dealt in? Listen to the deck now wherever you get your podcasts.
00:10:17
Remember, Mary's health deteriorated fast. It's not like she was hospitalized for weeks or months. We're talking less
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than 48 hours here starting on Monday, July 20th. Now, Mary was at work that day. Everything was normal. She was
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seeing patients, happy, energetic just like usual, but that afternoon there was just this swift and noticeable change. A
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wave of nausea just hit her out of nowhere. Then vomiting and abdominal pain. By the time she was finishing up
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with her last patient around 6:00 it was clear to everyone around her that something was wrong [music] and she told
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people that she had never felt so sick before. So, she went home, spent the night in and out of the bathroom, and by
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Tuesday morning, this is the 21st, she was even worse. So, around 9:00 a.m. Bill drove her to
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the hospital. She spent the day there while doctors ran blood work and scans trying to
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figure out what was going on. And the medical attention seemed to help. Mary was feeling a little bit better. Now,
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doctors still decided to keep her there overnight for observation, but there didn't seem to be any like, you know,
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real alarm. So, Bill assumed that she just had this nasty stomach bug, which is maybe why he did something a few of
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Mary's sisters found off. He went home that night to rest, [music] which whatever, Mary wanted to
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sleep too, but before going to bed, Bill says that he put his phone in another room to charge. So, he didn't wake up as
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the hospital called him again and again and again because around 10:00 p.m. This
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is about an hour after Bill left, not even that long. Mary's condition took this sharp turn for the worse. First,
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she fell down while trying to use the bathroom. Then she was moved to the ICU, [music] and in the early morning hours
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of Wednesday the 22nd, she just kept spiraling. Her heart stopped at 4:17, then again less than 20 minutes later,
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and when staff still weren't able to reach Bill by then, they actually sent state troopers to his door to wake him
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up. And when they do, Bill calls the hospital immediately, but even though the Yoders' house is just 15 minutes
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away, it took him an hour to get there. And Mary coded again just after 10:00 a.m.
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Then once an hour after that. A total of seven times. Doctors brought her back over and over again until it
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was just too much and they couldn't anymore. She was pronounced dead at 2:54 p.m. on
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Wednesday, July 22nd. So, to some of Mary's sisters, Bill's lack of urgency, the fact that you don't
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make sure your phone is right next to you while your wife's in the hospital, that you aren't rushing out the door
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when troopers have to wake you up about your wife's condition, it feels wrong to them. And listen, like
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I said, I get going home that night. Mary seemed to be getting better. She wanted to sleep. And to add more
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context, Bill probably had every reason to believe that it was some kind of stomach bug because their 25-year-old
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son, Adam, had actually come down with something really similar just a few months earlier. He even went to the
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hospital. Now, he wasn't admitted like Mary, but it was pretty bad. And though it had taken a while, he bounced back.
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Yeah, but like I'm sorry, keep your phone close on you. That seems like such a no-brainer thing.
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>> His excuse was that Mary had moved the phone charger months earlier, so he just
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like plugged it in where she left it and just like So, move the charger. I like you know, it's it's like a little bit of
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a husband answer. It's like, "Well, that's where you put it. I don't know." And especially listen, like once you
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know she's in the intensive care unit, like hustle. That's kind of my thing. And listen, there's something else that
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Mary's sister shares with detectives that bothers her. Once she learned that her sister died of a colchicine
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overdose, she started researching the drug because just like you and me, she'd never heard of it before. And she found
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something really interesting. Apparently, colchicine can be used to grow super potent marijuana, which jogs
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this memory for her. Back in the early 1980s, Bill had grown some of his own marijuana using some kind of special
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process with the seeds [music] to make the plants stronger. And just to be clear, like at this point, Bill had been
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saying he'd never even heard of colchicine before Mary died. But like knowing this, and again, they're like
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connecting dots or like that, you know, we can't prove, but like the sisters aren't buying it. But what's the why
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here? Like is there a life insurance policy? Is it an actual affair? Like I know we've seen it all at this point,
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but it's definitely more rare to see a spouse kill their partner after 40 years of marriage.
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>> That's a long time. And I assume there wasn't like a bunch of red flags before
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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?"
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Right. So, that's the part that no one can totally figure out. If Bill did something to Mary, why? Yeah. To answer
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your question, there wasn't any life insurance. I mean, they seemed to be getting along fine. There were no
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accusations of domestic violence that I know of. And whatever Mary may have told
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her sister about financial struggles, it's not like he was like again walking away with a million-dollar life
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insurance policy. And it doesn't seem that she ever mentioned being afraid of Bill or that he had cheated on her,
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anything. But if there was a time when Janine, Sharon, or Sally were questioning themselves, like cataloging
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all of this, all the years that Mary and Bill had been together thinking how devoted you have to be to a person to
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build a life with them over four decades, just when they might have thought they were barking up the wrong
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tree. Bill does something in late November that finally convinces some that he did have a motive, that maybe he
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wanted out of his marriage. And this thing would become central to this case for the next 10 plus years to come. Four
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months after his wife unexpectedly [music] died by poisoning, Bill gathers his three kids together for
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this big announcement. Bill's in love again. Not just like a little crush or a date
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or anything, like in love. So, it's not like he just met this woman. Well, no. >> [laughter]
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>> Like there is no scenario where this looks good. Either you have to admit you
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met her like the second your wife died and while everyone else was grieving, you're
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boning her and just moved on super fast, or you have to admit that there's overlap and you met her before your wife
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died. Somehow, there is a worse third option that kind of combines [music] both. What do you mean?
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The woman that he is in a relationship with, that he is in love with now, is one of Mary's own sister.
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Yeah. Okay. Oh, there I have so many questions, but let's pause for a second. Walk me
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through this. How does someone go from thinking Bill [music] killed their sister to being in
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a relationship with him in a matter of months? So, they don't. It is not Janine, Sharon, or Sally that Bill is
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announcing he's in love with. So, it's not that. They have another sister, Kathleen. That's who Bill is seeing, in
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love with, whatever. And look, I know grief can bring people together in unexpected ways,
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but this seems fast to say the least. And basically, Bill says that like after Mary died, he
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and Kathleen just like leaned on each other. They were both mourning cuz Kathleen's own husband had died after
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this long illness the year before and they understood what the other was going through. And then in September, things
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got romantic. So, we're talking about this 4 months after Mary died, but it got romantic 2 months later? Correct.
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Dude, >> [laughter] >> I would haunt the out of my husband. I mean, if I'm still around, if I'm still
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around, I will haunt I don't even need to haunt them. I will go for them for [laughter] you. I mean, I'm not
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>> god. I'm not saying never be happy again, but just like >> this. No. And according to ABC News
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Studios, which actually made this Hulu docu-series about this case, this is suspicious to a lot of people. I
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mean, family and investigators alike. They wonder if the relationship started before Mary died. Same. Maybe he wanted
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to be with Kathleen and got rid of Mary to make that happen. So, detectives are obviously like catching
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wind of all of this and they quietly start to subpoena phone records and bank statements. They also talk to the Yoder
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children who are in this like impossible position. Like they're cooperating with law
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enforcement while pretending with their father that like nothing is going on. >> And what are they thinking at this time?
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Like this has got to be a little suspicious to them, too, right? >> yeah, they love their dad, but they're
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starting to face the thought that he might be responsible for this. I mean, at least that's what Bill and Mary's
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daughters, Leanna and Tamron, kind of describe and how like terrifying the thought of this is. They They talk about
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it during an interview with ABC News. [music] And they said, you know, they were
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surprised to say the least about his relationship with Kathleen. And one of the other things they're really honest
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about is Tamron tells police about this odd conversation she had with her dad not long after their mom died about this
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inheritance that Bill had recently received when his own father passed away. He he close to like half a million
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dollars. And according to Tamron, he said that while the money wasn't really enough for
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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
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thing, and no, there was no life insurance on Mary. >> But, there was like a financial thing.
00:20:09
>> Could there have been financial motive after all? Maybe not the normal kind where, you know, someone's in a lot of
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debt or something, but like a financial motive nonetheless. But then, just as Lieutenant Nelson and investigator Van
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Namey are starting to really dig into Bill, the strangest thing happens. They get an anonymous letter that completely
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changes the direction of this case. On November 23rd, 2015, the same typewritten [music]
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anonymous letter shows up at both the sheriff's department and the ME's office. Each envelope is postmarked
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November 20th, 2015. And this is what that letter says. Please forward to acting investigators.
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I know police are currently looking into this death, but I don't know where to send this information. This is in
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regards to the July 22nd, 2015 [music] death of Mary Yoder in Utica, New York. If the toxin found in her was
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colchicine, Adam Yoder, her son, is responsible. He told me he did. And moreover, he told
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me how and where he put the rest of the toxin. It was already odd Adam drove back so early the day of her death,
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arriving in Utica around 6:30 a.m., meaning that he left Long Island very early morning because she wasn't in
00:21:34
grave condition then. It's weird he'd drive down to Long Island and then go back north in the
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middle of the night, especially since he'd been so standoffish and just mean to her, telling her he functioned better
00:21:46
by not seeing or talking to her. He felt she was unfair to him and he resented that. She should have helped him more.
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When I saw him a couple days ago, he appeared agitated and said he was the reason for her death and he wished he
00:22:00
could take it back. Then he said he got a bottle of colchicine off online and put the toxin
00:22:06
in one of her vitamins when he was over at his parents' house. He said his mom noticed he seemed disturbed at the time
00:22:12
and she thought it was since he was drinking at their house. Adam said he told her no, the beer was
00:22:16
not the reason he was disturbed and to drop it. He said he apologized to his parents for
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ruining the holiday of Father's Day and left. Adam was upset people weren't paying
00:22:27
more attention to him. He felt he deserved more attention and he thought people would be nicer to him. He acted
00:22:34
resentful and belligerent to his immediate family and became visibly irritated people kept talking about his
00:22:40
mom. He says he expected a financial payout after the death, which did not come.
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After he found out he was not getting the money he thought he would, he said he regretted what he did, was
00:22:51
hysterical, and he didn't know what he was going to do, but he had ideas. He said now the colchicine container is
00:22:58
under the front seat passenger side of his Jeep. That's where he said it was until he figures out where to put it or
00:23:04
dispose of it next. I asked him to show me where he kept it currently and said no, but described it as a small glass
00:23:10
bottle. He has a black Jeep Wrangler, 1991 model. I am sending this anonymously because I can't keep this
00:23:17
information. It is right to alert authorities, but it's still hard to do and I fear attaching my name to this
00:23:23
information right now. I'm very close to him, but what he did was wrong and I believe he would be capable of repeating
00:23:30
this type of act. To add credibility to this, Mary Yoder got sick two days before she passed away
00:23:36
suddenly. The cause of her death was not released and initial medical reports were inconclusive, but I now suspect
00:23:43
colchicine poisoning from her son. And her symptoms were sudden onset abdominal pain, nausea, and diarrhea. She was
00:23:50
admitted Tuesday to the hospital and died Wednesday afternoon after repeated failed attempts to restart her heart.
00:23:57
Adam's monetary concerns are suspect because he struggled financially and supported somewhat by his parents'
00:24:03
assistance. Colchicine is a very specific name and the name of the toxin found in Mary Yoder was not released.
00:24:10
So, if they are one in the same, it's not a coincidence. After he related to me the information
00:24:17
about where the specific toxin is and the details, I feel this is necessary for appropriate authorities to pursue
00:24:24
this. Oh, they're going to pursue this, all right. Starting by talking to 25-year-old Adam Yoder.
00:24:32
The detectives bring him in on December 8th for an impromptu interview. And when
00:24:36
they sit down with him, they just lay it out there. We got this letter claiming that you poisoned your mother with
00:24:42
colchicine and that the bottle is still in your Jeep. And right away, Adam denies it all. He says that he'd never
00:24:48
even heard of colchicine before they were all told about Mary's cause of death [music] back in September. And he
00:24:54
didn't know which police agency was investigating the case until today when they called him in. So, after a quick
00:25:00
call to a lawyer, he agrees to let them search the Jeep, which is in the parking
00:25:04
lot since he drove it to the station. So, they go outside to do this search right in front of him. And it takes a
00:25:10
minute because this thing is a hot mess. Like techs literally have to clean it out just to get to the seats. And as
00:25:17
investigator Van Namey later told ABC News, he's thinking, "There's no way they're going to actually find
00:25:22
anything." But, when they look under the front passenger seat, there it is. Exactly where the letter said it would
00:25:31
be, this small glass bottle of colchicine. To say that everyone is stunned is an understatement. Not only
00:25:40
is the colchicine there, but right by it is the receipt dating back to January of
00:25:44
that year, chock-full of helpful details like the email address used [music] to buy it. Mr. Adam Yoder [email protected].
00:25:53
And the address that it was shipped to, the Yoders' chiropractic office. Now, when they find this, Adam seems just as
00:26:00
floored as everyone else. And he swears that he's never ordered colchicine and that email address isn't even his,
00:26:06
although it is similar to others that he's used. He [music] also points out that he wasn't even around when his mom
00:26:12
got sick. He'd been in Long Island visiting his sister Leanna starting on July 15th and he didn't get home until
00:26:19
he got the call that Mary was in the hospital. Toll records ultimately later back that up.
00:26:23
>> But, if the letter's right and he drugged her vitamins around Father's Day, like does that alibi even
00:26:30
count or matter? Maybe not. But, Adam is insistent that this had to have been planted to frame him. And honestly,
00:26:38
there is something about how this all unfolded that kind of makes investigators agree.
00:26:44
>> Wait, really? I know. Like, who doesn't love an easy solve, right? Like, many
00:26:49
detectives might have taken this handed to them on a silver platter. >> And ran with it.
00:26:54
>> Called it a day. But, to Van Namey and Nelson, it's all just a little too perfect. Like, someone just offering
00:27:02
Adam up. The thing is, if Adam is being [music] framed, it's probably by whoever
00:27:08
actually killed Mary. So, why now? Was this a diversion? Were they getting too close? I mean, at this
00:27:16
point, the only person they've been looking at was Bill. And while his behavior has been suspicious at times,
00:27:22
if he's behind this, it means that he poisoned his wife and then had no problem setting up his own son to take
00:27:27
the fall for it. >> Which would be diabolical? >> To say the least, but not impossible.
00:27:34
And investigators decide that what they need to do is they need to talk to someone who knows this family [music]
00:27:40
well. Someone who might be able to shed light on the family dynamics and clue them in on Adam's activities. So, they
00:27:47
decide to go to 22-year-old Kaitlyn Conley. [music] Now, Katie is the office manager at the
00:27:53
Yoders' practice and she has been working there for nearly 3 and 1/2 years. But, she is also Adam's
00:27:59
ex-girlfriend. They started dating back in 2011, on-again, off-again. Like, things had been off before Mary's death.
00:28:07
Maybe it seems like they reconnected briefly in the wake of the tragedy, but either way, Mary had adored Katie and
00:28:13
the feeling seemed to be mutual. I mean, Katie was at the hospital the day that Mary died. She helped plan the memorial.
00:28:19
She was even mentioned in Mary's obituary. So, Katie comes to [music] the station in mid-December. And this is
00:28:27
really their first time interacting with her. Their impression of her is, you know,
00:28:32
she's this soft-spoken young woman who seems [music] eager to help. And before they jump right into the tough family
00:28:38
questions, they just ask her about Mary's normal routines and [music] her last day at the office.
00:28:44
>> Mhm. What stood out? What do you remember? And Katie had already gone over a lot of this with the Yoders, both
00:28:49
Leanna and Bill had asked her about it. So, it's fresh in her mind. It had just been her and Mary in the office that
00:28:55
[music] day, a totally average Monday. Mary arrived at 8:00 a.m., worked the normal morning. She was seeing patients.
00:29:02
Then she left at like 12:30 to have lunch with her mom, but it turns out her mom had already eaten. So, Mary came
00:29:08
back about an hour later, mixed a protein shake, and then took some vitamins. That was her typical routine.
00:29:14
She kept supplements at the office and at her house. Now, on July 20th, she'd brought the vitamins with her and she
00:29:21
made her shake using almond milk from the office fridge, which already had been tested and came back clean.
00:29:27
But, Katie can't remember whether the protein powder for like her shake or whatever, if that came from the office
00:29:33
stash or not. [music] So, next, investigators ask her about colchicine. And she said she's never even heard of
00:29:39
it, but she knows that Mary was killed by some kind of toxin. I mean, she was actually with Adam when he was
00:29:45
collecting a bunch of supplements and stuff from the office to be tested by poison control. I guess initially he had
00:29:51
asked her for the key so he could just go on his own and get the stuff, but she didn't want to give it to him, so she
00:29:56
went along. But the whole thing was strange, she said. Like he was acting frantic, just like grabbing everything
00:30:02
he could find. And before they left, she says that he told her, "If anyone got in
00:30:08
trouble for this, it would be her." Is that a threat? I don't know what that was. But Katie
00:30:16
tells police she is suspicious of Adam. She said that he can be controlling and at times violent. And that's when she
00:30:23
tells them something that maybe they should have already known, but might have missed. She actually filed a police
00:30:30
report against him in 2014 for sexual assault, though she didn't end up pursuing charges.
00:30:35
And on top of that, she remembers that back in February, this package came to the Yoder's office. It was addressed to
00:30:46
Adam, which was odd because while Adam used to work there, he hadn't in years. So she says she left it on her desk or
00:30:52
like near the front counter, and she assumes that he eventually picked it up. >> And what about his relationship with
00:30:57
Mary? Like does Katie have any idea like why he would want to kill his own mother? She says she doesn't know why
00:31:05
anyone would want to kill Mary. But others had described their relationship as complicated, Mary and Adam's. Like
00:31:12
there was no question that Mary loved him, but Janine told Crime Watch Daily that she had also enabled him. Although
00:31:18
she was starting to take a firmer stand. And I guess they had gotten into an argument on Mother's Day, which led to
00:31:23
Adam telling her that he didn't want to see her and Bill too much anymore. And even though it seems like they had made
00:31:29
up, he had lashed out at her via text just the week before she died because he like needed help with something, and it
00:31:36
sounds like he felt like she brushed him off. But here's the whole thing. I mean,
00:31:40
they're hearing all of this, Nelson and Van Amey. But there's something bothering them. And it's not Adam and
00:31:47
Mary's relationship. It's the way that Katie is talking. Her suspicions, they're almost too similar to the
00:31:57
anonymous letter. And so investigators begin to wonder if she was the one who wrote it.
00:32:05
And if that's true, it means that they've had this thing all wrong. So they immediately start digging. Who is
00:32:13
Katie Conley? And what have they been missing? It turns out a lot. But all of that comes in part two of
00:32:24
this story. Now if you've got the Crime Junkie Fan Club app, you can listen to that right now and ad-free, or come back
00:32:32
next Monday to find out what detectives [music] learned and why justice has been
00:32:37
so elusive. Here's some issues that I still have. You got to You got to look at it from our point of view. We're
00:32:42
looking at one of three people here. The husband, Mhm. Adam, or you. You're going to have to help us.
00:32:50
If you're telling us you have nothing to do with this, you're going to have to help us rule you out, just like we got
00:32:55
to rule out Adam or Bill, whoever is not responsible for this. Cuz right now, there's a lot of things unanswered
00:33:00
questions that we have. >> Right. Um the Gmail account and some other things. And like you said, those
00:33:06
don't point to Adam. They point to that person. >> I know. You need to help us clear you.