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  • He Cooked the Broth - How Arsenic Hid in the Boarding House

    He Cooked the Broth - How Arsenic Hid in the Boarding House
    2026/10/27
    He Cooked the Broth - How Arsenic Hid in the Boarding House

    The smell of beef broth was the first thing you noticed at fourteen Creel Street - and the last ordinary thing anyone would remember. A frozen jug labelled "BEEF TEA - LODGERS," a galvanized tub with forty pounds of rice, and hospital equipment stamped Harwick General turned up on a Tuesday in October, months after a nursing student died of unexplained toxic exposure; who had been drinking the broth, and how did arsenic slip through a boarding house unnoticed?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline and the people connected to the case, from a land surveyor who found the tub to physicians filing toxicology referrals, and follow how routine meals, clinical tests, and delayed public health analysis intersected with a deadly mystery. What did the tests and the daily routines at the house reveal about exposure, and why did the investigation stall?

    Person: Tracy Long
    Date: September 9, 2011 (date of death)
    Location: 14 Creel Street, Harwick
    Person: Russell Clark, age 51
    Lab result: Ed Novak arsenic 68 micrograms per liter (normal upper boundary 20)

    - A land surveyor found a galvanized tub outside the east fence line on a Tuesday morning in October 2011.
    - The tub contained roughly forty pounds of dry rice, a half-empty bottle of vinegar, and a plastic jug labeled "BEEF TEA - LODGERS," frozen at 31 degrees.
    - Tracy Long, age 22, died eleven days after admission to Harwick General; death certificate listed multi-organ failure secondary to unspecified toxic exposure.
    - Russell Clark, 51, had operated the boarding house for nine years and made beef broth twice a week in a twelve-quart stockpot.
    - Ed Novak, age 44, was admitted in early October with severe nausea and disorientation and had arsenic in his blood measured at 68 μg/L (normal upper boundary 20).

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • Warm Oatmeal, Cold Juice: How a Hospice Volunteer Hid Poisoning

    Warm Oatmeal, Cold Juice: How a Hospice Volunteer Hid Poisoning
    2026/10/26
    Warm Oatmeal, Cold Juice: How a Hospice Volunteer Hid Poisoning

    The first clue was ordinary: a half-eaten bowl of warm oatmeal and a cold glass of orange juice on a basement egress window at four Crestline Avenue, yet by 11:17 that morning Roger Ford was pronounced dead and his death recorded as cardiorespiratory failure secondary to autonomic neuropathy. Eighteen days later a physician-ordered alkaloid toxicology on retained tissue returned one word that changed the case: aconitine - so who put it there, and how did five other patients die before anyone connected the dots?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the morning Sherry Coleman found Ford's unfinished breakfast to the postmortem toxicology that revealed aconitine, tracing patient notes, hospice assignments, and clinical concerns that raised alarms. What made this toxin invisible to routine screens, and why did no organization notice a pattern across multiple hospice programs?

    Person: Roger Ford
    Date: September 11 (found at approximately 8:00 AM); pronounced dead at 11:17 AM
    Location: 4 Crestline Avenue, Haverlin
    Cause: Cardiorespiratory failure secondary to autonomic neuropathy (on death certificate); aconitine detected in liver and kidney tissue
    Volunteer: Curtis Slater, age 31, assigned to Ford through Calverton Home Comfort

    - The breakfast was found at about 8:00 AM on September 11, with a half bowl of warm oatmeal and a full glass of cold orange juice.
    - Roger Ford was pronounced dead at Haverlin General at 11:17 AM on September 11.
    - Dr. James Porter gave Ford a prognosis of six to eighteen months in August and requested an alkaloid-profile toxicology after Ford's death.
    - Curtis Slater had volunteered at three hospice organizations over two years, caring for five patients across Driscoll, Harwick, and Calverton; all five patients died.
    - The toxicology screen showing aconitine in liver and kidney tissue was returned on September 29, eighteen days after Ford's death.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • Lighthouse of Pills: How a Buried Organizer Exposed a Quiet Poisoner

    Lighthouse of Pills: How a Buried Organizer Exposed a Quiet Poisoner
    2026/10/25
    Lighthouse of Pills: How a Buried Organizer Exposed a Quiet Poisoner

    A birdwatcher found a ceramic lighthouse in the roots of a fallen poplar, its seven sealed compartments full of dry capsules - and the base carved with the name of a woman buried eleven months earlier. The pills were linked to a death certified as arrhythmia in a patient with dilated cardiomyopathy, but why was her pill organizer tucked in the woods, and whose fingerprints were on the bottle of digoxin that followed?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of discoveries from the walk in the brush to the items routed to county investigators, and trace the connections between two women, a bottle of medication, and a set of unexplained tremors that resurface in the record - how did those threads lead to a Creston courtroom four years after the death?

    Person: Michelle Petersen
    Location: Linden Terrace, Creston
    Date: September (death), following August (organizer found) - eleven months later
    Person: John Sullivan
    Medication: digoxin (bottle with no pharmacy name, no prescribing physician, one partial fingerprint)

    - Michelle Petersen taught sixth-grade science at Creston Middle School for twenty-six years and lived on Linden Terrace for nineteen years.
    - Four years before her death Dr. Philip Norbert diagnosed Michelle with dilated cardiomyopathy; she saw him every twelve weeks.
    - Michelle’s planner recorded three consecutive Tuesdays in late August with the note: "J. picked up meds."
    - A birdwatcher found the ceramic lighthouse pill organizer thirty yards into brush along Creston Lake Road, with seven sealed compartments and dry capsules.
    - The discovered bottle of digoxin had no pharmacy name, no prescribing physician listed, and one partial fingerprint on the inside rim of the cap.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • The Teapot on the Porch: How Arsenic Hid in Plain Sight

    The Teapot on the Porch: How Arsenic Hid in Plain Sight
    2026/10/24
    The Teapot on the Porch: How Arsenic Hid in Plain Sight

    A sour smell on a July morning, a saucer with two inches of standing water on a porch railing, and a twenty-six-year-old man dead with no obvious cause - could a household teapot be the missing piece? This episode centers on a precise pattern of chronic arsenic exposure that unfolded in a small neighborhood and left investigators asking how routine kindness became a delivery method for poison.

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first clinic visits for nausea and tingling to the discovery that shifted the case: a treating physician suggesting arsenic and a medical examiner ordering an extended toxicology screen. How did peripheral paresthesia, a saucer of water on a porch, and a teapot converge to reveal deliberate arsenic poisoning?

    Person: Larry Whitley
    Date: July 19, 1994 (body discovered)
    Location: Aldermoor Lane, Crestfield County
    Physician: Keith Doyle
    Toxic agent: Arsenic trioxide

    - Larry Whitley was 26 years old when he died and had been living at number 41 Aldermoor Lane since August 1993.
    - A fourteen-year-old paper carrier, Marcia Novak, found a ceramic saucer with about two inches of standing water on the porch railing at 5:47 AM.
    - Larry had presented in early June 1994 with nausea and abdominal cramping and returned three weeks later with the same symptoms plus tingling in hands and feet (peripheral paresthesia).
    - The initial standard toxicology screen (alcohol, narcotics, barbiturates) showed no abnormalities; the case proceeded toward closure until Dr. Keith Doyle suggested arsenic.
    - Extended toxicological testing on preserved tissue detected arsenic trioxide consistent with chronic sub-lethal exposure over weeks with a terminal accumulation within 24 hours of death.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • The Bottle, the Math, and the Wednesday Call That Killed

    The Bottle, the Math, and the Wednesday Call That Killed
    2026/10/23
    The Bottle, the Math, and the Wednesday Call That Killed

    A discarded pill bottle with forty-two tablets, filled for sixty on May 22, should have been routine - until a pharmacist did the math and found eighteen missing after the patient died seven days later. That single discrepancy set off a chain that pulled two bodies from the ground and exposed a pattern of quiet, planned harm. Who moved the pills, and why did a Wednesday night ritual end the way it did?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline in detail: prescriptions, home care, the found bottle on Featherstone Mill Road, and the conversations that followed, all centered on the unanswered question of how those eighteen tablets disappeared.

    Person: Gloria Green
    Date: May 22 fill; May 29 death; June 3 burial
    Location: Dunstan Street, Pelham; Featherstone Mill Road; Route Nine
    Medication: Digoxin 0.125 mg, sixty tablets dispensed, forty-two tablets found
    Caregiver: Norman Walsh, home-health aide, arrived 8:00 AM left 4:00 PM five days a week

    - Gloria called her daughter Meredith every Wednesday at 9:00 PM for three years without missing a single call.
    - Gloria turned forty-nine in February and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure the same week.
    - Digoxin was prescribed at 0.125 mg daily and was dispensed as sixty tablets on May 22.
    - Gloria died in her sleep on May 29 and was buried on June 3 at Cedar Ridge Cemetery; no autopsy was ordered.
    - A road-grader operator found the bottle at 6:15 AM and it sat on Deputy Craig Sousa’s desk as logged lost property for four days before the pharmacist was alerted.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • The Frog Cup on the Well: How Cousin's Water Killed April

    The Frog Cup on the Well: How Cousin's Water Killed April
    2026/10/22
    The Frog Cup on the Well: How Cousin's Water Killed April

    A child's frog-patterned cup, full to the brim, sat on a capped well eleven days after the last rain - and the liquid inside smelled faintly of vitamins. April Ramsey, 32, died three days before the cup was found; her notebook warned something was wrong with the water. Who left the cup and what did the lab tests reveal about April’s final weeks?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first symptoms April recorded to the discovery of the cup on a Route Nine easement, tracing the people, the water deliveries, and the medical testing that could connect her death to events four years earlier. Could a cousin’s visits and the unlabelled five-gallon jugs explain the unexplained multi-organ failure?

    Person: April Ramsey
    Date: May 11 (date of death)
    Location: Mercer Township, Aldine County
    Person: Wayne Smith
    Event: Cup on capped well found on May 14

    - April recorded an 11-pound weight loss between late January and early May.
    - April’s last notebook entry on May 3 underlined “Wayne” and noted suspicion about the water.
    - Wayne Smith, 41, began bringing unlabelled five-gallon jugs of water in late January.
    - Ralph Dixon found a green-and-yellow frog plastic cup with lid and bendable straw full on May 14 after 11 days without rain.
    - April died at 9:41 AM on May 11 of multi-organ failure; Dr. Martin Cho ordered tests that showed elevated liver enzymes and irregular white cell counts.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 分
  • The IV Bag on the Bench: How a Torn Label Exposed a Killer Nurse

    The IV Bag on the Bench: How a Torn Label Exposed a Killer Nurse
    2026/10/21
    The IV Bag on the Bench: How a Torn Label Exposed a Killer Nurse

    A torn IV bag label found hanging from a park bench led from a partial lot number to a missing bag signed out at Mercy Ridge Medical Center - and ultimately to a death that began as a routine gallbladder surgery. How did one coiled drip line and three syringes in a locker connect to a non-diabetic patient’s fatal hypoglycemic collapse?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries: the jogger who called the non-emergency line, the hospital inventory that revealed one unaccounted IV bag, and a daughter’s notes tracing a post-operative decline - and we ask whether a single torn label can uncover a pattern that official records missed.

    Person: Pamela Mueller
    Date: March 28, 2019 (surgery); April 1, 2019 (cardiac arrest); April 14, 2019 (IV bag found)
    Location: Pelham Park (bag found) and Mercy Ridge Medical Center (patient)
    Case: One missing IV bag from Lot with partial lot number; three insulin syringes later found in a hospital locker

    - Michael Roberts found the IV bag at 5:50 a.m. on April 14, 2019 and called the non-emergency line at 6:03 a.m.
    - The IV bag had a torn label with a partial lot number consisting of a hyphen and four digits.
    - Mercy Ridge distribution records showed six bags signed out for that lot and five accounted for, leaving one missing.
    - Pamela Mueller underwent laparoscopic gallbladder surgery on March 28, 2019 and went into ventricular fibrillation on April 1, 2019.
    - Three insulin syringes were found in a hospital locker before the connection to the bag and Mueller’s death was understood.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • The Thermos in the Ditch: How Coffee Turned Deadly for Donna Morris

    The Thermos in the Ditch: How Coffee Turned Deadly for Donna Morris
    2026/10/20
    The Thermos in the Ditch: How Coffee Turned Deadly for Donna Morris

    The discovery of a dark green vacuum thermos upright in a drainage ditch changed everything: it was labeled "D. MORRIS" and contained a colorless, odorless poison banned in the United States since 1972. Who placed that thermos behind the Greer County Human Services building, and why did Donna Morris drink from the same cup of coffee for weeks while her body accumulated a deadly toxin?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Donna’s routine mornings and eleven-year career at the cafeteria to the moment she was found disoriented and losing hair in a hospital bed. We trace the chain of everyday habits-the labeled prep thermos, the personal travel mug, the familiar coworkers-and ask how an ordinary object became the pivot of a criminal case.

    Person: Donna Morris
    Date: March 11, 2019
    Location: Drainage easement behind Greer County Human Services building, Pallister
    Status: Admitted to Pallister Regional Medical Center, exhibiting hair loss and systemic poisoning
    Other Person: Mark Carter, lead cook who kept a separate prep thermos

    - Donna Morris was 44 years old in spring 2019 and had worked 11 years at the Greer County Human Services cafeteria.
    - Donna left her apartment at 6:15 a.m. each workday and arrived at the cafeteria by 6:50 a.m.
    - Mark Carter was 48 years old and brewed a separate, higher-quality batch of coffee for the prep staff kept in a vacuum thermos.
    - The thermos found by Crystal Sanders on March 11, 2019 had a strip of masking tape with "D. MORRIS" written in blue marker.
    - The poison found in Donna had been banned in the United States since 1972 and is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, able to dissolve into a cup of coffee without detection.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分