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A whisper in the tea, a wrong prescription, the quiet science behind a deadly intent — The Poisoner peels back the layers of motive, method and aftermath in cases where...
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A whisper in the tea, a wrong prescription, the quiet science behind a deadly intent — The Poisoner peels back the layers of motive, method and aftermath in cases where toxin meets opportunity. Each episode examines how poison has been chosen, cultivated and concealed, focusing on the forensic detail and the human stories that make these crimes chillingly plausible.
Expect forensic breakdowns, cultural context and courtroom consequences delivered with measured curiosity and precise research. The Poisoner stands apart by combining chemical explanation, investigative reporting and survivor perspectives so listeners understand not just who did it, but how and why a poison worked — or failed — in real life.
New episodes drop every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7:00 PM. Episodes vary between concise case studies and deeper investigative narratives, all designed to fit into your evening listening with clear takeaways about detection, deception and justice.
This podcast is for true crime listeners who crave technical clarity, armchair investigators fascinated by toxicology, and anyone curious about the legal and moral fallout when harm is distilled into a bottle, a bite or a vial. If you want forensic detail without sensationalism, The Poisoner is your nightly briefing.
Subscribe now to follow meticulous reconstructions, forensic insights and the awkward, intimate realities of crimes by poison.
keywords SEO: poison, toxicology, true crime, forensic science, murder by poisoning
show less
Expect forensic breakdowns, cultural context and courtroom consequences delivered with measured curiosity and precise research. The Poisoner stands apart by combining chemical explanation, investigative reporting and survivor perspectives so listeners understand not just who did it, but how and why a poison worked — or failed — in real life.
New episodes drop every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7:00 PM. Episodes vary between concise case studies and deeper investigative narratives, all designed to fit into your evening listening with clear takeaways about detection, deception and justice.
This podcast is for true crime listeners who crave technical clarity, armchair investigators fascinated by toxicology, and anyone curious about the legal and moral fallout when harm is distilled into a bottle, a bite or a vial. If you want forensic detail without sensationalism, The Poisoner is your nightly briefing.
Subscribe now to follow meticulous reconstructions, forensic insights and the awkward, intimate realities of crimes by poison.
keywords SEO: poison, toxicology, true crime, forensic science, murder by poisoning
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
26 SEP 2026 · The Thermos Left Upright: How Arsenic Hid in Plain Sight
A stainless-steel thermos set upright on a limestone shelf led investigators to find an arsenic poisoning campaign that sickened six people and killed one - and it had been running undetected for years. What linked a dog-walk discovery on March 4, 2019 to a line cook’s numb hands and a cafeteria with a broken service-alarm?
In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the moment Rebecca Tillman found the thermos to the tests that flagged elevated arsenic levels, tracing how timing, workplace routines, and a failed alarm narrowed the case - and asking how someone with access used that opportunity to poison coworkers.
Person: Rebecca Tillman
Date: March 4, 2019
Location: Fenwick Creek Nature Trail
Person: Karen Turner
Event: Last shared lunch before spring break on March 6
- Thermos was found upright on a flat limestone shelf 14 feet off the Fenwick Creek path.
- Five cafeteria workers reported similar symptoms (nausea, peripheral numbness, persistent headache) by March 23.
- Karen Turner, age 38, had worked 11 years at Dellard Unified's central cafeteria and showed the highest arsenic level.
- Arsenic tests ordered March 28 returned April 2, with three of five workers showing elevated arsenic.
- Cafeteria service-entrance alarm had been malfunctioning since November prior to the poisoning. 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.
25 SEP 2026 · Fisherman Pulls a Sealed Dish from a Frozen River: The Aldine Poisonings
A frozen river yielded a sealed glass dish with a blue rubber gasket and a dark liquid inside, placed deliberately near Cutter's Slough-found by Carol Bauer at 5:40 AM on February 14, 2019. The liquid would connect a string of mysterious February deaths spanning ten years and two exhumations-who put the sealed poison in the river and why?
In this episode, we follow the discovery, the hospital tests that changed a diagnosis, and the investigation that tied three husbands' deaths to chronic thallium exposure; how did a routine question by a covering physician lead to exhumations and toxicology that rewrote three death certificates?
Date: February 14, 2019
Person: Carol Bauer
Location: Cutter's Slough, Aldine River
Toxin: Thallium
Case: Three husbands' deaths across 2009-2019
- The glass dish was retrieved at 5:40 AM on February 14, 2019, by Carol Bauer.
- Robert Gallagher was admitted to Aldine Regional Hospital on January 29, 2019.
- Thallium testing showed severe elevation in Robert Gallagher and was the cause of death on February 9, 2019.
- Two prior husbands, Dennis Holt (died February 2009) and Arthur Crane (died February 2014), were exhumed and found to have thallium in bone and hair samples.
- Dr. Nancy Smith ordered a heavy metals panel and a 24-hour urine collection that led to the thallium finding after asking whether anyone else in the household had similar symptoms. 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.
24 SEP 2026 · Caregiver Leaves a Mug Behind: The Poisoning of Kevin Holmes
A dry white mug on a basement sump pit led investigators to a discovery that would link two deaths and one near-death across five years: trace inorganic arsenic in archived blood samples showed chronic low-dose poisoning, not disease. Who had access, why a caregiver’s visit pattern matched symptom spikes, and what was hidden in that mug are the questions that push this story beyond tragedy.
In this episode, we lay out the timeline from routine care to sudden collapse, following medical records, a caregiver’s visit log, a grieving mother’s journal, and a county surveyor’s photograph - and ask how a pattern of visits and cancellations mapped to a slow campaign of poisoning.
Person: Kevin Holmes
Date: January 14, 2020
Location: 414 Orchard Spur Road
Case: Chronic inorganic arsenic poisoning
Investigator: Detective Aaron Quill
- A county surveyor, Thomas Gardner, found a plain white ceramic mug on the lip of the basement sump pit on January 9.
- Kevin Holmes, age 25, died January 14, 2020, with official cause recorded as multi-organ failure secondary to undifferentiated autoimmune disease and no autopsy.
- Caregiver Steven Fitzgerald visited Kevin twice weekly, early evenings, and kept a 53-page visit log submitted monthly for billing.
- Dr. Ross Berry ordered a urinary toxicology screen for Melissa Crane that returned trace arsenic, prompting inorganic arsenic testing of Kevin’s archived blood draws.
- State lab results in the third week of September 2020 confirmed both of Kevin Holmes’s samples positive for inorganic arsenic consistent with chronic low-dose exposure. 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.
23 SEP 2026 · The Man Who Fed Them Arsenic: The Meals That Killed Two
A quiet Tennessee lane hid a slow, deliberate poison: two empty gelatin capsules found floating in a warm pot of soup, a contractor’s photograph timestamped December 9, 2019, and bloodwork showing sustained arsenic metabolites that did not fit any environmental source. How did soups and thermoses meant as care become the vehicle for repeated arsenic ingestion that claimed two lives before anyone suspected?
In this episode, we follow the timeline from early symptoms of fatigue, neuropathy and unexplained weight loss to the laboratory flag that linked a father and daughter through toxicology; we outline who noticed the pattern, what the bloodwork revealed, and the sequence of meals that raised suspicion. What sequence of events led a lab tech to call the sheriff and a photograph to become critical evidence?
Person: Thomas Boyd
Person: Michelle Boyd
Person: Kevin Jenkins
Date: December 9, 2019
Location: Birchfield Lane, Shelby County, Tennessee
- At 8:23 AM on December 9, 2019, a contractor photographed a large, uncovered cooking pot on a concrete pad beside a septic well with two empty gelatin capsules floating in a pale, cloudy liquid.
- Thomas Boyd lived on Birchfield Lane for 22 years and was 67 years old when his symptoms of fatigue, nausea, tingling hands and feet began in spring 2019.
- Michelle Boyd, age 48, began symptoms in September 2019, losing 11 pounds without trying before her December lab panel returned.
- Lab technician Sharon Evans identified arsenic metabolite levels in Michelle’s blood that were consistent with repeated ingestion and not with environmental exposure.
- Kevin Jenkins had been bringing soups, broths and tea to Thomas for months and had called to confirm the time of Thomas’s appointment the Sunday before the December 9 photograph. 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.
22 SEP 2026 · IV Bag in a Tree: How a Birder Exposed a Prison Poisoning
A hospital IV bag three-quarters full of cloudy fluid hung eight feet high in a hackberry tree forty yards outside a detention facility - and a birder with a Canon camera turned one photograph into a criminal pivot. The fluid contained dilute aconitine, a toxin that causes fatal arrhythmia and evades standard post-mortem screens; who placed the bag and why did a thirty-two-year-old inmate die the day before she was due to cooperate with federal prosecutors?
In this episode, we present the sequence of events from the morning calls a prisoner made to her seven-year-old daughter through the discovery of the IV bag and the directed toxicology that followed, laying out how routine records and a birdwatcher’s photographs raised questions about a death that had been declared cardiac. What links the protective custody transfer, the handwritten note of gastric mucosal irritation, and the aconitine found in the IV bag?
Person: Linda Wells
Person: Frank Clark
Person: Beverly Jones
Date: November 5 (time of missed morning call)
Case: State's Exhibit Four
- Linda Wells made forty-three consecutive morning phone calls to her daughter at 7:40 a.m., then missed the forty-fourth on November 5.
- The IV bag was found by Frank Clark on November 14, hanging eight feet off the ground in a hackberry tree about forty yards outside the facility’s rear wall.
- Dr. Aaron Sefton signed the death certificate within thirty-six hours, listing acute cardiac arrhythmia secondary to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
- Sefton’s handwritten worksheet noted “gastric mucosal irritation,” a detail omitted from his official report and later prompting a directed toxicology.
- Laboratory analysis of the IV bag fluid revealed a dilute aconitine solution in a saline carrier, identified on December 3 after Beverly Jones ordered targeted screening. 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.
21 SEP 2026 · The Bottle No One Noticed: How a Coach Turned Water Lethal
A dry stainless-steel bottle with a Calloway logo sat upright on cold concrete and held enough dissolved thallium to destroy a nervous system - one fifteen-year-old was already dead before investigators pieced together that a coach had been poisoning athletes across two jurisdictions. How did routine training bottles become delivery devices for a toxin that took years and one specific Tuesday morning to unravel?
In this episode, we tell how the cluster of unexplained symptoms among teenage swimmers led investigators from inconclusive bloodwork to an environmental health detective who saw a pattern no single doctor had. Listen to learn what linked the victims, what the bottle revealed, and the unanswered question that prompted the full investigation.
Person: Tessa Albright
Age: 16
Location: Calloway aquatic center, western Pennsylvania
Toxin: thallium dissolved in clear liquid inside a stainless-steel bottle
Coach: Carl Sharp, 43
- The bottle was found at 6:15 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, dry and capped on the concrete apron behind the Calloway aquatic center.
- Five swimmers aged 15 to 17 reported the same symptoms: nausea, a metallic taste, tingling in hands and feet, and persistent fatigue.
- All five affected athletes had finished in the top six of their events at the regional meet two weeks earlier.
- Three rounds of blood work for Tessa returned inconclusive results before environmental health was involved.
- Carl Sharp had been head coach since the previous spring and managed the equipment inventory, including locked storage and team bottles. 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.
20 SEP 2026 · Locked Cab, Labeled Clover: Honey That Nearly Killed a Town
A half-pint mason jar, sealed with cheesecloth and labeled "Clover," sat upright on the passenger seat of a locked road-grader - then turned up in kitchens across Harwick, sickening neighbors and killing one woman. Three jars of honey, multiple hospitalizations with nausea and cardiac disturbance, and a medical examiner's tissue test that finally named grayanotoxin; how did that jar travel from a locked cab to so many homes?
In this episode, we follow the timeline from Rachel Carter's sudden death through the cluster of near-fatal illnesses that prompted a toxin screen, and the police work that tied the deaths to jars of honey. What did the investigators find when they tested the honey and reexamined Rachel's autopsy?
Person: Rachel Carter
Date: September 19 (Rachel's date of death)
Location: Harwick
Toxin: Grayanotoxin
Detective: Dennis Pruett
- Rachel Carter was 44 years old and had worked at the Harwick Public Library for 16 years.
- Rachel called in sick on September 8 with nausea and a racing heart, then returned to work on September 11.
- The medical examiner's initial ruling was cardiac arrest from an undetected arrhythmia before tissue later tested positive for grayanotoxin.
- Three women in the same community presented within weeks with nausea and cardiac symptoms; one hospitalized and treated before grayanotoxin was tested.
- Deborah Finley found and kept a sealed jar of honey from Rachel's apartment, which later tested positive at symptom-producing concentrations. 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.
19 SEP 2026 · A Stranger Finds the Mug That Solves Five Murders: The Robert Hoffman Case
A cold, deliberate object-an upright mug on a concrete pad with a folded cloth napkin and a silver spoon-became the clue that linked sudden deaths across a small town. Standard toxicology screens showed nothing, yet the dried residue in that mug would connect at least two victims with identical symptom onset and a single man who brought homemade tea to appointments; how did one overlooked cup expose a pattern of poison?
In this episode, we lay out the sequence of discoveries and the people involved, from the utility lineman who first noticed the mug to the medical notes and probate records that hid the link, and ask how routine care and ordinary paperwork failed to catch a lethal pattern until that cup was tested.
Person: Nancy Slater
Date: August 14, 2019
Location: Faircroft
Person: Robert Hoffman
Person: Walter Prine
- Nancy Slater was found dead after being deceased approximately four days when the mug was discovered on August 14, 2019.
- The liquid in the mug had reduced to a thick dark residue after four days of ninety-three-degree heat.
- Nancy had onset of fatigue, nausea, hair thinning, elevated liver enzymes, falling white blood cell count, and an eleven-pound weight loss in weeks before death.
- Walter Prine, age seventy-four, developed similar symptoms in May 2019 and died on August 3, 2019, ruled myocardial infarction.
- Deputy Ray Obert photographed the scene; the napkin pattern was sold at a single kitchen supply store in Kellum and purchase records showed one recurring name. 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.
18 SEP 2026 · The Red Pincushion: How a Forgotten Sewing Tool Exposed Poisoning
A single red velvet pincushion on a windowsill turned routine into suspicion: a house left untouched for eleven days, a death ruled cardiac arrhythmia from low potassium, and an appointment book that didn't fit the story. How did a forgotten sewing tool and one neighbor's call start a chain that would challenge what everyone accepted about Kimberly Burke's final months?
In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the morning the pincushion was seen to the police review that reopened the case, outlining the discrepancies in medical care, daily routines, and records that raised questions about Kimberly's decline. What in her appointment book and daily patterns made Detective Ray Abbett look twice?
Person: Kimberly Burke
Date: July 3, 2017 (date of death)
Location: 408 Varnell Street, Morrow Creek
Status: Deceased; cremated
Investigator: Detective Ray Abbett
- The pincushion had been on the windowsill four inches open and visible at 6:15 AM on July 14, 2017.
- Kimberly Burke had lived at 408 Varnell Street for nine years and ran an alterations business from her front room.
- Gloria Casey had run her route three hundred mornings in a row and called the non-emergency line about the pincushion.
- Kimberly died at 4:47 PM on July 3, 2017; death certificate listed cardiac arrhythmia secondary to hypokalemia and no toxicology was ordered.
- Detective Ray Abbett received the welfare note three weeks after Gloria's call and later obtained Kimberly's spiral appointment book from her sister Pamela. 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.
17 SEP 2026 · He Put Arsenic in the Coffee-But Who Tampered with the Sealed Jug?
A sealed five-gallon water jug with an unbroken factory crimp hid a folded paper inside, and a pair of bolt cutters lay casually on top-yet a twenty-two-year-old woman nearly died from arsenic after drinking workplace coffee. Who could add arsenic trioxide into a sealed environment and why would the highest concentration be in the upper third of the coffee canister?
In this episode, we follow the timeline from the morning James Marshall found the tamper-evident jug to the lab results that linked Amanda Parker's acute kidney failure to arsenic in the workplace coffee. The episode covers the discovery at the Consolidated Freight Solutions yard, the medical response, and the forensic clues that raised the central question: who had access and motive to pour poison into the coffee?
Person: James Marshall
Person: Amanda Parker
Person: Detective Lou Ferris
Date: June 16, 2019
Location: Consolidated Freight Solutions yard
- James Marshall arrived at 7:42 a.m. on a Friday and found the sealed five-gallon water jug in dock cart number seven.
- Amanda Parker was 22 years old, had worked 16 days at Consolidated Freight and was admitted with kidney failure on June 13, 2019.
- Dr. Nancy Adams ordered a urine heavy metals panel; on June 16 at 8:15 a.m. Amanda’s urine arsenic was 40 times the normal upper limit.
- The coffee canister was reordered on May 22, 2019; forensic testing found arsenic trioxide concentrated in the upper third of the grounds.
- Kevin Pruitt noticed metallic-tasting coffee after his first overnight shift and stopped drinking it. 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.
A whisper in the tea, a wrong prescription, the quiet science behind a deadly intent — The Poisoner peels back the layers of motive, method and aftermath in cases where...
show more
A whisper in the tea, a wrong prescription, the quiet science behind a deadly intent — The Poisoner peels back the layers of motive, method and aftermath in cases where toxin meets opportunity. Each episode examines how poison has been chosen, cultivated and concealed, focusing on the forensic detail and the human stories that make these crimes chillingly plausible.
Expect forensic breakdowns, cultural context and courtroom consequences delivered with measured curiosity and precise research. The Poisoner stands apart by combining chemical explanation, investigative reporting and survivor perspectives so listeners understand not just who did it, but how and why a poison worked — or failed — in real life.
New episodes drop every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7:00 PM. Episodes vary between concise case studies and deeper investigative narratives, all designed to fit into your evening listening with clear takeaways about detection, deception and justice.
This podcast is for true crime listeners who crave technical clarity, armchair investigators fascinated by toxicology, and anyone curious about the legal and moral fallout when harm is distilled into a bottle, a bite or a vial. If you want forensic detail without sensationalism, The Poisoner is your nightly briefing.
Subscribe now to follow meticulous reconstructions, forensic insights and the awkward, intimate realities of crimes by poison.
keywords SEO: poison, toxicology, true crime, forensic science, murder by poisoning
show less
Expect forensic breakdowns, cultural context and courtroom consequences delivered with measured curiosity and precise research. The Poisoner stands apart by combining chemical explanation, investigative reporting and survivor perspectives so listeners understand not just who did it, but how and why a poison worked — or failed — in real life.
New episodes drop every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7:00 PM. Episodes vary between concise case studies and deeper investigative narratives, all designed to fit into your evening listening with clear takeaways about detection, deception and justice.
This podcast is for true crime listeners who crave technical clarity, armchair investigators fascinated by toxicology, and anyone curious about the legal and moral fallout when harm is distilled into a bottle, a bite or a vial. If you want forensic detail without sensationalism, The Poisoner is your nightly briefing.
Subscribe now to follow meticulous reconstructions, forensic insights and the awkward, intimate realities of crimes by poison.
keywords SEO: poison, toxicology, true crime, forensic science, murder by poisoning
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| Author | OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT |
| Organization | OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT |
| Categories | True Crime |
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