Ep 94: Murder by Omission, Part I

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi, everybody, Welcome back toanother episode of All Crime, No Cattle.

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This is actually our ninety fourth episode, so we're getting closer and closer
to that one hundred Mark. Iam Shay and I'm Aaron, And you
know I've heard Aaron. You've lockedyourself away like a wizard in a research
tower, researching this huge case that'smore faceted, very important, and there's
a lot going on with it.So tell us all about this whopper of

(01:06):
a case. Well, our storytoday is one of the most scandalous and
high profile in Texas true crime history, the mysterious death of equestrian and socialite
Joan Robinson Hill. She was thedaughter of a wealthy oil man named Ash
Robinson, and our story is setin the illustrious neighborhood of River Oaks in
Houston, Texas. It already soundsillustrious because there's equestrianism going on, and

(01:32):
that's something I associate with high falutintsociety. That's right. Absolutely. The
chain of events leading up to andafter Joan's death are so bizarre that honestly
they are hard to believe. Andher death would prompt one of the most
unpredictable medical investigations and legal proceedings everbefore seen in the state of Texas.

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And that is just part one ofthe story, because next week, in
part two, we'll see ultimately howfar a father may go when he is
consumed with revenge over the death ofhis only child. Yeah, that's right,
we got a two partner coming atyou. It's a big boy.
Yeah. Now, we'll have oursources for the series in the show notes,

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but far and away the ultimate authorityis the book Blood and Money by
respected writer and journalist Thomas Thompson.He's also a native Texan, grew up
around here, Dha. Let's gowell. Thompson spent about a year and
a half researching this story and interviewingthe dozens of people involved. Blood and
Money was published in nineteen seventy six, just after the events in question.

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It's considered one of the most groundbreakingclassic books that really helps set the standard
for true crime storytelling. It isdefinitely a lengthy book, and you are
going to get every little tiniest detailout of everything that you possibly could want.
But it's a great classic read excellent. Davis, Ashton Robinson and Ray

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Ernestine Gardier met in New Orleans wherethey married in the year nineteen nineteen.
Ash worked various jobs around the countryuntil the couple finally settled down in Texas
in nineteen thirty, smack in themiddle of the Great Depression. Ash found
a foothold in the oil business,which would soon make him one of the
wealthiest men in all of Houston.Ash and Ray wanted to start a family,

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but were devastated to learn that Raywas unable to have children. The
official story of how they got theirlittle girl is that Ray traveled to an
adoption center in Fort Worth. There, in March of nineteen thirty one,
Ray met a one month old babygirl who was born in Eagle Lake and
whose parents had given her up foradoption. Ray brought up baby home to

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Ash, who was delighted as he'dalways wanted a little girl. They named
her Joan Olive Robinson. That,however, is the version of the story
as recounted by Ash and Ray.In his book, Thomas Thompson alleges that
a much different version of the eventsis the truth. He wrote that when
Joan was much older, she hireda private detective to track down her birth

(04:23):
parents. After his investigation, thePI informed Joan that Ashe was in fact
her biological father, and that inhis desperation to have a baby, he
had paid a woman to carry hischild and then made whatever formal arrangements necessary
to adopter. The story is unsubstantiated, but it's interesting. It paints Ash,

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even from the beginning of this tale, as a man who had the
power, wealth, and even theinclination to pull the strings needed to get
whatever he wanted. Yeah, hesounds like a really powerful man who's going
to get what he wants. Yes, that's very true of Ash. Joan
was the apple of Ashe's eye,and naturally he spared no expense on her.
When she was just three years old, Joan met her first pony,

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and from there on out. Horseswere Joan's entire world, ashe paid four
elite instructors to coach his daughter inriding, and by the age of five,
Joan entered her first horse competition.By seven, she was competing all
over the country on both three andfive gated American saddlebred horses, competing and
winning against kids her own age aswell as adults. Wow. As a

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kid that grew up in one ofthe poorer spots in Fort Worth, I
don't know anything about any of thoseterms that you just said. It sounds
very rich and expensive. Though richand expensive I think is a great way
to describe this world right now.Yeah, By the time she finished high
school at Saint John's, an eliteprivate school, she'd entered multiple state and
national horse competitions, winning either firstor second place in most of them,

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and collecting piles of trophies and ribbonsthat Ashe proudly displayed in their home.
So she sounds really good at thistoo. She was a great writer,
absolutely. Ashe meddled in Joane's lovelife quite a bit as she grew up,
and he was able to run offmost of the boys that he deemed
too inferior for his daughter. Butby the time she was twenty, Joan
had married and divorced twice. Ashehad hotly contested both marriages and each had

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lasted only about six months, doingno small part to Ashe's intrusiveness into the
relationships. So he's kind of likepressuring suitors that he doesn't like to move
along and inserting himself into her relationship. Oh, absolutely, oh very much
so. In her twenties, Joanmade a name for herself in the Houston

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social scene of the nineteen fifties andbecame one of the city's earliest celebrity socialites.
It's no surprise she was staggeringly rich. Her father was a very prominent
figure in Houston, and she wasa great beauty. But she was also
a lot like her father. Shewas very gregarious, outgoing. She liked
to joke and drink and party.She was seen in all of the hottest

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spots where Houston's high society liked toparty, like the Troubadour and the Shamrock
Hotel, and her pictures and storiesof her exploits were published in all of
Houston's gossip columns. To be arich socialite in the fifties must have been
wild. It must have been alot of fun. But Joan didn't let
Houston's nightlife consume her By day.She remained a very dedicated equestrian. At

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a horse show in San Antonio,Joan met a gray mare named Beloved Belinda.
The horse had an unknown lineage,but Joan instantly fell in love with
her and told her father she hadto have her. And what Joan wanted,
Joan got ash paid twenty seven thousandfive hundred dollars for the horse.
That's over three hundred thousand dollars today, a fortune, especially considering the horse

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had no paperwork. Man, thehorse game sounds so out of all of
our leagues, like you have tohave so much money to be in this
kind of world. It is.From my understanding, I think it's a
rich person's game, for sure.But Joan just knew the horse was special
and time would prove her correct.Joan rode Belinda for seven years, ultimately

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winning eighty six competitions and five backto back Amateur World Championships together. From
nineteen fifty three to nineteen fifty eight. They were known as America's most beautiful
pair, and they made headlines acrossthe country. So they were comparing her
to the horse too. Think they'reboth beautiful. They're both beautiful, and
Belinda was supposed to be a verybeautiful horse. Yes. In nineteen fifty

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six, at the age of twentyfive, Joan met a handsome, promising
young med student named John Hill.John was born in nineteen thirty one in
the tiny town of ed Couch atthe southern tip of Texas. Never heard
of it, you'd be interested tolearn that the town of ed Couch is
named after a man named ed Couch. Okay, I am so interested to

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learn that it did be. ButJohn came from humble origins. His parents
were farmers who also managed a cornerstore. From a very young age,
John fell in love with classical music. His instrument of choice was the piano,
but he also played the trombone,tuba, flute, and recorder.
Hey man of my own heart abrass man. I like it. But

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instead of following his passion for music, John decided to go into medicine.
After graduating from Abilene Christian College,he moved to Houston to begin medical school
at the Baylor College of Medicine,ultimately deciding to dedicate himself to the practice
of plastic surgery. Joan and Johnbegan dating straight away. Joan was enamored

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by John's handsomeness and intelligence, andJohn was mesmerized by Joan's world as she
took him to Houston's fanciest spots todine and drink. But the people closest
to Joan and John were puzzled bythe couple's attraction to each other. At
their hearts, Joan and were verydifferent people where Joan was warm and lively.
John was unemotional, some even calledhim cold. Joan was also not

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religious in fact, ashe was anoutspoken atheist, while John and his family
were devout Christians who went to churchevery Sunday. So there's a lot of
early onset issues between this couple.But perhaps most importantly of all, Joan
only had a passing appreciation for classicalmusic while John was impartial to horses.

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Their separate interests would keep their attentionsdivided, but still Joan and John were
in love, and soon John cameto Ashe to ask for Joan's hand in
marriage, ashe wasn't necessarily thrilled.Still in his residency, John was working
up to sixty hours a week andonly earning about two hundred dollars a month.
It would be several years before hewould finish his residency, set up

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a practice, and began actually makinggood money. Sure, there was no
guarantee on Ashe's side that this guywas going to be a good husband for
his daughter and that you know,his career was going to work out down
the road. Yeah, of course. Yeah. But on the other hand,
ashe believed a doctor even one yearsaway from a prosperous career was a

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much better prospect for his daughter thanthe other men in Jones's life, ashe
offered for the young couple to comelive with him and Ray. It just
so happened that ashe was in theprocess of building a new home located at
ten twenty nine Kirby Drive and therenowned section of central Houston called river Oaks.
Oh fancy pants land. Yes,river Oaks is a residential community first

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built in the nineteen twenties specifically forHouston's most rich and famous, and it's
one of the most expensive neighborhoods inthe country. Yeah, I'm I'm trying
to imagine something in comparison. I'mthinking of like Highland Park and Dallas or
something. Yeah, that's probably agood comparison. Yeah. And so when
in September of nineteen fifty seven,Joan Robinson married John Hill and a lavish

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ceremony, Ash paid for the weddingalong with their honeymoon in Mexico, Joan
and John moved in with Ash andRay, and they would all continue to
live together for the next six years. John went from pinching pennies and living
in a dump to moving into Ash'ssprawling estate where he had everything provided for
him. Ash gave John a brandnew Cadillac and had servants to care for

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the house and prepare their food.And of course they dined and drank at
the classiest restaurants and attended clubs,theaters and concert halls, with Ash picking
up the tab. Must be nice, yes, sir John very quickly adjusted
to living this luxurious lifestyle. Ohso he starts like getting used to it.
Oh, yeah, expecting it?Well, wouldn't you, Well,

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I mean a little bit. It'dbe hard not to enjoy it, right.
The year in nineteen fifty nine wasa big one for Joe. She
was named the city's outstanding Sportswoman bythe Houston Press, and beloved Belinda,
at the age of eleven, wasretired in an elaborate ceremony at Houston's pin
Oak Horse Show. It was ahuge affair, covered by multiple publications,

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including a big story in Sports Illustrated, and it was the highlight of Joan's
equestrian career. It really was adifferent time, wasn't it, when Sports
Illustrated was covering horse racing. Yeah. That year, Joan also became pregnant
with their first and only child,who was born June fourteenth, nineteen sixty
They named their little boy Robert,but for the first years of his life

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he was almost exclusively known as Boot, a nickname given to him by Ash
Ashe was delighted to be a grandfatherand provided the baby and his new parents
everything they could need, including formula, a diaper service, and in around
the clock nanny. Eventually, Johnfinished his residency and in nineteen sixty three
he joined a partnership with another plasticsurgeon, later establishing his own solo practice.

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With this, John finally started makinggood money for himself. But even
with a practice to get off theground and a baby to care for,
John continued to pursue his musical interestswith a feverish abandon really. In fact,
Thompson writes that he dedicated at leasttwenty hours a week every week to
practicing his instruments. That's a lotwhen you were a father, a husband,

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and a plastic and a plastic surgeon. Yeah. Wow, okay,
wow, I mean he's serious.I'm sure he was good. That's right.
He was committed and he was talented. He joined the ranks of musical
groups such as the Houston Brass Quintetand the Houston Friends of Music. He
was most excited when he was acceptedto join The Heartbeats, a band made

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entirely of doctors, nurses, andother medical professionals that played at conventions and
civic functions around the city. Oh. I see what they did there,
the Heartbeat. Yeah. John becamethe heartbeats very first tuba player. Oh.
Okay, I like that he playsbass clef. I like it.
Yeah, I don't know really whatthat means. It's like the lower bassier

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instruments I played and he played two. But that's like the next lower Oh.
Interesting. Meanwhile, Joan's lifelong loveof horses had turned her into a
knowledgeable horsewoman with the money and abilityto build something really special. She spoke
to Ashe about starting her very ownhorse farm, where she hoped to breed

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and train the next generation of thefinest horses in the country. The farm
would institute a riding school that wouldhelp it turn a profit and pay for
the upkeep of the facility. Okay, so she's gonna start teaching riding and
raising horses and yeah, yeah,like move into the next stage of her
career. That's cool. Yeah,absolutely so, ashe purchased a three acre

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plot of land just west of Houstonthat Joe named Chatsworth Farm. She threw
herself into the new project, andby nineteen sixty five the farm had dozens
of horse stalls, a regulation horsering, and trailers for riding. Soon
all of Houston's elite were flocking toChatsworth to have their children taught at the
riding school of the Joan Robinson Hill. Now more financially secure, John brought

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up the idea of purchasing their ownhome in River Oaks. The house John
had his eye on was located atfifteen sixty one Kirby Drive, just down
the street from Ash and Ray.So they were it'd still be really close.
Yep, it's still be really close, which is what Ash wants.
The house was a six thousand squarefoot Southern Colonial style home with white columns,

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built in nineteen thirty five. NowJoan wasn't super interested in the house,
but John was insistent, and soshe agreed to make him happy.
Joan, John and Robert moved intothe Big House on Kirby Drive in nineteen
sixty six. This might have beenassigned for John's financial independence from Ash,

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except that John still needed ashe tolend him twelve thousand dollars for the down
payment. Wow, so that downpayment for that house, it was only
twelve thousand dollars. I guess itwas a different time. But it would
be a lot works of today,wouldn't it. Oh? Absolutely, it
would be probably at least ten timesthat. Yeah. Now, A couple
of years after moving into the house, John proposed to Joan an idea that

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had been stewing in the back ofhis mind, taking the unfinished room above
the garage in the back of thehouse and transforming it into a modern marvel.
John imagined an exquisitely decorated yet cuttingedge space where he could host lavish
musical events and live concerts. Healso wanted it to be placed to gather

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with his friends and watch movies andlisten to records, so it would need
a state of the art sound system. This sounds very expensive and also extravagance.
He's going to have his own concerthall? Yes, pretty much,
that's what he wanted, Okay.Now. Naturally, Joan worried about how
much money such a project would cost. John estimated that it would be a

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mere ten thousand dollars. Now,let's remember that today that is the equivalent
to about eighty thousand dollars, Soit is not an amount to sneeze at.
No, and sound and audio stuffis not cheap. Yes, Now,
at first he thought he'd be ableto get this money from Ash,
but ashe refused to lend him evenmore money, so John took out a

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bank loan, and with money inhand, he's set to work on his
massive pet project. I mean,it does sound pretty cool, but it
seems like something you don't have tospend money on right now, especially when
you're just bought a house. You'rejust starting to get off, you're out
from under Ash and get on yourown and set out. Yeah, you
want to take out a personal loanat this point for this massive music hall

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of your dreams, for this massivehouse that it's already kind of a financial
risk to begin with. It seemslike a little bit of foreshadowing, one
might say, as in financial troublesmaybe coming. You can't hear this is
an audio medium, but she's Aaronis just over there shrugging and like not

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anything away. In the summer ofnineteen sixty eight, Robert, who was
now eight years old, went toa summer camp called Camp Rio Vista.
The final day of camp was abig celebration where parents were invited to participate
in camp activities like swimming, canoeing, and softball, and Joan and John
both came expecting to have a funday as a family. But there John

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met a woman named Anne Kurth,who was there to pick up her three
sons from the camp. Within daysof meeting each other, John was having
a torrid affair with Anne and wasalready promising to leave Joan to marry her.
Oh boy. Weeks later, Johnleft Joan a note let read quote,
things are not good between us.I've gone away for a few days

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to find myself. He quickly setabout securing himself an apartment, although in
reality he basically moved in with Anneand her kids. Wow, that was
fast, very fast. Joan franticallytried to contact him, but he dodged
her for weeks. Eventually, thoughJoan found out about the other woman,
it wasn't difficult because after a coupleof months, John stopped trying to hide

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his affair. In fact, hewas brazen about it, going out to
restaurants and concerts with Anne publicly.The gossip about John and Joan's separation at
this point had already spread, andthe fact that John was parading his affair
struck people as vulgar, especially topolite society in the sixties. The last

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straw for John was at a charitygala with The Heartbeats, where John introduced
Anne as his fiancee. He's nottechnically divorced yet. No, that's a
bold move. He hasn't even filedfor divorce at this point, and he
is calling Anne his fiancee. Theother doctors and their wives, most of

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them who knew and liked Joan,were completely aghast. A few days,
John was asked to leave the Heartbeats. But the separation with Joan wasn't just
affecting him socially. The fault wasalso hurting John's career now seeing as an
adulterer, John's practice began to falteras his patients left in droves. But

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still John trudged on, and inNovember he served Joan with divorce papers.
Joan's friends counseled her to just letthe man go, saying that he was
a cheater and a boar. Who'dpaid her or their son little attention throughout
their marriage, But for whatever reason, Joan decided to contest the divorce,
telling Ashe that she would do anything, even give up her horses, for

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John to come back to her.Don't do that, Joan well. Suddenly,
after four months of separation, Johndid come back to Joan. How
it happened, though, differs basedon who tells the story. According to
Ashe, John came to him inDecember of nineteen sixty eight and begged his
forgiveness, saying that the affair wasa miss stake and that he desperately wanted

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to reconcile with Joan. Ashe saidthat together, they drafted a contract aimed
to get back into Joan's good graces. In it, John apologized for the
affair and stated that should he separateagain from her in the future, he
would agree to pay Joan a lumpsum of seven thousand dollars, as well
as one thousand dollars a month inalimony. WHOA, so this is like

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a weird get back together pre numpkind of thing, pretty much. He
also agreed to pay off all oftheir debts, including what was left on
the house, which he would thenhand over to Joan. This is like
a big financial stranglehold. Oh,it's crazy now, ashe says that,
John signed the document happily to getback into Joan's good graces. According to

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John, however, this meeting wenta little differently. He said that ashe
met him under false pretenses and thenthreatened him with financial ruin if he didn't
sign the contract and returned to Joanimmediately. That is very different. Yes,
interesting, and you see John fearedlosing the house and more importantly,
the music room if things went southwith Joan. Even though he hadn't been

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living there in months, work onthe music room had continued unabated. By
now the room looked like something outof the Palace of Versailles or from Renaissance
Italy. The walls and ceiling werecovered in rich paintings and frescoes, with
silk covered panels that hid shelves linedwith thousands of records, hundreds of books,

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and a wide array of musical instruments. One hundred and eight speakers and
over four miles of wires were hiddenin the walls. Indeed, it was
one of the most advanced sound systemsin any household in the country at the
time. There was a marble fireplace, crystal chandeliers, and elegant furniture,

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everything done up in an opulent whiteand gold color scheme. There were two
pianos, one of which was aten foot long bows Endorf Imperial Grand.
If you are into music, youmight know that that is the most expensive
piano in the world. So hewasn't pinching any pennies here. Oh no.

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If we remember, John had firstquoted a total cost of ten thousand
dollars for the music room. Bythe end of nineteen sixty eight, John
had sunk ten times that amount intothe room for a total of one hundred
thousand dollars. Just as a comparison, they purchased the home for ninety three
thousand dollars. So John invested moremoney into the music room than the whole

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entire house was worth. And ifyou have more questions about this house,
about this music room, because thisis obviously a big part of the story.
You can see photographs of both thehouse and the interior of the music
over at realtour dot com. Theseare pictures from the last sale of the
house in twenty thirteen, so Obviously, these are pictures from twenty thirteen.

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The music room was built in thelate sixties. A lot of time has
transpired, but this is basically John'smusic room, so you can see pretty
much pictures of the room that hebuilt with all of his money. Yeah,
and so John returned to Joan withdrawinghis divorce petition right before Christmas.
Joan was elated and went right backto being the electric, charming missus doctor

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John Hill. John, however,continued seeing and behind Joan's back. Unbeknownst
to Joan. He even kept theapartment as his secret getaway. As the
months passed, John struggled to jugglehis responsibilities to his patients, to his
wife and child, and to hismistress. He began pretending to get called
into the hospital for emergencies, butin reality he was going off to meet

(26:00):
with Anne, often staying out allnight. Joan began to become increasingly suspicious
that John was still having an affair. Meanwhile, Joan was having troubles of
her own. Chatsworth Farm was strugglingto turn a profit, and ashe was
beginning to wonder if he should sellthe place, hoping to save her dying

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venture Joan contacted her friend Diane setAghast, a horse trainer from Dallas,
and asked if she'd like to runthe stables. Diane agreed to come to
Houston to stay the weekend at thehouse to discuss the position with Joan,
and ashe She arrived on Sunday,March ninth, nineteen sixty nine, along
with another mutual friend, Eunice Woolen. Now technically the women were only expected

(26:45):
to stay for a couple of days, but Ashe suddenly got called away on
business and wouldn't return into the followingweekend. Normally, this would have been
perfectly fine, as they were allgood friends and they came to visit often,
but this time Diane and Eunice felttension in the air between the couple,
and in fact, when they arrivedthey found Joan fuming because John hadn't

(27:07):
come home the night before. Overthe next week, the house guests would
witness several strained and peculiar interactions betweenthe couple. Joan, John, Diane
and Eunice all went out to dinnerthat first night, but midway through the
meal, John got a page onhis beeper and excused himself, saying that
he was needed at the hospital.He told them he would meet them at

(27:30):
home later and bring everyone a specialtreat. Around midnight, John arrived back
at the house and presented the ladiesa silver tray upon which he'd placed four
French pastries, but John did notask the women which pastry they wanted.
Instead, Diane said, he handedthem out as if he had assigned them.

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He gave Joan a Chocolate Eclaire,Eunice a strawberry tart, Diane another
Chocolate Eclaire, and himself a creampuff. They ate the pastries, and
soon thereafter John received another page andsaid he'd been called in for an emergency
surgery. He said he'd be homewithin hours, but John did not return
that night. Two nights later,the three women returned from dinner to find

(28:14):
John at the house by himself.He told him that he had another surprise
for them and left, returning withanother tray of pastries, and just like
before, John passed out the pastriesas if he'd already selected which one was
to go to which person, Andthen two nights after that, the same
thing. John told the ladies thathe would be home that night to eat

(28:36):
dinner with him, but he showedup an hour late. John apologized,
explaining that he was late because he'dstopped to once again purchased pastries for everyone.
However, Joan was so angry withhim at this point that she refused
to eat them. The following daywas Friday, March fourteenth, and it
was an important day to both Johnand Joan because it was the annual wild

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Game dinner and charity gala that theyattended every year. Joan loved the event
and usually spent her time talking anddancing late into the night, but shortly
after eating, John suddenly announced thatthey needed to leave early because he was
needed at the hospital. Joan beggedto stay, but John was insistent.
On the ride home, John informedher that he would be returning late and

(29:22):
that she shouldn't wait up for him. Joan exploded. She told him that
he'd been gone all night two timesthis week and if he did it again,
things were over between them. Thenext day was Saturday, and Joan
didn't get out of bed until almostfour pm. This was very unusual for
her, she was typically an earlyriser with a busy schedule. When she

(29:47):
finally got up, she apologized toDiane and Eunice for sleeping all day.
She told him about her fight withJohn the night before and said that she'd
had trouble sleeping. She said thatJohn had returned early that morning and had
given her a pill to help hersleep, and she was surprised at how
it had knocked her out. Otherthan feeling a little groggy, Joane seemed

(30:07):
fine, and she asked John totake Robert to get a haircut while she
attended to some of the day's businessthat she'd missed. But they returned later
than expected, and when Joan askedRobert why, the little boy admitted that
after the haircut, his father hadtaken him to his secret apartment to pick
up some sheet music. Oh boyYeah. Joan was completely unaware that John

(30:30):
still had the apartment, and toher, this was clear indication that John
was still having an affair. Joanwas beside herself with anger and humiliation.
She called her close friend Van andinvited her to come over to the house
to visit with her, Eunice andDiane. Van arrived to find a very

(30:51):
prickly situation between Joan and John,with everyone else caught in the middle.
Joane suggested the four women play Bridgea music room while John listened to music.
As they played, Jane started makingnegative comments about John, loud enough
to where John could hear. Joanetold Van that she was going to her
lawyer first thing on Monday morning tofile for divorce. Van told her to

(31:18):
lower her voice so John couldn't hear, but Jane said, I want him
to. Van was later asked ifJoan appeared well that evening, and Van
said that she appeared in good health. But later, as Unice and Diane
went to bed that night, theysaw John standing over Jane's bed. He
said that Joan wasn't feeling well andthat she needed a shot. A shot.

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Yes, this seems to be escalatinglike Leah Claire's seem fishy. M
the pill seems fishy. It seemslike he's drugging her well, possibly see
poisoning. I would say, we'llhave to say. The next morning,
Sunday, March sixteenth, once againJoan got up a little later than usual,

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looking pale and complaining of an upsetstomach, but she seemed in a
good enough mood. In fact,she told Diane that before going to sleep
the night before, she and Johnhad a long heart to heart, and
that she believed their marriage was headedback in the right direction. So everything's
looking good, but Joane's happiness wasfleeting. Shortly after eating breakfast, she

(32:24):
had to run to the bathroom tovomit. Joan excused herself and went back
to bed, where she stayed forthe rest of the day, suffering from
vomiting and diarrhea. John suggested thatJoan probably had a case of food poisoning.
That afternoon, he went to thepharmacy where he purchased composine, a
drug used to relieve severe nausea andvomiting, as well as a carton of

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orange juice. He gave her themedication with a hyperdermac needle and watched her
drink down the juice ashe was finallyback in town so that afternoon he met
with Diane about the position at ChatsworthFarm, but it didn't go well.
He said that he'd only offer hertwo hundred a month, plus a percentage
from the writing lessons. Diane wasunhappy with the offer, believing it to

(33:08):
be far too little for the amountof responsibility she would have to shoulder at
the farm, with Joan too illto aid in the negotiations, they sputtered
to a halt, and Diane declinedto position in frustration. The next morning,
on Monday, March seventeenth, Dianeand Unice were ready to get the
hell out of that house. Ithas been crazy visit. Yes, their

(33:31):
time at the mansion had been incrediblyweird and uncomfortable with Joan and John's constant
fighting, and since negotiations about theposition had soured, there was no longer
a reason for them to stay.At the same time, they were concerned
about Joan. Diane asked Joane ifshe wanted them to stay longer so that
they could help care for her,but Joan assured them that John and their

(33:52):
housekeeper, Effie could tend to her. Confident that Joan would be well taken
care of, Diane and Unice saidgoodbyes. After the women left, John
instructed Effie to let Joan rest andto not disturb her for any reason.
He Lynn left the house himself andwas gone for most of the day.
Now Effie Green and her husband Archieboth worked for the Hills. They were

(34:15):
living staff who had a room atthe back of the house. Late that
afternoon, Effie began to worry Johnstill hadn't returned, and therefore Joan had
been alone all day long, andso, against John's rishes, Effie went
up to her room. She foundJoan weak, thirsty, and burning to
the touch. Effie was concerned byher condition and promised Joan that she would

(34:39):
have John come at once to checkon her. When John finally came home,
though he didn't seem overly concerned,He went to the pharmacy and purchased
a broad spectrum antibiotic as well asthey bottle alomatil, which is used to
treat diarrhea, and gave these medicationsto Joan. So we knew he purchased

(34:59):
those items. Do we know fora fact that he had ministered those items.
He could have been giving her somethingelse. This is based on what
John says after the fact. Sohe says that he gives her lomatil,
composine, kopectate, like all ofsome of these medications in order to treat
her illness. Okay, but you'reright that we don't know exactly what it

(35:23):
was he was giving her. That'sjust what he was claiming, Okay.
John would later claim that he stayedwith Joan all through Monday, night and
into Tuesday morning, but Effie wouldstate that she did not believe John was
at the house at all that night, as she never heard from him and
he never came down to eat hissupper. Early Tuesday morning, John called

(35:45):
her up to the bedroom where Joanlay ill. Effie said that she entered
the room to find John sitting upin the bed next to Joan, cradling
her head in his lap. Johnasked Effie to give Joan some of the
antibiotics and to clean her up,and then once again, John just left.
This time, however, it's oneof the few cases where we know

(36:07):
where John was going. He wasscheduled to play a tuba solo at an
elementary school that morning. Very important. Yeah, I was about to say,
his priorities seem right in tow yes, geez well. Effie turned her
attention to Joan after John left.She found her barely responsive, covered in
a sheen of perspiration, her facedeathly white. Effie pulled back the covers

(36:31):
and saw that Joan was still wearingthe nightgown she'd helped Joan into on Saturday
three days before, and that thebed sheets were the same set she'd put
on the bed on Saturday as well. She rolled Joan over and saw that
two white towels had been laid outunderneath her. When she went to move
the towels, Effie discovered that they'dbeen placed over a large amount of diarrhea.

(36:54):
Effie said that some of the diarrheaappeared dry, as if he had
been there for hours, and someof it even appeared to have red patches
that looked like blood. Joan toldEffie that it felt like she was burning
up, but Effie noted that herskin was cold to the touch. Effie
helped Joan to her feet and triedto help her move towards the bathroom,

(37:15):
but before they could get there,Joane suddenly lost control of her bowels once
again. Effie was able to halfcarry Joan into the bathroom, where she
bathed her and put her into cleanclothes. She then changed the sheets on
the bed and cleaned everything up asbest she could. She brought Joan back
to bed and helped her lay down. Effie said that Joan told her quote

(37:37):
Effie, I don't want to die. Effie said. She asked Joan if
she wanted to go to the hospital, and Joan nodded her head. Yes,
Effie held Joane's hands and prayed overher a while. Once she finally
settled, Effie rushed to the telephone. She first called Ash, but unfortunately
no one was home and no oneanswered to take Effie's urgent message. She

(38:00):
then called John's office, telling themthere was an emergency and that Joan needed
to go to the hospital. Atthe Tuba recital, John got Effie's message.
He actually had plans to meet withAnne afterwards for breakfast, but to
his credit, John canceled his dateand returned to the house to check on
Joan, and when he did,he finally set about making arrangements for Joan

(38:24):
to go to the hospital. Wow. Okay, so it seems like he's
finally doing something to get her help, but it may be too little,
too late at this point. Andalso the assumption with those towels is that's
something John did, and John hasnot been taking care of her over those
days. Yes, yes, theguy sounds horrific. Well, now we're

(38:45):
going to get to probably one ofthe bigger questions about what John was thinking
during all of this, because atthis point, John was a well known
and accomplished plastic surgeon, not onlydid he himself have extensive medical training.
He also knew every top doctor inthe Houston area. They were his colleagues

(39:07):
and his friends, and most ofthem knew Joan very well. And many
of these doctors operated out of TexasMedical Center, whose top notch facilities and
staff were located a mere fifteen minutedrive from their home. In other words,
John had the contacts, the authority, and the money to assemble the
most elite care team for Joan.And that's what he did right. No,

(39:30):
actually, and that is why laterthe decisions that John ultimately made about
her medical care would come under question. John decided to take Joan to Sharpstown
General Hospital. Sharpstown was a newfacility twice as far away as Texas Medical
Center. It was a relatively smalland modest hospital and didn't have the capabilities

(39:52):
of larger hospitals. We will seethat this comes into play in several ways,
but for Star, it did nothave an emergency room nor an intensive
care unit. Didn't even have ane R. Now, oh my gosh,
okay. Now, Later John wouldexplain that he had a surgery scheduled
at Sharpstown for the next morning,and he decided to bring Joan there.

(40:14):
So he could remain close to her. But it's strange because that decision meant
he would be taking her to afacility that did not have the ability to
provide a high level of care.Yeah, and dude, just reschedule the
procedure, like, yeah, takeher to the best hospital that money can
buy. Yeah, there's lots ofoptions here. John called an internal medicine

(40:37):
doctor who operated out of Sharpstown nameddoctor Walter Burtono, and asked if he
would handle Joane's treatment. Now,no insult meant to doctor burton Oh,
he was a very capable doctor,but he wasn't famed or super prestigious,
and he'd never treated Joan before.Doctor Burtono himself was quite surprised at the

(40:58):
phone call and asked why John wouldchoose him. Doctor Burtoneau said that John
insinuated that Joan was a problem patientand that she often didn't get along with
other doctors. He said that onetime Joan had spoken well of him specifically.
Though that's weird seeing he's never seenher before, right, Yeah.

(41:19):
Doctor Burtoneau himself said that was verystrange, and he was very surprised by
all of it because he barely knewJoan at all. John told doctor Burtoneau
that her symptoms were diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. He did not mention
the severity of her condition, however, and John seemed so calm and unconcerned
that doctor Burtoneau assumed Joan must besuffering from something like the stomach flu or

(41:43):
food poisoning, something that makes someonefeel like absolute garbage and can cause some
very dramatic symptoms but is ultimately notfatal. Soon after John made the arrangements
with doctor Burtoneau, Ray dropped bythe house to check on Joan. She
was to discover how ill Joan hadbecome, as John had failed to update
her parents on the progression of herillness. John told Ray that he was

(42:07):
taking Joan to the hospital. Rayasked if an ambulance was on its way,
and John told her no, hewould personally drive her to the hospital.
Again. Why again, why?Very good question? Effie, Ray
and John helped Joan dress, butwhen Effie went to help Joan down the
staircase, Ray and Effie both saidthat John ordered her not to help.

(42:30):
Instead, John demanded that Joan walkeddown the stairs on her own, even
though at this point she was soill she was struggling to even stand.
On the way to Sharpstown, Raysaid that John drove so slowly that the
drive took twice as long as itshould have. When they finally arrived,
Joan was admitted at eleven forty fiveam and take into a private room.

(42:52):
Ray was asked to wait in thelobby, but John basically disappeared for a
while. He didn't even stick aroundto provide jones medical history or symptoms to
the nurses, or explained the medicationshe'd be given under his care. This
is looking like he wants her todie, to get out from under this
contract. To be fair, that'swhat all of this seems like. Well,

(43:13):
it's not like in cigarette, isit. No, not at all.
A nurse took Joan's blood pressure,which was read at sixty over forty.
This indicates severe hypotension. A personwith blood pressure that low would be
expected to be in a state ofcomplete shock, meaning they would be going
in and out of consciousness, bevery confused, weak, and dizzy.

(43:35):
Instead, Joan was sitting up inbed, answering questions, still very sick,
but she was lucid. It wasso perplexing that the nurse took the
reading twice just to be sure therewasn't an issue with a machine. Doctor
Burton No ordered iv fluids to tryto raise Joan's blood pressure. He ordered
urine stool and blood samples, whichwere taken to be cultured to check for

(43:58):
the presence of pathogens in her system, but the results wouldn't be available for
another seventy two hours. Later thatafternoon, doctor Burtoneau saw that the IVY
fluids had failed to raise Joane's bloodpressure. Even more dire, Joane's body
was not passing urine, an indicationthat her kidneys were shutting down. Her

(44:19):
team increased her IVY fluids, hopingto tackle the blood pressure problem and stimulate
her kidneys to make urine. Meanwhile, Joan, though desperately weak and frightened,
was still conscious and aware of hersurroundings by now, ashe had finally
been alerted to her condition, andhe'd rush to the hospital to be with
her in the evening. After speakingto her doctors and being assured that Joan

(44:44):
was stable, ashe popped into Joan'sroom to tell her good night, he
told her that the next day hewould fill her hospital room with yellow roses,
Joan's favorite flower, and Joan toldher father that she would like that
very much. But around eight thatnight, Joan took a turn for the
worse. Her entire body was swollenfrom the high amounts of ivy fluids being

(45:07):
pumped into her, and capillaries andveins near the surface of her skin swelled
and burst, leaving her modeled andbruise. That sounds terrific. Yeah,
And even with the increased fluids,her body was still not producing urine,
and Joan went into kidney failure.So what do you do when a patient
has kidney failure? I don't know. Hemodialysis okay, right, you got

(45:31):
to clean the blood. Guess what. Sharpstown Hospital did not have a dialysis
machine, of course not. Whywould they, Why would you have something
that important. The doctors at Sharpstowndiscussed transferring Joan to another hospital with the
facilities in the equipment to help her, like a hemodialysis machine, but at

(45:52):
this point Joane's condition was so deterioratedthat there was a real fear that she
wouldn't survive the trip. Instead,they just decided to perform paritenial dialysis In
this procedure, the peritennial cavity orthe abdominal area, is filled with a
cleansing fluid via a tube that isinserted into the abdomen. The fluid draws

(46:13):
out the waste products present in thepatient's blood and is then drained back out
of the body. In this way, all of the blood filtering is going
on inside of the body instead ofoutside of the body like in hemodialysis.
So at nine fifteen pm, doctorBurtone called John. He had gone home
to listen to music in the musicroom. Of course, he wasn't there

(46:34):
to be with his wife or anythingin the moment where she's having a turn
for the worse. Yeah, ina critical moment. So doctor burtono asked
him to approve the procedure, whichJohn did. John said that he would
be coming back to sharpe'stown right away, yet somehow he didn't arrive until eleven
o'clock. Okay, By then,the dialysis procedure was underway. Joan told

(46:58):
John that she was frightened and askedhim to stay with her, and so
he did, talking with her andpatting her hand. Around midnight, Joane's
blood pressure had risen a little,and she appeared to be doing better.
At about one thirty am, Johntold Joan he was going to go to
a room down the hall to laydown. He told her good night and
left. An hour later. Inthe early morning of Wednesday, March nineteenth,

(47:22):
Joanes suddenly went into cardiac arrest.As her medical team rushed in,
Joan raised from her pillow, gaspedout John's name, and a rush of
blood came from her mouth. Jesus. Yeah. A doctor plunged a vial
of adrenaline into her heart, butit was too late. Just one month
after her thirty eighth birthday, JoanRobinson Hill was dead. She was our

(47:46):
age. Yeah. Wow, andthere last words where John's name. Yeah,
he didn't deserve that. I alsocannot believe that he wasn't there with
her. He went to another roomto go taken up. Yeah. The
entirety of his behavior is extremely coldand just lacks all empathy. Yeah.

(48:08):
Just oh, man, that's gotto be one of the most brutal,
horrific ways to go out. Andgosh, I couldn't imagine what kind of
pain she was going through at theend there. Oh. When John learned
of Jones's passing, he became unglued, and his weeping and cries of grief

(48:28):
were heard throughout the hospital. Ohthey were, were they? That's what
it is? Said? Okay?Well. Doctor Burtoneu was similarly stunned that
his patient had died so suddenly underhis care. He mentioned to John that
an autopsy was needed, and Johnagreed. The reason was twofold. First,
Jones's care team was baffled as towhat had caused her death, and

(48:51):
an autopsy could get to the heartof the matter. But second, and
most importantly, if a patient diedin a hospital within twenty four hours of
admit for any reason, under Texaslaw at the time, an autopsy must
be ordered. In addition, theexam must be performed not just by any
pathologist, but by the county coroner, who must rule on the cause of

(49:13):
death before the body can be preparedfor burial. This was a very serious
law. In fact, there werecriminal penalties if it was broken, and
it was something of which every doctorat the time would have been well aware.
Joan was admitted to the hospital onTuesday, March seventeenth, just before
noon, and she died at twothirty am the next morning. She'd been

(49:35):
at Sharpstown Hospital only fifteen hours.Doctor Burton not contacted the hospital's pathologist,
doctor Arthur Morse, and informed himthat Joan Robinson Hill had just died at
the hospital and an autopsy would benecessary now. Somehow in this conversation there
was a breakdown in communication with prettydevastating effects. Doctor Burton Nott wasn't clear

(49:59):
that Joan had been at the hospitalfor fewer than twenty four hours when she
died. Doctor Morse would later explainthat he assumed Joan had died beyond that
twenty four hour limit. He saidthat he would have expected someone to have
contacted the coroner directly if that wasthe case. Therefore, doctor Morris proceeded
with performing the autopsy himself. Ohno, however, guess what Sharpstown Hospital

(50:22):
also did not have what like anautopsy table. Well, no, technically
they didn't have that, nor didthey have any facilities to perform autopsies in
or a morgue. Wow, okay, you kind of need those things if
you're gonna be doing autopsies. Yes. Therefore, Jones's body had to be
moved to the funeral home so theautopsy could be undertaken there prior to her

(50:45):
funeral. However, and yet anotherbaffling misstep in this bizarre chain of events.
The embalm are working that day happenedto be the real go get him
type, and he never received theinstructions that Joane's body should not be touched
until autopsy. By the time doctorMorse got to the funeral home at ten
am, the embalmer had already finishedhis job draining Joone's body of blood and

(51:08):
other fluids and filling it with embalmingfluid. Oh my god, the procedure
effectively sterilizes the body, and thusno cultures would be able to take in
from her blood, urine or fecesto determine the source and nature of the
infection that killed her. Doctor Morsewas thankful that at least all of those
blood, urine and feces samples hadalready been taken at the hospital. Upon

(51:30):
Jones's admission, you don't do thisshow, don't do it erin go ahead,
so doctor Morse moved forward with theautopsy. He opened Jones's chest cavity
to see that there was generalized inflammationthroughout much of her body, hemorrhagene and

(51:51):
the esophagus, edema in the lungs, and he noted that her bladder was
completely devoid of urine, but noneof this pointed to a clear cause of
death. He did notice that herpancreas appeared to be unusually read and inflamed.
He took samples of her organs totake back to his lab, but
even under the microscope he couldn't seeanything diagnostic. Due to the state of

(52:14):
jones pancreas, doctor Morse determined thather probable cause of death was pancreatitis.
With that, Joone's body was releasedfor burial. John put off telling Ash
and Ray that their daughter was deadfor hours, but finally, as the
autopsy neared its completion, John wentto Ashe's house to tell them the news.
Ash and Ray were naturally beyond devastated, as well as confused. How

(52:37):
could their daughter go from being sovibrant and alive to dying in agony over
the course of three days. Herillness had been a whirlwind. She'd first
become ill on Sunday and was deadby Wednesday morning. Now John was informing
everyone that heat scheduled her funeral forFriday. Just two days later. Diane

(52:59):
and Unice were all so sad andpuzzled as they made their way back to
Houston for Joane's funeral. On Thursday, they went to the house to pay
their respects to John. It wasthe day before Joane's funeral and they expected
to find him inconsolable. Instead,they walked into the music room to find
John hanging out with friends, watchinga Laurel and Hardy comedy on the projector

(53:21):
screen and laughing, just having agood old time. Diane was disturbed by
the scene and angrily left the room. John caught up to her, but
before he could say anything, Dianewhirled on him, demanding to know why
Joan died even while being under hiscare. She said that John told her
that the autopsy had found she diedof pancreatitis, a condition he wasn't familiar

(53:43):
with. Diane demanded to know whyJohn had waited until Joan was on death's
door before taking her to the hospital. These are all very good questions,
she said. John told her thathe'd asked Joan to go to the hospital
on Monday evening, but that Joanadamantly refused to go. Diane said that
John told her, quote, youknow how she was about hospitals, which

(54:06):
made Diane only further suspicious because she'dnever heard before that Joan had some kind
of aversion to hospitals. Diane,having spent the last weeks of Joanes's life
staying at the Hill House and witnessingthe acrimony between the two, wondered if
John had something to do with Joanes'sdeath. Diane went directly to Ash with
her concerns and found that she wascertainly far from alone, ashe was downright

(54:30):
convinced that John had done something tocause Joanes's mysterious illness, either through poison
or some other means. He askedDiane if she had witnessed John giving Joan
anything to eat or drink in thedays before and during her illness. Diane
said yes, she'd personally seen Johnprovide Joan with orange juice, as well
as supply her with pills and injections. But then she told ashe about those

(54:54):
three separate occasions just before Joan fellill where John had purchased pain trees and
had been so weirdly insistent about whichpastry was eaten by which person m hmm.
They wondered if John had done somethingto those eclaires he was giving Joan
like injected them with something or ordoctored them in some way with like poison,

(55:19):
or or like a bacteria that wouldgive her pancreatitis, like any of
the above. Yeah, the morningof her funeral, ashe stormed into the
office of Assistant District Attorney ID McMasterto tell him that he believed John Hill
had murdered his daughter. Ash carefullylaid out the evidence he'd spent the last
two days feverishly gathering. He saidthat Joan was a healthy, young,

(55:44):
athletic woman until her sudden, alarmingdeath. He told McMaster about the pastries
and pointed out that John had accessto all sorts of poisons and toxins he
could have laced them with, asheexplained how Joan's body had been whissed away
and embalmed before an autopsy take place, ashe was sure that John was somehow
behind everything and was now rushing toget Joane's body into the ground before his

(56:07):
evil deed could be caught by now, ashe had contacted every doctor in this
city he felt was loyal to himand poured over Joan's medical history and hospital
records, and these doctors strongly disagreedwith the cause of death being pancreatitis,
ashe demanded that McMaster send the coronerto stop the funeral so another autopsy could

(56:29):
be completed that would find the truecause of Joane's death. Now, if
Ash was a nobody, McMaster wouldhave probably kindly listened to the grieving old
man and send him on his way. But besides being rich and highly influential,
ashe also had done a good jobof putting together a case for concern
that perhaps Joan had died of unnaturalcauses, did he mention anything about the

(56:53):
contract that was involved in their relationshipand that would be a potential motive for
him to do this? Okay,interesting, Yeah, we'll talk about it
again. But yes, he iswaving around that contract to anybody who will
listen to him to say, thisproves that John killed my daughter. Yeah.
So McMaster contacted the Harris County cornerdoctor Joseph ya Hencheck and gave him

(57:17):
a rundown of the story. Doctoryeh Hemcheck was upset to hear that the
state law had been violated when hisoffice wasn't contacted to perform Jones's autopsy.
He called doctor Morse first to chewhim out a little, but then to
find out the details of doctor Morse'sexamination. But doctor Morse told him that
upon further analysis, he decided thatjones pancreas had only appeared read in moshi

(57:44):
due to the process of natural decomposition. Therefore, he was now saying that
Jones's cause of death was still amystery. He then dropped another piece of
bad news. Every one of theblood, urine and stool stamples taken when
had been first admitted to the hospital, as well as the cultures made from
the materials, had been discarded bystaff upon her death. You did it

(58:08):
to us, I know I did, and with that evidence destroyed, they
now only had the organ samples doctorMorse had taken an autopsy to test for
the presence of bacteria or toxins.Doctor ye Hemcheck related all of this to
Ada McMaster and it didn't look good. At this point, Jones's funeral was

(58:28):
almost set to begin, so McMasterasked doctor yu Heimcheck to rush over to
give the body a visual inspection atthe funeral. At the funeral. At
the funeral, he told doctor yuHeimcheck that if anything seemed to miss he
should stop the funeral, and so, at the hugely attended funeral of one
of the most well known women inthe city of Houston, the county coroner

(58:51):
starts checking out the dead woman's body. He was trying he was trying to
be surreptitious about it, but oneof John's doctor friends noticed him staring at
her for several minutes, and soongossip was being spread about why the county
coroner would be analyzing Joan's body unlessthere was a question about the nature of
her death. So we're starting allsorts of new fun rumors. Yeah.

(59:15):
Ultimately, doctor Yehemcheck didn't see anythingthat seemed suspicious, and he decided that
he had no cause to stop theproceedings. Joan's funeral continued on with no
further disruptions, and she was laidto rest at the Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery
in Houston. Now soon after,doctor yeh Heimcheck completed his own report about

(59:36):
Joan's death. He said that Joane'sstomach contents and internal organs tested negative for
the presence of poisons such as arsenicand strychnine. His conclusion was that Joan
had died from an acute case offocal hepatitis likely caused by one of the
five mainstreams of viral hepatitis, soa three E. He offered that she

(59:57):
may have been infected by ingesting undercookshellfish or some other tainted food. Ash
was incredulous at the doctor's findings,and he had his own team of doctors
and experts ready to tear the coroner'sconclusions apart. They pointed out that Joan
didn't exhibit many of the symptoms typicalwith hepatitis, and that even a severe
case wouldn't kill a healthy woman ina matter of days. Ashe even suggested

(01:00:22):
that even if Joan really had diedof hepatitis, then perhaps John had found
a way to inject her with it, or lace her food or drink with
it. Yeah, and if nothepatitis, then maybe some other pathogen like
salmonella, shigella, or kolai Whoknows? Ashe announced that he wanted Joane's
body to be exhumed so a secondautopsy could be undertaken that could get to

(01:00:44):
the heart of the matter, butas her next of kin, John would
need to sign off on the procedure, and he refused, saying he didn't
want his wife's rest disturbed, convenientbut also a defensive tactic. Sure,
But then John went off and didsomething that was pretty stupid, and regardless

(01:01:06):
of whether or not he was amurderer, it sure made him look guilty.
Just three months after Joane's sudden andgrizzly death, John married his mistress
and Kurth and moved her and herchildren into the house on Kirby Street.
WHOA wow, that is a boldmove, very bold. The news sent

(01:01:28):
Ashe to a whole new level ofoutrage, but it was also a little
bit of a thrill. Ash hopedthat the DA and later a jury would
see motive here. Yeah, andjust like you were saying, he waved
around that contract before saying that itproved John had resorted to murder to avoid
a divorce where he would lose everythingjust so he could be with his mistress.

(01:01:52):
That seems like the case. Imean, that's a pretty serious motive.
It's definitely suspicious, that's for sure. Well, Ah decided to take
a new approach. He had histeam contact John and asked him to take
a polygraph test regarding his account ofJones's illness. At this point, John
had a whole new family and waseager to put the matter of Joan's mysterious

(01:02:14):
death behind him. John responded thathe didn't feel confident about the accuracy of
polygraph testing, but that he wouldbe willing to undergo questioning under the influence
of sodium pentathal in what is popularlyknown as a truth serum test. The
idea is that sodium pentathal, ageneral anesthetic given in the correct doses by

(01:02:35):
a trained anesthetist, can induce astate of relaxation so intense that it renders
a patient to become more truthful inthe responses to questioning and unable to fabricate
lies. Is that true, though, No, it's not. Care I
didn't think so. I mean,here's the thing. Even at this point

(01:02:58):
in history, statements made under theinfluence of sodium pentethal had already been struck
down by the Supreme Court as itadmissible in court, and the scientific value
of the whole procedure was already inquestion. So why John would feel more
confident about a sodium pentethal test ratherthan a polygraph test is definitely strange.

(01:03:20):
Yeah, And I think it's becauseeven if something does happen and he does
say something like it'll be inadmissible andhe'll have like a built in defense there.
They won't be able to use itin court, and yeah, that'll
be the end of it. That'strue. So maybe this was a way
of him buying time. So inearly June, John went back to Sharpstown
Hospital for the procedure and availed himselfto be questioned by DA McMaster. Under

(01:03:45):
the influence of the drug, Johntold Joan's sad story, how she started
feeling ill around Saturday night and spentmost of Sunday vomiting and having diarrhea.
He said that on Monday evening heasked her to go to the hospital,
but that Joan was adamant that shedid not want to go. He said
that he stayed with Joan all throughMonday night and into Tuesday morning, sleeping

(01:04:05):
in bed beside her. Let's pausehere to remember the state of Joan's body
on Tuesday morning when Effie found her, Joan was lying on top of piles
of dried feces and a filthy nightgown. And for us to believe that John
was there caring for Joan, wewould have to believe that not only did

(01:04:26):
he allow Joan to be in thatstate, but that he himself slept in
the feces covered bed. I don'tsee John doing them. No, it's
very hard to believe that John wasactually there that night. Yeah. Yeah,
Well, he denied giving Joan anythingto eat or drink that could have
caused her illness, and denied injectingher with anything other than the medication composine
intended to relieve her nausea. Finally, McMaster asked about Anne. John freely

(01:04:53):
admitted the affair, but said thathe'd intended to make a complete break with
Anne back in December when he hadreconciled with Joan. He said that he
felt sorry for Anne and had keptin touch only to make sure that she
and her boys were okay, andsomehow the affair had continued. He denied
that his relationship and his new marriagewith Anne had anything to do with Jones's

(01:05:14):
death. Somehow, huh, Ican see how. Somehow it continued,
You continued it, That's how.Yeah. Pretty much. Now, at
the end of it all, thetruth serrem test didn't really serve to satisfy
anyone. Basically, the whole thingcame down to arguing whether or not someone
can lie while under the influence ofsodium pentethal. Frustrated, McMaster decided just

(01:05:38):
to take the whole matter to agrand jury, and so they did in
the summer of nineteen sixty nine.This is of just a few months after
jon has died. But the grandjury voted not to indict John for murder.
The general feeling was that John's negligencemay have contributed to Jones's death,
but there wasn't a shred of evidencethat John was the one who made her

(01:05:59):
sick in the first place. Yeah, I could see how grand jury's hands
would be tied. Yeah. Well, ashe was angered by the decision,
but he shrugged it off, refocusinghis attention on the exhumation of Joan's body,
ashe knew that without John's permission,he would need to convince the district
attorney that an autopsy was necessary.To help, ashe offered to pay the

(01:06:24):
full cost of the exhumation himself andto hire the world's best forensic pathologists to
perform the examination. Ashe reached outto doctor Milton Helpern, the chief medical
Examiner for New York City. Overthe course of his illustrious career, doctor
Helpern performed over twenty thousand autopsies andsupervised sixty thousand more. If anyone could

(01:06:49):
figure out what killed Joan, itwas him. And famously, that's where
a lot of the world's best forensicpathologists have come from. New York City.
Yeah, there's so much crime thereor what's there's a lot of famous
forensic pathologists, like some of theones that were in the Rodney Reed case
worked in New York. Oh interesting, ashe offered to foot the entire bill

(01:07:12):
for doctor helper including travel expenses andwhatever his fees were, which I'm sure
for an expert of his caliber wasprobably a very large sum. And doctor
Helpern agreed, and so the matterwas taken to a second grand jury,
who reviewed all of the evidence andvoted to allow the exhumation of Jones's remains.

(01:07:33):
On August sixteenth, nineteen sixty nine, Joan's body was removed from its
resting place and taken to the BentabHospital for a second autopsy. A crowd
of doctors gathered to watch the esteemeddoctor Helpern work, but controversy erupted before
the exam could even begin. Whendoctor Helpern opened the casket and announced there

(01:07:55):
was mud found inside of it.It was clear this was not the first
time Jones's body had been pulled fromthe ground. What The doctor scrambled to
figure out why and contacted John.He calmly explained that just after her burial,
he realized that a ring of Jonesthat was sentimental to him had gone

(01:08:15):
missing, and he'd been afraid thatJoan had been accidentally buried with it.
He filed a permit, and Jones'sbody was exhumed just three days after being
buried. But I thought he wantedher to rest in peace. Huh?
John said that ultimately the ring hadn'tbeen in the casket after all, and
Joan was reburied immediately. John andJohn apparently hadn't found it important to share

(01:08:43):
this detail with anyone until now,even knowing that Joane's death was being investigated,
ashe was furious that for months,John had refused to approve the eximation,
claiming that he didn't want his wife'srest disturbed when he'd already done the
job himself. He thought it wasa clear sign that John had tampered with
Jones's body to destroy evidence of murder. Yeah, and hit it from everybody.

(01:09:06):
I mean, it's pretty weird.Why wouldn't you have mentioned that to
anyone? And why would you,like you said, why would you throw
such a fit about exuming her againwhen you've already done it yourself. Yeah,
with that question, answered doctor Helpernbegan his work, but when he
opened up the body, he noticedthat Jones's brain and heart were missing.

(01:09:27):
Doctor Morse, the hospital pathologist whoperformed her first autopsy, explained that Jones's
heart was still back at his lab, but luckily he had Joan's brain with
him. It was out in thetrunk of his car. What. Yeah,
he just rolls around with her brainin the car. Yeah, don't
worry. No, he ran outand got it and he brought it in
in an unlabeled plastic box and he'slike, here's the brain. Let's all

(01:09:50):
look at it. I'm not evenjoking. Oh wow. He said that
the brain tissue seemed inflamed, causesome of the doctors there to offer a
cause of death of meningitis. Thiswould be her third possible cause of death,
but others wondered aloud if they couldeven be sure if the brain doctor
Morse produced was Jones. Yeah,I mean it's unlabeled. Yeah, just

(01:10:14):
a trunk brain. Yeah that's notokay, don't do that. Please.
I hope when I die there's notjust a pathologist roaming around with my brain
or like one of my organs justin the glove box of their car.
Yeah. That is so weird,very strange. At the end of the
seven hour long autopsy, doctor Halpernreached no conclusions about Jones's death, and

(01:10:36):
he explained that he would need tocomplete further testing back at his lab.
It would take months before doctor Helpern'sanalysis was complete. Meanwhile, John's life
was falling apart. Caught in thewake of a murder investigation, his reputation
had plummeted, and his practice wasin serious danger. Nasty rumors were being

(01:10:59):
spread far and wied about John,most likely being spread by Ash and others
loyal to him, including that Johnhad been involved in another death, one
of his younger brother, Julian,who had died by suicide a few years
before, and his marriage to Annehad already collapsed amid mutual accusations of abuse
and violence. John claimed that Annewas physically abusive to him, even at

(01:11:24):
one point breaking his nose during anargument. He said that she was obsessed
with Joan and had torn the houseup to collect pictures and items of Jones
that she then torched in a fire. John desperately wanted out of the marriage,
but his lawyers counseled him to bepatient. They worried that a slighted
Anne Curth would do anything she couldto punish John. Once all the legal

(01:11:45):
matters were settled, then John wouldbe free to divorce Anne and carry on
with his life. He just neededto be patient. But John couldn't handle
it, and after only four monthsof marriage, John petitioned Anne for divorce,
and, just like his lawyers warned, Anne went straight to Ash Robinson.

(01:12:05):
The two once fierce enemies were nowunited in a packed to take down
John Hill. The timing was perfectfor once again, prosecutors agreed to send
the case to another grand jury,grand Jury number three, and Anne had
a wild story to tell that wassure to make the jury sit up and

(01:12:26):
listen. The third grand jury beganin February of nineteen seventy. Much of
the grand jury proceedings covered the sameground as the first two, until Anne
finally took the stand on the veryday after the divorce between her and John
was finalized. Yeah, the timingof this case, I know. Anne
described John as physically and verbally abusiveand said that she was terrified of him.

(01:12:51):
She said that just before he leftto be questioned at the sodium pentethal
test, she had walked in onhim giving himself an injection in the hip.
She said that John had studied upon the effects of sodium pentethal and
the injection was something he believed wouldcounteract the effects of the drug so he
could remain conscious and lie doing questioning. Oh that's sneaky. So this is

(01:13:13):
where we get the hint of whyhe might have selected sodium pentathal because maybe
he thought there was something he coulddo to counteract the test. Yeah,
like he knew how to synthesize aneutralizing compound or some kind of medication.
Yes, And it's very to beclear though, this is what Anne is
saying. Yeah, sure, she'sgoing to say anything to make him look

(01:13:33):
bad, Yes, but it's alsosomething that seems plausible with his background and
expertise and specialization and medical stuff.Yes. Absolutely, I mean, even
the explanation for why he would havechosen that test that kind of helps with
that. Yeah, it kind ofconnects some dots there, and it seems
believable, it seems plausible. Yeah, most damning. However, Anne told

(01:13:58):
the grand jury that John had admittedto her that he had indeed killed Joan,
and that he had even tried tomurder her on three different occasions.
Well, Anne is definitely an interestingwitness. I don't know if we can
trust everything that she's saying because shehas a reason to hate him right now,
the day after their divorce proceedings wentthrough. But some of the things

(01:14:21):
that she's providing to the grand juryare quite salacious and compelling in a way
that John may have had something todo with this. Yes, Anne is
a very controversial figure in this story, and we're going to keep hearing more
and more about her, and nextepisode especially, we'll learn more about what
Anne has to say about John andtheir relationship. With Anne's explosive testimony over,

(01:14:45):
it was time for doctor Helpern topresent his eagerly anticipated report. Doctor
Helpern said that ultimately he disagreed withall three causes of death that had been
previously suggested pancreatitis, hepatitis, andmeningiti. He agreed that Joan's death was
caused by some kind of acute infection, but said that the cause was indeterminable

(01:15:06):
the evidence of it now forever lostor destroyed. So all of the time
and money spent to exhume her higherthe leading medical examiner in the country,
and the months it took awaiting thisfinal report were all for nothing. Wow,
back to square one. Who yes, the second autopsy had provided few,
if any answers. However, doctorHelpern concluded his report by stating,

(01:15:29):
quote failure to provide medical attention athome and resultant delay in hospitalization for diagnosis
and effective therapy aggravated a situation whichproved fatal. Therefore, doctor Helpern's conclusions
were that even if the cause ofdeath was unknown, Jane's poor medical treatment
was a major factor in her death. Now, at this point, the

(01:15:51):
grand jury proceedings were starting to winddown, and there was worry among the
prosecutors that Anne's story was a bittoo outlandish for the jury to believe.
They were concerned that the first twogrand juries didn't bite on first degree murder
charges in the case. Joane's deathwas just too great a mystery, and
it was explainable by natural means,even if the greatest medical minds in the

(01:16:14):
world couldn't figure out what exactly thenatural cause was. Besides some rather dubious
stories about poisoned pastries and injections ofbacteria, there was no evidence that John
had intentionally made Joan ill. Butthere was one common thread that almost everyone
agreed on. Joan had died atleast in part because of John's negligence.

(01:16:35):
He had failed her as her husbandand as her doctor. Adia McMaster,
along with fellow prosecutor Ernie Ernst,mused about this. What if they could
charge John not for something he did, but for something he didn't do.
It was called murder biomission, adeath that occurs from the result of intentional

(01:16:56):
neglect and inaction. The charge wasunusual. In fact, murder by emission
had never been leveled at someone beforein the state of Texas. Prosecutors decided
that this was their best bet ongetting an indictment, and so they presented
the charge to the grand jury.This time, Ash got his wish.

(01:17:16):
The jury voted to indict John withmurder by emission on the grounds that he
voluntarily and with malice of forethought,killed Joan By failing to make timely provisions
for her hospitalization and medical treatment.That's interesting because I think there is some
evidence from witnesses and things that occurredin her medical treatment that you could prove

(01:17:38):
that. Yeah. Absolutely, Andthat's kind of what we've been saying this
whole time of like, well,I don't know if he murdered her or
not. It's hard to say,yeah, but we can definitely say he
did not do enough or anything tohelp her. Really. Yeah. Absolutely,
So it's such a big distinction inthe charges, but at the same
time, these are still first degreemurder charges, and it's also fundamental that

(01:18:01):
it's the first time it's ever beencharged in Texas. That's kind of an
interesting factoid you had for us.It was almost a full year until John's
murder trial finally began in February ofnineteen seventy one. John was obviously concerned,
but his worry was eased by anew woman in his life. Her

(01:18:21):
name was Connie Loesby. She wasa talented opera singer with a master's degree
in music who played the piano andthe harpsichord. The two met in December
of nineteen sixty nine. During aseparation with Anne, and it was said
that they were absolutely perfect for eachother. They do share a lot of
interests, it seems well. Yeah, by the time John's murder trial rolled

(01:18:44):
around, John and Connie were ina serious relationship and Connie was fully entrenched
with helping John beat his murder charge. And so John stood before the court
accused of killing his first wife,with his second wife set to testify against
him, and his new girlfriend athis side. And that is where we
will pick back up next week inthis strange, infamous tale. Oh boy,

(01:19:10):
wows a, you're gonna leave ushanging on this cliff. Yeah,
it is a cliff, But whereelse am I supposed to leave you?
There's so much more to tell youabout this story. It's unbelievable. Yeah,
and from what you've told me,there's there's so many more details that
you had to cut out of allof this that are interesting. But you
know, you really had to pickand choose because I think you started and
it was over twenty pages this script. Oh, it was beyond that.

(01:19:33):
It was unreal. This was definitelymy longest script I think I've ever had
for one episode. Yeah, anda lot of information as we said it
requires a part two, so makesure you come back and catch the follow
up in the conclusion in part twoof this crazy episode. Yeah, I
am very sad for Joan and herfamily. Just a really tragic, tragic

(01:19:57):
way to leave this world. Andit seems like her family went through a
lot of torment and went through alot of resources to try to use every
avenue possible to try and get justicein this case or find out just what
happened. Really, I want toknow what happened, and I want to
know what you found. Maybe wedon't ever find out what happens. I
don't know. I haven't heard theend of the episode yet. I have

(01:20:18):
to come back for part two.But in the meantime, would you like
some good news? Absolutely? Allright, let's get to that right after
this. All right, everybody,this is our good news segment, And

(01:20:47):
today's story comes to us from TodayNews at Today dot Com, a story
that was written by Chrissy Callahan justa month ago, and I also used
a story out of the Week dotCom that kind of went into more details
about the story from Catherine Garcia.Last month, a long awaited graduation took

(01:21:09):
place for many students at University ofTexas at San Antonio, and originally this
graduation was scheduled to take place lastfall, but due to COVID and a
new wave of a variant coming through, they decided to postpone the graduation.
It was pushed back to this January. So many students were super excited to

(01:21:30):
finally graduate and get their chance towalk across the stage, but no more
so than Renee ni Eira and MelanieSalazar. Reason being eighty eight year old
Renee would be finally graduating with hisdegree alongside his granddaughter Melanie. Wow.
Yeah, it's like a family affair, right. So back in twenty sixteen,

(01:21:50):
Renee and Melanie made the leap intothe college experience together at the same
time, first attending Texas Palo AltoCollege and then later moving on to UT
Essay together. Melanie told Today Newsquote, he was very passionate about urban
and economic development of the south sideof San Antonio in the nineteen sixties.

(01:22:13):
He did a lot of advocacy throughcivic engagement, and he participated in rallies
and marches and got involved in localgovernment. And just like in his younger
years, Renee was set on finishinghis degree in economics and civil development during
his lifetime. Melanie, on theother hand, took up her studies and
communications, and although they didn't haveany classes together, they would eat with

(01:22:36):
each other in the university hall cafeteriaand they studied together a lot. Yeah,
grandpon granddaughters studying together. I thinkit's adorable. She added, quote
it felt like a miracle that mygrandfather was able to celebrate with his family
at the graduation. I am gratefulto the University of Texas at San Antonio

(01:22:56):
for recognizing his work, and sothankful to have shared these moments together at
college and graduation with him. Heworked so hard despite having hearing loss,
sometimes not having a car and havingto take the public bus, and working
twice as hard to understand the everchanging and modernizing content of economics that has

(01:23:17):
changed so much since he first startedschool. Quote. Renee himself said that
even though he had had a goodcareer during his lifetime in banking, this
was a dream he never got tocomplete, and what better way to do
it than alongside your loving granddaughter.She actually wheeled him across the stage in
his wheelchair. Oh yeah, it'svery adorable. And there's also videos on

(01:23:41):
both of these stories if you wantto go watch those. They're a little
tear jerky and heartwarming, but they'rethey're amazing. And even though Renee is
now terminally ill after crossing the stagewith Melanie, his message to current and
former students of all ages was quoteYou're never too old to pursue your passions
in life. End quote. SoI think it's a really nice message,

(01:24:02):
like, never give up on yourdreams. It's never too late to go
back to college and finish your degree. I need to go back and finish
my masters, so I don't know, I'm gonna be way older than I
thought when I ever get the chanceto go back and do my masters.
So Renee's giving me hope. That'sright. What a nice story. Yeah,

(01:24:30):
all right, thanks for joining usback here in the after Show.
The After Show. You can findus on Twitter at ACNC podcast or on
Instagram at All Crime, No Cattle. You can find us on Facebook.
We have our Facebook group ACNC PosseDiscussion Group, and please do come join
us. Yeah, and if youwant to support the show, we also

(01:24:54):
have a Patreon page. It's atpatreon dot com, slash All Crime,
No Cattle and We have all kindsof rewards and tier levels to get nice
goodies, and one of those goodiesis getting your name shouted out on the
show when you support the show.So we have some patrons we need to
hit with some shout outs, andthose are Jacob Craig, Hannah, Jennifer
Cramp, Jennifer Bingham, Lynn Palmero, Kelly Elliott, Jessica Smith, Laura

(01:25:19):
Domi, Tower, Alma Ross,and Casey's Arian. All right, and
we also need to give a massiveshout out to all of our Texas Rangers.
They produce every episode of the showand really help us do what we
do, so thank you so muchto you all. That includes Angel Moody,
Serial Killer Sweets, Don Maloney,Gayle Parker, Jamie Gray, Jennifer

(01:25:43):
and Houston, Jessica Layfield, LeahDardy, Lisa Layton, Mickey Sweet,
and Sarah Nicholson. Thank y'all somuch. We really appreciate it. And
that's all for me. Do youhave anything else, Saron, I have
nothing, but we will see younext week for part two. All right,
see you on the flip side,y'all. Until next time, Crime

(01:26:06):
is Bigger in Texas Audios. Goodbye,

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Ep 94: Murder by Omission, Part I

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