October 25, 2024 • 12 mins
An Indiana man was allegedly poisoned by his wife and stepdaughter for around two months before dying on the duo’s fifth try.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the deep dive, everyone.
(00:02):
Truth can be stranger than fiction,
and we're gonna prove that to you today.
That's right.
Sometimes the real world throws us curve balls
that even the most imaginative writers couldn't dream up.
Today we're diving into a case from a small town.
A place where life moves a little slower,
where neighbors know neighbors,
and secrets don't stay buried for long.
Freetown, Indiana, to be precise.
(00:24):
And our story centers around Harold Allen.
Everyone called him Peanut, so we will too.
Peanut, a hardworking man who loved two things,
his motorcycles and his bluegrass music.
He lives with his wife, Marsha,
and her adult daughter, Ashley Jones.
On the surface, a typical family.
Yes, a seemingly ordinary life.
But that life was cut short on December 20th, 2022,
(00:45):
when Peanut, only 52 years old, passed away suddenly.
The initial thought was natural causes,
possibly related to his diabetes.
No one batted an eye.
It seemed like a straightforward, albeit tragic event.
But then a burglary nine months later
throws a wrench into everything.
September 19th, 2023, Marsha reports a break-in at her home.
Police arrive, and they apprehend two suspects
(01:06):
pretty quickly.
Stephen White and Nathaniel Napier.
One of them, Stephen White,
drops a bombshell that changes everything.
He tells the police that Marsha and Ashley,
Peanut's wife and stepdaughter,
were responsible for his death.
Poison, he says.
Poison, an accusation that turned
a simple burglary investigation
into something far more sinister.
So what did the police do next?
(01:28):
With an accusation like that, where do you even begin?
They start digging.
Phone records, internet searches,
and what they uncover is a string of text messages
between Marsha and Ashley.
Going back to November, 2022,
just a few weeks before Peanut's death.
Right, and these messages,
they weren't your typical mother-daughter chatter.
They were talking about poisoning Peanut,
(01:49):
specifically using something called foxglove seeds.
Foxglove, those pretty bell-shaped flowers
you see in gardens.
Pretty, yes, but deadly.
They contain a toxin that can be incredibly dangerous,
even fatal in the wrong dose.
And it gets worse.
Marsha's internet history shows searches like,
how much foxglove is fatal,
and how long does it take to kill someone with foxglove?
(02:11):
Not exactly the kind of searches you make
out of idle curiosity.
So this wasn't just talk.
They were actively researching how to use this poison.
And all of this is happening right around the time
Peanut starts experiencing those strange health problems.
You're right.
Late November, 2022, Peanut's hospitalized.
Not once, but twice.
And his symptoms.
Textbook foxglove poisoning,
(02:32):
numbness, stomach cramps, vomiting,
diarrhea, fever, chills, the whole nine yards.
It's just awful to think about him going through all that,
completely unaware of what was allegedly happening
behind his back.
It's a betrayal of trust on an unimaginable level.
And what's even more disturbing is that
those alleged poisoning attempts,
they didn't stop Marsha and Ashley.
(02:53):
If anything, it seems like they just doubled down.
There's this one text exchange that's particularly chilling.
Marsha writes,
I'm so irritated, can't sleep peacefully.
I need this to be over.
I wish it would just reach its climax and be done.
LOL.
That LOL at the end sends chills down my spine,
talking about taking a life like it's some minor inconvenience.
Ashley simply replied,
(03:13):
agree.
No emotion, no hesitation.
It's like they were completely detached from the gravity
of what they were allegedly planning.
And when the Fox Club didn't work as quickly as they hoped,
they started exploring other options.
Water hemlock, one of the deadliest plants in North America.
Then, pong pong seeds.
Pong pong seeds.
(03:34):
What even are those?
They come from a tree nicknamed the suicide tree.
That should tell you all you need to know.
The toxin in those seeds is incredibly potent.
And they just order them online.
Just like that.
It seems so.
Another example of how easily accessible
these dangerous substances can be these days.
But it sounds like they were being careful,
at least in terms of their own safety.
(03:55):
There's a text where Ashley is explaining to Marcia
how to handle the seeds without poisoning herself.
Clearly, they knew the risks.
All the while, Peanut's going about his life
completely oblivious to the danger lurking in his own home.
It really makes you question how well we can ever truly know
the people closest to us.
And then, in December 2022, a package arrives.
(04:15):
This is where things take an even darker turn.
Ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in antifreeze.
Highly toxic when ingested.
It seems like they were moving away from plant-based poisons
to something more readily available,
something more lethal.
And their text messages from that time, they're disturbing.
When the package arrives, Ashley texts Marcia,
the mail is here, followed by a smiley face emoji.
(04:39):
Marcia replies with a heart emoji
and later mentions Peanut wanting root beer floats.
It's almost surreal.
They're celebrating the arrival of a substance
they allegedly plan to use to end someone's life.
So the morning of December 20th, 2022,
Marcia texts Ashley saying Peanut is acting drunk and loopy.
Hours later, a 911 call is placed, but it's too late.
(05:01):
Peanut's gone.
And because of his diabetes, no one suspects foul play.
It seems they almost got away with it,
if it hadn't been for that burglary nine months later.
This entire twisted plot might have remained hidden forever.
It's a sobering thought.
So we're left with a bombshell,
a death initially ruled natural now
under a cloud of suspicion, all thanks to a random burglary.
Talk about a domino effect.
(05:21):
One thing leads to another, and suddenly,
you've got a potential murder investigation on your hands.
Right.
It really underscores how seemingly insignificant events
can unravel a whole web of secrets.
So the police now have these text messages,
internet searches, and Stephen White's statement.
Where do they go from there?
What's the next step in piecing this puzzle together?
(05:42):
They need more evidence, hard proof
to back up what they're seeing in the digital world.
So they obtain a search warrant for Marcia's home.
Looking for any physical evidence
that might corroborate what they found online.
Makes sense.
October 16th, 2023.
The warrant's executed, and they seize
a number of electronic devices, computers, phones, tablets.
(06:02):
A potential gold mine of information.
Absolutely.
But just as things are heating up,
the investigation takes another unexpected turn.
Oh no, what happened?
Marcia's found dead in her home.
Dead, how?
A parent suicide.
Though the specific details surrounding her death
were never officially released.
Wow, that's a dramatic turn of events, to say the least.
(06:22):
Did she leave a note?
Any explanation?
Nothing.
It seems she took any secrets she
might have had to the grave.
Leaving investigators with more questions than answers.
Did she feel the walls closing in?
Was she trying to protect Ashley by taking the blame?
We may never know.
You're right.
It adds another layer of intrigue
to an already complicated case.
(06:43):
But what about Ashley?
Where does she fit into all of this now?
Right.
She was arrested a couple of weeks before Marcia's death,
but on charges related to the burglary,
not the alleged poisoning.
Correct.
But that would soon change.
October 18, 2023.
Ashley's hit with a slew of new charges.
Let's hear them.
One count of murder, one count of felony murder,
(07:06):
one count of conspiracy to commit murder,
and one count of product tampering resulting
in serious bodily injury.
Wow, so the authorities are clearly not
buying the whole innocent bystander act.
Not at all.
Remember those text messages between Ashley and Steven
White, the guy who initially tipped off the police?
Yeah, the ones where Ashley is bragging about orchestrating
Peanuts murder.
(07:26):
Right.
Those messages paint a very different picture
than the one Ashley was trying to portray.
She's not some innocent pawn in her mother's scheme.
She's actively involved, even taking credit
for planning the whole thing.
Exactly.
And she's not exactly subtle about it either.
In one message, she writes, ha ha, yeah, she
ain't going to be able to do it.
She wouldn't have even succeeded with this last thing
(07:46):
without me.
I planned it all.
That's chilling.
No remorse, no hesitation, just cold, calculated,
daft pride, almost.
It's a level of arrogance that's hard to fathom.
But what was her motive?
Why go to such lengths?
Well, the text messages seem to indicate that money
was a driving factor.
Greed.
(08:06):
Greed.
Ashley complains to Steven White
that Marcia isn't sharing the money she allegedly
got from Peanut's death.
This is just getting darker and darker.
What did she say specifically?
She couldn't even get into a dead man's phone
without me to get all of his retirements and savings
he had hidden.
Hell, she got $4,500 from his PayPal account
because I showed her how to scam it as him
before they find he's gone.
(08:26):
She's fake AF.
She didn't get me out of that.
It seems they were willing to take a life for money,
a stark reminder of how greed can twist even
the closest of bonds.
You said it.
And then there's the matter of Ashley's ex-husband.
Vice him.
Died in 2019, shortly after receiving an inheritance.
His uncle always suspected foul play,
(08:47):
but an autopsy was never performed.
Right.
It's a detail that adds another layer of intrigue
to this already complex case.
It makes you wonder, is there a pattern here?
Were the police looking into this connection as well?
Absolutely.
And the investigation took another turn
in August of this year when additional charges were
brought against Ashley.
More charges on top of the one she's already facing.
(09:08):
Yes.
Two counts of attempted murder.
Attempted murder.
Meaning there were other times they
tried to poison peanut before that final fatal dose.
That's right.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Department
uncovered evidence suggesting that there
were at least two other attempts to poison
peanut, both unsuccessful.
This is just mind blowing.
Every time we think we've reached
the bottom of this rabbit hole, it just keeps going deeper.
(09:31):
So what's next for Ashley?
What does the future hold?
As it stands, prosecutors are seeking a life sentence,
arguing that her actions were calculated and motivated
by greed.
Makes sense.
With the evidence they've gathered,
it's hard to imagine any other outcome.
Her trial is set for January 2025.
It's sure to be a media frenzy.
(09:51):
I can only imagine.
Will she maintain her innocence?
Or will she crack under pressure?
And what about the lingering questions surrounding
Tyson's death?
Will those ever be answered?
So many questions.
But for now, we wait.
We wait for justice for peanut.
And we wait for the truth to come out,
no matter how unsettling it may be.
It's hard to wrap your head around it, really.
(10:12):
You think you know someone, then bam, this.
Right.
It just goes to show you never truly know what's
going on behind closed doors.
Peanut loved his family, his motorcycles, his music.
And to think the very people he trusted most
were allegedly plotting against him.
It's a betrayal that's hard to even comprehend.
And for what?
Money.
That seems to be the common thread here.
(10:34):
The alleged motive behind all of this.
Greed is a powerful motivator.
It can drive people to do unthinkable things.
And this case really shines a light
on the dangers of easily accessible poisons, too.
Those ponpon seeds just a few clicks away.
It's frightening.
It's a reminder that we need to be aware of the risks.
Even in seemingly harmless places like the internet,
(10:54):
there needs to be more awareness, stricter regulations,
something.
It makes you wonder how many other cases are out there.
How many natural deaths might actually be
something far more sinister.
It's a chilling thought.
It really is.
And it's why investigations like this are so important.
They remind us to be vigilant, to question assumptions,
(11:15):
and to never overlook the details.
Because sometimes the smallest detail
like that random burglary can be the key to unlocking
a whole web of secrets.
You got it.
And for Ashley, the genie's not over yet.
She's still awaiting trial, facing a potential life sentence.
And those lingering questions about her ex-husband's death,
those haven't gone away.
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
(11:37):
Will she maintain her innocence?
Will new evidence come to light?
We'll have to wait and see.
But one thing's for sure, this case is left to mark.
It's a stark reminder of the darkness
that can lurk beneath the surface
of seemingly ordinary lives.
Absolutely.
Peanut story is a tragic one.
But it's also a reminder to cherish our loved ones,
to be mindful of the choices we make,
(11:58):
and to always, always seek the truth.
Well said.
Thanks for joining us on this deep dive, everyone.
Until next time.
Welcome to the deep dive, everyone.
(00:02):
Truth can be stranger than fiction,
and we're gonna prove that to you today.
That's right.
Sometimes the real world throws us curve balls
that even the most imaginative writers couldn't dream up.
Today we're diving into a case from a small town.
A place where life moves a little slower,
where neighbors know neighbors,
and secrets don't stay buried for long.
Freetown, Indiana, to be precise.
(00:24):
And our story centers around Harold Allen.
Everyone called him Peanut, so we will too.
Peanut, a hardworking man who loved two things,
his motorcycles and his bluegrass music.
He lives with his wife, Marsha,
and her adult daughter, Ashley Jones.
On the surface, a typical family.
Yes, a seemingly ordinary life.
But that life was cut short on December 20th, 2022,
(00:45):
when Peanut, only 52 years old, passed away suddenly.
The initial thought was natural causes,
possibly related to his diabetes.
No one batted an eye.
It seemed like a straightforward, albeit tragic event.
But then a burglary nine months later
throws a wrench into everything.
September 19th, 2023, Marsha reports a break-in at her home.
Police arrive, and they apprehend two suspects
(01:06):
pretty quickly.
Stephen White and Nathaniel Napier.
One of them, Stephen White,
drops a bombshell that changes everything.
He tells the police that Marsha and Ashley,
Peanut's wife and stepdaughter,
were responsible for his death.
Poison, he says.
Poison, an accusation that turned
a simple burglary investigation
into something far more sinister.
So what did the police do next?
(01:28):
With an accusation like that, where do you even begin?
They start digging.
Phone records, internet searches,
and what they uncover is a string of text messages
between Marsha and Ashley.
Going back to November, 2022,
just a few weeks before Peanut's death.
Right, and these messages,
they weren't your typical mother-daughter chatter.
They were talking about poisoning Peanut,
(01:49):
specifically using something called foxglove seeds.
Foxglove, those pretty bell-shaped flowers
you see in gardens.
Pretty, yes, but deadly.
They contain a toxin that can be incredibly dangerous,
even fatal in the wrong dose.
And it gets worse.
Marsha's internet history shows searches like,
how much foxglove is fatal,
and how long does it take to kill someone with foxglove?
(02:11):
Not exactly the kind of searches you make
out of idle curiosity.
So this wasn't just talk.
They were actively researching how to use this poison.
And all of this is happening right around the time
Peanut starts experiencing those strange health problems.
You're right.
Late November, 2022, Peanut's hospitalized.
Not once, but twice.
And his symptoms.
Textbook foxglove poisoning,
(02:32):
numbness, stomach cramps, vomiting,
diarrhea, fever, chills, the whole nine yards.
It's just awful to think about him going through all that,
completely unaware of what was allegedly happening
behind his back.
It's a betrayal of trust on an unimaginable level.
And what's even more disturbing is that
those alleged poisoning attempts,
they didn't stop Marsha and Ashley.
(02:53):
If anything, it seems like they just doubled down.
There's this one text exchange that's particularly chilling.
Marsha writes,
I'm so irritated, can't sleep peacefully.
I need this to be over.
I wish it would just reach its climax and be done.
LOL.
That LOL at the end sends chills down my spine,
talking about taking a life like it's some minor inconvenience.
Ashley simply replied,
(03:13):
agree.
No emotion, no hesitation.
It's like they were completely detached from the gravity
of what they were allegedly planning.
And when the Fox Club didn't work as quickly as they hoped,
they started exploring other options.
Water hemlock, one of the deadliest plants in North America.
Then, pong pong seeds.
Pong pong seeds.
(03:34):
What even are those?
They come from a tree nicknamed the suicide tree.
That should tell you all you need to know.
The toxin in those seeds is incredibly potent.
And they just order them online.
Just like that.
It seems so.
Another example of how easily accessible
these dangerous substances can be these days.
But it sounds like they were being careful,
at least in terms of their own safety.
(03:55):
There's a text where Ashley is explaining to Marcia
how to handle the seeds without poisoning herself.
Clearly, they knew the risks.
All the while, Peanut's going about his life
completely oblivious to the danger lurking in his own home.
It really makes you question how well we can ever truly know
the people closest to us.
And then, in December 2022, a package arrives.
(04:15):
This is where things take an even darker turn.
Ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in antifreeze.
Highly toxic when ingested.
It seems like they were moving away from plant-based poisons
to something more readily available,
something more lethal.
And their text messages from that time, they're disturbing.
When the package arrives, Ashley texts Marcia,
the mail is here, followed by a smiley face emoji.
(04:39):
Marcia replies with a heart emoji
and later mentions Peanut wanting root beer floats.
It's almost surreal.
They're celebrating the arrival of a substance
they allegedly plan to use to end someone's life.
So the morning of December 20th, 2022,
Marcia texts Ashley saying Peanut is acting drunk and loopy.
Hours later, a 911 call is placed, but it's too late.
(05:01):
Peanut's gone.
And because of his diabetes, no one suspects foul play.
It seems they almost got away with it,
if it hadn't been for that burglary nine months later.
This entire twisted plot might have remained hidden forever.
It's a sobering thought.
So we're left with a bombshell,
a death initially ruled natural now
under a cloud of suspicion, all thanks to a random burglary.
Talk about a domino effect.
(05:21):
One thing leads to another, and suddenly,
you've got a potential murder investigation on your hands.
Right.
It really underscores how seemingly insignificant events
can unravel a whole web of secrets.
So the police now have these text messages,
internet searches, and Stephen White's statement.
Where do they go from there?
What's the next step in piecing this puzzle together?
(05:42):
They need more evidence, hard proof
to back up what they're seeing in the digital world.
So they obtain a search warrant for Marcia's home.
Looking for any physical evidence
that might corroborate what they found online.
Makes sense.
October 16th, 2023.
The warrant's executed, and they seize
a number of electronic devices, computers, phones, tablets.
(06:02):
A potential gold mine of information.
Absolutely.
But just as things are heating up,
the investigation takes another unexpected turn.
Oh no, what happened?
Marcia's found dead in her home.
Dead, how?
A parent suicide.
Though the specific details surrounding her death
were never officially released.
Wow, that's a dramatic turn of events, to say the least.
(06:22):
Did she leave a note?
Any explanation?
Nothing.
It seems she took any secrets she
might have had to the grave.
Leaving investigators with more questions than answers.
Did she feel the walls closing in?
Was she trying to protect Ashley by taking the blame?
We may never know.
You're right.
It adds another layer of intrigue
to an already complicated case.
(06:43):
But what about Ashley?
Where does she fit into all of this now?
Right.
She was arrested a couple of weeks before Marcia's death,
but on charges related to the burglary,
not the alleged poisoning.
Correct.
But that would soon change.
October 18, 2023.
Ashley's hit with a slew of new charges.
Let's hear them.
One count of murder, one count of felony murder,
(07:06):
one count of conspiracy to commit murder,
and one count of product tampering resulting
in serious bodily injury.
Wow, so the authorities are clearly not
buying the whole innocent bystander act.
Not at all.
Remember those text messages between Ashley and Steven
White, the guy who initially tipped off the police?
Yeah, the ones where Ashley is bragging about orchestrating
Peanuts murder.
(07:26):
Right.
Those messages paint a very different picture
than the one Ashley was trying to portray.
She's not some innocent pawn in her mother's scheme.
She's actively involved, even taking credit
for planning the whole thing.
Exactly.
And she's not exactly subtle about it either.
In one message, she writes, ha ha, yeah, she
ain't going to be able to do it.
She wouldn't have even succeeded with this last thing
(07:46):
without me.
I planned it all.
That's chilling.
No remorse, no hesitation, just cold, calculated,
daft pride, almost.
It's a level of arrogance that's hard to fathom.
But what was her motive?
Why go to such lengths?
Well, the text messages seem to indicate that money
was a driving factor.
Greed.
(08:06):
Greed.
Ashley complains to Steven White
that Marcia isn't sharing the money she allegedly
got from Peanut's death.
This is just getting darker and darker.
What did she say specifically?
She couldn't even get into a dead man's phone
without me to get all of his retirements and savings
he had hidden.
Hell, she got $4,500 from his PayPal account
because I showed her how to scam it as him
before they find he's gone.
(08:26):
She's fake AF.
She didn't get me out of that.
It seems they were willing to take a life for money,
a stark reminder of how greed can twist even
the closest of bonds.
You said it.
And then there's the matter of Ashley's ex-husband.
Vice him.
Died in 2019, shortly after receiving an inheritance.
His uncle always suspected foul play,
(08:47):
but an autopsy was never performed.
Right.
It's a detail that adds another layer of intrigue
to this already complex case.
It makes you wonder, is there a pattern here?
Were the police looking into this connection as well?
Absolutely.
And the investigation took another turn
in August of this year when additional charges were
brought against Ashley.
More charges on top of the one she's already facing.
(09:08):
Yes.
Two counts of attempted murder.
Attempted murder.
Meaning there were other times they
tried to poison peanut before that final fatal dose.
That's right.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Department
uncovered evidence suggesting that there
were at least two other attempts to poison
peanut, both unsuccessful.
This is just mind blowing.
Every time we think we've reached
the bottom of this rabbit hole, it just keeps going deeper.
(09:31):
So what's next for Ashley?
What does the future hold?
As it stands, prosecutors are seeking a life sentence,
arguing that her actions were calculated and motivated
by greed.
Makes sense.
With the evidence they've gathered,
it's hard to imagine any other outcome.
Her trial is set for January 2025.
It's sure to be a media frenzy.
(09:51):
I can only imagine.
Will she maintain her innocence?
Or will she crack under pressure?
And what about the lingering questions surrounding
Tyson's death?
Will those ever be answered?
So many questions.
But for now, we wait.
We wait for justice for peanut.
And we wait for the truth to come out,
no matter how unsettling it may be.
It's hard to wrap your head around it, really.
(10:12):
You think you know someone, then bam, this.
Right.
It just goes to show you never truly know what's
going on behind closed doors.
Peanut loved his family, his motorcycles, his music.
And to think the very people he trusted most
were allegedly plotting against him.
It's a betrayal that's hard to even comprehend.
And for what?
Money.
That seems to be the common thread here.
(10:34):
The alleged motive behind all of this.
Greed is a powerful motivator.
It can drive people to do unthinkable things.
And this case really shines a light
on the dangers of easily accessible poisons, too.
Those ponpon seeds just a few clicks away.
It's frightening.
It's a reminder that we need to be aware of the risks.
Even in seemingly harmless places like the internet,
(10:54):
there needs to be more awareness, stricter regulations,
something.
It makes you wonder how many other cases are out there.
How many natural deaths might actually be
something far more sinister.
It's a chilling thought.
It really is.
And it's why investigations like this are so important.
They remind us to be vigilant, to question assumptions,
(11:15):
and to never overlook the details.
Because sometimes the smallest detail
like that random burglary can be the key to unlocking
a whole web of secrets.
You got it.
And for Ashley, the genie's not over yet.
She's still awaiting trial, facing a potential life sentence.
And those lingering questions about her ex-husband's death,
those haven't gone away.
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
(11:37):
Will she maintain her innocence?
Will new evidence come to light?
We'll have to wait and see.
But one thing's for sure, this case is left to mark.
It's a stark reminder of the darkness
that can lurk beneath the surface
of seemingly ordinary lives.
Absolutely.
Peanut story is a tragic one.
But it's also a reminder to cherish our loved ones,
to be mindful of the choices we make,
(11:58):
and to always, always seek the truth.
Well said.
Thanks for joining us on this deep dive, everyone.
Until next time.
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