Anjette Lyles: The Black Widow of Macon | True Crime Podcast

Poison, power, and deception — dive into the chilling story of Anjette Lyles, a Southern restaurateur turned cold-blooded killer. Known as The Black Widow of Macon, Lyles shocked 1950s Georgia with a string of mysterious deaths surrounding her family. Was she a misunderstood woman… or a calculating murderer hiding behind charm and Southern hospitality?

In this episode of Bloodstained Backstories, we unravel the twisted tale of a woman who used arsenic as her weapon and manipulation as her tool. With each suspicious death, Anjette drew closer to a legacy of lethal ambition.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to bloodstained backstories, where southern charm fades fast and
darkness creeps in quietly. I'm your host, Jace, and today's
tale takes us to the sultry heart of Georgia in
the nineteen fifties, a place where Sweet Tay would serve
with a smile and sometimes with just a touch of arsenic.

(00:21):
She was beautiful, poised, charming, and a dobting mother, a
grieving widow twice over. But behind her radiant smile and
polished manners was a woman of a deadly secret. How
do ajet Lyles go from a beloved cafe owner to
one of the most cold blooded killers in Georgie's history?

(00:44):
What drives someone to poison the people closest to them
and what does it take to hide in plain sight?
Well buggle up, because this isn't just the story of murder.
It's a tale of manipulation, madness and murder served with
a slice of pecan pie. This is the story of

(01:05):
Anne jet Lyles, the black widow of a macron. Some
people would rather have money than the love of people
around them, and this story we will tell you about
a woman and her want for love and money, which
caused her to kill not one but full of family
members in order to get money. And Jet Donovan, who

(01:27):
later became in Jetlyles when she married her first husband,
was born in August twenty third, nineteen twenty five, in Macon, Georgia.
She married Ben F. Lyles Junior in October of nineteen
forty seven. Ben owned a restaurant in downtown mccon named
Lyles's Restaurant. It had been a family business for thirteen

(01:49):
years and they had two daughters together, Marsha in nineteen
forty eight and Clara in nineteen fifty one. Ben was
a heavy drinker and in Jet, with little help from
her mother in law Julia, ran the restaurant very suddenly.
In May nineteen fifty one, Ben sold the restaurant without
telling any one, for two thousand, five hundred dollars, and

(02:12):
Jet said nothing about him selling the restaurant. By December,
Ben started bleeding from his nose at his mouth, and
then he became delirious and started having convulsions. The doctors
diagnosed Ben with encephalitis. Ben would die on January twenty fifth,
nineteen fifty two. Did he know he was going to

(02:35):
get sick and die? Is this why he sold the
restaurant abruptly? Leads one to wander and Jet was now
widowed with two small children who would move into her
parents house. She worked her fingers to the bone to
buy back that restaurant, and in nineteen fifty five she
was able to do just that. She brought back the

(02:58):
restaurant for twelve thousand dollars and reopened it under her
name and Jets. People would come into place and tell
in Jet how much they admired her tenacity. She replied
with load, I had to do everything myself. I only
thank god my drunkard husband had some kind of insurance.

(03:19):
The restaurant served good old fashioned Southern food. Her most
popular dish was baconball serve with lemonade. She would tell
anyone the recipes you wanted to know how to make it.
And Jet started dating Joel Neil Gilbert in nineteen fifty five,
the same year she opened up her restaurant. Joe was

(03:40):
a pilot for Capital Airways and a military veteran. They
fell in love quickly. On July twenty fourth, just months
after they met, they woke up a Justice of the
Peace and got married in New Mexico, it was heaven
for about six months, and in September nineteen fifty five,

(04:01):
Joe would go to the hospital for a minor hand
surgery where he started to develop a rash, and then
he couldn't eat, and finally his arms and legs would
swell up. Poor Joe was in such discomfort that he
would tell people, please just let me die. Joe died
on December second, nineteen fifty five, and the Jet did

(04:24):
not grieve when he passed away. She was a very strong,
solid woman and once again was heard saying things like
thank God Joe had a little bit of insurance money.
With the money she inherited from Joe's death, she bought
herself a new car in a house. It's kind of
a coincidence. Don't you think that two of her husbands
have now died in a very suspicious way? And her

(04:45):
response is thank God for the insurance money. Hm, that
seems a little suspicious to me. Nonholy. With the insurance
money she received from Joe's policy, and Jet also started
the data pilot from care Apple Areas, which sparked controversy
around town as it happened very quickly after Joe's passing.

(05:05):
Shortly after buying a new house. Julia, in Jet's former
mother in law, wanted to be closer to her grandchildren,
and she would move into the new house with a
Jet and her kids, and Jet would soon become a
pesta her about her will. Julie would mumble that in
Jet was a witch who killed both of her husbands,
and in Jet never deny those allegations, but would laugh

(05:28):
and slap her thighs. I wonder if the police made
any connections, and began to wonder that same sort of
thing that her mother in law did. As her restaurant's
popularity continue to grow, and Jet would say that her
experiments were the supernatural were responsible for her success. People
as far as Atlanta would come to visit her restaurant,

(05:50):
and in August of nineteen fifty seven, Julia started complaining
of chills and a fever. Soon after the chills and
the fiva, she started turning purple in her arms and
legs and began to swell. She was put in the
hospital passed the way in September, less than a month
after her symptoms started, and Jet was respectful, but it

(06:12):
would make sure to mention, do you know that sweet woman,
including me in her will, and now we have a
thad suspicious death around in. Jet kind of wondered if
she was trying to find ways to poison those around her.
People started saying that the tragedy seemed to follow the
sweet hostess. Marsha, her oldest daughter, developed a hacking and

(06:36):
coughing fever with one hundred and six degrees, and Jet
was heard saying that soon she will be joined her
father and grandmother. Marsha did in fact join her father
and grandmother on April of nineteen fifty eight. She was
only nine years old at the time of her death,
and and Jet told the nurse's the hospital, I am

(06:57):
glad my little girl was in showed this is now
three deaths where she's collecting insurance money. Hugh Bunder. Now
Doeso's insurance companies begin to put those pieces together and
start making connections about the multiple payments they are making
to the same person in several short spans of years,
One does have to wonder people again and began suspicious

(07:19):
about her mother in law. Ben's mother died, then her
daughter died, then Marsha died. A rational employee had seen
enough and sent an anonymous letter to the coroner, and
in the letter she would suggest to the corner look
for a lot of poison in Jest's house, a poison
that could have something to do with all these misfortunes.
Upon getting the letter, of the corner quickly tested Marsha's

(07:41):
body and found massive amounts of alsenic. Now, why in
the wall that takes so many deaths for someone to
become suspicious and finally begin to look into this Everyone
in town was done. When in Jet was indicted from
Marsha's murder in the nineteen fifty eight, there was investigation
which revealed that all four victims, her husband, second husband,

(08:05):
mother in law, and daughters all died from arsenic poisoning.
It was a termine that arsenic had been given to
them over a period of time in small doses, and
the prosecution was allowed to induce evidence that included all
three debts, and Jet was invested on May sixth, nineteen
fifty eight, for four counts of murder. The reason she

(08:27):
murdered the four people that she loved the most was
for financial gain. When the investigators searched in jets home,
they found voodoo paraphernalia, candles and powders. They also found
bottles of tero a killer, the pesticide that contained arsenic,
the same chemical found in the bodies of each of
the dead family members. Restaurant employees told stories in open

(08:51):
court that they had heard and Jet screaming at Marsia
saying I'll kill you one day. Marcia. Employees from the
hospital had their own stories to tell too, and Jet
would bring her food to her victims while they were
in the hospital, but before she would give it to them,
she would go to the bathroom for a little while
and take the food with her and her purse. That

(09:14):
must be how she was introducing arsenic into their food
into their system, and the bathroom behind closed doors. The
will of Julia's, where the sweet lady included a Jet in,
was found to be a forgery. A handwriting expert concluded
that the signature was not Julius but was a forgery.

(09:35):
Two weeks before Marsha died, doctors were telling and Jet
that her daughter might make a recovery, and Jet laughed
and ordered a coffin instead of sitting and praying to
the Lord and Savior that her daughter would live. After
hearing all that testimony, the town turned against a Jet
and they would hold signs outside the courtroom that say
burn the witch. With the evidence overwhelming, and Jet was convicted,

(10:00):
the trial would only last for one week. A jury
found her guilty in less than one hour. The judge
said it in such a death and an electric trip
in less than three minutes. The city's fathers agreed that
Macan was not going to go down the history of
the first United States town to execute a cacusum. They
Caucasian woman for murder, and Jet was found criminally insane instead,

(10:25):
in nineteen fifty eight, committed to the rest of her life.
In a statemental hospital in Midigolville, Georgia included in her
criminally in Saint verdict. She was warned that if she
ever did recover, she would be put to death, and
Jet would amuse other patients by telling fortunes and explaining
in full depth the fine appoint as a witchcraft. She

(10:47):
would tell her closest friends at the facility, they think
I'm crazy as hell, and I'm gonna let them keep
thinking about it, because if they don't, they're gonna fry
my ass. Ironically, and Jet worked in the kitchen during
her stay at the mental hospital. H that's not the
job I would have her doing. For sure, Who in

(11:08):
their right mind would put her in a kitchen where
she could be prepping food and cooking things and also
slipping people off the neck? Not a great idea, And
yet spent twenty years in the Statementtal Hospital at Midigoville
until she was there on December fourth, nineteen eighty seven,

(11:28):
when she would die at the age of fifty to
u of a heart attack. Serves her right. She charmed
a town, built a life, and served up a death
with a smile. But in the end, even Southern Grace
couldn't cover up the trailer of bodies and jet Lyle
left behind. Was it green delusion or something dark or

(11:48):
shimmering between beneath the surface all along? Thank you for
joining us on this twisted journey through the poisoned paths
of mccona. If you enjoy today's episode of Bloodstained Backstories,
don't forget to like, follow, and leave a comment. It
helps more true crime fans like you find us and

(12:10):
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and TikTok. Just search for blood Stained Backstories Until next time,
stay curious and stay cautious, because you never know what's
lurking behind the most charming smile.