transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:01] Hi Crime Junkies, it's Brit. One of the things I love the most about this community is how much we care about telling the right stories in the right way. That's exactly what Dark Down East is all about. Investigative journalist Kylie Lowe digs into cold cases and missing persons from New England, working closely with families and communities to advocate for the truth. If you care about justice the way we do, this podcast belongs in your queue. Listen to Dark Down East now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2:
[00:31] Hi, Crime Junkies, I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

Speaker 1:
[00:33] And I'm Brit.

Speaker 2:
[00:34] Last episode, I walked you through the first five months following the death of Mary Yoder. 60-year-old Mary was happy, healthy and beloved by her friends, family and patients near Utica in central New York, where she and her husband Bill were chiropractors with their own practice. But out of nowhere, one Monday afternoon in July 2015, Mary became violently ill. Her son had been sick with the same symptoms a few months before, and it took him a while to heal, but he had. So initially, she and her husband thought that this was the same thing, some kind of stomach bug. But in less than 48 hours, Mary was dead. And when toxicology results came back, they revealed something no one knew while she was alive. Mary had lethal levels of a drug called Colchicine in her system, a gout medication that she had no reason to be taking. As it became clear that Mary was poisoned, suspicion fell on her husband Bill, who had started a relationship with one of Mary's own sisters just two months after his wife's death. But just as detectives were getting started, an anonymous letter arrived at their office, pointing the finger at someone else entirely. The tipster claimed that Bill and Mary's 25-year-old son, Adam, had killed her, and that there was proof. The colchicine bottle was still in Adam's jeep, the letter said. And sure enough, when police went looking, there it was, with the receipt of purchase, emailed to MrAdamYoder1990 at gmail.com. It all seemed a little too perfect for Oneida County Sheriff's Lieutenant Robert Nelson and Investigator Mark VanNamee. An anonymous letter that just happened to lead them right to the evidence, they had to wonder, was someone trying to frame Adam? And if so, who? His own father? Police clearly didn't have a full picture of this family yet, so they brought in one person who knew all of these players, 22-year-old Caitlin Conley. Katie had dated Adam on and off for years, and she was the office manager at Bill and Mary's practice. But she was more than an employee. Mary considered her family. She was even mentioned in Mary's obituary. And soft-spoken Katie didn't point the finger at Bill. Instead, she told detectives how suspicious she was of Adam. But the more she talked, the more convinced they became that Katie sounded a lot like their anonymous letter writer. So after that first meeting with her in mid-December 2015, detectives walked away with a new question. Not, did Adam do it? But who is Caitlin Conley? And what have we been missing? It turns out a lot. Are you ready to dive back in, Brit?

Speaker 1:
[03:30] Let's go.

Speaker 2:
[04:03] As soon as detectives found the Colchicine with the receipt in Adam's car, they began trying to trace where it came from and who it was shipped to. What they found is that the one gram bottle of powder was mailed from a company in California to the Yoder's chiropractic office in February 2015, addressed to Adam. But the person who signed for it was the office manager, Katie Conley, which isn't unusual, right? She signed for most packages at the practice. What is unusual is her connection to the email address that ordered it. Google records show that the email used to buy the Colchicine that Mr. Adam Yoder 1990, it was accessed from the Conley's home IP address, where Katie lives with her family. Then in late November, that entire Gmail account was deleted using her phone. So just a few days after they spoke with Katie, Investigator Van Amy and Lieutenant Nelson asked her to come back in, and they confront her with what they found. You say you've never heard of Mr. Adam Yoder 1990 email address, but it was deleted from your phone. How do you explain that? At first, Katie suggests maybe Adam accessed it using her cell at some point.

Speaker 1:
[05:20] Like logged in or deleted it?

Speaker 2:
[05:23] Logged in, which you get it, it doesn't explain the thing investigators are actually asking about. So eventually she admits that she is the one who deleted the account, but only after she just stumbled across it. The thing is, even that doesn't really make sense, because when you delete a Gmail account, you know what you need? The password. Yeah. So detectives push her. You knew the password at some point, Katie. What was it? She says she can't remember. Now, they humor her, not going super hard, because they can tell that she's building towards something. And finally, she comes out with it. Adam confessed to her and told her that he ordered the Colchicine, had it shipped to the office, poisoned his mother, then stashed the bottle in his Jeep. She says Adam regrets it, that she thinks he killed Mary by accident, mostly because she doesn't understand why he'd want to hurt her. But she also claims that he asked her about Colchicine about a year before Mary died wanting to know how to get his hands on some.

Speaker 1:
[06:26] How do you accidentally plan something for like a year?

Speaker 2:
[06:30] It's not adding up.

Speaker 1:
[06:32] It also sounds a heck of a lot like the anonymous letter that they got, like word for word. He regrets it, he stashed the bottle in his Jeep.

Speaker 2:
[06:40] Bingo. Remember, they don't just think that this letter came from a tipster trying to do the right thing. Before they ever can tie anyone to it, they felt pretty confident that the letter was written or the letters, there was two of them, they were written by Mary's real killer to throw off suspicion. So they pressed her on it. You wrote it, didn't you? And once Katie admits it, Investigator Van Aimee starts recording. In the footage, Katie is sitting at the side of a desk in a small office. She's quiet as she waits for Van Aimee to come back into the room.

Speaker 3:
[07:17] We've been chatting for quite a while today.

Speaker 4:
[07:19] I brought a little bit of thanks. Okay?

Speaker 3:
[07:24] I want to ask you some more specificities. I really appreciate you helping out Sal and pointing us in the right direction with the letter into Adam, okay? You follow me there?

Speaker 4:
[07:35] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[07:36] Okay. Why are you so upset? Have I been anything less than nice to you?

Speaker 4:
[07:40] Oh, you've been really nice. I know. I'm afraid Adam's really smart.

Speaker 3:
[07:47] Okay. And you've said that to me a couple of times, that Adam's really smart. He's not going to let anything come back to him. I understand that. But myself and my friends in the other room, the investigators on this case, are really good at what we do, okay? And we always get to the truth. I believe you about what you're telling me with Adam. You know, I just need your help to help me prove it's Adam. Okay?

Speaker 4:
[08:17] You can't prove it's Adam.

Speaker 3:
[08:18] Okay, well that falls on me. Who do you...

Speaker 4:
[08:21] Yeah, but if you can't prove it's Adam...

Speaker 3:
[08:23] Who's it... Who am I going to prove it is then?

Speaker 4:
[08:26] Right?

Speaker 3:
[08:29] Who did he make this look like it is?

Speaker 4:
[08:31] I'm afraid he put it back on me.

Speaker 3:
[08:34] You're afraid Adam did?

Speaker 4:
[08:35] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[08:37] Why?

Speaker 4:
[08:38] I don't know, so that I can't... I can't go to you for help.

Speaker 3:
[08:43] Do you know that he did that? Do you know that he's trying to point the finger at you?

Speaker 4:
[08:50] No, at the office he said that if anyone is going to get in trouble, it's going to be me. Okay.

Speaker 3:
[08:57] Why would he keep the container? Why would he keep something that's going to link him to the crime that he just committed? You know what I mean?

Speaker 4:
[09:05] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[09:06] You could have dropped that in any garbage can and nobody would have been the wiser. Can you put that in a soda cup or soda bottle? Put it in that garbage. You could have thrown it out in here and you would have never known.

Speaker 4:
[09:16] Right.

Speaker 3:
[09:16] You can get rid of it anywhere. Why do you think Adam held on to that?

Speaker 4:
[09:21] I've had it for so long.

Speaker 3:
[09:26] I'm going to ask you a straight up question. Every time I ask these, I already know the answer. Is it possible that somebody made it look like Adam did this?

Speaker 4:
[09:37] Yes, but I don't think so.

Speaker 3:
[09:39] It is possible that somebody planted that on him? Because I can tell you right now, in the FBI's studies and everything that we went back on, guys don't hang on to the murder weapon because that's why they get caught.

Speaker 4:
[09:51] Right, because also don't poison. They say it's a ladies' weapon.

Speaker 3:
[10:02] They say it's a ladies' weapon?

Speaker 4:
[10:03] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[10:06] Now, Van Amy has clearly been playing good cop. We believe you, we're gonna find the truth and help you. But Katie's got her shovel, and she just keeps digging herself deeper.

Speaker 1:
[10:18] No kidding, poison is a ladies' weapon? Like, does she hear herself?

Speaker 2:
[10:23] I know, it is looking worse and worse for Katie. So that's when Van Amy and Lieutenant Nelson swap out. And he gets a little more direct with the questions.

Speaker 5:
[10:33] Here's some issues I still have. You gotta look at it from our point of view. We're looking at one of three people here. The husband, Adam, or you. You're gonna have to help us. If you're telling us you have nothing to do with this, you're gonna have to help us rule you out. Just like we got to rule out Adam or Bill, whoever is not responsible for this. Because right now, there's a lot of things unanswered questions that we have. The Gmail account and some other things. And like you said, those don't point to Adam, they point to that friend. You need to help us clear you.

Speaker 2:
[11:07] Katie has gone from witness to suspect, but investigators aren't ready to arrest her yet. They want to be able to directly tie her to the culture scene in a way that she can't like wiggle out of. So they start digging into the digital trail to piece everything together. And there is a lot to unpack here, so just bear with me. What they find is that the Mr. Adam Yoder 1990 email account was created back in September 2014 using the IP address at the Yoder's office. That same month, someone opened a credit card in Mary's name. But the contact number on that account? Katie's cell. Then, a couple of months later, in December, a prepaid credit card was used to try and buy Colchicine online, but that order failed because the supplier required paperwork that the buyer didn't have. In early January 2015, someone tried again with a second prepaid card from the same store. This time, it went through, and they bought a gram of Colchicine from that company in California. Now, to complete the order, the buyer submitted a letter of intent explaining who they were and why they needed the drug. Now, the letter was supposedly signed by Adam and Mary, and it listed Adam as the buyer and claimed that he needed the Colchicine to manipulate plant genetics. It also named him as the manager at the clinic, even though, again, he had not worked there in years. Meanwhile, on the front office computer, which Katie used more than anyone, there were searches for various poisons including Colchicine and how much it would take to kill someone based on their body weight. One investigator even told ABC News that someone took Mary's exact body weight and plugged it into a formula to calculate the fatal dose, although we couldn't find that detail in the records that we have. And what's interesting is some of those searches happened about a week after Adam went to the ER with the same symptoms that Mary would later have.

Speaker 1:
[13:07] Wait, is Colchicine what made him sick too?

Speaker 2:
[13:10] Well, at the time, they just thought it was a stomach bug. I mean, they ran blood work, they did scans, noted mild inflammation in his intestines, gave him medicine, sent him home. Never tied to Colchicine, because why would you do that kind of thing unless, again, you're doing an autopsy? Anyway, that same office computer had been used to access the Gmail account tied to the Colchicine order.

Speaker 1:
[13:30] So the office computer she uses the most has the Gmail account on it, the Mr. Adam Yoder 1990, which was also pulled up from her home IP address. And eventually, the account gets deleted altogether but from her phone.

Speaker 2:
[13:45] Correct. But just staying with the office computer for one sec. In November 2015, so this is around the time that the anonymous letters were sent, someone installed software on it to mask IP addresses, a way to hide like what sites had been visited. But it didn't work. The clinic's antivirus program logged the activity anyway. And what it recorded was that someone on that computer during business hours was downloading the masking software first, then using a private browser to log in to that same Gmail account. So whoever did this took steps to cover their tracks before they ever pulled it up.

Speaker 1:
[14:21] Was trying to hide it in the first place.

Speaker 2:
[14:24] And listen, there's also a typewriter at the office, and the ink ribbon still had faint impressions of what had been typed, which matched the anonymous letters sent to the ME in the sheriff's office. Then on Katie's phone, investigators found a deleted note with lines that read, 1990 at lowercase g and capital A is gay. They figured that this was shorthand for the email address, that's at the center of this whole thing, Mr. Adam Yoder 1990 at gmail.com, and maybe it's password, which turned out to be Adam is gay. Now, that same email and password were also used to set up a document scanning app on Katie's phone too. The app had been deleted by the time they got to it, but the cloud storage was still accessible, and in it were scanned copies of every document sent to the supplier, the order forms, the letter of intent, all of it. There was also a letter of recommendation that Mary had written for Katie with Mary's signature on it, implication being that that could have been used to forge the other documents. And there were other notes on Katie's phone that suggested she had been like workshopping how to frame Adam, drafting the language for the letter, even references to legal standards like what police need from an informants tip before they can use it to get a warrant. Now, contrary to the mountain of evidence they find on Katie's phone, when they search Adam's devices, those all come up clean. No poison research, no suspicious searches, no sign that he ever tried to buy colchicine. And the physical evidence tells a similar story. Katie's DNA is consistent with being a major contributor on the colchicine bottle, on the colchicine bottle's wrapper, and under the stamp on the letter sent to the medical examiner. Adam's DNA doesn't show up anywhere. So on February 5th, police bring Katie back in, and Investigator Van Amy confronts her with something major.

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 3:
[20:35] If you purchase them, you're involved in this. I'm telling you, Katie, there's no way around it. Okay? I've let you sit here. That's why I asked if I could show you this. Okay? I let you tell me. I don't know how that got on my phone. Okay? Where to crossroad now? Okay? Because I know all along I don't ask a question, I don't know the answer to. Okay? You purchased those credit cards, didn't you?

Speaker 4:
[21:04] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[21:05] So she admits to buying the cards, but she still insists that she didn't actually buy the Colchicine. And the only explanation she can offer is that somehow Adam must have used them, even though according to investigators, cell records show that Adam was nowhere near Katie on the day that she scanned the documents needed to make the purchase.

Speaker 3:
[21:28] Those documents were scanned in your phone. I know that, and you were in possession of your phone. We're at a crossroad right now, Katie, and I'm going to be honest with you. You lied to me earlier when you said you don't know how those were scanned. I know for a fact that you were in possession of your phone when they were scanned.

Speaker 4:
[21:48] Yes.

Speaker 3:
[21:50] You're saying you purchased this credit card, and it was immediately used for the payment within a day. Who did you give that credit card to, then? If that's the road we're going to go down, let's keep rolling this no more.

Speaker 2:
[22:02] That's not the only hole in her story. You see, investigators had found a draft of the anonymous letter saved on the Google Drive connected to that Gmail account. It had been edited in November, right before it was sent. So now, if Katie admits to writing that letter, she is also admitting that she had access to the Gmail account, and if she was the one using the account, she is the one who ordered the poison.

Speaker 1:
[22:31] But what do you mean if she admits to writing the letter? I thought she already admitted to writing it.

Speaker 2:
[22:37] She did, but now she's saying that she didn't write this letter, the one that was drafted in November.

Speaker 1:
[22:43] What?

Speaker 2:
[22:44] Yeah, she claims she sent a different letter to police, like back in September.

Speaker 3:
[22:49] We can prove without a doubt that it's typed in November.

Speaker 4:
[22:52] Okay.

Speaker 3:
[22:54] We know that. That's not even a question, okay? I'm telling you, in one of the last times I talked to you, you told me about sending the letter in November.

Speaker 4:
[23:03] No, in September.

Speaker 3:
[23:05] Katie, I'm telling you, there's no way you sent that letter in September.

Speaker 4:
[23:09] That's what you told me.

Speaker 3:
[23:11] You didn't send the letter in September.

Speaker 5:
[23:14] You're the one saying, Adam told you that he did this. So if nobody else is involved in that. Your letter, nobody else sent us a letter. We got one letter. You said you sent us a letter. That's your letter.

Speaker 1:
[23:25] I'm confused.

Speaker 2:
[23:28] The way my brain almost exploded as I tried to like untangle this. I mean, basically, if she wrote the letter, she owns the suspicious Gmail account, and if she owns the account, that's it.

Speaker 1:
[23:38] I mean, did police get a letter in September?

Speaker 2:
[23:42] No, the only letters anyone received were the two in November. One to the Sheriff's Office, one to the ME. So, investigators are starting to develop a pretty clear picture of what they think happened, including a firmer timeline. Colchicine poisoning typically shows symptoms within eight hours, but a large dose can hit a lot faster. Their theory is that Katie laced Mary's afternoon protein shake around one to one-thirty-ish on July 20th while they were both at the office.

Speaker 1:
[24:14] But why?

Speaker 2:
[24:15] Well, prosecutors theorize that it all goes back to Katie's tumultuous relationship with Adam. In their view, Katie is a scorned ex, and Mary is just collateral damage. Either revenge on Adam, or some kind of twisted attempt to pull him back after he dumped her, supposedly for cheating on him. Either way, basically like an, if I can't have him, I'll hurt him. Or I'll be the shoulder that he cries on after, like if I secretly create a tragedy. They also say that this wouldn't be the first time that Katie did something dramatic to win Adam back, that she once faked an ectopic pregnancy. She said that she required a medically necessary abortion, which led to them rekindling their romance. And according to prosecutors, it worked again this time, because after Mary died, Adam leaned on Katie. And that's when they briefly got back together. It's a compelling narrative, with compelling evidence to back it up. Which is why nearly a year after Mary's death, on June 13th, 2016, Katie gets indicted by a grand jury on charges of second degree murder, falsifying business records, second degree forgery, and petty larceny. The falsifying accounts are for the documents that she allegedly created to make it look like Adam bought the Colchicine. And the other charges came out of the investigation. I guess the forgery is for a parking ticket that she supposedly signed with Bill's name, and then the larceny is for about 90 bucks that the investigators say she stole from the office. Now the assistant DA knows that most of the evidence that they have is just circumstantial, but she still firmly believes that the case is really strong. Except not everyone is convinced. According to ABC News, Katie's arrest sends shockwaves through their small community. The Yoders and the Conleys are both well-known families, and this case creates this real divide. In fact, some of Mary's own sisters side with Katie. They are still much more suspicious of Bill.

Speaker 1:
[26:29] Even after all of this comes out?

Speaker 2:
[26:31] Yep.

Speaker 1:
[26:32] I'm presuming not including the one dating him.

Speaker 2:
[26:35] Oh no, yeah, so the ones who are suspicious are still the same trio that I mentioned before, Janine, Sharon and Sally. And even though authorities say that there's no evidence implicating Bill, that is exactly the argument that the defense makes when Katie's first trial begins in Oneida County Court in April 2017. Katie's attorney, Christopher Pelley, says that Bill had something that Katie didn't have. Real motives, a troubled marriage, money problems that went away when Mary died, and possibly an affair with Mary's own sister. Starting with the marriage, Pelley says that it wasn't as solid as Bill claimed. Before they even tied the knot, I guess Bill had suggested keeping things open, which they decided against. And Bill says that he never cheated on Mary, but at some point, he started disappearing to hotels on various weekends, those solo trips I talked about, supposedly to write. So they kind of posed this question like, was that really the only reason he would take these trips? And then there's the Kathleen of it all. What kind of guy takes up with his dead wife's sister at all, let alone two months after your wife dies? And how do we know they even waited that long? I mean, sure, Kathleen and Bill say it all began in September, but a neighbor of Kathleen's testifies that she saw them on Kathleen's front porch all snuggled up looking very much like a couple the week before Mary died. And don't forget about the money. True, Mary didn't have any life insurance, but Bill had recently inherited that close to half a million bucks from his dad. And after Mary died, he told one of his daughters, Tamron, that while it wasn't enough for two people to retire on, it was for just one. And what's up with Bill's behavior after Mary died? Why did he ever cremated before anyone knew what the heck was going on? Why wasn't he more curious about what killed her? Why didn't he push investigators for answers?

Speaker 1:
[28:37] Because it sounds like he was moving on and was in love with someone else.

Speaker 2:
[28:41] Yeah, and it seems to be the thing that people have a problem with. There is also a strong possible link to the poison. Maybe Mary ordered it for gardening and Bill then used it against her, or maybe he bought it. Either way, he would potentially know what to do with it. I mean, remember how Mary's sister mentioned that Bill had experimented with growing marijuana back in the 80s? Actually, the letter of intent to the supplier to get the colchicine was all about manipulating plant genetics. And that was Bill's world, not Katie's. So, the defense is saying that she didn't know anything about that.

Speaker 1:
[29:20] I mean, sure, maybe she didn't. But how do they explain away all of the digital stuff tying Katie to the colchicine? Like, there's so much.

Speaker 2:
[29:30] Her defense attorney, Pelley, he goes after that too. He says that the state's forensic expert is unqualified, uncertified, a college student who cherry-picked data to fit his theory. And he argues that the digital trail isn't as solid as it looks. I guess the Conley's home Wi-Fi, which Adam actually set up, wasn't password protected, so anyone nearby could have used the IP address.

Speaker 1:
[29:55] So, theoretically, they're saying someone could have been outside the Conley's house and connected to their Wi-Fi.

Speaker 2:
[30:02] Yeah, if the range was wide enough, or somebody who would have been over at their house.

Speaker 1:
[30:06] But didn't they check all of Bill's devices to see if he did anything like that?

Speaker 2:
[30:10] Eventually. I mean, they had his phone records pretty quickly. But here's the thing, when that Adam letter came and then they started looking at Katie, for some reason, checking Bill's devices got put way on the back burner, which I think comes back to bite them during this trial because, apparently, right after Mary died, Bill told his daughter Tamron not to touch either of their home computers because they had viruses. But investigators didn't collect any of this until September 2016, and then some data couldn't be recovered at all. Plus, Bill was apparently no stranger to computers. He managed the network that connected all the chiropractic office computers for years. And a lot of the stuff was done on the office computer, and with office supplies, right? Typewriter, envelopes. Yeah, sure, Katie used all of that the most. But the defense points out that it was Bill's office after all. Like, he could use any of the equipment he wanted, including envelopes that Katie had pre-stamped. So they're trying to argue that even though her DNA was found under one of the stamps...

Speaker 1:
[31:17] That she could have done that at any random time.

Speaker 2:
[31:20] Yeah, and he just like grabbed one.

Speaker 1:
[31:22] Is there any physical evidence pointing to Bill?

Speaker 2:
[31:25] So DNA results on the Colchicine bottle were inconclusive. So the science could not rule him in or out.

Speaker 1:
[31:34] I thought the DNA on the bottle was Katie's.

Speaker 2:
[31:36] It was, but there was actually at least three profiles. So Katie was the only one, or the only match that could be fully identified. And they were able to completely rule Adam out, but for some reason not Bill, just based on, I guess, the sample they had or whatever. And listen, there is also a problem with the prosecution's theory that Katie poisoned Mary's protein shake. Mary's medical records from when she was admitted to the hospital say that she had a protein bar and grilled chicken that day. There was nothing in there about a shake.

Speaker 1:
[32:08] Okay, but where's that coming from? Like, did she tell them during intake?

Speaker 2:
[32:11] Yeah, this isn't like stomach contents or anything. She comes into the hospital, Mary's telling them herself. She was still like coherent when she comes to the hospital. And sure, right, like she's in like the worst position or like the worst spot. She's so sick. Maybe she misspoke. Maybe she had both. Maybe someone wrote it down wrong. But Pelley offers another idea that maybe Bill could have slipped the culture scene into Mary's food on the morning of July 20th and possibly given her a second dose while she was still at the hospital.

Speaker 1:
[32:41] So they're saying she was poisoned twice?

Speaker 2:
[32:44] Well, the experts can't rule it out. Apparently, there's no way to know exactly how much culture scene Mary ingested. But the fact that it was in her stomach fluid during the autopsy indicates that it got into her system orally, rather than through inhalation or injection. Keep in mind, this was after two days of vomiting. So the pathologist says that the levels in her system were actually rising when she died, like her body was still absorbing it. Now, the prosecution has an explanation for that. They say it has to do with the way that drugs can shift around in the body after death. And their toxicologist says a second dose would have triggered a fresh round of symptoms, which did not happen. But the defense pushes back. Mary was on anti-nausea medication at the hospital, so they are saying that could have maybe masked new symptoms. And so it's just like this ping pong back and forth at trial.

Speaker 1:
[33:37] But you said in part one that Katie was at the hospital with Mary and the family. So if there was a second dose, who's to say who actually gave it to her? Like what about it is tying Bill to this theory and not Katie?

Speaker 2:
[33:53] Well, because Katie wasn't there at the hospital until Wednesday, like closer to the time that Mary died. Bill was the only one there with Mary on Tuesday before she took a turn for the worse. And Mary wasn't supposed to eat or drink or anything while she was hospitalized. But Bill admitted that he brought her cough drops and an inhaler from home when she asked. So either one could have theoretically been laced, but it's not clear if those things were ever tested. Although as far as I can tell, they weren't.

Speaker 1:
[34:22] My head is spinning.

Speaker 2:
[34:24] I know, you're not the only one. This trial stretches on for over three weeks with dozens of witnesses. The jury goes on to deliberate for nearly 24 hours, over five days, but they are hopelessly deadlocked, reportedly 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal. So on May 18th, 2017, the judge declares a mistrial. No verdict, no closure. Katie is in legal limbo, still charged with murder. And prosecutors aren't about to let things go. Five months later in October, they bring Katie to trial again. Now, the theory is the same, but this time the prosecution has a new ace in the hole. As they prepped for round two, investigators reexamined Adam's laptop, and they realized that one of the phone backups on it wasn't from Adam's device. It was from Katie's. In August 2015, so just weeks after Mary died, Katie had plugged her iPhone into Adam's laptop, and without meaning to, she triggers a full backup, preserving everything on that phone at the time, including stuff that she later deleted. What they found painted a picture of someone doing their homework. In the fall of 2014, Katie started researching different poisons and screenshotting articles about how deadly each one was. By December, she seemed to land on Colchicine. She was researching chemical suppliers, looked up the prognosis and treatment of Colchicine poisoning, and then ordered it using those fake documents that she'd scanned with her phone. To prosecutors, this is a smoking gun and they're feeling good as everyone crowds back into the courtroom. But I don't think they are expecting the curve ball that Katie's new lawyer is about to throw at them.

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
[39:21] I've heard we age in bursts. And I have to believe that's true because 36 hit me like a ton of bricks. My husband too. And it really made us start thinking about our health. We do the routine stuff like annual checkups and blood work, but that's pretty surface level. And it's hard to get ahead of things that way. And knowledge is power. There is nothing you should be more knowledgeable about than your own health. That is my message to you, especially during National Heart Month. Truly, there is probably so much you don't know about your heart health until you do a deep dive. That's what I like about Function. It doesn't tell you what to worry about. It shows you what's actually happening in your body. Function is designed by world-class physicians and trusted by hundreds of thousands of members, my husband included. So own your health and start with your heart. Function gives you access to 160-plus lab tests each year, including advanced markers for heart health, inflammation, stress, hormones, and toxins for $365 a year. That's a dollar a day. Learn more and join using our link. Visit functionhealth.com/crimejunkie and use gift code CRIMEJUNKIE25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Katie's defense attorney for trial number two is a guy named Frank Policelli. And he has a whole new approach. Instead of accusing Bill, Policelli lays the blame on Adam. This time, the defense says that Katie actually tried to help investigators see what was really going on, but they were so focused on her, they dismissed everything she told them, including her claim that Adam had confessed to her. According to Policelli, here's what really happened. Adam was desperate, volatile and had a strained relationship with his mother. And when he couldn't hold on to Katie, he concocted a plan to poison Mary in a way that would make sure Katie took the fall. Think about it from this angle. Adam actually studied computer science in college and he had way more digital know-how than Katie. He had used her devices in the past. Was it really a coincidence that her damning phone backup was on his laptop?

Speaker 1:
[41:38] I mean, you got to find a way to explain that new evidence.

Speaker 2:
[41:41] In Policelli's view, Adam could have planted or manipulated any incriminating data. He had access to the Yoder's office too. Even had his own key, which he claims he lost. When police searched his Jeep, they found goggles and gloves and a face mask, the kind of stuff that you would want if you were handling something toxic. But investigators never collected those things, let alone tested them. And yes, the relationship between him and Katie was toxic. No one disputes that. But Policelli says that Adam was the problem, not Katie. She had moved on, she had a new boyfriend, and she was making plans for a future while Adam couldn't let go. Apparently, over the years, she had lent him thousands of dollars that he never paid back, and she was scared of him. By his own admission, he had gotten physical with her, said that he slapped her in the face a few times at a party in 2013. If he's willing to do that in front of people, what's happening when no one's watching? And then there's the sexual assault allegation from 2014 that Katie told the detectives about in their first meeting. Remember that? Now, Adam denies it, but he also admits that he was so drunk that night, he doesn't remember anything.

Speaker 1:
[42:55] So how can you deny something you don't even remember?

Speaker 2:
[42:59] Well, here's the thing. Prosecutors actually don't even believe Katie about it either. She had given police photos of injuries that she said came from the assault, but when investigators pulled the data, capture times told a different story. Some were taken nearly a year before the night in question, others were months after. None of them matched up with when she said they were supposed to have happened. And so just like this, for almost every argument the defense tries to make, the prosecution comes back with a one-two punch, and they insist via expert witnesses who did the data extractions that there was no digital tampering or modification and nothing pointing to Adam at all except for Katie's word. They are confident that the right person is on trial, but they do start to worry that some jurors might believe Katie didn't intend to kill Mary, just make her sick, like the way Adam got sick before from who knows what. Which by the way, even back then, like when he got sick, he made sort of a joke, question mark, that Katie poisoned him. Because he said that he got sick right after taking some supplements that she had given him.

Speaker 1:
[44:15] Can I just say that if that thought even crosses your mind when you're in a relationship, run.

Speaker 2:
[44:21] Get out. Yeah. But that half-joking, did she poison me thing? That's something that we know from Katie's original interview with detectives and messages that she and Adam exchanged. At trial, the defense actually brings up Adam's illness too. But they suggest that Adam poisoned himself for attention, and then later did the same to Mary. Or maybe he bought the colchicine to grow marijuana and then got sick while handling it. But either way, this ends up backfiring. Like I said, the prosecution is getting a little nervous, so they go and ask the judge, listen, instead of just guilty or not guilty for second degree murder, can we give the jury an option? Can we add first degree manslaughter? That way, it won't be an all or nothing on second degree murder. Now, the defense tries to keep the lesser charge off the table, but they can't, because by floating the theory that Adam poisoned himself and then Mary, they basically open the legal door, and the state just walks right in. If Katie was behind both poisonings, maybe she just expected Mary to get better since Adam had gotten better.

Speaker 1:
[45:35] So, was it ever confirmed that Adam had colchicine in his system, or could he have just been really sick, unrelated?

Speaker 2:
[45:45] We don't know. Investigators tested the supplements from, like, the ones he was taking when Adam got sick. Those came back clean. But they don't even know for sure if they were from the same bottle that Katie gave him. So, like, that part is all just still a big mystery. Either way, the question of intent is now in the jury's hands. And in early November, they start deliberating. At one point, it looks like they won't even be able to agree. And everyone's kind of, like, holding their breath, wondering if this is, like, going to be another mistrial. But they're able to work through it. And after two days of hashing it out, the verdict comes in. Not guilty of second-degree murder, but guilty of first-degree manslaughter. According to Observer Dispatch reporter, Jolene Cleaver, Katie's bail is revoked and she is taken into custody. Even after two trials, some of Mary's sisters still don't believe that Katie did this. When she is sentenced in January 2018, they asked the judge for leniency. And on the other side is Bill with his and Mary's children, who all stand by the conviction. To them, Katie took Mary's love and repaid it with poison. And Adam's voice, you can hear it break as he talks about the guilt that he carries for bringing Katie into his family. A family who welcomed her because he once loved her, but not anymore. He tells the court he hates her for what she has done. But Katie maintains that she didn't do anything and that the system got it wrong, though the judge isn't moved. The fact is, Mary died in agony, never understanding what was happening to her. And so he sentences Katie to 23 years. That was in 2018. So realistically, she could have been in jail until like 2041. But then, an attorney named Melissa Swartz takes on her appeal. And she zeros in on the warrant that police used to search Katie's phone. Law enforcement had permission to take the phone, but apparently they didn't have permission to dig through all the data inside of it. Swartz argues that Katie's trial attorneys should have fought to get that evidence thrown out. They didn't, and that failure cost Katie her freedom. And so, just last year, the appellate court agreed. In late January 2025, Katie's conviction was overturned, and a few days later, she walked out of prison, free for the first time in seven years. Now, you know this, overturned doesn't mean exonerated. Prosecutors can try again, and they're planning to do exactly that. But almost immediately, they shoot themselves in the foot. You see, when Katie was released, her attorney asked the judge to seal the case records, which Swartz told us is pretty standard for a conviction that gets tossed. What's unusual is that the DA's office didn't object. And so now, all of the evidence, police reports, witness statements, digital records, all of it is locked away, not just from the public, but from prosecutors too.

Speaker 1:
[49:04] Oh, why wouldn't they push back on that?

Speaker 2:
[49:07] Dude, I don't get it. Maybe they figured that the seal only covered the conviction and not the actual evidence, which like not true.

Speaker 1:
[49:16] And they should have known.

Speaker 2:
[49:18] So even though they got like a whole nother grand jury to do the whole song and dance again, even get to the point where they call Swartz to schedule Katie's arraignment because they expect a new indictment soon, they get blocked. Because it's at that point, which Swartz is like, wait, did you unseal the case first?

Speaker 1:
[49:37] Right. Because like, what are you even going to bring to this grand jury because it's all tucked away?

Speaker 2:
[49:41] Yeah. And that's when the DA's office has this like, oh, moment. They had been using evidence that they had no right to touch. The judge orders them to stop, and now they're just stuck. They can't even ask to unseal the records themselves because only law enforcement can do that, and they can only do that if there's an active investigation. But police have admitted that no one is currently working on Mary's case. So from there, it just spirals. The DA's office tries to get the judge removed, accusing the judge of bias, claiming that at some point she said that she thought Bill killed Mary. The judge denies it, refuses to step aside. Then the DA files multiple appeals, all of this back and forth over months, which brings me to right now.

Speaker 1:
[50:32] Oh, she's still out?

Speaker 2:
[50:33] Oh yeah. This is active and ongoing. There is actually a hearing coming up in April. But Swartz says that the state has been fighting the wrong battles, that they have been focused on whether the judge was wrong when she ordered them to stop using the sealed evidence. But again, even if they win that, everything is still sealed. Yes. It's like arguing you shouldn't be able to stay out of a room that you cannot get into in the first place.

Speaker 1:
[51:00] So they're not even getting at the real issue here.

Speaker 2:
[51:05] Plus, even if they do get the records unsealed, most of the evidence might be worthless.

Speaker 1:
[51:12] Because of the...

Speaker 2:
[51:13] The appeals court decided that the search of Katie's phone was illegal, right?

Speaker 1:
[51:17] The evidence that's there shouldn't even be there essentially.

Speaker 2:
[51:20] Yeah. Anything that came from it, including the backup on Adam's laptop, the statement that Katie made based on what cops found, all of it can be tossed.

Speaker 1:
[51:27] Wait. Why the laptop backup? Didn't they have a warrant for his devices?

Speaker 2:
[51:33] They did, but there are a few problems with it. Like for one, the only reason they even knew to look at it was because they had Katie's phone first.

Speaker 1:
[51:42] So fruit of the forbidden tree.

Speaker 2:
[51:44] Exactly. On top of that, there's a question of whether Adam should have even had the backup on his computer. But even if prosecutors can use it, it's weaker now. I mean, at trial, they verified the backup by comparing it against the physical phone. Basically, like matching digital fingerprints to like prove nobody had tampered with it. With the phone suppressed now, they can't even do that anymore. So you're left with like a backup file that they can't independently verify just sitting on Adam's laptop. And think about what the defense argued at Katie's second trial. Adam is tech savvy. Adam had possession of the laptop. Adam had every opportunity to manipulate what was on it. Without the phone to prove that those searches also existed on Katie's actual device, the defense can say that the only place this incriminating evidence lives is on the computer belonging to the guy that they think did it. So even in the best case scenario for prosecutors, that backup is nowhere near as powerful without the phone to back it up for a lack of a better term. Actually, it could even hurt their case. But no matter what the path they want to take is, the clock is ticking because unlike murder, manslaughter has a time limit. Swartz says that prosecutors have maybe three more years. And if they can't retry Katie before then, it's over. I mean, she got acquitted on the second degree murder, right? They cannot go back without all they have is that manslaughter charge. And even if investigators wanted to take another look at Bill or at Adam, which they seemingly don't, they're out of luck because they both got immunity when they testified before the grand jury.

Speaker 1:
[53:34] What?

Speaker 2:
[53:35] I had the same reaction. Apparently in New York, that's routine.

Speaker 1:
[53:39] Routine?

Speaker 2:
[53:39] It doesn't protect you from perjury if you lie, but it does mean that neither of them can ever be prosecuted for Mary's death. Which as it stands, there doesn't appear to be any evidence for anyway. As of right now, the case is officially unsolved, but only on paper. Police are sure that they arrested the right person. Prosecutors are sure that the right person was on trial.

Speaker 1:
[54:05] And what does Katie say?

Speaker 2:
[54:06] You know, she actually did an interview within the last couple of years with ABC News for that docu-series I mentioned in the first episode. And I will say, her attorney told us that she feels that when it came out, it lacked important context in how some of it was presented. But the way it was presented, there were parts that I found kind of odd. Like, producers asked her if she ever searched for lethal poisons on her phone. And instead of just saying no, she told them that she doesn't even have a reason to search for poisons, because she's not the type of person who could do something like that. And her parents, who were also interviewed, said that when they asked her straight up, did you kill Mary? Again, the answer is not no. She basically told them, you know I want a family someday, so why would I jeopardize my future? Which again, not a denial.

Speaker 1:
[54:56] Like no is right there.

Speaker 2:
[54:58] I know. But to answer your question, Katie says that she goes back and forth. Sometimes she thinks it was Bill, maybe Bill and Adam. She just knows it wasn't her.

Speaker 1:
[55:09] Okay, I'm still confused about the anonymous letters.

Speaker 2:
[55:13] Oh my gosh. It's like the murkiest part to me.

Speaker 1:
[55:17] Does she admit that she wrote them or not?

Speaker 2:
[55:20] Some people think that her initial confession to police about writing those letters was coerced and that she didn't actually write them at all. But during her second trial, Policelli said that Katie did admit to writing it. But then when ABC News asked her about it, Swartz stopped her from answering. So you've got these like competing claims. Either Katie wrote the November letters, which ties her to the Gmail account and the Colchicine order, or she wrote the letters, but somehow the digital trail leading to the Colchicine isn't as airtight as investigators claimed, or she wrote a different letter entirely that just never got to police, or she didn't write any letters at all, and her confession was coerced.

Speaker 1:
[56:06] That clears up absolutely nothing.

Speaker 2:
[56:09] Welcome to my world. I'm honestly not sure anyone has a straight answer on all of the letter stuff. I mean, so much about this case is still up in the air, and our reporter Nina reached out to Bill and Adam, but we never heard back. What we do know, though, is that Mary's loved ones still feel her absence every day, and the divide between them may never heal. I don't know if Bill and Kathleen are still together, but Mary's other sisters that we've mentioned have remained some of Katie's biggest supporters. They even teamed up with the Conleys to fight for her release. But they live with the guilt of being the ones who pushed for an investigation in the first place, never dreaming that it would lead to a woman that they now think is innocent. Of course, the Yoders have their own burdens. Tamron told ABC News that she struggles with the fact that she once even suspected her own father, and she said that Adam, who didn't participate in the show, may never stop blaming himself for bringing Katie into the family in the first place. No matter what you believe happened, one thing is certain, and it's really the most devastating part of all. Mary wasn't killed by a stranger. She was killed by someone she loved, someone she trusted, and someone that she never saw coming. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkie.com.

Speaker 1:
[57:43] And you can follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast.

Speaker 2:
[57:46] We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Crime Junkie is an Audiochuck production. I think Chuck would approve. Some cases fade from headlines. Some never made it there to begin with. I'm Ashley Flowers, and on my podcast, The Deck, I tell you the stories of cold cases featured on playing cards distributed in prisons designed to spark new leads and bring long overdue justice. Because these stories deserve to be heard, and the loved ones of these victims still deserve answers. Are you ready to be dealt in? Listen to The Deck now wherever you get your podcasts.