184: The Poisoner Katie Stricklin

WEBVTT

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Southern for a true crime cover's cases
that are not suitable for young listeners,

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and there may also be some explicit
language used. Listener discretion is advised.

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In the early eighteen hundreds, Britain
caught their most prolific female serial killer,

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Mary Anne Cotton. Mary was a
nurse and housekeeper who, over the course

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of almost two decades, allegedly poisoned
up to twenty one people with arsenic.

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Many of her victims were thought to
be her own husbands and children. For

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most of Mary's victims, she was
able to collect a large insurance payout.

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She was only arrested and charged in
eighteen seventy two when she suddenly suggested to

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a local official that her seven year
old stepson, Charles Edward Cotton, was

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not long for this world. When
Charles subsequently died of a mysterious illness,

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the local official notified the police.
An autopsy revealed that Charles had been poisoned

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with arsenic. As a result,
Marianne Cotton was executed on May twenty fourth,

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eighteen seventy three. She was around
forty years old. The same year

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Mary was executed, another female serial
killer was born, this time in the

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United States. Amy Dugan Archer Gilligan
of Milton, Connecticut. In Amy's adult

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years, she ran a nursing home. That nursing home turned out to be

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the perfect killing grounds for as many
as forty eight people. Amy was caught

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when detectives became suspicious about the large
amounts of arsenic she was buying, but

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prosecutors were only able to charge her
with five murders, and by the time

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the court proceedings were over, Amy
was convicted of only one. In nineteen

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seventeen, she was sentenced to death, but on a pill she was resentenced

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to life in prison. She died
in nineteen sixty two in the Connecticut Hospital

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for the Insane. Since Amy also
used arsenic for the majority of her murders,

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her story inspired the famous play Arsenic
and Old Lace. In nineteen sixty

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two, the time of Amy's death, yet another American female serial killer was

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on the rise. She too would
use arsenic to murder her victims, and

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she too would seem to escape justice
time and time again. Welcome to episode

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one eighty four, The Poisoner Katie
Strickland. On Sunday May thirtieth, nineteen

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seventy one, thirty three year old
Katie's Stricklin got dressed to go to her

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in law's house for a midday mill
in Savannah, Tennessee. Katie and her

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husband Ray were looking forward to this
Sunday get together. They were close to

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Ray's parents and visited them often.
Katie even made a point of inviting her

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in laws to their own home about
once a week. She was a former

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schoolteacher and current homemaker. Ray was
a factory worker. Together, they seemed

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to be the perfect example of traditional
Southern values. God and family were everything

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to them, so of course they
were happy to go to Ray's parents house

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for a mill after the Sunday service. Plus Ray's parents, sixty six year

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old Molly Elizabeth an eighty one year
old William Talmadge, had purchased a new

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home about six months ago. After
years of laboring as a farmer, William

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had been able to buy a beautiful
brick home for his and Molly's golden years.

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Katie and Ray were excited for Molly
and William. She had presented her

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in laws with new curtains as a
housewarming gift and helped them paint their bathroom.

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So this Sunday mill wasn't the first
time Katie and Ray had visited Ray's

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parents fancy new home, but still
it was going to be a splendid Sunday

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affair, hosted in a nice home
with good food and good people. Ray's

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sister Mary was going to be there
too. When Katie and Ray arrived at

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Molly and William's house, they joined
the and bustle of preparing the big mill,

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or Katie did, at least.
This was the nineteen seventies, after

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all, Ray probably just went to
the living room to chit chat with his

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dad. In the kitchen, Ray's
mother, Molly was in charge of the

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majority of the cooking. Mary was
buzzing around helping where needed, and Katie

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made and served the iced tea before
digging into their mill. The Stripland family

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probably said grace, and as their
bellies became fuller and fuller, they probably

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thanked Molly for her hard work on
the food. After the mill, Katie

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and Ray took his parents on a
car ride just for fun. Again,

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it's the nineteen seventies. There wasn't
much else to do in a small town.

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But that's when something strange happened.
Molly and William began vomiting uncontrollably,

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and they also experienced horrible diarrhea.
Their sickness was so severe that Katie and

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Ray took them straight to the local
Savannah hospital right away. The doctors thought

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Molly and William had a virus or
baby had eaten something bad. They gave

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Molly an injection of medicine and sent
her on her way, but they kept

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William for a few days. Remember, William was older and he had had

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a history of high blah pressure and
hardening arteries. The doctors wanted to ensure

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he was okay before releasing him.
By Wednesday, June second, three days

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after the sickness began, William's health
had greatly improved. On that day,

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Katie and her sister in law Mary
were at the hospital checking on William,

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and without warning, William's condition deteriorated. He suffered convulsions, and by the

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morning of Thursday, June third,
eighty one year old William Talmutch Strickland had

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died. William's funeral was scheduled for
the next day, Friday, June fourth.

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Following the funeral, the Strickland family
went to Molly's home. Molly was

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beside herself, even though William was
elderly, he had seemed healthy. His

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death was unexpected, and after about
forty six years of mary marriage, the

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newly widowed Molly was in deep grief. After Molly's hospital visit earlier that week,

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the doctor had told her to eat
softer foods that were gentler on her

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stomach, soups, puddings, things
like that. So Katie brought Molly a

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few soft drinks and some jello on
Sunday, June sixth, two days after

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William's funeral. Katie wasn't the only
one who brought Molly food. It's such

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a human thing to do, bring
our loved one's food when we're not sure

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how else to help them. On
Monday, June seventh, Molly became wildly

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sick again. She was experiencing the
same symptoms as before, nausea, vomiting,

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and diarrhea. Molly soon checked into
the county hospital. The next day,

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at the urging of one of Ray's
brothers, Molly was transported to a

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bigger, better equipped hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. At this second hospital,

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the doctors pumped her stomach, and
luckily Molly survived this second bout of six,

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but just barely. The doctors were
baffled by Molly and William's illnesses.

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They had happened so quickly and were
so deadly. Was something going on and

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race parents new home, some environmental
anomaly that was contaminating their food with dangerous

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substances. According to the Tennesseean,
the doctors ordered the Strickland family to get

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out of Molly's Savannah house and locked
the doors. The family was to contact

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the health department immediately. Meanwhile,
medical experts examined Molly's urine and they found

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something in there that definitely shouldn't be
there, arsenic, a lot of it,

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thousands of times more than the fatal
amount. Molly and the rest of

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the Strickland family were bewildered. How
had she ingested so much arsenic. Over

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the next few years, the Strickland
family would be shocked to learn that Molly's

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arsenic poison wasn't an accident. Someone
had tried and failed to kill her.

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And this wasn't the first time the
attacker had struck It wasn't the second,

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it wasn't even the third. I'm
going to pause now for a short commercial

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break. Katie Levina Browder was born
in late July of nineteen thirty eight to

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parents Nelson and d Alma. She
was an only child, and she spent

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her childhood growing up in areas near
the small town of Henderson, Tennessee.

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Henderson is located in West Tennessee,
and it's the seat of Chester County.

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Today, the city of Henderson has
a population of about six thousand people.

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When Katie lived there, it was
about half that. It's famous for the

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Chester County Barbecue Festival and calls itself
the best small town on the map.

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Katie's father, Nelson, was from
an even smaller community just a few miles

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southwest of Henderson called Oak Grove.
At the time of Katie's birth, thirty

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nine year old Nelson was a bookkeeper. He worked for Chevrolet and Henderson Sales.

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Some time before that, Nelson had
been a schoolteacher, but as Katie

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got older, Nelson decided to leave
bookkeeping and school teaching behind to begin a

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new venture. He opened a general
store in Oak Grove and it was pretty

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successful. He owned it for seventeen
years. Katie worked there in the summers

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when school was out. Katie's mother, Almah, was a homemaker, and

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she and Katie spent a lot of
time together at home. They were described

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as very close, and the Browers
were a religious family. They attended the

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Oakland Baptist Church services regularly. Over
the years, Katie appeared to become a

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fine young woman. One of her
neighbors told the Tennessee In that she was

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nice and kind, a real friendly
type, and another person who knew Katie

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said she was sweet to everybody and
she was a pretty good student. Her

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teachers explained that she was of average
intelligence, but she did get all a's

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her sophomore year of high school.
Her high school principle remembered that Katie kept

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herself in school. He explained that
while the other students were excited about playing

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basketball all with their friends, Katie
was not. She was a bit of

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a lone wolf. Instead of playing
team sports, she participated in more individual

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activities. She did four h and
took private piano lessons. Katie's piano teacher

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remembered that she was okay at the
piano cooperative, but she didn't practice enough.

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But it's not like that. Asn't
a common complaint from piano teachers,

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with disciplined repetition being the best way
to learn, even if you're a prodigy.

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When Katie graduated from Chester County High
School, she decided she wanted to

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become a teacher like her dad.
So in the fall of nineteen fifty five,

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Katie enrolled in the University of Memphis, Lambeth and Jackson, Tennessee.

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She might have chosen Lambeth specifically because
it was close to her parents home.

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At this time, Katie's parents resided
in Mifflin, Tennessee, which was a

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few miles outside of Henderson, and
Mifflin was less than twenty miles from Katie's

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new university. While attending, Katie
visited her parents frequently. Not only did

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she return for the normal holiday festivities, but she also spent many weekends at

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her parents' home. Back then,
small town newspapers would release lists of visitors

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from other cities, so each and
every time Katie visited her parents, she

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was mentioned in the paper, and
Katie was mentioned a lot. At least

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ten times, maybe more. I
lost count. From the outside looking in,

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it seemed like Katie really cared for
and loved her parents, Why else

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would she visit them so often.
After taking some teaching courses at Lambeth for

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a year, Katie set her sights
on attending George Peabody College and Nashville.

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Peabody was a private education school that
is now housed under Vanderbilt University. To

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get in, Katie had to retrieve
an arsenal of recommendation letters from high standing

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people in her community, and she
did. Katie got glowing her views from

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her pastor, assistant high school principal, a deputy marshall, a county judge,

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and the vice president of a local
bank. In nineteen fifty six,

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Katie was accepted into Peabody's College's teaching
program. There she would complete her Bachelor

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of Arts in teaching, and despite
Nashville being one hundred and thirty miles away

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from Mifflin, Katie still made frequent
visits to her parents Mifflin home. In

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the fall of nineteen fifty eight,
she was hired at Lexington High School.

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She was going to teach science,
Civics, and geography. Then in nineteen

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sixty she moved to Hardin County Central
High School in Savannah, Tennessee. There

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she taught business education, but by
the fall of nineteen sixty one, Katie

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was teaching fifth and sixth grade students
at Beach Bluff School. Katie realized that

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she preferred the younger students, and
she stated this teaching position for a while.

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Years later, she would receive her
master's degree in education from Memphis State

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University. It appears that Katie's college
in young adult years might have been more

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social than her high school ones.
She joined a music club, attended parties

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regularly, and went to the theater
with her friends, which could be why

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she bounced around jobs so much.
We're not sure, but it was a

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red flag to me. Still,
Katie's family was her top priority. Once

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she organized a surprise anniversary picnic lunch
for her parents, Nelson and Alma,

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and seventy five friends, family,
neighbors, and fellow parishioners came. Katie

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also entered a few different beauty pageants
as a young adult, and she was

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considered attractive, if tall for that
era's standards. She was five ten with

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black hair, blue eyes, and
a soft smile. It's unclear how Katie

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did in the pageants, but apparently
she didn't win, or it probably would

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have made the paper. And even
if the pageants didn't reward Katie's beauty,

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others certainly did. Around nineteen sixty
one, twenty three year old Katie met

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a man who thought Katie was gorgeous. This was twenty five year old Andrew

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Ray Strickland. He was named after
his paternal grandfather, Andrew, so he

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went by Ray. In many ways, Ray was the opposite of Katie.

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Where Katie was an only child,
he was one of eight children, and

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while Katie was extremely well educated,
Ray was not. He had dropped out

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of school in the eighth grade.
School just wasn't for him, and perhaps

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because of that, Ray wasn't much
for reading and writing either. He liked

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to work with his hands. When
Katie met him, he was a mechanic

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at a local gas station. Later
he would become a successful machinist at Rockwell

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Manufacturing. Six months after Katie and
Ray first locked, as they were married.

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The service happened at Beech Bluff Methodist
Church on the afternoon of Sunday,

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December twenty third, nineteen sixty two. It was deemed impressive by the Jackson

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Son newspaper. The church was decorated
with white moms, red points atas,

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and long tapered candles framed the alter. The family pews were marked with white

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satin bows that matched Katie's floor length. Satin gown. Her gown was extravagant

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with a chapel train and massive four
tier veil, and her bridesmaids were Christmasy

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red velvet dresses. The Jackson's son
described Katie as radiant. After their wedding,

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Katy and Ray moved to a farm
owned by Katie's father near Mefflin.

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Less than three years after Katie was
married, on September thirteenth, nineteen sixty

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five, her father, Nelson,
was admitted to the hospital for an unknown

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illness. Just over a week later, on September twenty second, Nelson died.

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This broke Katie's mother's heart for years. She struggled with Nelson's death.

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Around nineteen sixty eight, Alma moved
in with Katie and Ray. It appears

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as if this was Katie's idea,
not Almah's, because according to Katie,

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Alma didn't like living with them.
She said, you would say that no

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home was big enough for two families. She felt like she was in our

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way. We aren't sure how big
the Browder's Jackson, Tennessee home was,

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but we do know it was worth
about sixty four thousand back in nineteen sixty

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eight. Today that's over half a
million dollars. Eight months after she moved

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into Katie's home, Alma was admitted
to the hospital. She died July eighteenth,

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nineteen sixty nine, at age fifty
one. Almah's doctor attributed her death

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to a coronary occlusion or a toxic
effect of some toxin on the heart muscle,

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so heart failure. Fifty one is
considered young for heart failure today,

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but not so much back then.
Katie probably leaned on her mother in law,

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Molly a great deal after Almah's unexpected
death. Molly would later say she

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and Katie were incredibly close. She
likened their relationship to a mother and daughter.

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By this time, in nineteen sixty
nine, thirty one year old Katie

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had mostly stopped he was a full
time homemaker. It doesn't appear as though

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Katie was fired. Her colleagues and
principal said Katie was cheerful and pleasant,

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but a little dramatic about her own
illnesses, which is a nice way of

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00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:18.480
saying she was a hypochondriac. But
Katie did still teach some evening classes at

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a local community college. Perhaps Ray
was making enough money at his factory job

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that she didn't really need to work. Over their seven years of marriage,

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Katie and Ray discussed having children,
but for unknown reasons, it never happened

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for them. But Katie was quick
to spoil her nieces and nephews on Ray

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side with sweets, especially on special
occasions like their birthdays. Katie was always

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00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:48.960
good at making food for gatherings.
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com slash Southern Fried. Now that
we're all caught up, a quick reminder.

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00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:14.359
Ray's father, William, died on
Thursday, June third, nineteen seventy

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00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:18.640
one, due to a mysterious illness. Molly had caught the same illness,

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00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:22.279
but she had recovered a few days
before William's death. His funeral was on

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00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:27.000
Friday, June fourth, and Molly
became sick again on Monday, June seventh.

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She would have died except one of
Ray's brothers insisted she be moved to

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00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:37.519
a Memphis hospital, which pumped Molly's
stomach. When the medical experts at the

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00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:41.559
hospital tested Molly's urine, there was
arsenic in it. Someone had tried to

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00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:47.920
poison Molly, so the local authorities
became involved. When the police searched Ray's

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00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:52.960
parents house, they didn't find any
arsenic. There nothing that could have accidentally

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00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.519
contaminated their food through a leak or
an honest mistake. Oh I thought this

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00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:02.039
was a bag of sugar type thing. So at first the officers didn't know

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what had happened to Molly, and
then some of Molly's relatives started talking to

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00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:11.720
the police about Katie. Apparently she
had behaved very oddly in the days leading

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00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:18.119
up to Molly's final hospitalization. Upon
hearing the news that Molly had somehow eaten

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00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:22.599
arsenic on Monday, June seventh of
nineteen seventy one, Katie had asked the

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physicians if the arsenic was from the
jello. She appeared deeply concerned. She

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exclaimed that if it was from the
jello, she would be at fault.

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At the time, Katie's statement didn't
come across like a confession. It felt

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00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:41.839
like an attempt to understand the situation, like was it the jello? Oh

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00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:45.480
wow? I brought the jello?
And Ray's sister Mary had said almost the

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00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:49.599
same thing about the beings which she
had made for Molly's soft food diet.

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00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:56.000
Right before Molly was rehospitalized, on
June seventh, after the doctors told everyone

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00:21:56.039 --> 00:22:00.519
to stay out of Molly and William's
home so it could be affected by the

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00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.880
Health Department, the doctors had another
idea. They were going to analyze the

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00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:08.880
food in Molly's fridge. Tons of
people had brought her food after her husband's

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00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:14.279
recent funeral. Surely one of these
food items had arsenic in it, which

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is what caused Molly's severe illness.
When Katie heard that the doctors were going

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00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:22.240
to test the food for arsenic,
she called Ray's brother, who was still

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00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:26.039
at Molly's house. She told him
to throw out all the prepared food,

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00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:30.440
but Ray's brother had already heard about
the doctor's requests to analyze the food,

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00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:33.039
so he didn't throw it out.
He put it in an ice chest and

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brought it to Memphis Hospital. Later, Ray would tell the Tennessee And that

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Katie struggled to understand that the doctors
could test the food for arsenic. He

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00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:47.200
had to explain it to her a
few times for her to fully grasp it.

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Maybe she didn't know that was scientifically
possible, and when Ray's brother showed

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00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:56.599
up at the hospital with the ice
chest cooler full of food from Molly's fridge,

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Katie came running up to him.
She looked anxious. She opened the

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00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:06.200
cooler and filtered through the food inside, looking for something, but Ray's brother

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00:23:06.279 --> 00:23:08.960
didn't know what. Katie tried to
take the cooler and carry it into the

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hospital herself, but Ray's brother quickly
took it from her, saying it was

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00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:18.759
too heavy for Katie. It's important
to note that when Katie made jello to

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00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:22.599
bring to Molly's house, she hit
made two bowls, a big bowl and

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a small bowl. The big bowl
was meant for other Strickland family members who

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00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:30.039
were milling around Molly's house to eat. The small bowl was just for Molly.

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Katie said as much to Molly and
Ray's sister Mary, and she put

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the small jello bowl and Molly's fridge. When Katie left that day, she

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00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:44.880
called out to Molly be sure and
eat some of it, and Molly did.

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She ate a few spoonfuls of the
jello on the morning of Monday,

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00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:53.240
June seventh, right before she became
horribly sick. When the Memphis Medical Examiner's

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00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:57.880
office analyzed the food, the only
item that had any remnants of arsenic was

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00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:02.559
Katie's small bowl. Of jello,
the one she had made just for her

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00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:07.279
mother in law, Molly. Now
the local police were suspicious of Katie.

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00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:11.319
Even though it felt like this lead
was wrong, everyone thought Katie was on

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00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:15.079
great terms with Molly. Plus,
Katie was a soft spoken and mild mannered

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00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:22.799
former schoolteacher and frankly a woman.
Remember this was nineteen seventy one. For

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00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:27.200
this small southern town, murder was
rare and a female murderer almost unheard of.

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00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:33.000
Katie Strickland was the exact opposite of
the murderers the police usually arrested.

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00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:38.119
But even if Katie's motive was shrouded
in mystery, the evidence was clear she

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00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:44.400
made the jello, and the jello
was poisoned. Following the news that Katie

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00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:48.759
had almost certainly tried to kill her
mother in law, authorities exhumed Katie's father

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00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:52.519
in law, William Strickland's body on
June twenty fifth, three weeks after he

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00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:57.559
had been buried. The autopsy revealed
that William, like Molly, had also

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00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:04.039
consumed a larger amount of arsenic William's
kidneys, liver, and gastric tract had

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00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:10.119
nearly five thousand times more arsenic than
the human body can handle, which just

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00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:14.400
so you know, is only one
sixth of an ounce. That's why today

314
00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:19.240
we primarily use arsenic to kill pests. But how had Katie poisoned William?

315
00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:23.240
Well, remember, Katie had been
at her in laws for Sunday dinner on

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00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:27.720
May thirtieth, and she had made
the iced tea. She poured both William

317
00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:33.640
and Molly's glasses, and afterward,
both William and Molly became incredibly ill.

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00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:38.039
When investigators tested the utensils Katie would
have used to make the tea, they

319
00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:42.839
found traces of arsenic. After William
drank the tea, he was admitted to

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00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:48.200
the hospital, but he did start
recovering after a few days. And that's

321
00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:52.119
when, as I mentioned before,
Katie stopped by to visit William with Ray's

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00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:56.240
sister Mary, and when Mary left
the room for a moment, Katie had

323
00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:00.640
served William a Coca Cola beverage.
She poured the coke into a paper cup

324
00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:03.640
and helped William lift the straw to
his mouth. There was no way to

325
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:08.599
test that coke for arsenaic the paper
cup was long gone, but shortly after

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00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:15.160
William drank it, he died.
Katie was finally arrested in July of nineteen

327
00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:18.359
seventy one, she was charged for
the murder of her father in law,

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00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:22.680
William Strickland, and the attempted murder
of her mother in law, Molly Strickland.

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00:26:22.359 --> 00:26:27.839
I can't imagine how Ray, Katie's
husband felt. Molly was certainly surprised.

330
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:33.000
She told the Tennessee in that up
until Katie had started poisoning people,

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00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:37.599
we were one big, happy family. But the police investigation into Katie wasn't

332
00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:42.319
over yet. They had received an
anonymous tip from someone at the Jackson Madison

333
00:26:42.359 --> 00:26:48.960
County General Hospital, the hospital where
Katie's mother, Almah, was treated before

334
00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:52.759
she died by what was then determined
to be heart failure. The tipster told

335
00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:57.880
the detectives that Almah had experienced all
the symptoms of arsenic poisoning, nausea,

336
00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:03.759
vomiting, and diarrhea, the same
exact things that both William and Molly had

337
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:10.000
suffered after Katie allegedly poisoned them.
So the authority started the process of exhuming

338
00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:15.559
Almah's body. Katie obviously opposed the
autopsy. She claimed that she didn't want

339
00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:19.319
her mother cut up, and Almah's
family almost agreed with Katy's wishes, except

340
00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:25.559
her brother, Bobby Butler spoke up. He demanded that Madison County do the

341
00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:29.839
autopsy. In fact, Bobby said
they should have done an autopsy back in

342
00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:34.599
nineteen sixty nine, right after Almah
died, but they hadn't for several reasons.

343
00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:38.640
Number one, everyone loved Katie and
didn't suspect her of killing her own

344
00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:42.720
mother, whom she appeared to be
very close to. And two, Bobby

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00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:48.039
had received a letter from an insurance
company asking him not to do an autopsy.

346
00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:52.079
Now Bobby pulled that insurance letter back
out, and he quickly realized that

347
00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:57.559
it was fake. It was signed
by a quote anonymous insurance company and postmarked

348
00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:03.759
only with the single word now ashful. Later investigators would determine that the letter

349
00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:08.200
was typed on a very specific,
very old model typewriter, and Katie Strickland

350
00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:14.680
owned that exact model of typewriter.
So Almah's body was exhoomed and she had

351
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:18.720
indeed died of arsenic poisoning. At
this news, Almah's brother, Bobby expressed

352
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:23.000
his frustration to the local newspapers.
He said, Katie grew up in a

353
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:27.400
good Christian home. She never wanted
for anything. I'm sure, Bobby had

354
00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:32.240
the same question on his mind that
we all do. Why had Katie killed

355
00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:37.000
all these people? Thirty three year
old Katie was held in the McNairy County

356
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:41.839
Jail without bond for almost a year, and the jailers there really seemed to

357
00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:45.119
like Katie. They didn't think she
was a murderer. One told the Tennesseean,

358
00:28:45.559 --> 00:28:48.359
you couldn't ask to know a nicer
person. I don't think she is

359
00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:53.200
the type that would poison anybody.
And Katie's husband, Ray, who was

360
00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:59.440
yes still her husband, visited her
three times a week, which sounds crazy

361
00:28:59.559 --> 00:29:03.559
since Ye was accused of killing his
father and attempting to kill his mother.

362
00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:07.680
But Ray's family told the Tennessee in
he feels responsible for her and doesn't know

363
00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:14.039
which way to turn. When journalists
approached Ray, he refused to speak poorly

364
00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:18.200
of his wife of nine years.
While all of this was happening, Katie

365
00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:22.599
maintained her innocence. She didn't offer
any other explanation for how her mother,

366
00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:26.160
Almah, her father in law William, or her mother in law Molly had

367
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:30.319
been poisoned. According to Katie,
she just knew that she had nothing to

368
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:34.720
do with it. At this point, Katie was now facing three trials.

369
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:45.799
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Southern frieda Under podcast subject to your
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Bank and Trust Member FDIs. Katie's
first trial, the one for the murder

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of her father in law, William, took place in April of nineteen seventy

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two. As everyone walked into the
courtroom, Katie greeted her mother in law

403
00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:17.160
Molly, like nothing had happened.
She gave Molly a big hug and tried

404
00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:22.599
to make small talk. Ray's sister
Mary told the papers and not so many

405
00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:28.240
words, that she was weirded out. During this trial, the state prosecuting

406
00:32:28.279 --> 00:32:32.880
attorneys painted Katie as a cold blooded
killer. They asserted that Katie didn't have

407
00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:37.759
a clear motive because she didn't need
one. She was killing just to kill,

408
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:44.440
and they asserted that Katie's heartless actions
proved that. For example, when

409
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:49.920
William was hospitalized after his initial arsenip
poisoning from the tee, Katie would make

410
00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:53.079
fun of him. As William lay
helpless in the hospital bed, she would

411
00:32:53.160 --> 00:32:58.240
lift his covers, and if he
had messed himself with diarrhea, Katie would

412
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:04.519
laugh and say he's done it again. Also, during William's funeral, Katie

413
00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:09.519
sat near his grave and nonchalantly ate
green apples, and after the funeral,

414
00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:14.960
she didn't join the Strickland family to
grieve in William and Molly's home. Instead,

415
00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:20.920
she planted flowers on their front lawn. The state's attorneys also claimed that

416
00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:25.000
Katie had actually already confessed to arsenic
poisoning twice. First, when Katie heard

417
00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:30.000
of Molly's arsenic poisoning, that's when
she asked the doctor if it was the

418
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:32.759
jello and said something along the lines
of if it was in the jello,

419
00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:37.359
then it was my fault. The
exact wording is disputed. The second was

420
00:33:37.400 --> 00:33:42.799
when the police arrested Katie, she
confessed again. The police told Katie her

421
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:46.200
rights and then she started babbling.
According to the officer who arrested her,

422
00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:50.480
she said, I might have done
these things. I don't remember. I

423
00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:52.319
could have done it. If I
did these things, I don't know what

424
00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:57.319
I used to do it. I
must have done this again. The exact

425
00:33:57.400 --> 00:34:01.599
wording is disputed. Alma's sister,
Mary Butler, who was Katie's aunt,

426
00:34:01.720 --> 00:34:07.599
testified against Katie, and Mary Butler
stated that as Alma was dying. She

427
00:34:07.720 --> 00:34:10.880
said, be good to Katie.
I'm not going to make it. Katie

428
00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:16.239
has poisoned me. She got me
this time. Another one of Alma's sisters,

429
00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:22.519
Virginia, verified this conversation. When
asked why they didn't share this information

430
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:27.719
with anyone, they explained that Almah
had asked them not to. Mary and

431
00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:32.719
Virginia were respecting Almah's dying wish.
During her first trial, Katie did not

432
00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:37.239
testify. In fact, the only
defense her lawyers presented was a ninety minute

433
00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:44.199
speech centered largely on the fact that
Katie had no motive. After over eight

434
00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:49.079
hours of deliberation, the jury convicted
thirty three year old Katie Strickland a first

435
00:34:49.079 --> 00:34:52.280
degree murderer in the case of her
father in law in a split decision of

436
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:57.039
eight to four. Katie was sentenced
to twenty years and one day in prison.

437
00:34:57.760 --> 00:35:00.880
Following her conviction and sentencing, Katy
motioned for a new trial, but

438
00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:05.440
it was overruled. She tried to
appeal, but it was denied by the

439
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:09.480
Supreme Court of Tennessee. Katy's second
trial, this one for the attempted murder

440
00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:14.519
of her mother in law, Molly
Strickland, began in late August of nineteen

441
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:19.440
seventy two, and it was very
similar to her first trial. The same

442
00:35:19.480 --> 00:35:23.400
people spoke, the same evidence was
brought up, and Katy still didn't testify.

443
00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:30.079
Perhaps the only difference was sixty six
year old Molly Strickland's testimony, but

444
00:35:30.199 --> 00:35:35.039
that didn't go well. Molly couldn't
remember if she had eaten the jello out

445
00:35:35.079 --> 00:35:38.840
of the big unpoisoned bowl or the
small poisoned one. And there was one

446
00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:44.159
other big difference between this trial and
the last one. This time Katy was

447
00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:49.519
found not guilty after less than an
hour of deliberation. The jury determined that

448
00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:53.519
there was not enough evidence to convict
Katy. The jury foreman explained to the

449
00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:59.920
Tennesseean that there were simply too many
gaps in the states case against Katy.

450
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:04.119
How could that possibly be if she
was convicted on the same evidence less than

451
00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:07.400
a year or earlier. What had
happened for this child to have gone so

452
00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:12.199
differently? Well, a few things. First, it is true that the

453
00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:16.800
only evidence the state had against Katie
was entirely circumstantial. No one had witnessed

454
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:22.519
Katie poisoning her in laws, and
of course they wouldn't have the nature of

455
00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:27.880
this crime is secretive, and Katie's
lawyers were now very prepared for this trial.

456
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:31.079
They had seen the state's case in
detail, and they used that to

457
00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:37.000
their advantage. Katie's defense team pointed
out the following information, which was apparently

458
00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:42.840
compelling to the jury. According to
Katie, she didn't make the jello and

459
00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:45.960
separate bowls to poison Molly. She
had done it because the doctors thought Molly

460
00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:50.719
might have had a virus, so
Katie was trying to keep Molly's food separate

461
00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:53.840
from the other family members in the
household who were visiting for William's funeral.

462
00:36:54.800 --> 00:37:00.239
Next, Katie didn't purchase the jello
for Molly until the physician ordered us off

463
00:37:00.320 --> 00:37:05.400
food diet. With this line of
thinking, Katie couldn't have masterminded poisoning Molly

464
00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:10.079
since she didn't know that the doctor
would prescribe the specific food regiment. Next,

465
00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:15.119
Katie's lawyers really took advantage of Molly's
confusion over which bowl she ate the

466
00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:22.639
jello out of, and Katie's defense
team also claimed that the arsenic poisoning symptoms

467
00:37:22.760 --> 00:37:27.159
could have been caused by the prescription
medication that Molly was given after her first

468
00:37:27.239 --> 00:37:31.039
round of sickness. Lastly, Katie
had returned to Molly's home on Monday,

469
00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:35.920
June seventh, when she took Molly
to the hospital. If she had tried

470
00:37:35.920 --> 00:37:39.679
to kill Molly, why didn't she
destroy the jello. Then it sounds like

471
00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:44.519
Katie's lawyers were just throwing shit at
the wall to see what stuck. But

472
00:37:44.599 --> 00:37:47.599
the jurors were probably so confused by
the end of the trial they didn't feel

473
00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:52.159
comfortable convicting Katie. But all of
this, in my eyes, is explainable.

474
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:58.320
Katie didn't purchase the jello before the
doctor prescribed it, true, but

475
00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:01.480
she was just looking for opportunities to
kill Molly. It could have been jello,

476
00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:07.039
tea, Coca cola, it didn't
matter. Next, Molly was just

477
00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:09.920
wrong about which jello bowls she ate
out of. It was a stressful time

478
00:38:09.960 --> 00:38:14.760
for her. Her husband died,
she was sick, she didn't know up

479
00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:19.840
from down, and Molly had to
take the doctor's prescription medication because Katie had

480
00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:24.679
poisoned her tea earlier that week well
allegedly even though she had been convicted of

481
00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:31.000
poisoning Molly's husband at the same time. And lastly, Katie didn't destroy the

482
00:38:31.079 --> 00:38:37.039
jello because she didn't understand it could
be tested for arsenic. That's why she

483
00:38:37.159 --> 00:38:40.760
was so flabbergasted when it came to
the hospital. As I said, Katie

484
00:38:40.760 --> 00:38:46.679
asked Ray a million questions about how
the doctors could do that. But however,

485
00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:52.119
all this happened, Katie's lawyers worked
their magic, and she escaped her

486
00:38:52.119 --> 00:38:58.400
second trial scott free. I'm going
to pause now for a short commercial break.

487
00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:06.639
Next was Katie's third trial, and
this one was for the alleged murder

488
00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:10.480
of her own mother, Almah.
And yes, the local authorities had also

489
00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:15.360
exhumed an autopsied Katie's father, Nelson, but they were holding on to the

490
00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:22.960
results until after these three trials.
Katie's first trial for her mother's murder ended

491
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:25.639
in a hung jury. After nine
hours, the jurors could not make a

492
00:39:25.719 --> 00:39:30.199
decision, so the judge declared a
mistrial and Katie had another trial, her

493
00:39:30.239 --> 00:39:36.519
fourth, in December of nineteen seventy
three. According to the state, Katie

494
00:39:36.519 --> 00:39:40.320
had poisoned her own mother through a
mill of cornbread and milk, but according

495
00:39:40.360 --> 00:39:45.960
to Katie, who was testifying for
the first time ever, that wasn't true.

496
00:39:45.559 --> 00:39:49.960
When asked if she killed Almah,
she told the lawyer no, sir.

497
00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:53.400
Instead, Katie told the court she
was very, very close to her

498
00:39:53.400 --> 00:39:59.960
mother. Then, Katie depicted her
mother as a depressed woman who was overwhelm

499
00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:05.599
by grief after Nelson's death. To
illustrate her mother's alleged mental health struggles,

500
00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:12.440
Katie said Almah would often visit Nelson's
grave, and Almah would supposedly tell Katie,

501
00:40:12.760 --> 00:40:16.519
when you buried your father, you
buried me. Katie insinuated that Almah

502
00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:22.360
probably took her own life by jesting
arsenic on purpose. And in regards to

503
00:40:22.440 --> 00:40:28.280
Katie's weird babbling confession at the time
of her arrest for William's murder and Molly's

504
00:40:28.280 --> 00:40:31.559
attempted murder, Katie said she was
just trying to ask the officers what happened.

505
00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:37.159
She clarified that she wasn't saying I
must have done it. Instead,

506
00:40:37.559 --> 00:40:40.000
Katie says she meant to convey if
I did it, I don't remember it,

507
00:40:40.280 --> 00:40:44.639
so will you please help me remember
what kind of poison was it?

508
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:47.239
What container was it in? How
did I give it? Was it in

509
00:40:47.239 --> 00:40:52.039
the food? Katie's lawyers claimed that
she was very upset because she had never

510
00:40:52.119 --> 00:40:57.960
been arrested before, but the jury
didn't buy Katie's story. This time.

511
00:40:58.239 --> 00:41:01.639
On December fifth, nineteen seventy,
after deliberating for four and a half hours,

512
00:41:01.679 --> 00:41:07.639
they convicted thirty five year old Katie
Levina Browder Strickland a first degree murder

513
00:41:07.639 --> 00:41:10.400
for poisoning her mother, Alma.
She was sentenced to life in prison.

514
00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:16.599
At this news, Katie had no
emotional reaction. As soon as the trial

515
00:41:16.719 --> 00:41:22.360
concluded, the local district attorney tried
to indict Katie for her father's murder as

516
00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:28.119
well. The autopsy of Nelson Alexander
Browder had revealed that he too was poisoned

517
00:41:28.119 --> 00:41:31.639
with a large amount of arsenic.
But through some legal footwork that was not

518
00:41:31.760 --> 00:41:37.400
explained in the local newspapers, I
found Katie was cleared of all charges related

519
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:42.480
to her father. Honestly, maybe
the court system was tired of Katie Strickland,

520
00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:45.239
and after all, she was going
to be in prison for the rest

521
00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:49.480
of her life. Perhaps they were
fine to let her get away with this

522
00:41:49.559 --> 00:41:53.719
one murder. That's more unusual these
days. Prosecutors won't hedge their bets that

523
00:41:53.760 --> 00:41:59.719
way in case of appeals. I
wish this story ended here, but it

524
00:42:00.559 --> 00:42:06.199
and that's because in January nineteen seventy
nine, Tennessee's then Governor Ray Blnton made

525
00:42:06.199 --> 00:42:10.360
one of the most shocking political moves
the United States had ever seen. It

526
00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:15.239
was on the front page of almost
every newspaper in the state and many national

527
00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:20.800
papers as well. Five days before
his term ended, he granted clemency to

528
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:24.440
fifty two convicts. Forty two of
them were felons, including twenty three murderers

529
00:42:24.559 --> 00:42:30.039
and fifteen armed robbers. Their sentences
would be reduced by huge amount. Many

530
00:42:30.079 --> 00:42:36.239
of them would immediately be eligible for
parole. As Blanton signed the paperwork putting

531
00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:39.480
these decisions into motion, he was
quoted as saying, this takes guts.

532
00:42:40.159 --> 00:42:44.840
The Secretary of State, who was
in the same room, replied, yeah,

533
00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:50.239
some people have more guts than they've
got brains. Governor Ray Blnton's actions

534
00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:54.639
caused a storm of controversy in Tennessee. The public was outraged, and Blenton's

535
00:42:54.679 --> 00:42:59.760
only explanation was that he was being
pressured by a court order from the state

536
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:05.639
Erection Department to reduce the prison population. It's hard not to wonder if Blanton

537
00:43:05.719 --> 00:43:08.800
was giving the State of Tennessee,
or maybe some of his political opponents,

538
00:43:08.840 --> 00:43:15.320
a big middle finger, or worse, freeing co conspirators. Blanton hadn't run

539
00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:21.440
for reelection in the nineteen seventy eight
election in lieu of pending investigation and scandal.

540
00:43:22.119 --> 00:43:25.280
He eventually served twenty two months in
a federal prison for male fraud,

541
00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:31.840
conspiracy, and extortion in his side
hustle of selling liquor licenses. It was

542
00:43:31.880 --> 00:43:37.039
said that Blaton planned a pardon more
before Lamar Alexander's inauguration five days later,

543
00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:42.400
but the Lieutenant governor and state Speaker
of the House found a loophole in the

544
00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:46.280
state constitution about when a new governor
can be sworn in, so they swore

545
00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:52.440
in Alexander three days early to stop
Blanton. It was jokingly called impeachment Tennessee

546
00:43:52.480 --> 00:43:58.039
style. If you're a longtime Southern
Fraud listener, or maybe someone who has

547
00:43:58.079 --> 00:44:02.159
recently binge listened, you may remember
the governor Ray Blnton's name. I've mentioned

548
00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:06.920
him in at least two other episodes. The first one way back in number

549
00:44:06.960 --> 00:44:12.840
fourteen. Blatton pardoned the convicted killer
of Paula Herring in that episode. But

550
00:44:13.039 --> 00:44:17.519
anyway, Katie Levina Browder benefited from
the corrupt governor, she was no longer

551
00:44:17.599 --> 00:44:22.760
Katie Strickland. Ray had sued her
for divorce two years earlier, in nineteen

552
00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:28.840
seventy seven. He would remarry in
the eighties. Meanwhile, Katie's first degree

553
00:44:28.880 --> 00:44:32.639
murder convictions were knocked down to second
degree murders and her life sentence was reduced

554
00:44:32.679 --> 00:44:37.519
to ten years. The moment that
Tennessee Governor Bletten signed the papers, Katie

555
00:44:37.559 --> 00:44:43.199
was up for parole. Katie was
released from prison on the fourth of July

556
00:44:43.320 --> 00:44:46.800
and nineteen eighty one. At some
point after that, she tried working in

557
00:44:46.840 --> 00:44:51.679
South Carolina at her friend's beauty shop. When that didn't work out, she

558
00:44:51.840 --> 00:44:54.920
ended up in Knoxville, Tennessee.
She got a job at her cousin's mobile

559
00:44:54.960 --> 00:45:00.119
home business. When she was approached
by the Jackson Sun reporters to discuss her

560
00:45:00.119 --> 00:45:02.679
criminal past, she said, I
know it's all public, but I'd rather

561
00:45:02.719 --> 00:45:06.719
not talk about it. It's all
over with and I don't want to bring

562
00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:10.639
it back up. On March first, nineteen ninety five, fifty six year

563
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:15.320
old Katie Browder died from leukemia.
She was buried in the Highland Memorial Cemetery

564
00:45:15.360 --> 00:45:22.039
in Knoxville, Tennessee, and her
obituary is the familiar line proceeded in death

565
00:45:22.079 --> 00:45:25.440
by parents. Of course, they
left out that Katie killed them, which

566
00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:30.400
I have pointed out before is not
unusual. Back when obituaries were the norm,

567
00:45:30.800 --> 00:45:37.280
most family members of murderers didn't list
their crimes. But you would think

568
00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:42.960
a notorious arsenic poisoner would have been
front page news upon her death. However,

569
00:45:43.239 --> 00:45:46.039
Katie Strickland and her victims were apparently
forgotten by history. By then.

570
00:45:47.280 --> 00:45:52.400
The famed arsenic murderess didn't even warrant
the front page when she was pardoned,

571
00:45:52.840 --> 00:45:57.639
swamped by all the other convicts involved
in the scandal. Katie lived a very

572
00:45:57.719 --> 00:46:00.960
quiet life after that, though it
was short, but she did live five

573
00:46:01.039 --> 00:46:05.360
years longer than her mother, who
died a horrific death at her hands.

574
00:46:07.119 --> 00:46:12.519
All of her victims suffered tremendously before
their deaths, while Katie behaved strangely,

575
00:46:13.079 --> 00:46:16.800
or at least seemed indifferent. Sometimes
she is a bit of an enigma,

576
00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:22.559
like many poisoners. With her parents, there was probably a financial motive.

577
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:27.679
That's a modier issue. With her
in laws, who had eight children,

578
00:46:28.400 --> 00:46:34.119
maybe she had gotten a taste for
killing by then she enjoyed watching them suffer.

579
00:46:36.320 --> 00:46:39.559
Who knows what lies in the stony
heart of a poisoner like Katie browder

580
00:46:39.639 --> 00:46:49.719
Strickland. Southern Fried True Crime is
hosted and produced by me Erica Kelly.

581
00:46:49.840 --> 00:46:53.360
Today's episode was researched and written by
Andrea Marshbank and me, and of course

582
00:46:53.400 --> 00:46:58.920
all editorial opinions are my own.
Southern Fried's original music is by Rob Harrison

583
00:46:58.920 --> 00:47:01.719
of a Gamma Radio and the original
graphic art is by Coli Horner. Today's

584
00:47:01.760 --> 00:47:07.719
episode was edited and mixed by Brandon
scheck Snyder of Southern Gothic and Erica Kelly.

585
00:47:07.159 --> 00:47:13.079
The case was recommended by Kathy and
several others. Incidentally, I love

586
00:47:13.159 --> 00:47:17.119
to cover older cases like these,
especially reading those old wedding announcements, but

587
00:47:17.199 --> 00:47:22.400
they do have one problem. Andrea
was worried that we had so much more

588
00:47:22.400 --> 00:47:29.199
biographical information about Katie instead of her
victims. That's not really unusual considering their

589
00:47:29.239 --> 00:47:32.400
ages. Katie was in the paper
all the time about all kinds of things,

590
00:47:32.920 --> 00:47:37.760
especially details about her wedding, all
of which was normal for that era.

591
00:47:37.400 --> 00:47:42.000
Her victims were of a different generation, but we did the best twe

592
00:47:42.119 --> 00:47:45.599
could to humanize them. If you
have any case suggestions, please go to

593
00:47:45.679 --> 00:47:51.960
my website and click on the listener
suggestion tab or email SFTC Research at gmail

594
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:53.840
dot com. You'll get lost in
a sea of emails if you send it

595
00:47:53.880 --> 00:47:57.760
to my main address, so this
is the best way for me to get

596
00:47:57.760 --> 00:48:00.880
those little known cases you'll always send
me. Please remember that I do not

597
00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:06.239
accept suggestions on social media private messages. With three platforms to manage, that

598
00:48:06.360 --> 00:48:09.000
is very overwhelming for me. I
hope you understand, but please come join

599
00:48:09.039 --> 00:48:13.639
our Facebook group, Southern Froud True
Crime Fans Discussion Group, where we swap

600
00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:16.159
recipes, worship Dolly Partner, and
share memes. I much prefer spending my

601
00:48:16.320 --> 00:48:20.800
social media time and our lovely group. We do, of course discuss true

602
00:48:20.800 --> 00:48:22.639
crime, not just Southern fraud,
but all kinds, but it is still

603
00:48:22.719 --> 00:48:27.119
very much a Southern lifestyle group.
Our group is a safe and fun corner

604
00:48:27.119 --> 00:48:29.360
of Facebook, and by god,
we mean it when we say no shut

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00:48:29.360 --> 00:48:31.760
asses allowed. It's not just a
motto, it's how we run the group.

606
00:48:32.199 --> 00:48:37.000
If you enjoy today's show, don't
forget to subscribe and please tell a

607
00:48:37.039 --> 00:48:40.559
friend or rate and review on iTunes. I'm also on all large platforms like

608
00:48:40.599 --> 00:48:45.760
iHeart, Spotify, Amazon, and
Audible. Until next time, thanks so

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00:48:45.880 --> 00:48:49.159
much for listening y'all take care,