Killer Grannies - Season 1 Episode 07- Granny's Killer Gravy
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00:00¡Gracias!
00:30His date is 4.23, 2002, and it's 2.40 p.m. by my watch.
00:35I'd really like to hear, from your standpoint, what happened on that Sunday at the house.
00:42I went by Herman's.
00:44When I got there, he had had a pan of biscuits made, four sausage patties.
00:50He was making some milk gravy.
00:52I started eating.
00:53I got dizzy.
00:55I got nauseated.
00:57My heart was going to jump out of my chest.
00:59I said, Herman, I'm dying.
01:01Call 911.
01:02Something's wrong.
01:03I've never had this feeling before in my life.
01:07An elderly couple, once all a flutter with love.
01:11Now it's a deadly, he said, she said.
01:14He looked up at me and he said, she tried to kill me.
01:18He was so insane in love with me.
01:21He put poison in my food.
01:23A seemingly trustworthy grandma.
01:26Her granddaughter said she was a good woman.
01:28Her son said she was a good woman.
01:31They don't believe their grandmother could kill anyone.
01:34And the surprising story that makes the cops question everything.
01:39His father would get sick, go to the hospital, return to Rowena, get sick again.
01:44Why is he getting sick all the time?
01:47He'd never been sick.
01:48That kind of makes you wonder, is this person who you think she is?
01:53It was a Sunday morning.
02:11A 911 call came from Mudd Wilson's house.
02:14Mudd Wilson was a police officer for 27 years, retiring as a lieutenant with the Waco Police Department.
02:20A lot of people knew Mudd.
02:22Mudd, he was a great cop.
02:24He tells them he's feeling horrible.
02:26Mudd says he was eating breakfast with his girlfriend.
02:29Rowena Ledbetter.
02:31When he suddenly felt faint, now he's having a hard time breathing.
02:35Realizing this is an emergency, paramedics rush to his home.
02:41When the paramedics arrive at Mudd's house, he's in serious distress.
02:46Rowena is not feeling well either.
02:49They said that they were having his favorite breakfast of biscuits and gravy.
02:53And they both got sick at the same time.
02:58There were no obvious signs of anything really that was wrong with them.
03:02They're both elderly.
03:04And it appeared that Mudd was far worse off than Rowena was.
03:07They suspected it could be the food, it could be having a heart attack, blood pressure spiking, a stroke.
03:15So they take Mudd in an ambulance to Providence Health Center.
03:20Rowena, who says she's also not feeling well, resulted in the second ambulance arriving to take her to the hospital.
03:25As the second ambulance arrives for Rowena, neighbors gather, wondering what's going on.
03:32I was coming home from church, and I noticed down the road, right in front of Mr. Wilson's house, there was an ambulance.
03:39And I thought, oh no, something happened to Mr. Wilson.
03:43I asked the ambulance driver, is that Mr. Wilson in there?
03:46And he said, no, it's Rowena.
03:49Oh, I thought, how sad, his girlfriend is sick.
03:52He wasn't in the ambulance.
03:54I thought, well, maybe he went ahead of time or something.
03:57So I thought, I'm going to just go and sit with him in the hospital while he's sitting there with his sick girlfriend.
04:03Now, Roxanne has no idea that Mudd is also being rushed to Providence Health Center, but she heads there anyway.
04:11When Mudd got to the emergency room, he was having serious gastrointestinal problems, lots of pain.
04:18While the doctors were attending to Mudd, doctors in another part of the hospital were attending to Rowena.
04:25They were being treated immediately for some sort of food poisoning.
04:29Meanwhile, as a coincidence, Harold Stieg, a long-time wake-up police officer, was working off-duty as a security guard at the hospital that day.
04:40He heard that Mudd was brought into the hospital.
04:42He went to check on him.
04:45Harold had a conversation with Mudd.
04:48Mudd states that he thought he might have been poisoned.
04:51Harold Stieg takes this all in, and Mudd's very high blood pressure and heart rate tell him Mudd could have been poisoned.
05:00He finds Rowena in the next room, and she's slurring her speech and fading in and out of consciousness.
05:07His police instincts kicked in, and Stieg thinks that it needs to be investigated and contacts the Waco Police Department.
05:14Who would poison these two lovely old people in their home on a Sunday morning?
05:18As Waco police are called to the hospital, Mudd's family hears he's fallen ill.
05:26I got a phone call that he was in the hospital.
05:29Very serious.
05:32So I flew out immediately to Waco.
05:37Herman Mudd Wilson is my uncle on my mother's side.
05:43He was given that nickname, and it stuck at the police force.
05:47But the family never called him Mudd.
05:49He was always Herman.
05:51We were a very, very close-knit family.
05:55Mother was the baby.
05:56Uncle Herman was the middle.
05:58And his older brother was Leighton.
06:01A whole family is born in Waco.
06:05Mudd Wilson married his high school sweetheart, Nell Marie, right after graduation.
06:09And they were married happily for 60 years.
06:13She worked for the Texas Department of Safety.
06:17And he, of course, was the Waco policeman.
06:23Mudd and Nell lived happily in Waco until 1998, when Nell died from an aneurysm.
06:30Poor Mudd was left devastated and alone.
06:35After Nell died, Mudd tried to keep himself busy working as a security guard.
06:40He just talked about how lonely he was and how he'd missed his wife.
06:45I just felt bad for the gentleman.
06:48And so one day I baked my own bread, and I brought some bread and I think some soup over
06:53or something, and just sat and visited with him for a while.
06:56That's when he first told me that he had a girlfriend.
07:02He said her name was Rowena.
07:04She was a nurse.
07:05I'd worked at kind of a nice nursing home just about a mile down the road from where we lived.
07:10Rowena says her husband of 11 years, Dick Ledbetter, had also just passed.
07:37But Dick and Nell were cousins, and Rowena remembered meeting Mudd at a Ledbetter family reunion.
07:44It wasn't long before sparks were flying, and soon enough, Mudd and Rowena were an item.
07:51Once he met Rowena, he was very happy.
07:54She claimed she was 60.
07:56My Uncle Herman was almost 85.
07:59They kept meeting for coffee at his house, and then she would bring him lunch.
08:06After a little while, she would stay overnight with him, and she would stay a couple of days.
08:14Mudd and Rowena dated for about a year.
08:17She was a good cook.
08:18She was a seamstress.
08:20I know she had a son, and he had children, so Rowena was a grandmother.
08:26Rowena's son and grandchildren came from a prior marriage,
08:30and the love she showed for her family caught Mudd's eye.
08:34She was a doting grandmother to two granddaughters, and I think that endeared her to him even more.
08:41With Mudd and Rowena both being in their later years and both recently losing loved ones,
08:45their friends and family members just thought it was sweet that they found someone that they both could enjoy.
08:51I was hoping that it would be a good relationship for him and her both.
08:59With Waco cops on their way, Mudd's neighbor Roxanne arrives at the hospital to support her friends.
09:07When I got to the ER, I asked to see Rowena, and she was laying on a stretcher in the bed.
09:13I said, hello, Rowena, my name's Roxanne, I'm Mr. Wilson's neighbor.
09:19She goes, just startles, and I'm like, oh, that was kind of strange, but I didn't think too much of it.
09:26I looked around the room, and I said, where's Mr. Wilson?
09:29And they said, oh, he's here in the next room.
09:33I didn't think anything negative until I walked into Mr. Wilson's room, and there he is in his own bed.
09:40He looked up at me, and he said, she tried to kill me.
09:46I'm thinking, he must know something that I don't know.
09:50At that point, the cops came in, and they said, we'd like to talk to Mott by himself if I would step out, which I did.
09:59He insists that he had been poisoned.
10:02And this time, he says, he believes it was Rowena who poisoned him.
10:07And may have accidentally poisoned herself.
10:09He says, go search my house.
10:12He gives them permission.
10:14Given Mott's a former Waco PD lieutenant, they trust his word and head straight to his house to take a look around, before they even chat with Rowena.
10:24It's always imperative that you get to the scene of the crime as fast as possible to preserve any evidence.
10:31When officers arrive on scene, they take note that there was no forced entry.
10:36The only thing that appears to be out of sorts is the kitchen.
10:41They saw the breakfast dishes half eaten.
10:45Looks like a meal had been interrupted.
10:46And that's most likely when they got sick and called 911.
10:51Investigators wanted to determine, had that food been tainted?
10:56Was it bad?
10:57Was it poisoned?
10:59Officers take the leftover food and coffee to be tested and continue checking for evidence.
11:05In the kitchen, investigators located a red purse, which contained a pill bottle.
11:12That pill bottle was prescribed to Rowena.
11:15Now, the police know it's not unusual for someone Rowena's age to have a prescription in her purse.
11:22But whatever's in this bottle is not normal.
11:26That pill bottle was designed to hold pills.
11:29It didn't contain pills.
11:31It contained a milky, white, liquid substance.
11:35Is this what's caused this medical emergency?
11:38Was he, in fact, poisoned?
11:40And is she the one that actually did it?
11:43The police head right back to the hospital with the purse and the pill bottle.
11:48They want to find out from Mudd and Rowena exactly what happened.
11:53Mudd is insisting now, more than ever, that Rowena poisoned him.
11:58He also makes an outcry that if he dies, he wants an autopsy.
12:06The investigators at that point make their way to Rowena's room.
12:12She seemed to be fine.
12:14The investigators show her the pill bottle, and she seems surprised that that came out of my purse.
12:21She admits that it's her purse, but she denies that item being hers.
12:31The investigators try to interrogate Rowena more.
12:35She just basically sits there and smiles at them.
12:39Makes them wonder what this sweet old grandma was up to.
12:43An investigation like this, you never want to rule out anything.
12:50She may still be a victim.
12:52She was just a nice, down-to-earth lady.
12:55She was polite.
12:56Rowena was not good for him, and she was trying to get into his will.
13:00Herman always told me, I'm going to have you one way or the other.
13:04With ex-cop Mutt Wilson claiming he's been poisoned, and his girlfriend Rowena Ledbetter saying,
13:17whatever's in that pill bottle isn't hers, detectives just don't know what is and isn't true.
13:23An investigation like this, you never want to rule out anything.
13:27The worst thing you can do is get tunnel vision, because at this point, she may still be a victim.
13:34Trying to suss out Mutt and Rowena's current conditions, investigators follow up with their doctors.
13:41Turns out Rowena has slightly elevated blood pressure, but is otherwise fine.
13:47While Mutt's in much rougher shape, his blood pressure and heart rate are both way too high and won't come down.
13:55The doctors treating Mutt still don't really know if he was poisoned or not.
13:59They really don't know what was wrong with him, but they know that it's serious, and they were very concerned.
14:04I sat with Mr. Wilson for just about six hours, and he seemed to get more and more sleepy and groggy,
14:10and he never asked me about Rowena at all.
14:15I left at six that night when his other neighbor, Mary Willis, came.
14:20Then she sat with him the rest of the evening, and at that point, his breathing and everything was still good,
14:26and so I was hoping that he was going to make it.
14:34Then at nine o'clock that night, he died.
14:36He had passed away before I could get to Waco, and it was, it was sad.
14:51Poor Mutt died without ever seeing Rowena again.
14:56She stayed in her room away from him the entire time.
15:00So the doctors and investigators shift to figuring what might have caused Mutt's death.
15:07They suspect it was a stroke.
15:10When Mutt passed, it changes the scope of the investigation to a potential homicide.
15:17They still don't know how this sweet little old lady may have played into it.
15:22Was it poison?
15:24Was it intentional?
15:25Was it accidental?
15:26Did Mutt die of some other cause?
15:28There's a lot of unanswered questions that they needed to get to the bottom of.
15:33Mutt's body is sent to Dallas for an autopsy,
15:37and the leftover breakfast and pill bottle are sent for testing.
15:41The results will take a few weeks.
15:43As an investigator, your work doesn't stop while you're waiting on the lab.
15:49You have to continue to put that puzzle together.
15:52About the same time, Mutt's family finally arrives from Albuquerque, New Mexico,
15:57and police speak with them before they circle back with Rowena.
16:02When I arrived into Waco, he had already passed on.
16:07My mother and I both went to his house, and the police were already there.
16:11That's when I found out that they were doing an investigation into him being poisoned.
16:21Investigators asked Joanne and her mother if they know what made Mutt think he'd been poisoned.
16:27The ladies have some chilling tales to tell.
16:31Mutt had had similar mystery health scares before.
16:34He started having these spells, they called it.
16:38His generation, they used the term spells.
16:43It was only when she was there that he would have these spells.
16:47And he'd just be so sick.
16:50No energy.
16:51And then it would go away.
16:54And maybe another week, maybe a week and a half, he'd have another.
16:59And this went on for about a month and a half.
17:04He was almost 85.
17:06So I began to wonder, well, why is he getting sick all the time?
17:10He'd never been sick.
17:12Three weeks before Mutt died, he was sent to the hospital with what appeared to be a stroke.
17:19The neighbors called me and said, Herman's in the hospital.
17:23And so I flew out and went to the hospital to visit him.
17:30And he had a black tongue.
17:33I had asked him, what did you eat before you got sick?
17:38And he said, well, Rowena had brought over soup.
17:42And I said, Uncle Herman, isn't it strange that you only get sick when she's around you?
17:48And I specifically said, if you get sick again and they come to pick you up in an ambulance, you tell them, I think that she poisoned me.
18:02But please stop seeing her.
18:05He said, OK, I agree there's something wrong.
18:11I will stop seeing her.
18:12Well, that lasted maybe a week and a half.
18:16And then she was back in his life.
18:20The morning after Mutt's death, poor Joanne and her family struggle with both the terrible loss and the likelihood that Mutt's granny girlfriend killed him.
18:30The cops need to talk to Rowena right away.
18:34Investigators returned to the hospital.
18:36They're met by hospital staff and told that she had already checked out.
18:40After a visit from her husband.
18:44That came as quite a surprise to the investigators because nobody knew that she was married.
18:53Waco police, who are thinking that their former lieutenant, Mutt Wilson, was poisoned,
18:59head back to the hospital to speak with his girlfriend, Rowena Ledbetter.
19:03Rowena was checked out by her husband, Cecil Forsen, and was taken to another hospital.
19:17Is this man a jealous lover?
19:20Does he know about Mutt?
19:21Does he know where Mutt lives?
19:24Does he have access to that house?
19:25Did he tamper with the food?
19:27You can't force an investigation to fit your narrative.
19:32You have to find out what's going on.
19:35Hospital staff say that Cecil told them he and Rowena have only been married for two months.
19:41With all kinds of new questions swirling, the cops are tempted to shift their focus to Cecil.
19:47But they keep their sights set on Rowena.
19:50After learning that Rowena is actually married and maybe not telling the whole truth about other things,
19:56police just wondered what else this sweet old grandma was to tell the truth about.
20:02What more was there to be learned about Rowena Ledbetter?
20:05Before tracking Rowena down, police speak with Mutt's loved ones
20:10to see what they can gather about his relationship with her.
20:14Mutt's neighbors, Mary and Everett Willis, reported to the police
20:18that Mutt had to take out a reverse mortgage on his home
20:21because he had drained his life savings
20:24paying for his wife's medical expenses during her battle with cancer.
20:29Just two short weeks after Mutt received the money from his reverse mortgage,
20:34Rowena showed up at the home
20:35and a short time later they were involved in a relationship.
20:41Rowena, on multiple occasions, was supposed to move in with Mutt.
20:46However, every time that occasion rolled around,
20:51she had an excuse why she couldn't.
20:53One of her main excuses that she leaned on was the fact that
20:57had she moved in with him,
20:59she would have lost her late husband's retirement and Social Security.
21:04Mary was pretty negative about Rowena.
21:07Said Rowena was not good for him and she was trying to get into his will.
21:11Mutt's attorney, John Malone, told police that Mutt asked him several times
21:18to either put Rowena in the will or take her out.
21:22The final time Mutt and Rowena visited his office,
21:25it was two days before Mutt died
21:27and the reason they were there was so he could put Rowena back into Mutt's will.
21:32In the final version of his will, Mutt left Rowena the house
21:37in spite of his friends' and family's concerns.
21:41Even after we had told him,
21:44Uncle Herman, stay away from this lady, something's wrong,
21:48he couldn't.
21:49She made him feel like a young man again,
21:52that he was worth something.
21:56Investigators from Waco PD received a phone call from Ronnie Rigney,
21:59who was Mutt's friend.
22:03Mutt had confided in him that in the days prior
22:06to that Sunday morning breakfast,
22:09that he was having financial troubles.
22:11Part of that was brought on by a white Lincoln town car
22:16that he had purchased for Rowena.
22:21Ronnie then shares a surprising new tidbit about Rowena.
22:25Mutt had confided in him that she had been indicted for theft in 2001.
22:33While she was working as a vocational nurse
22:35at Ridgecrest Retirement Center,
22:37she would enter the rooms of some of these patients
22:40and took $20,000 worth of collectibles
22:44such as Hummel figurines, pocket watches, jewelry.
22:48She even took a painting off the wall
22:50of one of the residents there.
22:51After looking into the public records,
22:55police found out that the charges against Rowena
22:57remained pending,
22:59but the state licensing board revoked
23:00her certification to be a nurse.
23:03We don't know what this woman was thinking.
23:05All we do know is that
23:07who she presented publicly
23:09and who she was privately,
23:12there's a lot of dissonance there.
23:14A lot of the things they found were troubling
23:15and it really made them wonder
23:17what this woman who appeared to be
23:19just the sweet old grandma was up to.
23:22Evidence against Rowena is piling up,
23:25but the cops still haven't figured out
23:27what's going on with her and Cecil.
23:29They find out that she's back at home
23:31in their duplex.
23:33We found out that even though they were married,
23:36she lived on one side of the duplex
23:38and he lived on the other.
23:40Detectives get eyes on Rowena
23:42and ask her to come down to the station.
23:46What do you know?
23:46She agrees.
23:48I'd really like to hear,
23:50from your standpoint,
23:52what happened on that Sunday at the house.
24:00Well aware of Rowena Ledbetter's
24:03shady business and rap sheet,
24:06Waco police sit her down
24:07to have a little chat.
24:09What we know about her
24:10is that she seems
24:12to be this one person,
24:15this nice person,
24:16incapable of doing
24:18what she's accused of.
24:20But when you start digging in the weeds
24:22and you see some of the decisions
24:24she's making behind everybody else's back,
24:27it's very suspicious.
24:28My name's Detective January.
24:31I'd really like to hear,
24:34from your standpoint,
24:35what happened on that Sunday at the house.
24:39I went by Herman's.
24:41When I got there,
24:42he had had a pan of biscuits made,
24:45four sausage patties.
24:48He was making some milk gravy.
24:50She conveyed to law enforcement officers
24:52that her reason for going to see Mutt that day
24:56was to let him know
24:58that she wasn't going to move in with him
25:00and that she was going to call off
25:02the relationship with Mutt.
25:05I said, Herman,
25:06our relationship is going to have to end
25:10because I'm married
25:11and it's been a problem for me
25:13since February
25:14and he got very angry.
25:18First of all,
25:18he didn't know you were married.
25:20Till that day.
25:21She told investigators
25:23she hadn't informed Mutt
25:25about her marriage to Cecil
25:27because her and Cecil
25:28were having problems.
25:30I told Herman,
25:31said, we've made up.
25:34And I said,
25:35I'm not going to be able
25:37to live in with you.
25:39As a matter of fact,
25:40I'm going to quit coming over here
25:42because it's causing me too much problems.
25:46He was over there
25:47stirring the milk gravy
25:48and I could tell he was mad.
25:51I set my purse down,
25:52went to the bathroom.
25:53He said, well, eat a little bit anyway.
25:56And I said, okay.
25:58Okay.
25:59Rowena continues to tell investigators
26:01that she decided to sit down and eat.
26:03I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest.
26:14And I said,
26:15Herman, I'm dying.
26:16Call 911.
26:17Something's wrong.
26:18I've never had this feeling before in my life.
26:21I feel like Herman decided he couldn't have me
26:28and I feel like he poisoned me.
26:31He put poison in my food.
26:33Why would he poison you?
26:37And why would he poison himself?
26:38Because he knew I wasn't coming back.
26:41Because he loved me so much.
26:43He really loved me.
26:45And Herman always told me,
26:48I'm going to have you one way or the other.
26:51It's evident that Rowena is laying the groundwork
26:55for what appeared to be a murder-suicide initiated by Mudd.
27:02Not buying Rowena's story,
27:05including the he said, she said
27:07about who made breakfast that morning,
27:10Detective January switches things up,
27:13trying to see if there's any similar funny business with Cecil.
27:16He asks about all of her exes.
27:20How many marriages have you had?
27:22I'm thinking I've been married five times.
27:25Okay.
27:26Do you remember your husband's?
27:28Bill Hoover was my first one.
27:29First?
27:30And then I married Arthur Vintansic.
27:34I remarried Bill Hoover.
27:37He was your third one?
27:38Mm-hmm.
27:39And then H.C. Deaton.
27:42He's passed away now.
27:44And then I married Kenneth Monk.
27:46And then after that, I married Dick Ledbetter.
27:49And then I married Cecil Thorson.
27:54And that's it.
27:55You've been married to Cecil since February,
27:58so about three months?
27:59About three months.
28:01They met when his former wife
28:04was a resident at Ridgecrest Retirement Center.
28:09That's also where Rowena committed theft in 2001.
28:15January asked Rowena,
28:18why, if she was already married,
28:20did she want to be in Herman's will?
28:22Herman and I, we were going to get married in February
28:25before I married my husband.
28:27And so I said, Herman, I will move in with you.
28:30I don't want your money.
28:32I said, the only thing I would like
28:33is for you just to put the house in my name
28:38and said, in case something happens to you,
28:40I don't want to have to be kicked out.
28:43Okay.
28:43Herman and I were going to get married.
28:45We took out a marriage license,
28:47but I didn't let it go through.
28:50Why?
28:51Because Cecil Thorson,
28:54I liked Herman as a friend.
28:57But as far as being in love with Herman, no.
29:00And I never did want to hurt his feelings
29:04because he was such a good fellow.
29:10Suddenly, the cops have new doubts swirling.
29:13Is it possible she's telling the truth
29:15and Mutt poisoned them both to frame her?
29:19Or does she have all of them wrapped around her finger?
29:23A person who's been married seven times,
29:25you have to wonder,
29:26so what is it about them, perhaps,
29:28that they can't stay married?
29:30Does she pick abusive men?
29:32Some women do that.
29:33You know, they go from one abusive relationship
29:35to another.
29:36Or is she one who picks men who are vulnerable
29:39that she can be in charge of?
29:42And it happens again and again and again.
29:44Why?
29:45What does it say about her?
29:47The amount of calm in her
29:49while she was being interviewed,
29:51it raises the question,
29:53is she experienced?
29:55Has she done this before?
29:57The police just need more info.
30:00They turn to her loved ones.
30:03Police later interviewed members of Rowena's family,
30:06including her granddaughters,
30:08Crystal and Michelle.
30:10The granddaughters sing Rowena's praises,
30:12saying that she was a great grandmother,
30:14a loving person.
30:15What do you expect her grandmother to be?
30:18They don't believe their grandmother
30:19could kill anyone.
30:23Investigators also spoke to Rowena's sister,
30:26Patty Kruger,
30:27who also sang her praises
30:28and said that Rowena was a talented
30:31and gifted caretaker.
30:33She loved people
30:34and that everything she did
30:36was, quote,
30:36just perfect.
30:38The contrasting portraits
30:40they were getting of Rowena
30:41left them wondering
30:43if they were on the right track.
30:45Hueco police decided to dig into the background
30:47of Rowena's seven prior marriages
30:50and a lot of the things they found
30:53were troubling.
30:58Of course, now,
31:02Waco police hear only rave reviews
31:04of Rowena from her family.
31:07They decide it's time
31:08to dig deeper into her exes.
31:11The fact that she's been married
31:12that many times
31:13tells us that there's something wrong
31:15with the way she attaches to people.
31:17What was it about those other relationships?
31:19How did they go bad?
31:21One of those marriages
31:23was to a man named Kenneth Malk.
31:26My father met Rowena
31:28in 1983.
31:29They were married in 1984.
31:32I knew she had her son, Billy,
31:35and Billy had daughters,
31:36so she did have grandchildren.
31:39I liked everything about her.
31:41She was just a nice, down-to-earth lady.
31:43She was polite.
31:44She seemed to be always there.
31:46She needed something.
31:48When I re-enlisted in the Marine Corps
31:50and went on deployment on ship
31:52to the Mediterranean,
31:54there were two times
31:55that she baked cookies
31:57and sent them out.
31:59That was very thoughtful of her.
32:01Despite a happy start
32:03for the new family,
32:04it wasn't long
32:05before Kenneth decided
32:07Rowena couldn't be trusted.
32:09She was forging my dad's name
32:11on credit card applications.
32:13My dad did not like credit cards.
32:17He paid everything in cash.
32:20When he found out about it,
32:22that was just a non-trust issue,
32:26and once you have a non-trust,
32:28it's time to move on.
32:30That's when he started
32:31the divorce proceedings.
32:33When I found out why I got divorced,
32:35I was in shock.
32:36It just didn't seem like her.
32:38After the divorce in 1986,
32:42the Mocs decidedly
32:43did not keep in touch with Rowena.
32:46But news of Mutt's death travels,
32:49and the family of her next husband,
32:51Dick Ledbetter,
32:52has a few allegations of their own.
32:55Dick Ledbetter's son,
32:57Phil,
32:58contacts authorities
32:59with the concerns
33:01that his father
33:01may have also been poisoned.
33:04Phil told police
33:08that his father
33:08married Rowena
33:09seven months
33:10after his mother died,
33:12and he was shocked
33:13at how quickly
33:14his father remarried.
33:17Dick's former wife
33:18was a resident
33:20at Ridgecrest Retirement Center,
33:23where Rowena was employed
33:24as a vocational nurse.
33:27Phil said that
33:27after his father
33:28married Rowena,
33:30his father grew
33:30more and more isolated.
33:32Phil stated
33:34that his father
33:35would get sick,
33:36go to the hospital,
33:38return to Rowena,
33:40get sick again,
33:41and that cycle
33:42continued
33:43over and over.
33:46And then following
33:46his father's death,
33:48Rowena took everything.
33:50Heirlooms,
33:52purple hearts,
33:53things that mattered
33:53to the family.
33:55Rowena walked off
33:55with them
33:56and kept them.
33:58As an investigator,
33:59you have to take
34:00allegations like this
34:01seriously.
34:02Almost always
34:03older women
34:03who kill
34:04do so
34:05in nonviolent means.
34:06Poisoning is
34:07a prime example
34:08of how you can
34:09kill somebody
34:09nonviolently.
34:11And if in her history
34:13she had success
34:14in gaining
34:16material things
34:17from men
34:18and it worked
34:20and she was able
34:21to move on
34:22to another relationship,
34:23she's going to feel
34:24rewarded
34:24and it keeps her
34:26moving along
34:26that same path.
34:27with Rowena
34:30once again
34:31in the hot seat,
34:32investigators
34:32finally speak
34:33with her current
34:34hubby,
34:35Cecil.
34:35They want to know
34:37what,
34:37if anything,
34:38he knows.
34:40Cecil told police
34:41that he was shocked
34:42to learn
34:43that she was
34:44seeing another man.
34:45Cecil says
34:46that he had
34:47absolutely
34:47no knowledge
34:49of Mutt
34:49until Rowena
34:51and Mutt
34:51were hospitalized
34:52at the same time.
34:54Cecil is
34:55embarrassed to death
34:56because
34:57here he is
34:58married to the woman
34:59suspected
35:00of poisoning
35:01her boyfriend.
35:03He felt tricked
35:04and he had
35:06planned to file
35:06for divorce
35:07immediately.
35:09Investigators
35:10can't link
35:11Cecil forced
35:12into Mutt
35:12or the crime scene
35:14or any
35:15involvement at all.
35:17Investigators
35:17decided at that point
35:19Cecil was
35:19no longer
35:20a person
35:20of interest
35:21in this case.
35:22With the now
35:23very real possibility
35:25that Mutt
35:26isn't Rowena's
35:27first victim,
35:28police are desperate
35:29for those test results
35:30to prove
35:31that she poisoned him.
35:33On May 17th,
35:34investigators
35:35were made aware
35:36that the results
35:37of the toxicology
35:38were available.
35:40It was determined
35:41that the food samples
35:43and the coffee samples
35:44contained a high
35:45concentration
35:46of a poison
35:48called
35:49bendiocarb.
35:50It was also
35:51discovered
35:52that tissue samples
35:53taken from Mutt
35:54contained the same poison.
35:58Lastly,
36:00the milky white substance
36:01in the pill bottle
36:02located in Rowena's purse
36:04was determined
36:06to be
36:06bendiocarb.
36:07They take that bendiocarb
36:11and they want to know
36:13where it comes from.
36:15They find out
36:15that one of the places
36:17it comes from
36:18is Vicam W,
36:20which is an insecticide
36:22used to kill
36:23fire ants
36:24as well as other critters.
36:26on May 22nd,
36:29the medical examiner's report
36:31lists
36:32Mutt Wilson's death
36:34as insecticide poisoning
36:36and considers
36:37the manner of death
36:38a homicide.
36:42The following day,
36:43Rowena Ledbetter
36:44is arrested
36:45for the murder
36:46of Mutt Wilson.
36:47I thought,
36:50what a relief.
36:51So now,
36:52we know
36:53what killed him
36:55and we know
36:56she's going to be
36:57convicted.
36:59At least,
36:59we hoped.
37:01Once Rowena's arrested,
37:04the case lands
37:05on Senior Prosecutor
37:06Mike Freeman's desk.
37:08But Mike thinks
37:09they're missing
37:10a key piece of evidence.
37:12We had the poison
37:13in the food.
37:14We had it in the pill bottle.
37:16The pill bottle
37:17being in her purse
37:18is a connection.
37:19But I want
37:20a strong connection.
37:21I want the jury
37:21to be convinced
37:22beyond all reasonable doubt.
37:25The only way
37:26that you could establish
37:27that as the ultimate poison
37:29was to have her acquiring it.
37:32We had to put the chemical
37:33in her hands.
37:42In order to eliminate
37:43all reasonable doubt
37:45that Rowena Ledbetter
37:46is guilty,
37:48Prosecutor Mike Freeman
37:49needs proof
37:50that she intentionally
37:52acquired the poison
37:53she used on Mutt.
37:55The police department
37:56begins to search
37:57where can we locate
38:00Bendio Garber
38:01via ChemW
38:02that is attached
38:03to Rowena's name.
38:06They get a call.
38:08And the call
38:09is from a guy
38:10named Brad Hyman
38:11at Estes Incorporated.
38:13He says,
38:14I looked into our records
38:15that show
38:16that Rowena Ledbetter
38:17purchased
38:18the ChemW
38:20in late 1999
38:22and 2000.
38:24There were three boxes of it,
38:26each box containing
38:2710 packets
38:29that puts the chemical
38:30in her hands.
38:33This is the key
38:34to proving this case.
38:37Once they linked
38:38that poison to Rowena,
38:40police and prosecutors
38:41decide to circle back
38:43and see if maybe
38:44Dick Ledbetter
38:45was poisoned too.
38:47Mr. Ledbetter's body
38:48was exhumed
38:49and the police
38:51said the results
38:52were inconclusive.
38:54We just couldn't
38:56come up with enough
38:57evidence to prosecute
38:58that case.
38:59It's an unfortunate
39:01setback with Dick Ledbetter,
39:02but Rowena's trial
39:04for Mutt's murder
39:05begins
39:06and in opening statements
39:08her defense
39:09is clear.
39:10Defense attorney
39:11John Donahue
39:11tells the jury
39:12Rowena's version
39:14of what happened
39:14that day.
39:16Mutt was suicidally
39:17depressed
39:18after the death
39:19of his wife
39:19and learning
39:21that Rowena
39:22was married,
39:23Mutt actually
39:24had it poisoned her
39:25and framed her
39:26as only an experienced
39:28law enforcement officer
39:29could do.
39:30The only information
39:32the defense gave
39:33the jury
39:34was that she's
39:35a good grandmother,
39:36she's a good mother
39:37and she sat there
39:40mildly smiling
39:42the entire time.
39:44But it just really
39:45didn't touch upon
39:46the events
39:46of the case.
39:48Once the prosecution
39:50and defense
39:51finish their arguments,
39:53the jury heads off
39:54to deliberate.
39:56The jury
39:57in Rowena Ledbetter's
39:58case
39:59deliberates
40:0030 minutes
40:01before coming back
40:01with her verdict.
40:03I was sitting there
40:05next to Detective January
40:06and they announced
40:08guilty
40:09and I can remember
40:10just
40:12so relieved
40:15and glad
40:15and my hand
40:16landed on
40:17poor Detective January's
40:20leg
40:21and I was squeezing it.
40:23Bless his heart.
40:25Just relieved,
40:27excited and glad
40:29that the jury
40:30could see
40:31the evil
40:31in this lady.
40:35It didn't take them
40:36long to come back
40:37with a life sentence.
40:39I was glad
40:41when she was given
40:42life in prison
40:43because I wanted her
40:45to sit there
40:46in prison
40:47and suffer
40:48for the rest
40:50of her life.
40:51but
40:52she didn't suffer
40:54long enough.
40:58Just months
40:59after Rowena
40:59being sentenced
41:00to life in prison,
41:02Rowena died
41:03by choking
41:04on her own vomit
41:05at Texas Department
41:06of Criminal Justice.
41:07The report
41:08from the penitentiary
41:09where she was held
41:10indicated that
41:11she died
41:12from choking
41:13while consuming food.
41:21With Rowena
41:23dead,
41:24everyone
41:24in her
41:25destructive path
41:26is left behind
41:28to deal
41:28with the terrible
41:29aftermath.
41:31My brother
41:32or my dad
41:32told me that
41:34she had passed
41:35away in prison
41:36and the reason
41:37that she was there.
41:40That was
41:41hard for me
41:42to believe
41:43that the lady
41:45I knew
41:45those few years
41:46when she was married
41:47to my father
41:47would actually
41:49commit murder.
41:52We did bury him
41:54with his
41:54police hat
41:56on his chest.
41:59He loved
41:59the police force
42:00to the end
42:01all his life.
42:04That's what
42:05he lived for.
42:07When I was
42:08sitting with
42:08Mr. Wilson
42:09at the hospital
42:10he talked
42:10about his faith
42:11and that
42:12everything would
42:12be okay.
42:14He knew
42:14he was going
42:15to heaven
42:15and he
42:16sees wife
42:17again.
42:19It really
42:20angers me
42:21when someone
42:22like Rowena
42:23will be so
42:24manipulative
42:25and come
42:26and take
42:26advantage of
42:27a poor
42:28old man
42:29who has just
42:30lost a wife
42:31of 60 years
42:32that is really
42:34a despicable
42:34thing for me
42:35to see someone
42:36doing something
42:37like that.
42:38Not a good
42:39grandmother.
42:40a good
42:52girl.
42:53After
42:54little
42:54mother
42:55nothing
42:57can
42:57do
42:58you
42:58remember
42:58she
42:59said
43:00?
43:01By
43:02highway
43:02transferred
43:03from
43:03ho
43:04to
43:05the
43:05Christian
43:06father
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