I have always wondered if there was any new info or any arrests in this case. I finally found an article (a few years old) but apparently no updates. Its still being investigated thankfully through a cold case unit. Here's the part of the article that pertains to her:

Posted on Wed, Nov. 17, 2004

Arlington police create cold case division

By Susan Schrock

Star-Telegram Staff Writer


ARLINGTON -- Patsy Wright sometimes drank a capful of Nyquil to help her sleep.

Hours after she took a dose on Oct. 22, 1987 she became violently ill. She telephoned her sister, saying something was "really, really wrong."

Investigators know the 43-year-old Arlington woman's Nyquil was laced with strychnine, but 17 years later, who put it there remains a mystery.

Wright's children's belief that their mother's killer will be caught got a boost this month when Arlington police created a cold case unit to review 76 unsolved murders dating back to 1968.

"I hope we find out who did this so we can put it to rest and move on," said Wright's daughter, Leslie Potenzo. "It would give so much peace to our family."

Sgt. Mark Simpson, Arlington's homicide supervisor, spent three years trying to create a full-time investigative team dedicated to probing unsolved murder cases. Simpson said some of the slayings were not sufficiently investigated because homicide detectives were overwhelmed by heavy workloads. In addition to investigating murders, homicide detectives are also responsible for investigating robbery, kidnapping and adult missing persons cases.

"We have a responsibility to investigate homicides as far as humanly possible to bring the families resolution," Simpson said.

Arlington is among dozens of large cities nationwide that have created cold case units. The Fort Worth Police Department's is reviewing 767 unsolved homicides that date back to 1966. Kansas City police created a cold case unit 18 months ago and have already solved 39 cases.

Thanks for that article!

That case has always baffled me. Someone putting poison in a woman's cold medicine...? And the 2 dinner plates in her room....The killer had to be someone very close to her and one she, perhaps, confided details. A secret boyfriend...?:confused:

I don't totally buy the theory UM stated that Patsy had someone in her bedroom that night. All they showed was two plates on a tray. There could have been a miriad of reasons why Patsy used two plates. I think if someone were there with her shortly before she drank the Nyquil, she probably would have mentioned it to her sister on the phone before she collapsed. I've always thought the ex-husband was responsible. Either he or someone he hired went in earlier in the day or maybe even a few days earlier and put it in the Nyquil. They said Patsy was set to testify against him soon in some sort of trial and she had noticed him driving slowly or even parked outside her house shortly before she died. Being he had been married to Patsy prior he definitely would have known her habit of taking Nyquil when she couldn't sleep and would possibly have known the best way to enter the home. Just my opinion.

The killer had to be someone very close to her and one she, perhaps, confided details. A secret boyfriend...?:confused:

I couldn't agree more. The thought of the killer being a total stranger would be hard to sell. Someone had to have known Patsy well enough to know her habit of taking cough medicine whenever she had trouble falling asleep.

The idea of a secret boyfriend has crossed my mind. It's possible that she was dating someone unbeknownst to everyone close to her, and that the person's identity has never been known because of it.

It's also possible that the cops have suspected other people, but don't have enough evidence to charge them, or even publicly disclose their names.

Sorry thought I had found a link but it was wrong - the Patricia I found was only 13 when she was murdered.

Sorry for bringing up an old case!

Found one interesting link anyway -

Grand Prairie - Palace of Wax and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. - Reported to be haunted by victims of a fire, there have been strange noises like bells ringing, someone screaming, whispering or talking and the feelings of strange presences. Also electrical malfunctions are said to be a common occurrence and motion detectors go off all the time, but when security investigates, nothing is out of the ordinary. Authors Note: I lived across the street from this museum when it caught on fire. My (then) husband and I and ran over to see if we could help. No one died in this fire, so there are no logical reasons for this haunting. I don’t live there anymore, but I do intend to go check it out.

Thanks to Selby Schwend who writes: Even though there was no one killed in the fire itself, the event is surrounded in mystery since one of the owners was murdered a year before the fire. Her name was Patsy Wright and she was poisoned with strychnine that was put into some medicine she was taking. Three years before that, in 1984, Patsy's manager and director of marketing at the wax museum, Lori Ann Williams, died mysteriously. Both bodies were later exhumed to determine the cause of death and if they were related. These poisons evidently don't show up without a urine test. The results were inconclusive. There is a lot more mystery there than can be imagined. Another event occurred just after the fire when a man, Stanley Lester Poyner, was caught stealing a ledger book from the rubble. He had been previously arrested for arson and was later shot and killed by Dallas Police in 1991. Lots of murder and intrigue
associated with this one and I suppose quite a few spirits looking for
closure or justice or both.


http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:oVApqCk10_oJ:riptx.dns2go.com/texas.htm+patsy+wright+strychnine&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=3

to be off topic, but Starlette did you ever see the Loch Ness Monster ?

haha unfortunately not. I am back in Sydney now but lived in Scotland for 2 years. We went to Loch Ness but were sadly disappointed.

Maybe next time!

I spoke with someone recently who is more familiar with the case. Apparently the wax museum Patsy owned with her sister burned down not long after Patsy was killed. He had some other interesting facts about the case and he has given me permission to post this:

"There are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the events that
occurred before, during and after the wax museum fire of September
1988.
Not only was Patsy Wright, one of the owners of the museum, poisoned
(October, 1987) by an, as yet, unidentified suspect, there was another
death prior to Patsy's that was equally intriguing. It involved Patsy's
administrative assistant Lori Ann Williams (age 23) who died suddenly
and without apparent reason following an appendectomy in 1984. Her body
was exhumed in 1989 to determine if she had also been poisoned, but the
results were inconclusive. Strychnine or Arsenic poisoning can
evidently
only be determined by testing a fresh corpse or through a urine test,
neither of which existed. Even more bizarre was the case of a man named
Stanley Lester Poyner who was arrested 2 weeks after the fire for
trying
to retrieve a ledger book from the ashes. There were gun remnants worth
thousands and thousands of dollars in the rubble and Mr. Poyner is
arrested for stealing a ledger book? The investigation revealed a
connection between Poyner and Wright. Poyner was the lead suspect as
well in the case for arson of the museum. He was ultimately released
due
to lack of evidence. He was also a suspect in the death of Patsy Wright
but never charged. Poyner was later shot and killed by Dallas Police
after they attempted to re-arrest him for more questioning. He
attempted
to run down a police officer to evade capture and was shot to death.
All
this information was taken from the archives of the Dallas Morning
News.
The investigative reporter was Al Brumley, who provided me with many of
the articles. I believe the fire was deliberately set to collect the
insurance and to fund the construction of a new facility and new museum
which by 1988 was very worn out after 25 years. I believe that Patsy
Wright was against the plan to torch the place and paid for that with
her life. She also would have been entitled to half the proceeds of any
insurance settlement. All the motives are there.

The sad part for me was that my family gun collection burned in that
fire and I've been on the search for remnants since 1989. Please see
www.schwendguns.us for the results. Thanks again for all your help.
Please let me know if you have any other questions."

The whole fact that this centers around poisoning makes this one of my personal favorites........like Agatha Christie, I've got a certain 'fascination' with poisonings & what not.

This is quite puzzling though.......

1) Like RS said.....the powder version of strychnine is the most tightly regulated in the US and there are only 600 or so places in the country who deal with it. So I think, finding out who had the necessary credentials/contacts/whatever needed to obtain this, would help narrow the suspect list down......to me, the only two people who could've done it were either a) Robert Cox, Patsy's ex husband or b) this Stanley Poyner character......however noone really knows how easy it would've been for either guy to get their hands on some strychnine

2) Like CrystalDawn........I'm leaning towards the theory that there was a plan to burn one of the museums and then use the insurance proceeds to rebuild it. Now whether Poyner was one of the key players who was privy to the plot, or whether he was just the guy hired to torch the place, I don't know..........but I believe that Patsy's stance on not committing insurance fraud made her a liability and the other party/parties to this plot decided things would be a whole lot easier for them if she was snuffed out.

Who was Stanley Poyner though?? Could he have been a secret 'boyfriend' to Patsy? In any event, things will no doubt be alot harder, if not impossible to figure out given that Poyner was shot to death down in Dallas........

Well I have a hard time believing it was a total stranger that poisoned Patsy. The only way I would buy that would be if the stranger was hired by someone Patsy knew quite well. From what I have seen when someone decides to poison another person it is very personal. A lot of times when someone is poisoned it is actually a spouse or an ex-spouse doing it. Another infamous case in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with poison occurred when Nancy Lyon died in 1991. Her husband Richard Lyon was convicted at the end of 1991 of poisoning his wife to death slowly over the course of several months with arsenic. Lyon was sentenced to life in prison in 1992 and became eligible for parole late last year. Lyon was busted because he had forged receipts from the place he had the arsenic bought from. Richard did not buy the arsenic but he tried to forge the receipts to make it look like his wife had bought it to as he said "kill fire ants." However it was the woman that Richard was having an affair with that actually bought the poison. That is why I have a hard time believing whoever killed Patsy would buy the poison themselves. I imagine they had someone buy it for them.

Wow. I had no idea Patsy's co-worker died mysteriously also, and then the fire. Definitely some strange goings on here.

Other posters have mentioned the possibility of a secret boyfriend, which is definitely possible. Also, an idea I just thought of is that it could be somebody she was dating for the first time. A similar theory surfaced in the Gayle Delano case (until they learned she committed suicide in a state far from where she lived, and checked into a motel under an assumed name.)


However, if I had to lean towards somebody being guilty, it would have to be Poyner. It seemed like Patsy was too nice of a person to make any real enemies, so the insurance/museum motive seems to be one of only a few possible motives. However, I don't trust the ex-husband at all, and think he should remain a key suspect.

Patsy Wright was not the only one who passed away in that horrible incident...In 1984 My Aunt, Lori Williams passed away Mysteriously. She was Patsy's Art director and worked with Patsy very Closley. So mayn\be I can help you guys...Coming from a family member....Ill give you some information... NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT EITHER ONE OF THIER DEATHS. they were both wonderful Ladies and the dont deserve people trying to pry into things that they know nothing about. My Aunt left this earth happy...and I dont believe that she did stay behind to haunt the museum like people are saying....please let them rest and leave it alone

Patsy Wright was not the only one who passed away in that horrible incident...In 1984 My Aunt, Lori Williams passed away Mysteriously. She was Patsy's Art director and worked with Patsy very Closley. So mayn\be I can help you guys...Coming from a family member....Ill give you some information... NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT EITHER ONE OF THIER DEATHS. they were both wonderful Ladies and the dont deserve people trying to pry into things that they know nothing about. My Aunt left this earth happy...and I dont believe that she did stay behind to haunt the museum like people are saying....please let them rest and leave it alone
Leslie, thank you for posting. It is my understanding that you do not want your aunt's death or Ms. Wright's death further investigated. Is that true? I assure you that no one here is trying to "pry" into anyone's private life. Ms. Wright's case was featured on a public television show, and the people on this message board truly care about these cases being solved. We've had many family members of victims visit the message board and we try to be as sensitive as possible.

What has always bothered me about this case is: How did this person get into Patsy's home without detection? Wouldn't she have noticed that someone was in her home, and or had moved stuff around? I am a pretty observant person, and I know that I could tell if someone has been in my home or not. Don't you think this person would have left some evidence of being there of some kind (besides the poisoned laced Nyquil)? And if it was done after Patsy arrived home she would have had to been incompacitaded in order for her to allow someone to lace her cold medicine. I am assuming that she didn't take the Nyquil every night or she probably would have died sooner than she did. We have no way of knowing how long the poison sat in that bottle before it was consumed? And why would someone have picked the cold medicine? If your going to poison someone, wouldn't you do it to a more common item i.e one that's found in a refrigerator or pantry? Such as some kind of food item, or soft drink? That is just strange to me why just out of the blue the killer would have picked the cold medicine.

What has always bothered me about this case is: How did this person get into Patsy's home without detection? Wouldn't she have noticed that someone was in her home, and or had moved stuff around? I am a pretty observant person, and I know that I could tell if someone has been in my home or not. Don't you think this person would have left some evidence of being there of some kind (besides the poisoned laced Nyquil)? And if it was done after Patsy arrived home she would have had to been incompacitaded in order for her to allow someone to lace her cold medicine. I am assuming that she didn't take the Nyquil every night or she probably would have died sooner than she did. We have no way of knowing how long the poison sat in that bottle before it was consumed? And why would someone have picked the cold medicine? If your going to poison someone, wouldn't you do it to a more common item i.e one that's found in a refrigerator or pantry? Such as some kind of food item, or soft drink? That is just strange to me why just out of the blue the killer would have picked the cold medicine.

A lot of your questions are addressed in the segment. They believe the killer may have known Patsy well. When her family arrived at her house, it appear that two people had been eating dinner. Whether the 2nd person was the killer or not is unknown, but no one came forward to say that they had eaten with Patsy that night. Anyway, there was probably no break-in because the killer didn't have to break in.

Patsy's family said that those who were close to her knew that Patsy had a habit of taking cold medicine to get to sleep. This also fits in with the profile of a killer who knew her well. They wouldn't have to incapacitate her to get to the cold medicine, they'd just have to excuse themselves to go to the bathroom, close the door behind them, and open the medicine cabinet.

You're right...there's no way of knowing how long the poison was in the cold medicine, and that would probably work to the killer's advantage. If you knew about the cold medicine habit, you'd know it was a better delivery system than food. Food is expected to taste good. If it tasted bad, you would instanty spit it out or stop eating it. The cold medicine is taken in one shot b/c everyone knows it doesn't taste good.

Anyway, whoever killed Patsy spent a lot of time thinking it through. So far, they've gotten away with it. Sad.

Strychnine is colorless and tasteless, so if it would have been laced in her food or drink she wouldn't have been able to taste it anyway.

What has always bothered me about this case is: How did this person get into Patsy's home without detection?

Not necessarily that hard.

Wouldn't she have noticed that someone was in her home, and or had moved stuff around?

If the killer were smart, and he apparently was, he wouldn't touch a damn thing other than the Nyquil.

I am a pretty observant person, and I know that I could tell if someone has been in my home or not. Don't you think this person would have left some evidence of being there of some kind (besides the poisoned laced Nyquil)?

I'm sure you are observant, but that doesn't tell us much about Patsy :) And in any event, if this person came in with a purpose - to poison her Nyquil but touch nothing else - how could she have been expected to notice anything amiss? Would you really be able to tell if someone broke into your home, poisoned the milk, and then left, touching nothing else?

And if it was done after Patsy arrived home she would have had to been incompacitaded in order for her to allow someone to lace her cold medicine.

Unless she knew whoever did it, let him into her bedroom, and then simply allowed the person to use the bathroom...

I am assuming that she didn't take the Nyquil every night or she probably would have died sooner than she did.

Why?

We have no way of knowing how long the poison sat in that bottle before it was consumed?

Nope.

And why would someone have picked the cold medicine? If your going to poison someone, wouldn't you do it to a more common item i.e one that's found in a refrigerator or pantry? Such as some kind of food item, or soft drink? That is just strange to me why just out of the blue the killer would have picked the cold medicine.

Cold medicine tastes very strong. I realizie strychnine is colorless and odorless, but, even so, dropping it into something with as strong and disagreeable a flavor as cold medicine minimizes any risk that she might taste the "difference" and suspect something before ingesting a lethal amount. He was probably hoping to kill her before she even had a chance to call for help.

I was never all that interested in this case, because, after making everything sound so mysterious, at the end Stack explains why her ex-husband was a suspect, and it sounded like he was obviously responsible, either directly or indirectly. And so there went the mystery.

Now Crystaldawn has unearthed another theory that sounds even more likely than the ex-husband. Why would that dude get involved in a shootout with police unless he was guilty and sure they were on to him? If I were the police, I'd be considering this case very nearly closed...

For some unknown reason the Arlington Police Deptment cold case unit has very little or no interest in this case. I have on 3 ocasions provided them with information unknown to anybody else, and they have chosen to ignore it. This has bothered me for over 20 years now, and I still hope this case can be solved.

For some unknown reason the Arlington Police Deptment cold case unit has very little or no interest in this case. I have on 3 ocasions provided them with information unknown to anybody else, and they have chosen to ignore it. This has bothered me for over 20 years now, and I still hope this case can be solved.

Perhaps, you could bring the information up to the District Attorney's office? If you cannot make them move, perhaps the DA can. Alternatively, you could bring up the point in the Arlington town meeting.

Oh, and welcome on the board. :)

For some unknown reason the Arlington Police Deptment cold case unit has very little or no interest in this case. I have on 3 ocasions provided them with information unknown to anybody else, and they have chosen to ignore it. This has bothered me for over 20 years now, and I still hope this case can be solved.

Interesting corvair. Any theories on what happened to Patsy that you'd care to share? :)

I grew up in the same neighborhood that Patsy lived in and was six when she died. I didn't remember it well, but the neighbors still talk about it to this day (the neighborhood is very close knit and has a lot of long time residents).

There just has to be some explanation for the poision in the cough medicine. Someone must have known her habits, intimately.

It was NOT Poyner!!!!!

Interesting corvair. Any theories on what happened to Patsy that you'd care to share? :)

There are a lot of little details I will not post on this site, but I will share the following details.

I know of a man who I know for a fact was seeing Patsy, this fact is probably know to only 3 people in this world, one is dead, one is somewhere, the other is writing this letter. This person worked part time for a local horse ranch where rats were a common problem, he had access to all types of rat poison which has a main ingrident of Strychnine. Patsy did not know that I knew she was seeing this guy and I never said anything to anybody until after her death. I did not know this person well (I can't ever remember his name) and he dissapeared soon after Patsy's death. His father did own a local business which closed years ago, I do remember his name and I also know his hometown.

P.S. This person also new Lori Williams.

There are a lot of little details I will not post on this site, but I will share the following details.

I know of a man who I know for a fact was seeing Patsy, this fact is probably know to only 3 people in this world, one is dead, one is somewhere, the other is writing this letter. This person worked part time for a local horse ranch where rats were a common problem, he had access to all types of rat poison which has a main ingrident of Strychnine. Patsy did not know that I knew she was seeing this guy and I never said anything to anybody until after her death. I did not know this person well (I can't ever remember his name) and he dissapeared soon after Patsy's death. His father did own a local business which closed years ago, I do remember his name and I also know his hometown.

P.S. This person also new Lori Williams.

Wow, very interesting. Any idea why Patsy would have wanted to keep the fact she was dating this man a secret? Any idea of what motive he would have had to want Patsy dead?

I can't really answer either one of those questions. I can tell you that Patsy was what I would call a socialite, she ran in a complete different circle than he did. He was quite a bit younger and was basiclally a ranch hand, that may be one of the reasons she wanted it kept quite.
Ever since the first airing of Unsolved Mystries about this story everybody talked about the "mystery man" who may have been in the house that night. All I'am trying to do is point authories to someone I think may fit the bill. I have always felt that with a little help this person could be found fairly easy. All the authories would need to do is talk to him, ask him some simple questions and find out for themselves if they think this is worth persuing any further.

This information is very significant.

I can't really answer either one of those questions. I can tell you that Patsy was what I would call a socialite, she ran in a complete different circle than he did. He was quite a bit younger and was basiclally a ranch hand, that may be one of the reasons she wanted it kept quite.
Ever since the first airing of Unsolved Mystries about this story everybody talked about the "mystery man" who may have been in the house that night. All I'am trying to do is point authories to someone I think may fit the bill. I have always felt that with a little help this person could be found fairly easy. All the authories would need to do is talk to him, ask him some simple questions and find out for themselves if they think this is worth persuing any further.

Maybe since you're not having any luck with the police you could contact Patsy's children or sister, anonymously even, and share the info you have with them. The family of the victim contacting them with new info might get better results. :)

Maybe since you're not having any luck with the police you could contact Patsy's children or sister, anonymously even, and share the info you have with them. The family of the victim contacting them with new info might get better results. :)

I really belive I have made the right decision by contacting the Arlington Police Department. I did not contact them anonymously, they have my name address and phone numbers. When they started the Cold Case Unit I contacted the one in charge of that unit, gave him the information I had and some months later he even contacted me. Because of a hard drive crash I no longer have the copy of the letter I had sent him or the letter he sent me so I don't remember his name but I know he has retired. All they have to do is contact me and I'll be more than happy to meet with them. I live only about 10 mins. from the Police Dept. I did have a meeting with an officer about 3 years ago, I waited for about 2 hrs. in the lobby but he never showed. The officer at the desk appoligized and had me fill out a crime information report, I did and left. For now I think I'll continue to persue this avenue.

I would think they should pursue this.

You must live about 10 minutes from me then.

One would think that solving the murder of a long-dead socialite would be a better thing for the Arlington Police Dept. rather than just dragging their feet and refusing to admit it's taken so long.....

The one thing anyone reading these blogs should remember is a very fine lady is dead and the killer is still out there. He may be in your town, he may be dating your daughter, your sister, your aunt, he may be dating you. I can still help point police in his direction.

So i understand, that she died, due to strychnine. She was of course unaware of the fact that the Nyquil she had taken contained it. Its been said that clearly someone put it there, and the popular question of who?? has been asked. Fingers have been pointed at either, the Ex-Husband, Robert Cox, i know they always look at the Ex first, but i dont think he did it, or the man who went throught the ashes for the ledger at Patsys wax mus., Stanley Poyner. However he has been dead, for a while and due to that it makes it hard to rule him in or out. I have a few questions...
Bare with me...
The Cold med she took, did she buy it?? How long had she had it, clearly she didnt take it offen or she would have died sooner, unless someone put it in there that night, the "visitor". Or not. Someone knew she was going to take it, or they knew she was sick, was this the first time she had taken the Nyquil, new bottle?? How much of the bottle had been used?? To tell if it was old, i know these sound dumb but u never know. since this was the cause of death, id start there.
What do you think.???

Pls write me, if you want to talk about this-

Curiousgirl,

All I know about Pasty's usage of the Nyquil is that her close family, and maybe close friends, knew that she took a dose every night. I think she used it as a mild sleep aid.

The segment on UM said that the officials had ruled out product tampering and after that, went into looking at who knew about her daily Nyquil usage.

If they ruled out product tampering, I'm assuming that this wasn't a newly opened bottle and first dose from that bottle, but the segment didn't say what methods were used to rule out product tampering.

I wonder what happened to the two dinner plates that were in her bedroom. And were they really in her bedroom or did they just do that for the tv show? The segment showed two dinner plates that had been placed on a bed tray.

Were there two dinner plates complete with silverware and drinking glasses, showing that two people ate dinner together that night? Or did Pasty have dinner alone in bed the night before, did not remove the plate, then had dinner alone in bed again the night she died? (I've done that plenty of times. The next day, I just have two sets of dinner plates to clean up. It doesn't mean I had anyone over for dinner.)

If they saved the silverware, drinking glasses, etc, they could have extracted DNA from them by now, and possibly figured out which of her close acquaintances ate from those things, but I'm sure none of that was kept in refrigeration.

Also, according to the segment, Patsy's bedroom was on the first floor and her brother in law got into the locked house (she had called for help) by crawling through her OPEN bedroom window. He assumed it was open for getting fresh air.

But to me, the thing that stands out the most is the fact that she was an intimidated witness in an upcoming court hearing.

Her ex-husband was going to be in court regarding an ARSON civil suit. (I don't know how arson isn't in the criminal courts... weird.) The ex had been calling her and trying to get her to change her story several times. Witness intimidation, obviously. She told him that she was going to testify to the truth.

He refused to take a polygraph test, when everyone else in Patsy's family, including an ex-boyfriend, readily took the polygraphs.

If we knew more about this weird civil arson case, and the ex-husband's involvement in it, I think we might know exactly who killed Patsy.

I believe the civil suit related to the arson was something filed by the insurance company that would otherwise have been obligated to pay on the claim. I'm guessing there wasn't enough evidence to bring a criminal case, but a civil suit has a lower burden of proof. Am I misremembering or did the arson have to do with Patsy's wax museum business? I'm pretty sure it did.

Edited to add: The civil suit was actually filed by the ex-husband against the insurance company because they were refusing to pay. Here is the excerpt about it from the D Magazine article:
IN THE COURTROOM OF JUDGE ANNE Ashby Packer, attorney Leo Jordan digs around in a large box and carefully draws out the head of Martin Luther King Jr. He places it on a rail near the jury, then draws out the heads of Harry S. Truman, Booker T. Washington, and several other famous historical characters.

Eerily, the disembodied wax heads, sup-posedly destroyed in a fire, stare like silent witnesses at Cox. But the real silent witness is Patsy Wright, though the jurors will hear little about her during the two weeks of testimony.

It's day three of Robert W. Cox and Emily C. Cox v. Hartford Lloyds Insurance Company. Cox is suing the insurance company for $400,000 plus punitive damages for its failure to pay his claim after the contents of his wax museum burned. Hartford is claiming that Cox, in desperate financial straits, had the fire set in order to collect the insurance.

After selling his fabric chain to Pier 1 in 1970 for more than a million dollars, Cox became an investor, buying and operating a number of companies with his wife, Emily "Kitty" Cox, and their children. One of their companies was a wax museum that featured all the American presidents. Mounted in 1972 in the State Fair building vacated when Bolton moved his wax museum to Grand Prairie, the presentation presented little-known facts in presidential history.

Cox owned the museum with eight other investors, all wealthy Dallas men. But after an initial year of success the wax museum was, in Cox's words, "an artistic triumph and a financial disappointment."

In 1975, he bought the collection for $30,000 from the other investors, who took a tax loss. In 1981, when the State Fair of Texas canceled his lease, Cox began trying to move or sell his museum, even taking out an ad describing a "$500,000 wax museum for sale at a bargain price,"

In January 1981 Cox called Patsy and Sally, asking them if they might be interested in buying the museum. Patsy had the collection's antiques appraised and made an offer: $14,000. Cox, whose collection was insured for $300,000, was insulted.

But the negotiations didn't prevent him from asking Patsy out. Though they were separated, Cox was still married to Kitty. Patsy told him to ask her again after the divorce was final.

They began dating several months later, with Patsy at first under the mistaken impression that Cox was officially single again. She quickly fell in love with him. Though he was about fourteen years older than she, he treated her like a queen, bringing her into his glitzy social circle, which included charity balls and parties at the country club.

But Patsy began pressuring Cox to get a divorce. "I can't very well raise two children and date a married man," she told him. The Coxes finally were divorced in February of 1983.

On January 17 and 18,1983, Cox and Patsy took a trip to Galveston together. Cox wanted to show her his plans to install a wax museum near the seawall. Patsy told Bill Phillips, manager of her museum, that she was surprised to see the sets, figures, and costumes stacked seemingly at random in the middle of a dilapidated building near the seawall. Cox told her he planned to restore the building and hoped to be ready to open by the time the tourist season started.

But on February 1, shortly after midnight, fires were set inside the building, destroying some of the contents. Cox would later claim that hobos seeking shelter set the fires; attorneys for Hartford would allege that Cox caused the fires to be set, bringing out in the trial that he and his many companies were in dire financial straits.

Patsy apparently knew nothing of his finances when she and Bob Cox married (with a reception at the Dallas Country Club) in April 1983, several months after the fire. But almost instantly-she would later tell friends that it began on their wedding day-Cox changed. No longer the charming, attentive suitor, he became verbally abusive to her and her family.

Though they had agreed to live in Arlington until her children graduated from high school, Cox hated the town. "This is like living on Mars," he told family members.

But what frustrated Patsy most was the fact that Cox lived off her earnings. She paid for the house, the utilities, the food, everything. Occasionally, Cox would drop several hundred dollars on her dresser, and once he bought a big-screen television for the house. Patsy footed the rest of the bills.

Patsy knew that Cox enjoyed card games; now she discovered that he spent most of his afternoons at the Dallas Country Club, playing gin and poker for big bucks in a room off the 19th Hole club. One museum employee says that Patsy asked him to cash checks for as much as $1,500 for Cox at the museum. "She said these were his gambling winnings," the employee said.

Gambling had long been a problem for Cox; in her divorce petition, Kitty cited her fear that his gambling would bankrupt the family companies. At his 1986 deposition in the arson trial, Cox told the Hartford attorney, as he was leaving, that he didn't want to be late for a poker game; "They fine you $500 if you're late" he told the astonished attorney, who delightedly entered it into testimony three years later.

Patsy realized the end of her marriage was near when the Internal Revenue Service tried to attach her earnings to pay Cox's tax debts of about $300,000. Cox met the tax agent at their front door wearing tattered clothes, as if destitute. She told friends he tried to have a prenuptial agreement declared null and void; it ultimately prevented the IRS from getting her assets.

Frustrated, Patsy called Kitty Cox. She told friends Kitty gave her the name of a marriage therapist who had counseled her and Bob before their divorce. Patsy told Beattie and several other friends that the counselor described Cox as a "sociopath," and that she should get out of the marriage.

In April 1984, Patsy and Bob Cox separated, and their divorce was final in October. Patsy told friends that Cox was frantic that she was going to try to get his DCC membership in the settlement. Actually, she told friends, she didn't care at all about the country club. She simply wanted to be rid of Cox; her shame at being so fooled led her to tell friends she would never marry again. "I can't trust myself to make a good decision," Patsy said.

But Patsy wasn't rid of him. Friends say she told them he began following her, parking outside her house at night, sometimes hiding his distinctive white hair with a disguise. One of Cox's employees once called Patsy, letting her know that Cox had borrowed her car in order to tail her. Patsy also told friends that Cox threatened to "ruin her." But the surveillance was something more sinister. She remembered Cox's telling her, while they were married, that he knew people who could get "anything done," including having someone "snuffed out." At the time, she took it as more of his grandiose talking. Now she wasn't so sure. At the urging of her aunt and sister she installed a security system.

She also got a restraining order against Cox, prohibiting him from coming within one hundred feet of her. By the end of 1986, Cox apparently had stopped the surveillance on Patsy.

In September 1986, Cox's attorney deposed Patsy for the upcoming civil trial. But it became obvious to Jordan, the Hartford attorney, that Patsy Wright might be able to help his case far more than Cox's. He met with her eight to ten times in 1986 and 1987 to discuss the value of the property. And Patsy had other information. She knew that one of the most valuable pieces in the collection-an antique chest supposedly destroyed by the fire-had never been moved to Gal-veston at all and was actually in Bob Cox's Garland office.

Sources say that Cox began to call Patsy, urging her to change her testimony. But Patsy refused, saying simply, "I'm going to tell the truth." She was killed about ten days before the trial date set for November 1987. Could Cox have decided that, with so much money at stake, he couldn't afford to have Patsy testify against him?

After Patsy's death, Gustafson interviewed Cox, who would say little beyond, "I met her, I married her, I divorced her." He refused to take a polygraph test and would not cooperate with the crew from "Unsolved Mysteries." Cox also refused to comment for this story.
Regarding the two dinner plates, my recollection is that there is a dispute about whether the dinner plates were ever there or not. There was some speculation that the man who came (her brother-in-law?) made that up to create the impression that someone else had been with her in the house earlier that night, and throw suspicion off himself. I don't know if the paramedics or anyone else on the scene reported them being there. Edited to add: The excerpt from the D Magazine article on her murder says this:
And there was the matter of the plates. Steve insisted that he moved a table with two plates away from Patsy's bed, as if Patsy had been entertaining a visitor. Neither the firemen nor the paramedics remembered the table and plates. Was Steve setting up the idea that the murderer had been in Patsy's room that night, when he could prove he was [ at home with Sally, or did he simply have a better memory than the others in the ensu-ing pandemonium?

TracyLynnS,


Thank you so much for replying, yes i knew about the Ex-Husb. Not wanting the test done, and i thought that was rather weird, the window open i suppose its possible she could have left it open herself, it was late Oct. so the weather may have been nice, it is a bit fishy tho given the sitiuation.
They ruled out tampering with the med?? i didnt know that, it it was in the Nyquil how did it get there??
strychnine. is rare, and harder to find then you would think,yes, so it isnt something u would get from anywhere, it is possible the Ex, could have done it or had it done, is there no way i wonder to get him to take the test, a warrant maybe, i know they need motive, but what about the court thing, if he didnt want her to be there for court, maybe??

what do you think???

They ruled out tampering with the med?? i didnt know that, it it was in the Nyquil how did it get there??


curiousgirl01 I think the comment about the authorities ruling out tampering with the med means that they ruled out product tampering (at time of purchase). So it was obviously tampered with by her murderer, but she didn't buy it with the poison already there.

I believe the civil suit related to the arson was something filed by the insurance company that would otherwise have been obligated to pay on the claim....

Wow Wow Wow! I can't believe what great info you dug up so quickly! Thanks so much.

It doesn't sound like Patsy and her ex were together that long at all, and it seems like he was nothing but a con man, conning her the whole time. (And just about everyone else, too.)

What a shame. So often, women are victims of this kind of person, but usually, they just get scammed out of money. IMO, Bob Cox's greed cost Patsy her life.

...strychnine. is rare, and harder to find then you would think,yes, so it isnt something u would get from anywhere...

Yep, strychnine is hard for just any joe schmoe to get. The UM segment said that the kind used to kill Patsy was the purest form available, was strictly regulated by the federal gov't, and that if someone at the legitimate supplier could remember selling it to a shady character, it might help this case.

IMO, the poison was not sold directly to the players in this murder. If Bob Cox was in to as many scams and crimes as it seems, I'd say he was in contact with criminals who stole the poison or bought it from the black marketers who stole it. That would make it just about untraceable.

Best I can remember, federally regulated materials like strychnine are controlled in such a way as that the purchaser cannot just be an individual, but has to prove a valid reason for buying the controlled chemical (labs? manufacturing? idk). Then, the buyer has to provide ID and sign paperwork regarding the purchase. Even back then.

In Patsy's case, the authorities believe that someone snuck into her home and mixed the pure strychnine powder into a bottle of Nyquil that she already had in her medicine cabinet. So there's no doubt that she was the target.

The Nyquil was poisoned at her house and not just done by someone who took a bottle of Nyquil, poisoned it, then placed it on the store shelf, waiting for an anonymous victim to buy it and die from it, as was done in the tylenol product tampering murders of the 80s.

Wow Wow Wow! I can't believe what great info you dug up so quickly! Thanks so much.
No problem. The D Magazine Article: The Wax Museum Murder Mystery (
http://allisonpublications.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=5C1933F1D01C4247A724BAB13C6E670B&nm=test&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=7155F7796F354F21B1183937D847D6DF&AudId=29CB3DCAC7E94A08B642EC371FE6E70B&tier=4&id=2B152F7312D64C7E8C9FDE2DC5BDCAE4) is the best read on the case, IMO.

Best I can remember, federally regulated materials like strychnine are controlled in such a way as that the purchaser cannot just be an individual, but has to prove a valid reason for buying the controlled chemical (labs? manufacturing? idk). Then, the buyer has to provide ID and sign paperwork regarding the purchase. Even back then.

I could be wrong about this, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that there is a fairly large black market for strychnine.

I read that some organized crime groups stockpile poisons like cyanide and strychnine as they do with firearms. I think even the infamous ICEMAN hitman had a few bottle of the stuff.

Drug dealers have used strychnine at times for hot shots.

In a city like Detroit, Baltimore or Dallas, if you know the right people in the criminal underworld you can easily get strychnine as easil as you could a grenade.

I am lori williams brother and was just reading your posts, My mom has that episode on VHS at hom along with an episode of Current Affair that was also showing the murder. At that time I was 13 and I remember my sister coming over to see my mom cause she was sick. She stayed all week and was getting worse.Finally my mom took her to the hospital where the doctors could not understand why she was deteriorating and so they just did everything they could think of. Finally she died and we were left with alot of questions. I was working at the Wax Museum haunted house the year patsy died. Then after they found out she was murderd the Wright family hired a famous investigator I forget his name but he solved the case of the boy that was lost playing dungeons and dragons game and he wrote a book about it I think his name was Bill Dear? anyways, Patsy's sister fired him and he came to my mom and wanted to continue the case so my mom hired him for 1.00. About 2-3 years after the fire he came and said he had to drop the case cause it involved alot of dangerous people and that was the last we ever heard of the case. If anyone has any information about this case or if anyone wants to share anything please contact me. thank you,

J. Phillips

I remeber this case being aired on UM when I was younger, this case is still as haunting as ever. There is no greater tradegy then that of a loved one may the families find peace. "Nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing is so gentle as true strength" Ralph Sockman.

Patsy seemed like a bright, beautiful and caring person that is why it was so shocking that she was find poisoned in 1987.
Could Robert cox her ex have access to her home knowing her routine of taking a cold med when having trouble sleeping, put styrchnine in her Nyquil bottle, what would have been his motive? He had been seen parked by her house on occasion and she was going to testify in his up and coming court trial(a civial suit involving arson) He'd called severval times and asked her to change her story. He refused a polygraph test, could he have been so fearful of her telling the truth that he poisioned her?

During the autopsy high quantities of styrchnine were found in Patsy's system who would've had the knowlege to know the exact amount to put in her nyquil? who would have access to the poison?
Further more what about the two dinner plates beside her bed, did she have company and if so was it then that the person put the styrchnine in the nyquil?
The investigation also discovered that the alarm system wasn't set, was it due to her expecting company or having company? Do she simply forget to set it?
So could there have been a secret lover/boyfriend? If so could this person have poisoned her and why?

This murder was one of a calulated skill, knowlege of a posion(strychnine),well thought out as to how to do away with unforunate(patsy), and knew her well enough to know her nightly routine

One year later the wax museum which Patsy was part owner of was set on fire(1988)
appartantly Stanley Lester Poyner was arrested two weeks after the fire for trying to retrieve(stealing) a ledger from the ashes.
It was then that the investigators found a connection to Poyner and
Patsy. He was then released due to lack of evidence. What was so important in the ledger? Who set the fire? If Stanley was involved in arson why steal the ledger after the fire? Was Patsy killed because of a buisness deal? Did she get in someones way for future plans of the wax museum?
Stanley was later killed by Dallas police for trying to ran down an officer upon a re-arrest.
Did Stanley poison Patsy? If so did he know her well enough to know her sleeping patterns? Did he have dinner with her before her death, was that why there was an extra plate?

Questions have also been raised in the sudden death(following an appendectomy) of Lori Ann Wlliams 3 years earlier(Patsy's Administrative Ass.)
In 1989 no clues where find in her examinination to determine posion(strychnine or other wise).
Is there a link? Did Lori stumble upon information someone didn't want her to know? Could Stanley be at fault?

There are so many questions? So many possiablities? Death by Strychnine is so rare. So why Patsy? Why poison, why kill a beautiful sucessful women? Was it her ex Robert Cox, Stanley, or a lover/boyfriend people knew little about?

I believe the killer was in her house that night before she took her cold med, I believe they had dinner, that's why the alarm wasn't set, I believe it was then the killer had access to her nyquil(cold med), I believe it was a calulated, the killer had access to strychnine, knew about the effects, knew how much would be lethal, knew her well enough to know her routine, was close enough to her to be able to go undetected.
Someone knows something or knows someone who was close enough, there's information that is vettle, she was very popular and had alot of friends.

The question is who wanted her dead, why did they want her dead?
Could it be about a buisness gain, crossed lover, could be she have known information that would expose someone? Whatever is was that caused her to meet a tradegic end lives forever in her family and friends grieve.

thanks to crystaldawn's posts I was able to gain important information!!!!!

But how did the killer even know Patsy would have a cold and take that particular medication anytime soon??

As I'm sure you guys have in your medicine cabinet there are things in there people don't touch for years and years. Is it just an amazing coincidence Patsy had a cold the VERY next day after the poison was put in the Nyqil?? I doubt it.

But how did the killer even know Patsy would have a cold and take that particular medication anytime soon??

As I'm sure you guys have in your medicine cabinet there are things in there people don't touch for years and years. Is it just an amazing coincidence Patsy had a cold the VERY next day after the poison was put in the Nyqil?? I doubt it.

Patsy didn't have to have a cold. Patsy had a habit of taking cold medicine when she couldn't sleep. Anyone who was close to her would know of this habit.

I have a question on this case: Why did Patsy call her sister and not 911? Was 911 not available/around?

Yes, that was the reason that they believed the killer must have been someone close to her--someone who knew of her habit of taking NyQuil at night to get to sleep.

As for Patsy not calling 911, we don't really know. She was in a panic, not being able to breathe well, and that might have caused her to just dial up her sister. I don't think it really means anything.

Also, when Patsy was on the phone with her sister don't you think she would have mentioned that she had someone over? She could have easily named her killer, and I may just be grasping at straws here, but do you think at all possible that the sister and brother-in-law could have been involved? If Patsy was close with her sister, she probably would have told her if she had dinner with someone that night.

I have a question on this case: Why did Patsy call her sister and not 911? Was 911 not available/around?

Good point.

1.I think it;s assumed that Patsy called 911 before she called her sister. I can;t verify that for certain. I think UMs reenactment just skipped that part for time and story sake.
2. It's also possible that Patsy thought her sister would be able to come quicker than 911.
3.Perhaps, Patsy thought that her condition was not serious enough to warrant calling 911. Some people are weird like that in that they don;t trust 911 and would rather drive to the hospital than trust themselves to EMS.

Also, when Patsy was on the phone with her sister don't you think she would have mentioned that she had someone over? She could have easily named her killer, and I may just be grasping at straws here, but do you think at all possible that the sister and brother-in-law could have been involved? If Patsy was close with her sister, she probably would have told her if she had dinner with someone that night.

1. Patsy did not know that she was poisoned. At that moment she probably thought she was having a heart attack or some type of violent allergic reaction or even food poising. I doubt in those few moments she could rationalize that she was poisoned by her guest. Especially someone she probably trusted.

2. That's kind of the old mystery novel cliche of the victim writing their killers name before they die or saying their name. That rarely happens in real life. Not to joke, but at the point your most biggest concern is surviving rather than avenging your death.

3.Keep in mind, that Patsy''s Nyquil could have been poisoned days or even weeks before. It is unknow when the last time prior to that night she took Nyquil. Her posioner might not necessarily be the same person as her mystery guest that night.


--One of the things that bugs me in this case is this.

if Patsy had a visitor that night and set a plate for him, why did that guy not stay the night?

Not trying to sound dirty here, but usually when you get invited into a woman's bedroom, there's a lot more to follow. :rolleyes: Unless there was some argument of course, that sabatoged those plans.

What I'm saying is that for someone to be invited in like that..it would have to be a romantic interlude.

Also, when Patsy was on the phone with her sister don't you think she would have mentioned that she had someone over? She could have easily named her killer, and I may just be grasping at straws here, but do you think at all possible that the sister and brother-in-law could have been involved? If Patsy was close with her sister, she probably would have told her if she had dinner with someone that night.
Her brother-in-law was a suspect, but I believe he cooperated and passed a polygraph.
1.I think it;s assumed that Patsy called 911 before she called her sister. I can;t verify that for certain. I think UMs reenactment just skipped that part for time and story sake.
2. It's also possible that Patsy thought her sister would be able to come quicker than 911.
3.Perhaps, Patsy thought that her condition was not serious enough to warrant calling 911. Some people are weird like that in that they don;t trust 911 and would rather drive to the hospital than trust themselves to EMS.
I don't believe Patsy did call 911. As I recall, her sister tried to call 911 from her house, but could not remember Patsy's exact address in order to direct them there, so she and her hubby got in their car and raced over there. They called 911 after they arrived.
if Patsy had a visitor that night and set a plate for him, why did that guy not stay the night?

Not trying to sound dirty here, but usually when you get invited into a woman's bedroom, there's a lot more to follow. Unless there was some argument of course, that sabatoged those plans.

What I'm saying is that for someone to be invited in like that..it would have to be a romantic interlude.
First of all, we don't know whether she had a visitor that night or not. The brother-in-law is the only one to report the two dinner plates on the tray by the bed. The paramedics did not recall them, and some suspected the brother-in-law made that up in order to throw suspicion onto some unknown male visitor. At any rate, we can't necessarily rely on that. Even if she did have a guest who had dinner with her in her bedroom, that doesn't mean that he would stay the night. Even if they got busy, that doesn't always entail spending the night. I'm guessing, though, that there was no indication at autopsy of recent sexual activity or that would have been reported.

Her brother-in-law was a suspect, but I believe he cooperated and passed a polygraph.

I don't believe Patsy did call 911. As I recall, her sister tried to call 911 from her house, but could not remember Patsy's exact address in order to direct them there, so she and her hubby got in their car and raced over there. They called 911 after they arrived.

First of all, we don't know whether she had a visitor that night or not. The brother-in-law is the only one to report the two dinner plates on the tray by the bed. The paramedics did not recall them, and some suspected the brother-in-law made that up in order to throw suspicion onto some unknown male visitor. At any rate, we can't necessarily rely on that. Even if she did have a guest who had dinner with her in her bedroom, that doesn't mean that he would stay the night. Even if they got busy, that doesn't always entail spending the night. I'm guessing, though, that there was no indication at autopsy of recent sexual activity or that would have been reported.

I don;t believe there was a visitor either. It would be a moot point anyway since there was no semen in her body if she did sleep with that person. Nor did the bed show evidence of another person.

Unless that person was a woman, which means that evidence would be a littler harder to find.Saliva is harder to find than semen. Sorry i couldn;t resist. :D I guess this post should be labeled R:D -rated.

Her brother-in-law was a suspect, but I believe he cooperated and passed a polygraph.

Passing a polygraph ultimately means nothing. It's simply leverage to use against a suspect.

Passing a polygraph does not mean "nothing." It's true that it is not admissible in court, but it is definitely something that investigators rely on to eliminate suspects. I also tend to discount the brother-in-law as a suspect because he would have had to have been very quick-minded to plant the false lead of the dinner tray with the two plates. If he was the poisoner, he would have had no idea that Patsy would call his wife when she was having trouble breathing, and therefore no idea that he would arrive on the scene before the paramedics or police. For him to have the presence of mind to decide that he could throw suspicion off himself by making up the story about the plates would be pretty remarkable, IMO.

I never believed the two plates being there either. And there could be an innocent explanation. For example, in the morning I drink coffee. My favorite mug gets super hot when I reheat the coffee in the microwave so I use another cup that heats up easily and pour it into my favorite mug. So if I were to drop dead in my kitchen it would look like I had someone over but in reality I was alone.

There are so many things we just don't know about this case, namely when was the poison put in her Nyquil? And even if there was a visitor (which I doubt) that does not mean anything.

I also tend to discount the brother-in-law because he would have had to have been very quick-minded to plant the false lead of the dinner tray with the two plates. If he was the poisoner, he would have had no idea that Patsy would call his wife when she was having trouble breathing, and therefore no idea that he would arrive on the scene before the paramedics or police. For him to have the presence of mind to decide that he could throw suspicion off himself by making up the story about the plates would be pretty remarkable, IMO. Excellent points, there, yuppielawyer.

And all I meant to ask by questioning why she called her sister first was some areas were slow to get 911. But being her sister and her were so close I could see how she would dial her first out of panic.

Passing a polygraph does not mean "nothing." It's true that it is not admissible in court, but it is definitely something that investigators rely on to eliminate suspects. I also tend to discount the brother-in-law as a suspect because he would have had to have been very quick-minded to plant the false lead of the dinner tray with the two plates. If he was the poisoner, he would have had no idea that Patsy would call his wife when she was having trouble breathing, and therefore no idea that he would arrive on the scene before the paramedics or police. For him to have the presence of mind to decide that he could throw suspicion off himself by making up the story about the plates would be pretty remarkable, IMO.

Unless the story wasn;t made up and there really were two plates. It's possible the plates were planted before hand as part of this plan. The brother in law could of thought of pointing them just to help his cause.

Something to keep in mind is that this could be a proxy murder. All a hitman would have to know about is the fact that she takes Nyquil to sleep. A fact that could be passed on by the employer.

It's almost a given that this murder was for financial gain. I have to imagine that someone would take all precautions to make sure the job was done right. That precaution would almost certainly involve hiring someone to do the actually plant the poisning. Granted it might be a tad excessive to hire someone to do a job as simple as planting poison in a bottle, but it would provide a buffer for the perps.

Unless the story wasn;t made up and there really were two plates. It's possible the plates were planted before hand as part of this plan. The brother in law could of thought of pointing them just to help his cause.
How exactly would that work? He would sneak into her house after she was asleep, having assumed that she took the NyQuil that night, and put the tray with the plates in the room? That seems pretty far-fetched to me. We have no idea when the strychnine was put in the cold medicine. She didn't take the NyQuil every night--only when she was having trouble sleeping. And, if he were going to plant the plates there after she took the NyQuil, but before she was discovered, why not take that opportunity to get rid of the NyQuil bottle altogether? That idea makes no sense to me. I see there being two possibilities: either he poisoned her and made up the story about the plates to throw suspicion onto some gentleman caller or the plates were really there from her having dinner with someone that night and the paramedics just didn't see them--it's not like they would have been specifically looking for them, and the brother-in-law had moved them out of the way. As I indicated earlier, I tend to believe the latter. Of course, if someone did have dinner with her at home that night, that doesn't mean that person was the killer, since we have no way of knowing exactly when the medicine was poisoned.

How exactly would that work? He would sneak into her house after she was asleep, having assumed that she took the NyQuil that night, and put the tray with the plates in the room? That seems pretty far-fetched to me. We have no idea when the strychnine was put in the cold medicine.

Oh, I concur as well. The only way it works is if it was known that this would be the night that she took Nyquil.

The only possibility that scenario would work is if there was a specific day that the killer knew the

Besides, the brother an law did mouth-to-mouth on Patsy, no? why would he risk killing himself, taking in poison? And why bother trying to revive her?


This was a very simple and easy murder to commit, IMHO. The only difficulty you would have is obtaining the strychine without arousing suspicion.

I tend to believe this murder was planned well in advance and probably had several backup plans to it.

Here;s something that does bother me:

I'm going to assume that the bottle of Nyquil was open already,and not a new bottle? Was the bottle a full bottle? How much strychine was in the bottle compared to Nyqui? Is it safe to assume that this dosage was the only strychnine laced dosage that Patsy took? I assume her previous Nyquil dosages were not laced.

The reason I say this is that if a lot of strychinine was placed in the Nyquil the killer ran a huge risk of Patsy noticing the bottle was fuller than usual. A small risk but a risk nonetheless. The standard dose is 30ml, the bottle had to be at least half full. I assume that Patsy didn;t take more than two doses.

The reason I say this is that if a lot of strychinine was placed in the Nyquil the killer ran a huge risk of Patsy noticing the bottle was fuller than usual.
Strychnine is a powder. The only risk of Patsy noticing it was if it didn't fully dissolve in the liquid and she noticed some powder sitting down at the bottom of the bottle.

Strychnine is a powder. The only risk of Patsy noticing it was if it didn't fully dissolve in the liquid and she noticed some powder sitting down at the bottom of the bottle.
I always thought that solving this could lie in finding the person who purchased the strychnine. Even in the 80's, it had to be a little suspect for someone to buy strychnine. At the very least it should have left some sort of paper trail to the buyer.

I always thought that solving this could lie in finding the person who purchased the strychnine. Even in the 80's, it had to be a little suspect for someone to buy strychnine. At the very least it should have left some sort of paper trail to the buyer.
The investigators tried following that lead and it unfortunately got them nowhere. Most likely, the killer had access to it somehow through a job or a friend or acquaintance, or paid someone who did.

The investigators tried following that lead and it unfortunately got them nowhere. Most likely, the killer had access to it somehow through a job or a friend or acquaintance, or paid someone who did.

That in and of itself is a clue.

1. It points to a possibility that more than one party was involved.
2. It points to a possibility that the killer already had strychnine in his possession long before the murder of Patsy Wright. This hints at a possible proxy murder.

I watched this case on and off today on Spike. I don't have the NBC version of this story but noticed something on there that I don't ever remember seeing on the Lifetime version. I was only half listening but Patsy's daughter mentions a call she got after her mom had died. The caller asked for Patsy and she must have told her she was dead and the female caller said something like "good, I wanted her dead". I was shocked to hear that part that I had never heard before in the many, many times I've seen this case! If anyone was watching today and listened more closely and can tell us exactly what was said in that scene, please do so.

I was only half listening but Patsy's daughter mentions a call she got after her mom had died. The caller asked for Patsy and she must have told her she was dead and the female caller said something like "good, I wanted her dead"

I'll have to see it. Wow, that's real interesting?

A female voice, huh....

1. This seems like a vital piece of info. The intimation is that the caller was trying to verify that Patsy was dead.

2. I also wonder if Patsy's daugthter recognized the voice and

3. I'm also wondering if perhaps Patsy's daughter made up the whole call. :eek:

I watched this case on and off today on Spike. I don't have the NBC version of this story but noticed something on there that I don't ever remember seeing on the Lifetime version. I was only half listening but Patsy's daughter mentions a call she got after her mom had died. The caller asked for Patsy and she must have told her she was dead and the female caller said something like "good, I wanted her dead". I was shocked to hear that part that I had never heard before in the many, many times I've seen this case! If anyone was watching today and listened more closely and can tell us exactly what was said in that scene, please do so.
I remember that from first watching the case. It's hard to know what to make of it, though. Maybe Patsy was having an affair with this woman's husband. I doubt it actually had anything to do with her murder, though. I don't think you'd say, "Good, I wanted her dead" on the phone to someone if you had just had them killed. It always seemed weird to me that they hadn't gotten the phone records to see where the call had come from. Maybe because her daughter hadn't reported it to law enforcement before.

Just a thought that came to mind on this. Patsy was said to be a wealthy woman, maybe the person or persons involved in the poisioning did it for financial gain to get posession of her business, money, or other assets. This woman didn't just die for no reason and money is usually the trigger point for stuff like this. I just don't think Patsy had any enemies that would want her dead for any other reason. IMO this points to a possible friend, family member or acquaintance!

Just a thought that came to mind on this. Patsy was said to be a wealthy woman, maybe the person or persons involved in the poisioning did it for financial gain to get posession of her business, money, or other assets. This woman didn't just die for no reason and money is usually the trigger point for stuff like this. I just don't think Patsy had any enemies that would want her dead for any other reason. IMO this points to a possible friend, family member or acquaintance!

IIRC, her sister and brother in law inherited her half of the businesses. I don't know who got life insurance money or other "profits" from her death.

I don't really think her sister and BIL did it, because the BIL was actually giving her mouth to mouth breathing and exposed himself to the strichnine. Cops pretty much agreed that he wouldn't have done that if he knew that she was coughing up deadly strichnine laced liquid that he was getting in his mouth and spitting out.

I don't think her kids did it.

My guess it that it involved the ex husband who she was supposed to testify "against" in his upcoming (civil) arson trial. He had been pressuring her to change her story and basically lie on the stand at his trial but she refused to perjure herself.

After about three times of her telling him that she definitely wasn't going to lie for him, she ended up murdered. She was probably going to be the most damning witness against him and she was killed to keep her from testifying.

IMO, the ex was already a criminal so why not take it a step further and kill the person who had the power to get him convicted. He probably stood to lose hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in that trial. (I'm assuming that in a civil trial, he would be forced to pay damages etc, rather than going to prison.) He had the most to lose by her being alive, and able to testify, and the most to gain by her being dead.

Just a thought that came to mind on this. Patsy was said to be a wealthy woman, maybe the person or persons involved in the poisioning did it for financial gain to get posession of her business, money, or other assets. This woman didn't just die for no reason and money is usually the trigger point for stuff like this. I just don't think Patsy had any enemies that would want her dead for any other reason. IMO this points to a possible friend, family member or acquaintance!
Um, yeah. I think the working theory on this case has always been that it was a friend, family member, or acquaintance. And I think the leading theory has always been that there was some sort of financial motive involved. Someone close to her being behind it was pointed to from the beginning, largely because whoever did it would have had to have been familiar with her habit of taking NyQuil at night to help her sleep.
IIRC, her sister and brother in law inherited her half of the businesses. I don't know who got life insurance money or other "profits" from her death.

I don't really think her sister and BIL did it, because the BIL was actually giving her mouth to mouth breathing and exposed himself to the strichnine. Cops pretty much agreed that he wouldn't have done that if he knew that she was coughing up deadly strichnine laced liquid that he was getting in his mouth and spitting out.

I don't think her kids did it.

My guess it that it involved the ex husband who she was supposed to testify "against" in his upcoming (civil) arson trial. He had been pressuring her to change her story and basically lie on the stand at his trial but she refused to perjure herself.

After about three times of her telling him that she definitely wasn't going to lie for him, she ended up murdered. She was probably going to be the most damning witness against him and she was killed to keep her from testifying.

IMO, the ex was already a criminal so why not take it a step further and kill the person who had the power to get him convicted. He probably stood to lose hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in that trial. (I'm assuming that in a civil trial, he would be forced to pay damages etc, rather than going to prison.) He had the most to lose by her being alive, and able to testify, and the most to gain by her being dead.
I think the ex with the upcoming civil trial is definitely a prime suspect. The problem was that, aside from a huge motive, there was not one drop of evidence against him. And having a huge motive isn't enough to charge, much less to convict. Also, just to be clear, he was not looking at having to pay damages. He was the one who was suing his insurance company because they had refused to pay off on the policy. Their defense was to accuse him of having intentionally set the fire. So, yes, he had a financial motive--to get the proceeds from the policy. But, he wasn't actually looking at being tagged with damages.

I think the ex with the upcoming civil trial is definitely a prime suspect. The problem was that, aside from a huge motive, there was not one drop of evidence against him. And having a huge motive isn't enough to charge, much less to convict. Also, just to be clear, he was not looking at having to pay damages. He was the one who was suing his insurance company because they had refused to pay off on the policy. Their defense was to accuse him of having intentionally set the fire. So, yes, he had a financial motive--to get the proceeds from the policy. But, he wasn't actually looking at being tagged with damages.

Oh, I didn't know that part, about the ex's lawsuit. So the insurance company didn't want to pay out on the claim because they thought he caused the fire intentionally.

And the idiot had such a huge ego that he was still trying to get the money by suing the insurance company, using Patsy's (forced or coerced) perjured testimony? Holy cow.

Serious crime seems to be following that guy around. I wonder why that is...

Reposting the article regarding the ex-husband's arson lawsuit that Yuppielawyer originally posted on page 3 of this thread.

IN THE COURTROOM OF JUDGE ANNE Ashby Packer, attorney Leo Jordan digs around in a large box and carefully draws out the head of Martin Luther King Jr. He places it on a rail near the jury, then draws out the heads of Harry S. Truman, Booker T. Washington, and several other famous historical characters.

Eerily, the disembodied wax heads, sup-posedly destroyed in a fire, stare like silent witnesses at Cox. But the real silent witness is Patsy Wright, though the jurors will hear little about her during the two weeks of testimony.

It's day three of Robert W. Cox and Emily C. Cox v. Hartford Lloyds Insurance Company. Cox is suing the insurance company for $400,000 plus punitive damages for its failure to pay his claim after the contents of his wax museum burned. Hartford is claiming that Cox, in desperate financial straits, had the fire set in order to collect the insurance.

After selling his fabric chain to Pier 1 in 1970 for more than a million dollars, Cox became an investor, buying and operating a number of companies with his wife, Emily "Kitty" Cox, and their children. One of their companies was a wax museum that featured all the American presidents. Mounted in 1972 in the State Fair building vacated when Bolton moved his wax museum to Grand Prairie, the presentation presented little-known facts in presidential history.

Cox owned the museum with eight other investors, all wealthy Dallas men. But after an initial year of success the wax museum was, in Cox's words, "an artistic triumph and a financial disappointment."

In 1975, he bought the collection for $30,000 from the other investors, who took a tax loss. In 1981, when the State Fair of Texas canceled his lease, Cox began trying to move or sell his museum, even taking out an ad describing a "$500,000 wax museum for sale at a bargain price,"

In January 1981 Cox called Patsy and Sally, asking them if they might be interested in buying the museum. Patsy had the collection's antiques appraised and made an offer: $14,000. Cox, whose collection was insured for $300,000, was insulted.

But the negotiations didn't prevent him from asking Patsy out. Though they were separated, Cox was still married to Kitty. Patsy told him to ask her again after the divorce was final.

They began dating several months later, with Patsy at first under the mistaken impression that Cox was officially single again. She quickly fell in love with him. Though he was about fourteen years older than she, he treated her like a queen, bringing her into his glitzy social circle, which included charity balls and parties at the country club.

But Patsy began pressuring Cox to get a divorce. "I can't very well raise two children and date a married man," she told him. The Coxes finally were divorced in February of 1983.

On January 17 and 18,1983, Cox and Patsy took a trip to Galveston together. Cox wanted to show her his plans to install a wax museum near the seawall. Patsy told Bill Phillips, manager of her museum, that she was surprised to see the sets, figures, and costumes stacked seemingly at random in the middle of a dilapidated building near the seawall. Cox told her he planned to restore the building and hoped to be ready to open by the time the tourist season started.

But on February 1, shortly after midnight, fires were set inside the building, destroying some of the contents. Cox would later claim that hobos seeking shelter set the fires; attorneys for Hartford would allege that Cox caused the fires to be set, bringing out in the trial that he and his many companies were in dire financial straits.

Patsy apparently knew nothing of his finances when she and Bob Cox married (with a reception at the Dallas Country Club) in April 1983, several months after the fire. But almost instantly-she would later tell friends that it began on their wedding day-Cox changed. No longer the charming, attentive suitor, he became verbally abusive to her and her family.

Though they had agreed to live in Arlington until her children graduated from high school, Cox hated the town. "This is like living on Mars," he told family members.

But what frustrated Patsy most was the fact that Cox lived off her earnings. She paid for the house, the utilities, the food, everything. Occasionally, Cox would drop several hundred dollars on her dresser, and once he bought a big-screen television for the house. Patsy footed the rest of the bills.

Patsy knew that Cox enjoyed card games; now she discovered that he spent most of his afternoons at the Dallas Country Club, playing gin and poker for big bucks in a room off the 19th Hole club. One museum employee says that Patsy asked him to cash checks for as much as $1,500 for Cox at the museum. "She said these were his gambling winnings," the employee said.

Gambling had long been a problem for Cox; in her divorce petition, Kitty cited her fear that his gambling would bankrupt the family companies. At his 1986 deposition in the arson trial, Cox told the Hartford attorney, as he was leaving, that he didn't want to be late for a poker game; "They fine you $500 if you're late" he told the astonished attorney, who delightedly entered it into testimony three years later.

Patsy realized the end of her marriage was near when the Internal Revenue Service tried to attach her earnings to pay Cox's tax debts of about $300,000. Cox met the tax agent at their front door wearing tattered clothes, as if destitute. She told friends he tried to have a prenuptial agreement declared null and void; it ultimately prevented the IRS from getting her assets.

Frustrated, Patsy called Kitty Cox. She told friends Kitty gave her the name of a marriage therapist who had counseled her and Bob before their divorce. Patsy told Beattie and several other friends that the counselor described Cox as a "sociopath," and that she should get out of the marriage.

In April 1984, Patsy and Bob Cox separated, and their divorce was final in October. Patsy told friends that Cox was frantic that she was going to try to get his DCC membership in the settlement. Actually, she told friends, she didn't care at all about the country club. She simply wanted to be rid of Cox; her shame at being so fooled led her to tell friends she would never marry again. "I can't trust myself to make a good decision," Patsy said.

But Patsy wasn't rid of him. Friends say she told them he began following her, parking outside her house at night, sometimes hiding his distinctive white hair with a disguise. One of Cox's employees once called Patsy, letting her know that Cox had borrowed her car in order to tail her. Patsy also told friends that Cox threatened to "ruin her." But the surveillance was something more sinister. She remembered Cox's telling her, while they were married, that he knew people who could get "anything done," including having someone "snuffed out." At the time, she took it as more of his grandiose talking. Now she wasn't so sure. At the urging of her aunt and sister she installed a security system.

She also got a restraining order against Cox, prohibiting him from coming within one hundred feet of her. By the end of 1986, Cox apparently had stopped the surveillance on Patsy.

In September 1986, Cox's attorney deposed Patsy for the upcoming civil trial. But it became obvious to Jordan, the Hartford attorney, that Patsy Wright might be able to help his case far more than Cox's. He met with her eight to ten times in 1986 and 1987 to discuss the value of the property. And Patsy had other information. She knew that one of the most valuable pieces in the collection-an antique chest supposedly destroyed by the fire-had never been moved to Gal-veston at all and was actually in Bob Cox's Garland office.

Sources say that Cox began to call Patsy, urging her to change her testimony. But Patsy refused, saying simply, "I'm going to tell the truth." She was killed about ten days before the trial date set for November 1987. Could Cox have decided that, with so much money at stake, he couldn't afford to have Patsy testify against him?

After Patsy's death, Gustafson interviewed Cox, who would say little beyond, "I met her, I married her, I divorced her." He refused to take a polygraph test and would not cooperate with the crew from "Unsolved Mysteries." Cox also refused to comment for this story.

Um, yeah. I think the working theory on this case has always been that it was a friend, family member, or acquaintance. And I think the leading theory has always been that there was some sort of financial motive involved. Someone close to her being behind it was pointed to from the beginning, largely because whoever did it would have had to have been familiar with her habit of taking NyQuil at night to help her sleep.

I was thinking to myself that if i started to take Nyquil on a regular basis, how many people WOULD really now that I do this habbit. :

1. Whoever I'm living with
2. Whoever buys my groceries
3. Immediate family members
4. Potentially my doctors and their staff (who may have diagnosed sleeping disorder or advised against taking Nyquil )
5. Whoever I am intimate with at that moment.

It's a finite number of people.

I doubt even my closest friends would be in on something like that. Taking Nyquil to go to sleep isn;t something you want the whole world to know about. It gives people the impression that you have a substance dependancy.
I'm sure someone in Patsey's position would not want that to be common knowledge.

Yeah, that's why it seems clear that whoever killed her was someone close to her. It had to be either a family member, an intimate partner (or former intimate partner), or a close friend. Unfortunately, I don't see how they will ever solve this. More than one person had motive, and there doesn't seem to be any physical evidence to help the case. I hope I'm wrong though. Patsy deserves some measure of justice--what a horrible way to die.

Yeah, that's why it seems clear that whoever killed her was someone close to her. It had to be either a family member, an intimate partner (or former intimate partner), or a close friend. Unfortunately, I don't see how they will ever solve this. More than one person had motive, and there doesn't seem to be any physical evidence to help the case. I hope I'm wrong though. Patsy deserves some measure of justice--what a horrible way to die.


This case will be solved as most cold cases by someone talking or ratting someone out.

1.The strychnine had to acquired via some illegal "broker" or supplier. It is not impossible that the person who helped the killer acquire this may have done this again or has done other illegal activities. there is an old theory that in small towns, counties and in neighborhoods, there is always a particular known person that you go to for illegal activities. If you want drugs, the local drug dealer is well known by the everyone. if you want to get a gun there is a local guy that can get one for you (probably pointless in Texas!:D ) If you want someone killed usually you can ask around and find a hitman (usually a known ex-con, cop, private eye or ex-soldier).

I wonder if there is a known person in circles in that part of Texas who is know as being able to acquire substances such as strychnine.

When I really think about it. If I wanted to get strychnine in where i live. I probably could find a guy that specializes in that or knows a guy that know a guy. His identity wouldn;t necessarily be the biggest secret in the world. It would just be impossible to charge him based on the amount of buffers he might have used.


If someone wanted to do a professional hit in that part of Texas, whose the most likely person that someone would contact to find a hitman or get poison?

After reading the book on the iceman. It has been believed that organized gangs, drug dealers, gun runners have always been known to stockpile poisons such as cynanide and strychnine.

I agree that someone ratting the killer out is the most likely way that this case gets solved. I'm just not sure that, without some corroboration, that would be enough to convict anyone, especially if that person is getting a deal in exchange for ratting out the killer. If there were a string of people who all came in and said, "X was asking me if I knew someone who would kill Patsy," or "X was asking me if I knew how I could get strychnine," then that, along with the motive, could help build a case just strong enough for conviction. But, it would still be really tough. Unless they are able to parlay a snitch's fingering someone into getting the perpetrator to confess, I see it as a tough road to a conviction.

I agree that someone ratting the killer out is the most likely way that this case gets solved. I'm just not sure that, without some corroboration, that would be enough to convict anyone, especially if that person is getting a deal in exchange for ratting out the killer. If there were a string of people who all came in and said, "X was asking me if I knew someone who would kill Patsy," or "X was asking me if I knew how I could get strychnine," then that, along with the motive, could help build a case just strong enough for conviction. But, it would still be really tough. Unless they are able to parlay a snitch's fingering someone into getting the perpetrator to confess, I see it as a tough road to a conviction.

it would be tough because you would have to prove conspiracy, correct?

And conspiracy is next impossible to prove in cases over 5 years. :(

No wiretap, photos, witness or discovery exists.

The only discovery would be if the strychnine bottle with phsysical evidence that it was purchased by A from B with the purpose of killing C.

Sadly this may be a perfect murder. :mad:

it would be tough because you would have to prove conspiracy, correct?

And conspiracy is next impossible to prove in cases over 5 years. :(

No wiretap, photos, witness or discovery exists.

The only discovery would be if the strychnine bottle with phsysical evidence that it was purchased by A from B with the purpose of killing C.

I myself don't believe there was a conspiracy. I have seen no evidence that supports this scenerio. My feeling is that whoever laced Patsy's cough medicine with strychnine acted alone.

I myself don't believe there was a conspiracy. I have seen no evidence that supports this scenerio. My feeling is that whoever laced Patsy's cough medicine with strychnine acted alone.

1.The person who used the strychnine had to get it from someone. The person who provided it is the second party in Patsey's murder. Ge

2. If Patsy was killed for financial gain, there usually are multiple parties involved in those type of criminal enterprise murders.

3. It's not out of the question that the someone provided an outside killer with the information that Patsey used cold medicine.

4. Ultimately it does not matter whether it is a conspiracy or a single assailant since we don;t have a suspect to begin with. Discussions like that are only pertinant once a suspect is arrested. Once that happens he can be questioned on his and other's involvement. So this argument is moot.

5. My argument in the conspiracy theory is the idea that rather than find the killer of Patsy maybe we can find the procurer of the poison. And perhaps that person will talk.

Wikipedia says that strychnine has been used in killing birds and rodents, and quoted a drug guide from 1934 as saying that it was among one of the most valuable and widely prescribed drugs. Prescribed, to humans! Holy cow.

It was also used as a performance enhancing drug, years before athletes started using steroids.

I'm wondering if, since this murder happened in the 80s, and it was Texas, the strychine could have been acquired from some old farm, where it had possibly been used to kill mice and rats in previous years?

I've heard of another poisoning committed with decades old rat poison from the killer's grandma's farmhouse or something. It had been sitting in a shed or basement and nobody thought about it for years.

If that happened in Patsy's case, it would be much harder to pin down, since there'd be no black market supplier.

I've heard of another poisoning committed with decades old rat poison from the killer's grandma's farmhouse or something. It had been sitting in a shed or basement and nobody thought about it for years.

Careful, Tracy. It is Wikipedia. :D

Would the poison still retain it's potency after all those years?

Careful, Tracy. It is Wikipedia. :D

Would the poison still retain it's potency after all those years?

I know! Did you read in the news where some famous guy recently died, and a kid decided to update the wiki page with a "quote" made by the famous guy. The kid says he did it as an experiment. Uh huh, sure.

Anyway, a bunch of supposedly reputable news sources used the quote, either straight from wiki, or from other sources that had used wiki, in their obits and stories that they ran regarding the famous guy's death.

Then they found out about wiki not exactly being the god's honest truth, lol, and they had to print retractions. How embarrassin...

Here's a link to a news story about the whole thing: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/wireStory?id=7556738

Regarding the potency of those kinds of poisons after so many years, I'm not sure. I tried to look up cases in trutv's murder files and some other places to see if I could come up with the case that I'm thinking of, but I got nothin.

I've heard of another poisoning committed with decades old rat poison from the killer's grandma's farmhouse or something. It had been sitting in a shed or basement and nobody thought about it for years.

Hmm. Patsy did raise horses with her sister.

Somethin that I think gets lost in this is that Patsy's alarm was not set that night.

Hmm. Patsy did raise horses with her sister.

Somethin that I think gets lost in this is that Patsy's alarm was not set that night.

Was Patsy known to use her alarm regularly?

I wonder if her alarm was connected to the windows. She had her bedroom window open a bit. Maybe she hadn't activated the alarm so the window could be open without setting the alarm off.

Was Patsy known to use her alarm regularly?

I wonder if her alarm was connected to the windows. She had her bedroom window open a bit. Maybe she hadn't activated the alarm so the window could be open without setting the alarm off.
If you read some of my reply's from last year you'll know how I feel about Patsy's death. I still have the information on the person I think should be looked at very seriously.

If you read some of my reply's from last year you'll know how I feel about Patsy's death. I still have the information on the person I think should be looked at very seriously.

Did you pass this info on to the police? What did they say?

If you read some of my reply's from last year you'll know how I feel about Patsy's death. I still have the information on the person I think should be looked at very seriously.

Covair: Yes, I def. read your posts and I find them very very interesting, and perhaps key to solving this case. If the guy you know was involved, it would explain a lot of the problems discussed on this board:

1) The two sets of plates that indicate that she was with someone that night and didn't want anyone else to know. This idea that, if someone had been there earlier in the night, she would have mentioned this to her sister as she was begging her for help seems absurd.
2) How the poison was obtained without it being detected more easily (you say the guy was a ranch hand who had access to rat poisons).

Here's what I don't get though. Covair, you have said that you presented this to the police, and when someone here suggested you go to Patsy's family or even the district attorney, you said you were fine with what you have done and I assume haven't gone to anyone else. Well, since you clearly feel that this guy murdered Patsy (or at the very least should be investigated) and the police aren't doing anything, why not take the extra step? You've commented on this website, so it is important to you, so why not bring it to someone else's attention outside of law enforcement.

Sounds like you've got a great lead if this is true, and perhaps the police did investigate and they just didn't inform you about it. That might be worth checking into as well. But, it's time to take the next step!

According to the research I have done it is said by experts that poisoning is predominantly a "female" crime. In almost all cases of poisoning it's women that have done the deed. It's seems to be the most common way that women choose to get rid of someone. That is why I believe that Patsy's killer was a woman. Men typically don't use poison to dispose of their victims, so I'm playing the odds here and giving my opinion that Patsy's killer was a vengeful woman maybe a friend, or an acquantance, and she staged the "dinner with a lover" scene to throw the cops and family off the trail so no one would suspect a woman as the killer.

According to the research I have done it is said by experts that poisoning is predominantly a "female" crime. In almost all cases of poisoning it's women that have done the deed. It's seems to be the most common way that women choose to get rid of someone. That is why I believe that Patsy's killer was a woman. Men typically don't use poison to dispose of their victims, so I'm playing the odds here and giving my opinion that Patsy's killer was a vengeful woman maybe a friend, or an acquantance, and she staged the "dinner with a lover" scene to throw the cops and family off the trail so no one would suspect a woman as the killer.

Good point there! I will say that you are probably right about poisoins being used more often by women than men, I can think of several examples (even a few on UM) in which a male used poison to murder someone. So, it doesn't mean that a woman had to be the killer by any means.

On the other hand, you made an interesting theory come up :) I'm thinking: A friend over for a romantic dinner that no body knows about??? Hmmm, did Patsy have a female lover on the side??? You never know ;)

Covair, why not take the information to a news journalist, TV news, or the local congressman in the area? (well maybe not the congressman...:p )

Good point there! I will say that you are probably right about poisoins being used more often by women than men, I can think of several examples (even a few on UM) in which a male used poison to murder someone. So, it doesn't mean that a woman had to be the killer by any means.

Poison being the preferred murder weapon might have as much to with the knowledge that Patsy drank Nyquil as it does with the killers gender.

If this was premeditated, the murderer(s) may have gone through methods of killing Patsey without incriminating his/herself. At some point, the fact that she drank Nyquil had to have come up. It's not a stretch that it was decided that poisoning her Nyquil was an easy way to get away with murder. It has to be more preferable to shooting Patsy or hiring someone to shoot her.

Poison is also the popular method of crime novels as well. Perhaps Patsey's killer is an avid Agatha Christie novel reader.

Something to keep in mind also is that poison also allows for failed attempts to go relatively undetected. If you attempt to shoot someone and miss, it's difficult to hide it and try again. But with poison..you could make reasonably make several attempts on a persons life without it becoming obvious.

When I re-watched this segment recently, I had a theory about two minutes in. It progressed like this:

When RS was describing strychnine and how cruel a way it was to die, I thought to myself, "whoever was present for the death in the re-enactment is going to be my Number One suspect.". Killers who want their victims to suffer an agonizingly paintful death, I reasoned, want to see and hear their victims suffer rather than just knock them off.

As soon as the segment showed Patsy calling Sally to report feeling ill, I immediately said, "the sister did it!" Patsy's sister Sally knew that she was Patsy's emergency contact, and would be called in the event of any sudden illness or onset of symptoms.

However, in reading this thread, I can see there are some much stronger suspects. But how would you respond to my points (more like instincts) above?

When I re-watched this segment recently, I had a theory about two minutes in. It progressed like this:

When RS was describing strychnine and how cruel a way it was to die, I thought to myself, "whoever was present for the death in the re-enactment is going to be my Number One suspect.". Killers who want their victims to suffer an agonizingly paintful death, I reasoned, want to see and hear their victims suffer rather than just knock them off.

As soon as the segment showed Patsy calling Sally to report feeling ill, I immediately said, "the sister did it!" Patsy's sister Sally knew that she was Patsy's emergency contact, and would be called in the event of any sudden illness or onset of symptoms.

However, in reading this thread, I can see there are some much stronger suspects. But how would you respond to my points (more like instincts) above?

While it's definetely logical to think that the sister might be a suspect, for some reason, I don't think she did it (my instinct, I guess). Plus:

1) From all I've read (much more than was brought up on UM), Patsy and her sister were extremely close-including opening up a business together.
2) The sister did not stop her husband from trying to give Patsy CPR; this would have potentially killed her husband.
3) Both the sister, and Patsy's brother-in-law passed polygraph tests.
4) As you said, there are clearly more suspicious suspects.

I disagree that a person who uses strychnine would want to be there to watch the death. To me that idea assumes that the killer actually knew that such a poison is a "particularly horrible way to die." I think it's just as likely that the killer simply knew that it was a way to die, and had it at his/her disposal. PLUS, strychnine is supposed to be odorless and tasteless, and that would also be a reason to pick such a poison.

That's my take on the sister.

mattc, you make some good points. I think #3 and #4 are the main reasons that I would tend to agree with you.

#1 could be the way things seem, but Sally could be harbouring deep resentments that she never told anyone about, and regarding #2 I am thinking they could have told the police they gave CPR when they really did not. I would also disagree on the strychnine - I would think if someone is going to use a drug on someone that they will have done their research on it (such as the amount needed to ensure death, its detectability, etc. - and along the way, the killer would have probably run across information on how it works to kill the person, which would include the pain it would cause).

Whenever a woman ends up dead, if there is a disgruntled ex or an abusive bf or husband in her life (or formerly in her life), it's almost always him.

I disagree that a person who uses strychnine would want to be there to watch the death. To me that idea assumes that the killer actually knew that such a poison is a "particularly horrible way to die." I think it's just as likely that the killer simply knew that it was a way to die, and had it at his/her disposal. PLUS, strychnine is supposed to be odorless and tasteless, and that would also be a reason to pick such a poison.

I would think if someone is going to use a drug on someone that they will have done their research on it (such as the amount needed to ensure death, its detectability, etc. - and along the way, the killer would have probably run across information on how it works to kill the person, which would include the pain it would cause).

Your average reader of classic mystery novels probably knows about strychnine along with arsenic and cyanide as popular poison methods.

I don't necessarily think one has to have a good knowledge of poisons to think about using it.

In fact the most research done, might be simply reading an Agatha Christie novel.

Whenever a woman ends up dead, if there is a disgruntled ex or an abusive bf or husband in her life (or formerly in her life), it's almost always him.

While I agree with that assesment, it is important to consider that Patsey is not only a woman but is a business owner and a wealthy individual.

There is the money side of this case to consider.

1) From all I've read (much more than was brought up on UM), Patsy and her sister were extremely close-including opening up a business together.

Money can can cause even the closest of people to consider murdering a loved one.

2) The sister did not stop her husband from trying to give Patsy CPR; this would have potentially killed her husband.

It is possible there was evidence of CPR done. (a cracked rib, for example)..pressure on the sternum.

3) Both the sister, and Patsy's brother-in-law passed polygraph tests.

Not the strongest piece of evidence clearing both.

1. One problem with a polygraph is that this is a very subtle murder. Neither had to committ violent activity. A lot easier to lie about putting something in a bottle than slicing someone;s throat.

2. Also you have to consider it may have been days ago or even weeks since the strychnine was placed. A lot of time for a suspect to get used to the concept of killing someone.

3. If you really think about it, there reactions to Patsey;s death would be normal since they witnessed someone dying in front of them. Any shock, revulsion or nervouseness would be normal under the circumstances.
It;s not the same as determining if someone stabbed someone two hours ago or was sleeping in his bed.

That's my take on the sister.


IMHO, The sister should be still be a suspect, but I don;t think she should be the only person. There are other suspects.

http://www.unsolved.com/ajaxfiles/une_patsy_wright.htm

This case is going to be shown again today at 4pm (eastern) on lifetime.

i feel that the killer is likely an ex boyfriend or ex husband or close family member, i rule out the sister and her husband though because of the danger that the sister's husband did with the CPR, i think it's likely an ex husband/boyfriend.

hm. This case bothers me just because it's a poisoning, let alone the number of people who could've done it. It'd be interesting to see what alarm system she had and how it worked. I know that technically, the strychnine could've been put into the Nyquil days or weeks before, but something tells me it was put in recently and in a large enough amount to kill her the first time. Supposedly it has a bitter taste (according to the CDC fact sheet here (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/strychnine/basics/facts.asp).).

I think that's an interesting observation on the sister. I'll have to think about that, I was leaning towards the stalker-ex-husband. Didn't he stalk her for quite some time and then suddenly stop? That seems odd to me.

hm. This case bothers me just because it's a poisoning, let alone the number of people who could've done it. It'd be interesting to see what alarm system she had and how it worked. I know that technically, the strychnine could've been put into the Nyquil days or weeks before, but something tells me it was put in recently and in a large enough amount to kill her the first time. Supposedly it has a bitter taste (according to the CDC fact sheet here (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/strychnine/basics/facts.asp).).

this case bothers anyone who sees it because of the fact that it had to be someone who knew her. it's a shame that they havent found her killer yet.

This case has always struck me as being odd...and almost like a suicide.
Why do I think that?



No forced entry at the house
The inability to ascertain the location or purchaser of the poison
The fact that the entire "plan" depending on the woman taking enough strychnine to kill her
The frankly sort of "resigned" manner displayed by the family when they were interviewed.
The fact that no similar poison "murders" have occurred in the area.
The lack of a primary suspect in the case


Even the alarm being turned off could be explained by the woman not wanting to make it difficult to discover the body.
There are just too many inconsistencies for this case to be anything other than a suicide,IMHO,
Although strychnine poisoning is supposed be very painful I remember that there was a book where a character used it during a sex act. The character died...but the details very pretty sexually explicit.

This case has always struck me as being odd...and almost like a suicide.
Why do I think that?



No forced entry at the house
The inability to ascertain the location or purchaser of the poison
The fact that the entire "plan" depending on the woman taking enough strychnine to kill her
The frankly sort of "resigned" manner displayed by the family when they were interviewed.
The fact that no similar poison "murders" have occurred in the area.
The lack of a primary suspect in the case


Even the alarm being turned off could be explained by the woman not wanting to make it difficult to discover the body.
There are just too many inconsistencies for this case to be anything other than a suicide,IMHO,
Although strychnine poisoning is supposed be very painful I remember that there was a book where a character used it during a sex act. The character died...but the details very pretty sexually explicit.

I do not believe she poisoned herself. if she was gonna do this, why even bother making the phone call that she did for help. That makes no sense.

As far as no forced entry, more then likely she knew the person who ended up poisoning her.

Just because her family may have acted a certain way doesn't necessarily mean anything.

If someone is out to get someone, they don't go & commit the same crime in the same area or elsewhere to other people. Because there were no other crimes in the area involving poison, that doesn't mean she did this herself.

Sorry but your reasons for this being a suicide is too weak imo.

There have been a few well known suicides by poison, such as Leonard Lake. He and Charles Ng worked together as serial killers. Lake had a cyanide capsule with him that he took when he was being questioned by police. He went into a coma and died a few days later.

It seems that poison is more common as a murder weapon than a means of suicide, possibly due to the suffering one has to endure before death.

I can recall a school teacher whose husband was slowly poisoning her with thallium or arsenic or something, but she survived. I forgot her name. She was a heavy lady with short red hair. (Anyone remember that one?) On UM, there was Gilbert Ortiz, whose wife poisoned him with insecticide. He also survived. Marie Hilley used that method on a few people and they died.

There was also that crazy genius guy, George Trepal, who planted thallium poisoned coca cola bottles on his neighbors door step. The family didn't realize the source of the sodas and brought it into the house. The mom died but her kids eventually recovered. IIRC, the motive was that the neighbor was sick of listening to the kids playing loud rock music.

In Patsy's case, I think the ex-husband spiked her medicine with the poison as a way to cause her death without leaving too much evidence.

He knew her habits and seems to have the best motive. He was desperately trying to get her to lie on the witness stand in an insurance fraud case. Every time he tried to convince her to lie, she kept telling him that she was going to tell the truth in court. Then, just a few days before she was set to testify, she died by taking an enormous amount of strychnine.

the phone call is an interesting and important piece of information and I'm baffled that Lifetime edited it out. And I don't think it was a prank.

It is generally assumed that Patsy's visitor that night was a man, but that is not necessarily the case, and being that the phone caller was a woman, I would say it is absolutely possible Patsy was killed by a woman. Since the killer obviously couldn't wait around for Patsy to take the NyQuil, I think the purpose of the phone call was to make sure "the deed was done"

I do not believe she poisoned herself. if she was gonna do this, why even bother making the phone call that she did for help. That makes no sense.

As far as no forced entry, more then likely she knew the person who ended up poisoning her.

Just because her family may have acted a certain way doesn't necessarily mean anything.

If someone is out to get someone, they don't go & commit the same crime in the same area or elsewhere to other people. Because there were no other crimes in the area involving poison, that doesn't mean she did this herself.

Sorry but your reasons for this being a suicide is too weak imo.

!) There are many cases of people who attempt suicide and then have a change of heart. That may be what happened in this case. Suicide doesn't make much sense, so trying to find logic in it may not be possible.

2) Even if there was no forced entry, there would have been evidence of another party either having been in the home or evidence that someone tried to cover up that fact.
No fingerprints? Or footprints in the hallway? The neighbors didn't see anything?

3) A person that they loved was (according to them) poisoned and died in agony. Their lack of affect was very disturbing and completely out of place after an event like this.
Given that some people never recover from the natural and expected death of a loved one, I would have expected more emotion from the family and a greater eagerness to find their loved one's "killer."

Unless, of course, they didn't believe that she was murdered.
Or that they were involved in some manner.

4) Poisoning murders in modern societies were rare, even when this story was aired. We are talking less than 100 per year in the US. Most of those would involve and elderly or infirmed person, usually in a clinical setting.

That someone would use a hard to obtain poison to kill someone w/ no apparent enemies, makes little sense. Even a person w/ enemies that wished to kill them would probably be killed by a gunshot or stabbing rather than by poison. That way, the assailant could be assured that the person was actually dead.

Other deaths by poison in the area would have worked to the killer's advantage, as it would have taken away attention from a single victim and would have it appear that this was a "Tylenol capsule" type of case. That there were no other deaths makes me think that this wasn't an actual murder.


Since the story skirted around the mental state of the "victim" and no information was presented about her overall health, it's very easy to believe that this was either a tragic accident or an intentional suicide.

Arson has come up a lot in this case. Her ex-husband was involved in a lawsuit in which he was trying to get an insurance company to pay for some sort of building that burned down (does anyone know the details of this?). We know he was trying to get Patsy not to testify in the case. The UM segment covered this, but not in detail.

Second, one of Patsy's co-workers had died a similar (probable poisoning) death just a few years prior. No mention of this in the UM segment.

Third, we know Patsy's sister took full ownership of the museum after Patsy died and we know the wax museum was destroyed by arson shortly after the murder. No mention of this in the segment since it happened after her death (or did it happen before the segment filmed -- anyone know?).

Fourth, now we have a new name pop up -- Stanley Poyner. The e-mail crystaldawn received about the case suggests that this Poyner character knew Patsy, was a suspect in her murder for a while, and was implicated in burning down the wax museum. This man was not mentioned in the UM segment and it's not clear to me what his relationship was to the museum. But it seems quite pertinent nontheless.

So taking all of this into account, there are three suspects:

1) Her ex-husband (likely with a motive to stop her from testifying in his arson lawsuit).
2) Her sister and brother-in-law (possibly with a financial motive in the wax museum's insurance money after a planned arson).
3) That Poyner fellow who was found looking through the wax museum rubble after it was burned (again I am not sure how exactly he is connected to the museum but it seems he had something to gain).

All three suspects revolve around arson, though suspects #2 and #3 have plausible motives for the wax museum itself burning. I don't see how the ex-husband benefits from the wax museum itself (unless he had some ownership in it after the divorce).

I thought to myself immediately upon watching this segment "cui bono," as this case has the hallmarks of an assassination. This was no crime of passion, it was no stranger, robbery or suicide. The only thing left is that someone wanted Patsy silenced. If one bases one's opinion of the case solely on the UM segment, one can find little motive for this crime. However, learning about the wax museum arson just after her death opens a whole new can of worms. Arson comes up too much in this case for it to be coincidental. If it's a coincidence then I'm Michael Jordan and play for the Chicago Bulls. ;)

And, no, I do not rule out her sister and brother-in-law. I find it convenient that Patsy called them for help. I find it convenient that "just by coincidence" they found her window open and discovered her body. I find it coincidental they didn't call 911 immediately instead of wasting time by going to the house first. Yes, they passed polygraphs, but that doesn't mean a whole lot -- there's a reason they are not admissible in court. And how do we know they gave her CPR? No one was there to witness this. I am not saying they are responsible or even are the most likely suspects, but I do find it weird that after Patsy's death they take complete ownership of the museum (which then burns by arson a short time later). No one else finds that suspicious? Who would benefit from arson more than them?

And, no, I do not rule out her sister and brother-in-law. I find it convenient that Patsy called them for help
Well, the convenient that Patsy called them isnt a shock if they are that close, but i rule out the brother-in-law because he gave her mouth to mouth which could've been fatal to him. As for who did this, it was someone close, maybe the sister, but i dont think so, i say it's an ex-boyfriend/husband or someone who really liked her, but she turned them down.

Well, the convenient that Patsy called them isnt a shock if they are that close, but i rule out the brother-in-law because he gave her mouth to mouth which could've been fatal to him. As for who did this, it was someone close, maybe the sister, but i dont think so, i say it's an ex-boyfriend/husband or someone who really liked her, but she turned them down.

Go back and read all my post from march 2008 on page 2

To touch up on what Thiussat brought up in they're post, here's a list of the possible suspects and they're motives in this case:

1. Robert Cox (Paty's ex-husband). Apparently Cox was a local businessman who (like Patsy) owned his own wax museum. It was by all accounts a financial failure. Since Cox was losing money on his wax museum, he devised an insurance fraud scheme in which a fire would be set and he would claim losses totaling more than what was really there. Shortly after his museum burned to the ground is when he married Patsy, and when his true colors began to shine. He allegedly verbally abused her and had a gambling problem. They eventually divorced after a three year marriage, and (as shown in the UM segment) Cox began to stalk Patsy at her house. She filed a restraining order against him, and she was also going to be called to testify in Cox's upcoming civil suit against his insurace company (in which he intended to lie in order to get out of the debt he was in). Cox became leery about Patsy testifying in the trial since she says she was going to "tell the truth" about the fires (Cox claimed in the suit that there was an antique chest was destroyed in the fire, but Patsy knew it was fine still sitting in one of Cox's offices!) . In other words, she was going to blow the whistle on the whole scam, and that would mean no money for Cox. The trial was going to start ten days after Patsy's death. Obviously Cox would have known about her taking cold medicine to sleep better routine, and he certainly had the perfect motive in wanting to get rid of Patsy. The authorities also claim that somoene Patsy knew had to have poisoned her since there was no sign of a forced entry. I disagree. In the UM segment, Patsy's brother-in-law stated he climbed into her bedroom through an open window. An intruder could have done the same thing. Cox could have hired someone (or may have done it himself) to sneak into Patsy's house and spike the cold medicine. He's the only one of the suspects who refused to take a polygraph test, and also is the one with the strongest motive in her death.

2. Patsy's ex-boyfriend. He took a polygraph and passed, and cooperated with police in the investigation. I don't think he had any involvement in her death but his motive would have been presumeably anger over breaking up with Patsy.

3. An unknown "lover"/friend. The whole dinner plate thing has been beat to death in this thread so I won't retouch it. She very well could have had someone over for dinner that night who (for reasons unknown) wanted her dead. If this friend were a woman, it would explain why days after Patsy's death was determined to be murder by poisoning her daughter got a phone call from an unknown woman taunting her saying her mother "deserved" to die. The motive here as I said is unknown, and since police and law enforcement didn't touch upon any lover other than her ex-boyfriend and husband, nor a "friend" who would have anything to gain from Patsy's death, I think this can also be ruled out.

4. Her sister & brother-in-law. They certainly would have benefited from her death, since they became owners of the wax museums after her murder. While I think they're actions are suspicious (they went over to her house instead of calling 911, the brother-in-law took the time to note the dinner plates, etc.), I still don't think both of them would have conspired to kill Patsy. Plus, the brother-in-law did do mouth to mouth on Patsy, which could have poisoned him. Also, Patsy called her sister for help when she couldn't breathe. That, IMHO, tells me how close they were. And if they truely were planning on poisoning Patsy, why did they rush over to her house minutes after getting the phone call? Don't most people who murder their loved ones want someone else to "discover" the dead bodies while they are elsehwere to establish an alibi? Plus, it was Patsy's sister who told the authorities that (in her phone call for help) Patsy stated that she had taken cold medicine that night. If they were responsible for poisoning Patsy, why on Earth would they volunteer the product they tampered with and poisoned to the authorities!? They didn't have to say anything at all (since Patsy was already dead,) and they could have easily gotten rid of the cold medicine when they arrived at her house. Not to mention that both took polygraphs and passed and fully cooperated with law enforcement.

It's obvious to me who's responsible in Patsy's murder. It's just awful coincidental than just ten days before Patsy was going to testify against Robert Cox, exposing his insurance fraud scheme, she suddenly gets "poisoned" and dies. I think she was killed by Cox to be silenced. When someone gets murdered, the number two motives are "love" and "money". And Cox is the only suspect that fits both of these motives, being a jilted ex-husband, and also someone who's money making scheme was going to be exposed by Patsy.

For some unknown reason the Arlington Police Deptment cold case unit has very little or no interest in this case. I have on 3 ocasions provided them with information unknown to anybody else, and they have chosen to ignore it. This has bothered me for over 20 years now, and I still hope this case can be solved.

Corvair, Here's your chance I'm a Private Investigator in Texas and I'm working on this case now, if you are still around please let me know.
The Agency

I just re-watched this one. Most of my thoughts were addressed here. The re-enactment showed CPR being given on the bed. Could just be a UM mistake, but CPR wouldn't be all that effective on a bed? ...which does make me question the bil's claims about her spit-up.

Either way, it's definitely surprising to me that no new leads have come up. Just a difficult case to swallow all around.

I re-watched this the other day as well. I read somewhere that an employee from the wax museum suspicously died 3 years before Patsy and that the employee's death was made to scare Patsy for whatever reason. They said Patsy may have stumbled upon secrets she shouldn't have and was poisoned to keep her quiet. Where would someone get so much strychnine from? What was the main reason to kill her? I think it could've been her sister and brother-in-law to get all the money from the wax museum for themselves. It could've been her ex-husband to keep her from testifying in his arson trial. It could've been all of them for all we know.

I have always felt for this woman. What a horrible tragedy. The PI needs to hook up woth Corvair and get this thing solved.

I have always felt for this woman. What a horrible tragedy. The PI needs to hook up woth Corvair and get this thing solved.
I'm still here and I still have more information about this case than anyone else still alive today.

Corvair, Here's your chance I'm a Private Investigator in Texas and I'm working on this case now, if you are still around please let me know.
The Agency
I'm still here, and still available. I would more than happy to meet with you and provide you with the information I have. I just want to make one thing very clear, I'm not accusing anybody of anything, I'm just providing information about a person that may or may not help clear up this case.

I'm still really suspicious about Patsy's sister. Her and her husband were the only ones to know what happened to Patsy before the ambulance arrived. Patsy's sister told the story....which she could have made up. I'm sure there were phone records of Patsy calling her sister's house, but maybe Patsy's sister was over Patsy's house and made the phone call to her own house to throw people off. Like tamanshud said above, the brother in law's story about his so called CPR was suspect to be a lie. I really think the Police should have looked deeper into Patsy's sister and brother-in-law as suspects.

I respectfully disagree. Pattys brother in law gave her mouth to mouth for quite some time, even getting the liquid cold medicine laced with the strychnine in his mouth several times. He is very lucky as it only takes very little strychnine to cause death. Nobody in their right mind would give mouth to mouth with somebody they know has ingested such a deadly posion. When the paramedics arrived, not only was he giving mouth to mouth but he had spit out the green liquid.

It was obviously someone that knew her well enough to know her habits but I dont think it was anyone mentioned on the UM episode.

Strychnine comes in rat posions I believe, which Im betting is what was actually used. Because to buy pure strychnine would be extremely difficult for your average person.

I'm still here, and still available. I would more than happy to meet with you and provide you with the information I have. I just want to make one thing very clear, I'm not accusing anybody of anything, I'm just providing information about a person that may or may not help clear up this case.
I'am still waiting for you to respond.

I am wondering if Patsy had eaten before she ingested the poison at all? Typically poisons will hit someone's system and they will die faster if their stomach was empty. I wonder if the ME found any food in her stomach at the time of death? If she had a full stomach the poison would not have hit her as quickly and would have been pretty neutralized and soaked up by any food in her stomach. If her stomach was empty, then why were the dinner plates in her room? if so, then the whole scenario with the plates was staged. If she had food in her stomach why would she have died so quickly? And if she knew something was wrong and she couldn't breathe why would she call her sister instead of paramedics? If she hadn't wasted precious time the ambulance could have gotten to her sooner and she might have lived!

I am wondering if Patsy had eaten before she ingested the poison at all? Typically poisons will hit someone's system and they will die faster if their stomach was empty. I wonder if the ME found any food in her stomach at the time of death? If she had a full stomach the poison would not have hit her as quickly and would have been pretty neutralized and soaked up by any food in her stomach. If her stomach was empty, then why were the dinner plates in her room? if so, then the whole scenario with the plates was staged. If she had food in her stomach why would she have died so quickly? And if she knew something was wrong and she couldn't breathe why would she call her sister instead of paramedics? If she hadn't wasted precious time the ambulance could have gotten to her sooner and she might have lived!

That's true, but Patsy consumed over a lethal dose to begin with. Even if she had food in her stomach, that still would not prevent the strychnine from reaching her tissues. Food in the stomach does not "neutralize" a chemical, as that chemical travels through the bloodstream and thus the entire body. It's still there; it doesn't disappear. It's just how quickly or slowly the chemical is absorbed, as you said.

By the time Patsy experienced her symptoms, there was hardly any possibility she would have lived even if she had medical attention. It can be fatal within an hour, according to most current knowledge. There's not a huge body of work on strychnine poisoning in humans as fortunately it's very uncommon. Unfortunately, as a consequence there's no antidote either.

That's true, but Patsy consumed over a lethal dose to begin with. Even if she had food in her stomach, that still would not prevent the strychnine from reaching her tissues. Food in the stomach does not "neutralize" a chemical, as that chemical travels through the bloodstream and thus the entire body. It's still there; it doesn't disappear. It's just how quickly or slowly the chemical is absorbed, as you said.

By the time Patsy experienced her symptoms, there was hardly any possibility she would have lived even if she had medical attention. It can be fatal within an hour, according to most current knowledge. There's not a huge body of work on strychnine poisoning in humans as fortunately it's very uncommon. Unfortunately, as a consequence there's no antidote either.

Still seems odd though that she called her sister instead of 911.

Still seems odd though that she called her sister instead of 911.

Not really. In a panic it's more likely you would call a family member than for example the emergency services.

Still seems odd though that she called her sister instead of 911.

I think she just called her sister because she was in a panic and was not thinking clearly.

The brother and sister were investigated and ruled out by the PD, IIRC. I don't see how either of them could be involved. I still believe it was her ex-husband who hired someone to kill her.

Not really. In a panic it's more likely you would call a family member than for example the emergency services.

I guess I am an odd ball cause I would not call a family member even if I was in a panic. First thing that would come to mind is 911.

I would also call 911 rather than family, but I've had a lot of experience with a very sick child and husband for several years and actually needed 911's services a few times.

A few months ago, my daughter and her husband had a prowler at their house around midnight. They know I'm almost always armed so instead of calling the cops, they called me. In the middle of the night. To come over and save their butts! lol

They're young and silly and thought it would be a waste of the police's time, since the prowler didn't actually get into the house. I told them to call the police's non-emergency number and get their advice, if they felt the situation wasn't serious enough for 911. I offered to come over and play armed security guard for the night but they ended up being okay.

Turns out the police were already in their neighborhood looking for the guy because several residents heard him messing with their doors and stuff.

I guess Patsy Wright could have felt similar to how my kids did, that maybe her situation wasn't serious enough for emergency services to tend to her but she was still sick enough to call her relatives to help her out. I just read a news story today about a woman who fell into a coma and almost died from septic shock. She was sick but just didn't realize how bad off she really was until she awoke from emergency surgery and was told what had happened to her.

I would also call 911 rather than family, but I've had a lot of experience with a very sick child and husband for several years and actually needed 911's services a few times.

A few months ago, my daughter and her husband had a prowler at their house around midnight. They know I'm almost always armed so instead of calling the cops, they called me. In the middle of the night. To come over and save their butts! lol

They're young and silly and thought it would be a waste of the police's time, since the prowler didn't actually get into the house. I told them to call the police's non-emergency number and get their advice, if they felt the situation wasn't serious enough for 911. I offered to come over and play armed security guard for the night but they ended up being okay.

Turns out the police were already in their neighborhood looking for the guy because several residents heard him messing with their doors and stuff.

I guess Patsy Wright could have felt similar to how my kids did, that maybe her situation wasn't serious enough for emergency services to tend to her but she was still sick enough to call her relatives to help her out. I just read a news story today about a woman who fell into a coma and almost died from septic shock. She was sick but just didn't realize how bad off she really was until she awoke from emergency surgery and was told what had happened to her.

I think it's really similar to the way some people treat chest pains. They "tough them out" until they finally get dragged to the ER only to find out they've had an infarction.

I think it's very natural to want to call your family first. You trust them, after all.

I don't find it that out of left field. It wasn't like she was shot or stabbed, maybe she figured it wasn't that bad at the moment she called.

corvair, I finally read (ironically years later, sorry) what you wrote and basically me and you tend to agree that it was a loved one. you said some mystery boyfriend and I think I wrote ex-boyfriend or a guy she either turned down or left and that fits the bill. I do NOT think this is suicide as that would be a pretty harsh way for someone to die.

Wondering, how exactly would law enforcement ever verify specifically if the brother-in law actually attempted CPR on Patsy? Wouldn't it be kinda simple for someone to just mix spit with the cold medicine and splash it around the crime scene?

Something's always hinked me on why the sister and brother-in-law didn't call 911 before they rushed over(because, maybe medics would arrive first?). I appreciate that the brother-in-law passed a poly and give that some weight, but inheriting half a business is motive and being first on the scene and the ones to call the authorities could potentially provide opportunity to stage the scene. Hell, maybe the brother-in-law wasn't being deceptive on the poly, because the other half was tasked with that, so was SHE POLY'D too?

Fascinating reading about the other developments in the case and there are some very interesting alternative theories.

The sister was the one who volunteered to the authorities that Patsy had told her over the phone that she had just taken some cold medicine to help her sleep. If the sister and brother-in-law were in fact the ones who poisoned her, why would the sister tell the cops? Wouldn't it make more sense to get rid of the bottle instead of basically admitting to the cops the product you tampered with?

Bump had local cases on my mind today and this might be one of the most baffling local cases UM featured for dfw area. I mean there seems to be nothing to go on other than this beautiful woman was cut down in her prime in a very callous manner. I never really focused on her sister and brother in law but they seem to be the only possible suspects. doesn't make them guilty but I just wish we had more to go on. Who thinks the family was involved or have changed their minds since the last time they've posted?

Just watched this one again. I also read the article yuppielawyer posted (a must read). I learned a few things from the article that UM didn't cover:

1) The sister and brother-in-law did call 911 before they went to Patsy's house, but they claim that they did not know Patsy's exact street address and couldn't relay that to the 911 operator (Patsy was in a rental house). So, they decided to go over there themselves and call from her house.

Now, if it's true that they didn't know the exact address, then the whole "not calling 911" makes sense. But, personally, I find it hard to believe they didn't know at least a partial address (street name) along with a description of the house or cars parked out front, etc. Overall, this explanation makes them look more suspicious than before in my opinion.

2) Robert Cox owned a wax museum before he met Patsy. This is the one he burned down for insurance money. This is the arson that resulted in a trial in which Patsy was supposed to testify. Interestingly, he won his case and was awarded the money.

3) The brother-in-law was in the construction business and his company was failing.

4) Patsy and her sister both had $500,000 life insurance policies out on each other and were in the process of renegotiating these (and their wills) before Patsy's death. It seems there was some disagreement between the two of them on what Patsy's kids would get in the event of her death.

5) The article also mentions a boyfriend Patsy was seeing at the time. UM did not mention this.

6) The paramedics at the scene said that they did not believe Steve Horning actually performed CPR on Patsy. They said the instant they began CPR, Patsy coughed up a lot of clear (not green) fluid. This indicated to them that no one had previously cleared her airway.

7) Patsy's friends say she did not like her brother-in-law Steve. I don't put a lot of stock into this as it seems to me like pure gossip.

Just watched this one again. I also read the article yuppielawyer posted (a must read). I learned a few things from the article that UM didn't cover:

1) The sister and brother-in-law did call 911 before they went to Patsy's house, but they claim that they did not know Patsy's exact street address and couldn't relay that to the 911 operator (Patsy was in a rental house). So, they decided to go over there themselves and call from her house.

Now, if it's true that they didn't know the exact address, then the whole "not calling 911" makes sense. But, personally, I find it hard to believe they didn't know at least a partial address (street name) along with a description of the house or cars parked out front, etc. Overall, this explanation makes them look more suspicious than before in my opinion.

2) Robert Cox owned a wax museum before he met Patsy. This is the one he burned down for insurance money. This is the arson that resulted in a trial in which Patsy was supposed to testify. Interestingly, he won his case and was awarded the money.

3) The brother-in-law was in the construction business and his company was failing.

4) Patsy and her sister both had $500,000 life insurance policies out on each other and were in the process of renegotiating these (and their wills) before Patsy's death. It seems there was some disagreement between the two of them on what Patsy's kids would get in the event of her death.

5) The article also mentions a boyfriend Patsy was seeing at the time. UM did not mention this.

6) The paramedics at the scene said that they did not believe Steve Horning actually performed CPR on Patsy. They said the instant they began CPR, Patsy coughed up a lot of clear (not green) fluid. This indicated to them that no one had previously cleared her airway.

7) Patsy's friends say she did not like her brother-in-law Steve. I don't put a lot of stock into this as it seems to me like pure gossip.

Interesting. I always got an uneasy feeling about her sister and brother in law.

In the past i read quite a few things on this case and I can say I believe the sister and brother in law are innocent. I cant recall as its been a few years but a family friend or someone close to Patsy had posted that they all believe they know who did it but have yet to be able to prove it. I believe it was someone working for her at the time and that she was seeing. I had read extensively on this and from what I gathered, I dont think the sister and her husband killed her.

In the past i read quite a few things on this case and I can say I believe the sister and brother in law are innocent. I cant recall as its been a few years but a family friend or someone close to Patsy had posted that they all believe they know who did it but have yet to be able to prove it. I believe it was someone working for her at the time and that she was seeing. I had read extensively on this and from what I gathered, I dont think the sister and her husband killed her.

You could be right. It is a real "whodunnit" with a cast of viable suspects each of whom have real motives.

One odd thing is Robert Cox (her ex husband) had a party after her murder at a country club where the focus of the party was to guess her killer. Robert himself said he believed a hitman was hired. I found this fact very, um, strange. Who does this sort of thing?

You could be right. It is a real "whodunnit" with a cast of viable suspects each of whom have real motives.

One odd thing is Robert Cox (her ex husband) had a party after her murder at a country club where the focus of the party was to guess her killer. Robert himself said he believed a hitman was hired. I found this fact very, um, strange. Who does this sort of thing?
I guess this is one of those cases that just has no answers so it leaves me reaching.

I just rewatched this game and it really gets to me. There are so many questions.. I personally do suspect the sister and her husband. Is it confirmed that he performed CPR on her, or is it just something he is saying? Another person I suspect is obviously the ex-husband... Does anyone know what the people involved are doing today?

Here is a pretty good article on the case http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1989/august/t-h-e-wax-museum-murder-mystery/

I just rewatched this game and it really gets to me. There are so many questions.. I personally do suspect the sister and her husband. Is it confirmed that he performed CPR on her, or is it just something he is saying? Another person I suspect is obviously the ex-husband... Does anyone know what the people involved are doing today?

Here is a pretty good article on the case http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1989/august/t-h-e-wax-museum-murder-mystery/
That is a great article. Wow

The paramedics at the scene said that they did not believe Steve Horning actually performed CPR on Patsy. They said the instant they began CPR, Patsy coughed up a lot of clear (not green) fluid. This indicated to them that no one had previously cleared her airway.

This is huge. Steve claimed that he spat the green liquid out(I believe onto a towel). I wonder if evidence was actually found at the scene substantiating this?

This is huge. Steve claimed that he spat the green liquid out(I believe onto a towel). I wonder if evidence was actually found at the scene substantiating this?
After reading through the Dallas observer article it has my head spinning. I always thought that mr horning was weird and almost trying to impress. The green liquid is strange. He also said he saw two plates but the observer article is less clear about these two facts. They seem to be cloudy on whether law enforcement substantiated the two plates as well as whether or not he did cpr. The paramedics said they did cpr and clear liquid came out as if Steve never did cpr. It appears that Steve was a prime suspect. With that said I don't know that Steve is guilty. It's clear that patsy did not like him very much if at all. There would have been little chance of steve planting the posion unless he did while she was away which she had been spending a lot of time horse cutting. In this case there are too many good suspects and not enough evidence. Cox and horning appear to be the best suspects but cox appears to be the more likely. He was not cooperative with investigators and he had a serious money problem along with questionable insurance collection. The other twist is the gentleman that patsy was doing business with in Hico. Apparantly patsy had a thing for him but he was married and she was friends with both husband and wife. If he was having an affair with patsy it could have become strained for him and perhaps he and cox were both involved as cox appeared to have followed her a lot. I think steve was likely innocent but questionable due to his actions and strained relationship with patsy.

I don't get how this case doesn't have more coverage. I mean it was made for ID. When I first moved to Arlington as a kid around the same time the segment aired I lived about 5-10 mins away from where she lived.

It's so frustrating and very scary when murders like this go unsolved. Victims who are obviously targeted, but still no suspect. (Missy Bevers) Random thoughts following.

If there were two dinner plates/forks (were there no beverages to check?) I would assume there would be DNA or at least fingerprints and if so, where did those lead?

I also found it curious that ne'er do well BIL says he got green liquid from Patsy during CPR, but that the paramedics (whom I believe infinitely more) said clear liquid indicating CPR was not performed prior to their own.

The strychnine according to the UM I saw today, was nearly pure as opposed to the 3% solutions normally found in pest control.

Patsy was about to testify to the truth about her ex's having stashed things that he declared destroyed in his fire but claimed for insurance.

If ex hired an arsonist, why not hire someone to put the poison in Patsy's Nyquil which according to numerous friends and relatives, she was known to take nightly/regularly for years.

The poison couldn't have put in at any time. A nearly pure strychnine had to have been put in her Nyquil after the previous night's dose and before the fatal dose she took the night of her murder. If it wasn't pure, she might only have gotten extremely ill from a single dose (remember only 3% if pest control) because of the weak solution and that would have prompted an investigation thus preventing further dosing. Not sure if I explained that correctly, sorry.

Also of interest, but went nowhere according to LE, was that Leo? had dated both Patsy and her employee Lori (separate times) who died an unexpected and undetermined death a few years before Patsy's murder.

It's a tough call; my vote hovers between the creepy ex and the loser, money desperate BIL who had already gone through Patsy's sister's inheritance in short order...

It's so frustrating and very scary when murders like this go unsolved. Victims who are obviously targeted, but still no suspect. (Missy Bevers) Random thoughts following.

If there were two dinner plates/forks (were there no beverages to check?) I would assume there would be DNA or at least fingerprints and if so, where did those lead?

I also found it curious that ne'er do well BIL says he got green liquid from Patsy during CPR, but that the paramedics (whom I believe infinitely more) said clear liquid indicating CPR was not performed prior to their own.

The strychnine according to the UM I saw today, was nearly pure as opposed to the 3% solutions normally found in pest control.

Patsy was about to testify to the truth about her ex's having stashed things that he declared destroyed in his fire but claimed for insurance.

If ex hired an arsonist, why not hire someone to put the poison in Patsy's Nyquil which according to numerous friends and relatives, she was known to take nightly/regularly for years.

The poison couldn't have put in at any time. A nearly pure strychnine had to have been put in her Nyquil after the previous night's dose and before the fatal dose she took the night of her murder. If it wasn't pure, she might only have gotten extremely ill from a single dose (remember only 3% if pest control) because of the weak solution and that would have prompted an investigation thus preventing further dosing. Not sure if I explained that correctly, sorry.

Also of interest, but went nowhere according to LE, was that Leo? had dated both Patsy and her employee Lori (separate times) who died an unexpected and undetermined death a few years before Patsy's murder.

It's a tough call; my vote hovers between the creepy ex and the loser, money desperate BIL who had already gone through Patsy's sister's inheritance in short order...

How do you know so much about Bill Horning, Patsy's brother-in-law?

How do you know so much about Bill Horning, Patsy's brother-in-law?

name Steve, not Bill, although it looks like she knew a few men named Bill.

http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1989/august/t-h-e-wax-museum-murder-mystery/

After watching UM and reading so much online, it's very, very sad that there were so many *allegedly* suspicious, not-so-nice, unethical or just plain unlucky people in her life :( So many fires, for example.

Also, I wrote the wrong name regarding LF dating Lori, he dated a different woman (Linda) who was brutally murdered.

I'm surprised I haven't come across a book about Patsy Wright since there are soooo many characters of interest.

Since I don't know anything other than what I've been reading, all of this is of course, only my opinion.

After reading that article in D magazine, I also thought Steve was hella suspicious.

I keep bugging Robin to do an episode on Patsy. I think it'd be so interesting...

After reading that article in D magazine, I also thought Steve was hella suspicious.

I keep bugging Robin to do an episode on Patsy. I think it'd be so interesting...

Well, I'm make that my New Year's resolution... :)

woohoo I will have to listen for that one! Been hoping to hear this case discussed more in the media especially in DFW. they usually discuss cold cases at times in the local news, but this one has not had much coverage. The Dallas Observer article is amazing and sheds a lot of light on some of the reasons to why she may have been murdered. it is such a unique way to kill someone...I do not understand why her case has not been investigated more or at least talked about.

I posted this in the location thread a couple months ago. Might as well post it here too.

This is the house Patsy was living in when she took the cold medicine that night.

1816 Holm Oak Drive in Arlington, Texas:

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Patsy1_zpsoj7gcgk1.jpg

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Patsy2_zpsea1go14k.jpg

This was a temporary residence Patsy was renting while she awaited a move to a different house at that time. It's obviously not the house UM filmed the reenactment at. I'm guessing producers couldn't get access to the real house.

I posted this in the location thread a couple months ago. Might as well post it here too.

This is the house Patsy was living in when she took the cold medicine that night.

1816 Holm Oak Drive in Arlington, Texas:

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Patsy1_zpsoj7gcgk1.jpg

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Patsy2_zpsea1go14k.jpg

This was a temporary residence Patsy was renting while she awaited a move to a different house at that time. It's obviously not the house UM filmed the reenactment at. I'm guessing producers couldn't get access to the real house.

That is a nice neighborhood even now would still be on the nicer side for Arlington which in general is not a place people are flocking to anymore with all the other suburban areas in DFW that are forever blossoming. most of the nicer areas in Arlington are well kept by the older generation. although lately the market has boomed because there is not any home building happening or the building in other DFW areas in general is not fast enough for the amount of people moving there.

back in the late 80s/early 90s that would have been a very nice place to live but still a rent house for her. It just surprises me that in Arlington and in north texas in general you don't hear much mention of Patsy anymore. and given the details of the observer article I don't understand why....

It's so frustrating and very scary when murders like this go unsolved. Victims who are obviously targeted, but still no suspect. (Missy Bevers)

bolding is mine...

and you ain't kidding - if UM were still on the air, that Missy Bevers case would be right in their wheelhouse... how that one hasn't been brought to resolution yet is dumbfounding to me (and it's not even really "in the news" anymore, and I live in the DFW area)

I haven't seen the segment in a long time, but what motive would the sister and brother-in-law have in killing Patsy?

ETA: Patsy's sister had cancer 2 years before Patsy was murdered. The article linked above details how there was going to be some meeting about how the ownership of the Wax Museum was to change in the event of one of the sister's deaths, but Patsy was killed before the meeting took place. The obvious motive would be for Steve and Sally to kill Patsy before the meeting so they would get sole ownership of the museum. But, knowing that she had life threatening cancer prior to all of this, would Sally really go along with a plan that could have eventually left Steve with everything? Think about it, there was no guarantee that the cancer wouldn't come back. If the cancer scare had happened 10 years prior, I could buy into it. But it was 2 years prior to Patsy's death. It just doesn't make sense as to why she would agree to such a plan, knowing that there was a very real possibility that Steve would benefit the most from everything. I suppose it's possible that Steve poisoned Patsy without Sally's knowledge. But if the whole point of the plan was for Steve to gain sole ownership, why didn't he try to kill or poison Sally at a later date?

I'm not buying the brother-in-law theory.

Does anyone know if Patsy's sister and brother-in-law are still living? I think a while back I did a FB search, and didn't find anything on those two. I did find a FB page for Patsy, that her daughter had created.

Also like to point out that the UM segment says that the sisters owned 2 museums, both worth over $6 million. So I don't see the financial motive that Sally & Steve would have. They were well off with Patsy alive. Plus, Sally was the one that mentioned the fact that Patsy took cold medicine prior to her calling for help. Why would she volunteer that information if she were involved? And if Steve was involved without Sally's knowledge, why would he leave the cold medicine at the scene?

I haven't seen the segment in a long time, but what motive would the sister and brother-in-law have in killing Patsy?

ETA: Patsy's sister had cancer 2 years before Patsy was murdered. The article linked above details how there was going to be some meeting about how the ownership of the Wax Museum was to change in the event of one of the sister's deaths, but Patsy was killed before the meeting took place. The obvious motive would be for Steve and Sally to kill Patsy before the meeting so they would get sole ownership of the museum. But, knowing that she had life threatening cancer prior to all of this, would Sally really go along with a plan that could have eventually left Steve with everything? Think about it, there was no guarantee that the cancer wouldn't come back. If the cancer scare had happened 10 years prior, I could buy into it. But it was 2 years prior to Patsy's death. It just doesn't make sense as to why she would agree to such a plan, knowing that there was a very real possibility that Steve would benefit the most from everything. I suppose it's possible that Steve poisoned Patsy without Sally's knowledge. But if the whole point of the plan was for Steve to gain sole ownership, why didn't he try to kill or poison Sally at a later date?

I'm not buying the brother-in-law theory.
well the thing I find interesting about the brother in law theory is that, according to the observer article, Patsy did not like him and made it known. It also states that patsy and her sister were very close. So you can eliminate any links that include her sister being involved. Steve would have had to go in on that alone or with someone else and IIRC the police do not make mention of having any evidence of steve being involved other than he is suspect due to being the first responder and having a strained relationship with patsy. what I always found interesting is that he knew to spit out the potential poisonous fluids after giving her mouth to mouth, but that may have just been common sense IDK...

well the thing I find interesting about the brother in law theory is that, according to the observer article, Patsy did not like him and made it known. It also states that patsy and her sister were very close. So you can eliminate any links that include her sister being involved. Steve would have had to go in on that alone or with someone else and IIRC the police do not make mention of having any evidence of steve being involved other than he is suspect due to being the first responder and having a strained relationship with patsy. what I always found interesting is that he knew to spit out the potential poisonous fluids after giving her mouth to mouth, but that may have just been common sense IDK...

I think him spitting out liquid while doing CPR would just be a natural instinct...because you would have no idea as to what the liquid was.

Still don't get the vibe from the story that Steve would've been involved.

I think him spitting out liquid while doing CPR would just be a natural instinct...because you would have no idea as to what the liquid was.

Still don't get the vibe from the story that Steve would've been involved.
good point...I used to suspect him, but now I don't anymore. It's not uncommon for there to be family drama like that in the average family.

I'm more interested to hear more about the other suspects. this seems like such a distinct way to murder someone there had to be some serious planning involved.

good point...I used to suspect him, but now I don't anymore. It's not uncommon for there to be family drama like that in the average family.

I'm more interested to hear more about the other suspects. this seems like such a distinct way to murder someone there had to be some serious planning involved.

I still think it was her ex-husband. She was due to testify at a trial (involving a possible arson insurance scam perpetuated by her ex) ten days prior to her death.

The only problem with that theory is that the UM segment states that Patsy would only take the sleep medicine when she had trouble sleeping. So, theoretically, there would be no guarantee that she would have taken it prior to the trial.

I still think it was her ex-husband. She was due to testify at a trial (involving a possible arson insurance scam perpetuated by her ex) ten days prior to her death.

The only problem with that theory is that the UM segment states that Patsy would only take the sleep medicine when she had trouble sleeping. So, theoretically, there would be no guarantee that she would have taken it prior to the trial.

...unless Patsy had a habit of taking cough medicine and UM chose to gloss that over. THAT is information an ex would be privy to. If someone has an addiction, you can bet they will use the substance within a ten-day time frame.

OR... who's to say the killer wasn't in the home with Patsy on the night she died? They could have feigned concern that she wasn't sleeping well and "suggested" she take her Nyquil to help her sleep.

I have no evidence of either. I'm just brainstorming. Given UM's habit of leaving out certain facts, I could see option A. I could also see option B and would argue it's the most plausible of the two.

...unless Patsy had a habit of taking cough medicine and UM chose to gloss that over. THAT is information an ex would be privy to. If someone has an addiction, you can bet they will use the substance within a ten-day time frame.

OR... who's to say the killer wasn't in the home with Patsy on the night she died? They could have feigned concern that she wasn't sleeping well and "suggested" she take her Nyquil to help her sleep.

I have no evidence of either. I'm just brainstorming. Given UM's habit of leaving out certain facts, I could see option A. I could also see option B and would argue it's the most plausible of the two.

She absolutely had a habit of taking the cough medicine, but her friends all said it was when she couldn't sleep. I'm just saying that there is a chance that for an entire 10 day period, she wouldn't need the help sleeping, so she wouldn't have taken it.

But if the killer was in the home with Patsy that night, I could see the suggestion being made. And that would also back up the brother-in-law's account of seeing two plates set out for dinner.

Was just watching this segment today and reading the D Magazine article about the case (perhaps as research for an upcoming episode of a certain podcast ;) ). One detail I am really confused about now are the dinner plates found in Patsy’s room. From the magazine article:

And there was the matter of the plates. Steve insisted that he moved a table with two plates away from Patsy’s bed, as if Patsy had been entertaining a visitor. Neither the firemen nor the paramedics remembered the table and plates.

So apparently, the paramedics denied seeing these plates, but what’s weird is that the UM re-enactment actually shows one of the medics moving the plates out of the way when they arrive! I know re-enactments can be wrong, but the segment never gives impression that there was any dispute about those plates being there. If no else but Steve actually saw these plates, then that would make him look awfully suspicious, but surely the police verified their existence when they arrived?

Was just watching this segment today and reading the D Magazine article about the case (perhaps as research for an upcoming episode of a certain podcast ;) ). One detail I am really confused about now are the dinner plates found in Patsy’s room. From the magazine article:



So apparently, the paramedics denied seeing these plates, but what’s weird is that the UM re-enactment actually shows one of the medics moving the plates out of the way when they arrive! I know re-enactments can be wrong, but the segment never gives impression that there was any dispute about those plates being there. If no else but Steve actually saw these plates, then that would make him look awfully suspicious, but surely the police verified their existence when they arrived?
that is a good point and I do not recall if the observer article mentions that either....I am excited to hear your podcast!

Regarding the two dinner plates...

Who is to say that there really was a second person in the house on that particular night? Two dinner plates wouldn't necessarily mean that. I'm guilty of overusing dishes sometimes, even when I cook just for myself. There could have been salad or a side dish on one plate and an entree on the other. I do stuff like that all the time. I once dated somebody that was very stubborn about mixing foods together. Everything had to be either on separate plates or at the very least, far enough apart that there was no chance the two foods would touch one another. It is a habit linked to a number of people with OCD. I've always thought the second dinner plate was just a red herring.

My opinion: it was a professional hit. Someone with intimate knowledge of her habits hired someone to break into her home and lace the cold medicine with the strychnine and make it appear as if nobody was ever there. It's actually a pretty smart way to do a hit when you think about it. No way could anybody possibly tie it to the ex-husband (or anybody else for that matter) without fingerprints on the bottle and/or DNA evidence from the other "dinner plate" as it were. There was also a chance that they may have never found the strychnine in her body and chalked her death up to being something cardiac related. This was as much of a hit as Jeanne Tovrea's murder was, only far more sophisticated.

Regarding the two dinner plates...

Who is to say that there really was a second person in the house on that particular night? Two dinner plates wouldn't necessarily mean that. I'm guilty of overusing dishes sometimes, even when I cook just for myself. There could have been salad or a side dish on one plate and an entree on the other. I do stuff like that all the time. I once dated somebody that was very stubborn about mixing foods together. Everything had to be either on separate plates or at the very least, far enough apart that there was no chance the two foods would touch one another. It is a habit linked to a number of people with OCD. I've always thought the second dinner plate was just a red herring.

My opinion: it was a professional hit. Someone with intimate knowledge of her habits hired someone to break into her home and lace the cold medicine with the strychnine and make it appear as if nobody was ever there. It's actually a pretty smart way to do a hit when you think about it. No way could anybody possibly tie it to the ex-husband (or anybody else for that matter) without fingerprints on the bottle and/or DNA evidence from the other "dinner plate" as it were. There was also a chance that they may have never found the strychnine in her body and chalked her death up to being something cardiac related. This was as much of a hit as Jeanne Tovrea's murder was, only far more sophisticated.


I'm still on the fence about whether there is any significance to those dinner plates or if they're nothing more than a giant red herring. Patsy's ex-husband, Bob Cox, had the biggest motive out of anyone to murder her, but the main thing which gave investigators pause about him were the dinner plates, as they didn't believe Patsy and Bob would have had an intimate dinner together at her home, given their strained relationship. But if no one else was there and it was just a matter of Patsy using two plates herself, then that puts things in an entirely different light.

Another interesting detail from that article is that Patsy apparently told her sister that the spare key to the house had gone missing shortly before her death. If her killer took the key, then they could have easily entered her home, poisoned the cold medicine, and then locked the door again after leaving, so that no one would have even known they were there.

Another interesting detail from that article is that Patsy apparently told her sister that the spare key to the house had gone missing shortly before her death. If her killer took the key, then they could have easily entered her home, poisoned the cold medicine, and then locked the door again after leaving, so that no one would have even known they were there.

I thought that was a very interesting detail as well. However, the key by itself wouldn't allow someone to slip in and out undetected, as there was a security system in the house. An intruder would have had to also know the alarm code OR know a time that the alarm would not be activated. Some people only activate their alarms when they leave the house, some don't use them at all, others turn them on when they go to sleep at night. Just like the information about her habit of taking cold medicine when she needed help getting to sleep, its a pretty personal bit of knowledge.

I thought that was a very interesting detail as well. However, the key by itself wouldn't allow someone to slip in and out undetected, as there was a security system in the house. An intruder would have had to also know the alarm code OR know a time that the alarm would not be activated. Some people only activate their alarms when they leave the house, some don't use them at all, others turn them on when they go to sleep at night. Just like the information about her habit of taking cold medicine when she needed help getting to sleep, its a pretty personal bit of knowledge.

I haven't read that article in a while. Did that house have an alarm?

It's interesting that Hot Jock brought up the Jeannie Tovrea comparison a couple posts above. She lived in a mansion behind a locked gated community. Her killer gained access to her house using a glass cutter on a window and was apparently free to roam the entire place without setting off the alarm. He only set it off when he left the house by sliding the glass door open, which police believed was intentional from the start.

Patsy, on the other hand, was temporarily renting a small neighborhood house (picture on the previous page) and it seems the only way her killer could have got inside was knowing where the spare key was.

Then again, Steve and Sally Horning were able to break into the house through an unlocked bedroom window. So if Patsy was in the habit of leaving a window(s) unlocked, anyone could have broken into her house rather easily.

The UM segment and the article both state that the house had a burglar alarm and that Patsy never turned it on the night of her death. But they don't specify if it was common for her to set the alarm whenever she went to bed. I always wondered if they took that as a sign that someone else was spending the night with her, which is why Patsy neglected to turn the alarm on.

It's obviously a hit, no matter who you look at. There are only 3 people who had any real stake if Patsy died: the ex-husband, the sister, and the brother-in-law. I personally think the plates are a red herring, because she wouldn't dine with the ex-husband or the brother-in-law, and IIRC, the sister had an alibi during that time frame. But everything from my perspective points to the ex-husband. He had the most to gain with Patsy dying: she couldn't testify against him at his arson trial (which he ultimately won without Patsy's testimony). The Sally/Steve Horning angle is overblown, IMO. Had they not gotten the call and found Patsy, would either of them ever have been suspects?

It's obviously a hit, no matter who you look at. There are only 3 people who had any real stake if Patsy died: the ex-husband, the sister, and the brother-in-law. I personally think the plates are a red herring, because she wouldn't dine with the ex-husband or the brother-in-law, and IIRC, the sister had an alibi during that time frame. But everything from my perspective points to the ex-husband. He had the most to gain with Patsy dying: she couldn't testify against him at his arson trial (which he ultimately won without Patsy's testimony). The Sally/Steve Horning angle is overblown, IMO. Had they not gotten the call and found Patsy, would either of them ever have been suspects?
I'm with you on this...

It's obviously a hit, no matter who you look at. There are only 3 people who had any real stake if Patsy died: the ex-husband, the sister, and the brother-in-law. I personally think the plates are a red herring, because she wouldn't dine with the ex-husband or the brother-in-law, and IIRC, the sister had an alibi during that time frame. But everything from my perspective points to the ex-husband. He had the most to gain with Patsy dying: she couldn't testify against him at his arson trial (which he ultimately won without Patsy's testimony). The Sally/Steve Horning angle is overblown, IMO. Had they not gotten the call and found Patsy, would either of them ever have been suspects?

I agree.

Patsy had a daughter and a son, Leslie and Wayne. I wonder if they're the kids of the ex-husband as well.

This is one of those instances where it would be nice to get an update from a family member or friend.

The Sally/Steve Horning angle is overblown, IMO. Had they not gotten the call and found Patsy, would either of them ever have been suspects?

I do agree that they're not high on my list of suspects, but they would have certainly been investigated as suspects even if they hadn't found her body. Due to the succession plan of their business, company life insurance paid out $500k (IIRC) which was given to Patsy's children as payment for transferring her ownership interest to Sally. Even if you discount the rumors & speculations that Patsy was trying to re-negotiate this deal prior to her death, the simple fact (motive) remains that Sally gained Patsy's half of the company when Patsy was murdered.

It's obviously a hit, no matter who you look at.

I also agree that this was most likely a hit, but how the security alarm was circumvented is still a key unanswered question.

I do agree that they're not high on my list of suspects, but they would have certainly been investigated as suspects even if they hadn't found her body. Due to the succession plan of their business, company life insurance paid out $500k (IIRC) which was given to Patsy's children as payment for transferring her ownership interest to Sally. Even if you discount the rumors & speculations that Patsy was trying to re-negotiate this deal prior to her death, the simple fact (motive) remains that Sally gained Patsy's half of the company when Patsy was murdered.

The timing of her death in relation to the upcoming arson trial for the ex-husband makes him the #1 prime suspect, IMO. Sally did not necessarily "need" Patsy to die at that specific time, but her ex-husband sure benefited from it. And as far as I know, the renegotiating of the insurance plan was done because Patsy did not want Steve to gain any ownership in the event that Sally would die (because she had a cancer scare just prior to Patsy's death).

I also agree that this was most likely a hit, but how the security alarm was circumvented is still a key unanswered question.

According to that lengthy article, she put the burglar alarm in after she noticed her windows had been broken. Nothing was stolen from the house. This was probably when the killer entered her house and spiked the nyquil. They did it prior to the alarm being installed.

I agree.

Patsy had a daughter and a son, Leslie and Wayne. I wonder if they're the kids of the ex-husband as well.

This is one of those instances where it would be nice to get an update from a family member or friend.

Leslie and Wayne are the children of Patsy's first husband, Bill Wright. Their divorce was pretty amicable (Patsy even continued to use his last name) and sounds like it was mostly due to the fact that Bill was a workaholic. They remained on fairly good terms and Bill cooperated and passed a lie detector test, so he was never seriously considered a suspect.

Bob Cox was Patsy's second ex-husband, who left his own wife and children for her. Their marriage only lasted a few years and was by all accounts, a complete disaster. Patsy apparently went to a therapist who had counselled Bob and his previous wife during their marriage and she was told Bob was a sociopath.

I have been reading all the comments posted here, its sounds like Patsy going to court would have been bad news for Bob.

My question is, why would Patsy drank Nyquil if she had a male friend staying over? We are adults here so you can get my thoughts behind this.

Unless she had a male friend over, they had dinner at some point he went to her bathroom knowing her hibets laced the Nyquil then maybe had a argument with her. For the simple fact of her being upset would maybe push her to take the Nyquil to sleep. That could explain why the alarm was not set at that time. Knowing the Nyquil would take some time to make her sleepy she might have used that time to clean the plates and set the alarm.

I wounder how long would it take for her to start feeling the poison after taken the Nyquil?
I cant remember his name but the man steeling the paper work after the fire, could it hold information that could have been used to black mail Bob? I seen where Bob once said some item (Chest?) burned in the fire but Patsy said it was in his office. Or Bob might have hired this man to do all the dirty work......

My question is, why would Patsy drank Nyquil if she had a male friend staying over? We are adults here so you can get my thoughts behind this.

Good point. This is just one of the reasons I've always been on the fence about Patsy having a secret lover at her house that night. If she did, then it's most likely that the guy never planned to stay the entire night and left after putting the strychnine in the NyQuil. Otherwise, Patsy probably wouldn't have felt compelled to take it and decided to have some after making a failed attempt to fall asleep alone.

I agree, as for the alarm. I never turn mine on until I am getting into bed. I feel she was still in the getting ready for bed stage.

I watched this for the first time on amazon yesterday. One thing that stands out that crystaldawn brought up a few years ago. at the end of the segment the phone call that Patsy's daughter got from a woman that was calling for her and makes a comment along the lines of she deserved to die.

This brings to light another revelation for me. According to the Dallas article patsy was involved with a couple from Hico, Texas. It regarded horses/stables/training etc. IIRC the article mentions that little was known about this as Patsy kept it private, but spent a lot of time and was making life changing plans around horse cutting.

As eluded to in the article...Is it possible that Patsy was romantically involved with the husband? and the wife(who Patsy also be-friended) found out about the affair? Could she have been the caller? this certainly would have been investigated, but back then phone calls were difficult/sometimes not possible to trace.

Could this have been why there were two dinner plates? Could it also be why Patsy would have been secretive about the affair and not mention it to anyone because it could have ruined a marriage of whom she had so much invested in? All this does is further cloud the issue. Makes me wonder if there were two people were involved with her murder....or someone intimate with Patsy knew that the ex husband or others....would automatically be suspected...and they would be able to pull it off.

Another note...I've heard that strychnine has been used in race horses to improve performance. According to Wikipedia horses have a tolerance for the poison and it was used to boost energy. Patsy had money and was looking to access quality horses for performance. Strychnine would not necessarily be easily accessible to mainstream folks perhaps even the ex husband? and he would take a risk of being traced in regards to how he or a hit man obtained it.

I have been reading all the comments posted here, its sounds like Patsy going to court would have been bad news for Bob.

My question is, why would Patsy drank Nyquil if she had a male friend staying over? We are adults here so you can get my thoughts behind this.

Unless she had a male friend over, they had dinner at some point he went to her bathroom knowing her hibets laced the Nyquil then maybe had a argument with her. For the simple fact of her being upset would maybe push her to take the Nyquil to sleep. That could explain why the alarm was not set at that time. Knowing the Nyquil would take some time to make her sleepy she might have used that time to clean the plates and set the alarm.

I wounder how long would it take for her to start feeling the poison after taken the Nyquil?
I cant remember his name but the man steeling the paper work after the fire, could it hold information that could have been used to black mail Bob? I seen where Bob once said some item (Chest?) burned in the fire but Patsy said it was in his office. Or Bob might have hired this man to do all the dirty work......
There are so many good posts here that I did not read before. IIRC Cars and Hot Jock made the point of it being a professional hit. The segment makes the point that Patsy thought her ex was stalking her and may have been in her house while she was away. I'm assuming this was the ex husband in question.

That is a massive red flag because as previously pointed out he could have tampered with her medication or at the least did some research to see what medication she was taking. the reenactment makes it look like a hit took place. but it is also possible that a male companion could have did easily done it with her being there knowing that she would take the medication.

As for the dinner plates I do think it is a big deal. the brother and sister in law noticed it as the first responders. and they would have been looking for subtle clues like that after the fact. It's a long shot, but they also might have known her dining habits as to if she ate in bed often and used multiple plates. For them to bring that up shows some importance to me even if the brother in law made it up and was trying to deflect attention initially.
many have thought he looked kind of suspect on the segment, but that could have been just because he was uncomfortable and had a negative history with Patsy.

The paramedics may not have been looking as closely initially and it may not have stayed with them over time. My question would be more for LE and what they found or if they noted it. They may have discarded it all together if they were not investigating a poisoning initially. It was put on the segment and LE seemed to be on a good path with UM. I also wonder how much more they know but were telling. With it being so long I wonder what the harm would be now with re-opening or recirculating the case to try to get new leads.

For some unknown reason the Arlington Police Deptment cold case unit has very little or no interest in this case. I have on 3 ocasions provided them with information unknown to anybody else, and they have chosen to ignore it. This has bothered me for over 20 years now, and I still hope this case can be solved.
did you ever get anywhere with this? I see someone has made the same type of statements very recently on UM website? Would that happen to be you as well?

You eluded that she was seeing a Ranch Hand. This would make some sense because she was into horses and was practicing horse cutting before she died. I do not know that he would have had a reason to murder her unless he was approached by someone else? There also seems to be a lot of different perspectives about strychnine. Some elude to it being accessible through rat poison. It seems that around the time of her murder or shortly after those types of poisons are not used anymore due to the fact that they kill too many other unintended animals. Although I do not know much about this.

I have also read that horses are able to handle strychnine and it can be used as a performance stimulant. This would explain how someone in that circle would have strychnine(not rat poison) and it not be traced back through a transaction.

Was she killed because of her business or the insurance policy on her.

It had to have been someone very close to hair cause they new she took cold medicine to help her sleep.

It had to have been someone very close to hair cause they new she took cold medicine to help her sleep.

I feel like this case should have been solved a long time ago. There couldn't be more than 5 possible suspects.

I feel like this case should have been solved a long time ago. There couldn't be more than 5 possible suspects.
I have a feeling that law enforcement may know who done it but they have no way forward. So at this point our best chance is a death bed confession if that's even still possible...

My only problem with this case is that other than the UM segment we really don't have much to go on. I think Arlington could do more to re-circulate this case considering there were suspects and people giving tips that go unacknowlded(allegedly)

I have a feeling that law enforcement may know who done it but they have no way forward.

I think so too.

The killer had to have access to strychnine AND be close enough to Patsy to know her bedtime habits...

or, they knew her habits and they could afford to hire someone who had access to strychnine.

If the investigation revealed that someone who knew Patsy had access to strychnine, that seems like it might be enough to charge someone with first degree murder, based on Stack's comment about the extreme rarity of strychnine deaths.

I think so too.

The killer had to have access to strychnine AND be close enough to Patsy to know her bedtime habits...

or, they knew her habits and they could afford to hire someone who had access to strychnine.

If the investigation revealed that someone who knew Patsy had access to strychnine, that seems like it might be enough to charge someone with first degree murder, based on Stack's comment about the extreme rarity of strychnine deaths.

Just watched this one again. Reading through this thread again, much attention has been paid to the 'who' and 'why' of this murder. My thoughts here turned back to the 'how' though - the strychnine.

Now early on in this thread, someone mentioned the authorities attempted to trace the strychnine but met a dead end. I have a few questions about that.

I know it was widely used as a poison to kill rats and such, but did such poison come in the same powdered form that was used to kill Patsy? If so, would I be correct in assuming it was somewhat commonly available and not tightly regulated? If so, I could see how the authorities would reach their dead end (as such, there would be no reason to continue reading further).


**However**, if strychnine in its powdered form was hard to come by (compared to the form used in rodent poison) and/or tightly regulated, I would think the authorities would, with some legwork, be able to trace it.

I might be thinking about this too simplistically, but if only a few places had the powder, or another party made the initial purchase, might the authorities be able to play "n degrees of separation" and connect the dots from the strychnine source and/or the initial purchaser all the way back to someone who both knew Patsy and knew of her nighttime routine?


(Again, if back in the 80s, the powder was widely and readily available, then forgive me here - was just thinking out loud for a sec)

Just watched this one again. Reading through this thread again, much attention has been paid to the 'who' and 'why' of this murder. My thoughts here turned back to the 'how' though - the strychnine.

Now early on in this thread, someone mentioned the authorities attempted to trace the strychnine but met a dead end. I have a few questions about that.

I know it was widely used as a poison to kill rats and such, but did such poison come in the same powdered form that was used to kill Patsy? If so, would I be correct in assuming it was somewhat commonly available and not tightly regulated? If so, I could see how the authorities would reach their dead end (as such, there would be no reason to continue reading further).


**However**, if strychnine in its powdered form was hard to come by (compared to the form used in rodent poison) and/or tightly regulated, I would think the authorities would, with some legwork, be able to trace it.

I might be thinking about this too simplistically, but if only a few places had the powder, or another party made the initial purchase, might the authorities be able to play "n degrees of separation" and connect the dots from the strychnine source and/or the initial purchaser all the way back to someone who both knew Patsy and knew of her nighttime routine?


(Again, if back in the 80s, the powder was widely and readily available, then forgive me here - was just thinking out loud for a sec)

I think that’s a key question in this case. And I don’t know if It was ever specifically made clear perhaps out of fear of revealing something to the public? If I recall it seems like in the segment they made it appear as if it was hard to obtain in the form that they did. I don’t know that somone went out and bought dcon to mix it into her NyQuil. I wish Arlington PD gave us more details and repub’d this case a lot more. Just seems like a case worth fighting for and is still solvable.

I could see a scenario of even if they traced all the local sales of the stuff, if it was regulated, the killer just getting access to it and dumping it in the Nyquil. We don't know the killer had a full blown bottle, as the segment dramatized, for all we know they could have scooped some up off the floor that an exterminator put down at their home or a friends or even a workplace and thrown it in there.

I wish Arlington PD gave us more details and repub’d this case a lot more. Just seems like a case worth fighting for and is still solvable.

I suspect part of that is so that the public (or should I say criminals) don't get the knowledge of how easy it is to kill someone by poisoning them. My brother is a Chemistry whiz and has pointed out how frightfully easy it is to poison someone without leaving a 'paper trail'.

The segment said that the strychnine was in its powder form, the most powerful. It also said "very few outlets" sell it this way, and that all sales are controlled by the federal government. It still doesn't mean that someone could have bought it illegally. Which would be impossible to track.

The source of the poison would be helpful but doesn't look like it's forthcoming. Like most things, it probably could have been solved today with current digital record keeping practices.

The answer's going to lie in the inner circle. You don't gain entry to someone's home, and pull off something so specific to a target's routine and not know them well. Add to it the rumblings about the state of the business back then, it really is a fascinating mystery - you couldn't script this. If it's ever solved it will be one of those passage of time things: a pre-death confession, or mental illness breaking down the wall of silence.

Probably already been brought up, but I always thought a good possibility for the source of the strychnine could be through the equine community, of which Patsy was part. Liquid strychnine is commonly sold at feed stores and co-ops. I figure it might not be far-fetched that somebody who boards and grazes horses could have procured or otherwise come across powder strychnine in order to control vermin.

This was the perfect murder. Absolute criminal mastermind whoever did it.

Probably already been brought up, but I always thought a good possibility for the source of the strychnine could be through the equine community, of which Patsy was part. Liquid strychnine is commonly sold at feed stores and co-ops. I figure it might not be far-fetched that somebody who boards and grazes horses could have procured or otherwise come across powder strychnine in order to control vermin.
There isn’t much info on this case online but from what I’ve read that’s what appears to have happened. I think the challenge here is that she had a diverse circle of people that she associated with. Some in the ranching or sport community that could access poison and someone clever enough to use that against her. She had multiple people who had a potential motive to harm her.

The source of the poison would be helpful but doesn't look like it's forthcoming. Like most things, it probably could have been solved today with current digital record keeping practices.

The answer's going to lie in the inner circle. You don't gain entry to someone's home, and pull off something so specific to a target's routine and not know them well. Add to it the rumblings about the state of the business back then, it really is a fascinating mystery - you couldn't script this. If it's ever solved it will be one of those passage of time things: a pre-death confession, or mental illness breaking down the wall of silence.
Absolutely. It appears as if one person did this and kept quiet. But it’s possible that that one person told someone else or had an accomplice.

Someone else brought up that it makes little sense two people would be having dinner in her bedroom before Patsy took her Nyquil, which I agree with.

"Come have this nice dinner I made for both of us...in my bedroom."

"Ok, thanks for dinner in bed...see you later, I know you need to take your medicine and go to sleep."

But Patsy was also still alive when she called her sister for help...so also seems unlikely that someone placed the tray there to throw off the police. This case is so confusing

Someone else brought up that it makes little sense two people would be having dinner in her bedroom before Patsy took her Nyquil, which I agree with.

"Come have this nice dinner I made for both of us...in my bedroom."

"Ok, thanks for dinner in bed...see you later, I know you need to take your medicine and go to sleep."

But Patsy was also still alive when she called her sister for help...so also seems unlikely that someone placed the tray there to throw off the police. This case is so confusing
yes it is very confusing. almost out of an Agatha Christie novel. it has multiple twists and turns due to the amount of people she socialized with who may have had a motive to harm her. there are the main suspects shown in the segment. the one lead that stands out to me from the segment that is different than all of the others... is the lady that called her residence after the murder and spoke to her daughter. definitely fits the bill of an upset/vindicated spouse.

I read that she may have been dating someone new (speculated who she ate with) perhaps another love interest from her recent past was behind it out of jealousy. that's one of the many angles that I've read. but again it's all gossip because APD never really spoke to any of this. One would have to think if she were dating a new person that he would have went forward and cooperated with police out of concern. or perhaps that person never did out of fear of being suspected of the crime. perhaps after years of guilt he is willing to speak to APD, but they are no longer willing to listen.

Someone else brought up that it makes little sense two people would be having dinner in her bedroom before Patsy took her Nyquil, which I agree with.

"Come have this nice dinner I made for both of us...in my bedroom."

"Ok, thanks for dinner in bed...see you later, I know you need to take your medicine and go to sleep."

But Patsy was also still alive when she called her sister for help...so also seems unlikely that someone placed the tray there to throw off the police. This case is so confusing


Maybe she was just hungry? Maybe different food items, or she was lazy and took another plate for seconds or a different food item rather than reusing her previous one.

It seems odd she'd have gone to bed with the tray pushed up against her bed where she and the phone was , that the sister and brother-in-law would have to move it out of the way, if she were having dinner with someone and they had left. Wouldn't she move it to change for bed, to take the nyquill, use the washroom, etc?

Was it put there to make it look like someone else was there?

yes it is very confusing. almost out of an Agatha Christie novel. it has multiple twists and turns due to the amount of people she socialized with who may have had a motive to harm her. there are the main suspects shown in the segment. the one lead that stands out to me from the segment that is different than all of the others... is the lady that called her residence after the murder and spoke to her daughter. definitely fits the bill of an upset/vindicated spouse.

I read that she may have been dating someone new (speculated who she ate with) perhaps another love interest from her recent past was behind it out of jealousy. that's one of the many angles that I've read. but again it's all gossip because APD never really spoke to any of this. One would have to think if she were dating a new person that he would have went forward and cooperated with police out of concern. or perhaps that person never did out of fear of being suspected of the crime. perhaps after years of guilt he is willing to speak to APD, but they are no longer willing to listen.


Maybe it was an Orient Express scenario the way this secret has held up all these years.


I always thought it was strange that she called her sister and not 911, and that they didn't call 911 before leaving their house. But I'm assuming the police verified the call from Patsy to her sister took place.

Maybe it was an Orient Express scenario the way this secret has held up all these years.


I always thought it was strange that she called her sister and not 911, and that they didn't call 911 before leaving their house. But I'm assuming the police verified the call from Patsy to her sister took place.
I always thought that too when watching the segment. I think 911 was only 20 years old then. She probably grew up in an era without it so it was not programmed in her to call that service. Or maybe I’m wrong. Just stuff I’ve read about those times. I know when I was a kid everyone was always overselling 911 or making a big push to teach us to use it. It seems like if someone was breaking into her house she would have known to use 911. I’m guessing she probably was out of her mind due to the toxicity and just went off impulse.

I always thought it was strange that she called her sister and not 911, and that they didn't call 911 before leaving their house. But I'm assuming the police verified the call from Patsy to her sister took place.
I can understand that if you were in panic mode you might not automatically call 911 as I was in a somewhat similar situation and didn't want to be seen as 'abusing' 911. In hindsight that was stupid as I could have stopped breathing and dropped dead but I didn't think it qualified as an emergency since I could still breathe in that moment.

However, why on Earth didn't her sister call before going over to the house? It was obvious she was in distress even though nobody would have guessed it was going to be fatal. When my mother called me clearly in distress once, I told her either you call 911 right now or I will and arrived just as the Ambulance did and would assume any rational adult would do the same thing.

If the poison was extremely hard to purchase couldn't they track who bought it?

If the poison was extremely hard to purchase couldn't they track who bought it?

They probably bought it illegally somehow.

And it was the 80s. The era of paper records, if they kept any.

It'd never happen in 2018.

I agree prob illegally but I still think there is more to the story.

Did some cursory googling on this one and found a blog post that borrows heavily from the D Magazine article (see page 3 of this thread for a link) and circles back around to implicate her ex husband Bob Cox

https://medium.com/@ashleykay.writes/the-husband-did-it-patsy-wright-f646846646f1


Maybe it's been touched on in previous posts - but if it was her ex husband (someone she had a restraining order against and who she would never have willingly let in her house, how did he do it?? Break in, have someone else taint the medicine and then call it good? Tainting the cold medicine isn't necessarily the most difficult part of the equation - ensuring it would be there in her bathroom for her to take, would be.

(TheCars1986 mentioned back on 12 that someone could've broken in and tainted the cold medicine before she had her alarm system put in. Unless the strychnine in this case was slow-acting, wouldn't these points cancel each other out?)

The only way I can see for Bob Cox to have successfully engineered this, is to have gotten to someone Patsy was close to. Perhaps via all of his surveillance or through social channels, Cox found out who Patsy was seeing. He approaches this person and offers them a substantial amount of money. Then, on the night in question, the person & Patsy enjoy a quiet evening at home. While Patsy is in the kitchen (perhaps preparing the plates that were found in her room?) or otherwise out of the room, the person quickly taints the cold medicine and then after some time, departs.

I didn't see any mention of her son. Could he be a suspect?

I always thought that too when watching the segment. I think 911 was only 20 years old then. She probably grew up in an era without it so it was not programmed in her to call that service. Or maybe I’m wrong. Just stuff I’ve read about those times. I know when I was a kid everyone was always overselling 911 or making a big push to teach us to use it. It seems like if someone was breaking into her house she would have known to use 911. I’m guessing she probably was out of her mind due to the toxicity and just went off impulse.

I think it has been mentioned before, maybe even in this thread(?) but I believe that not every area of the country had 911 access in the 1980s. I can definitely remember reading articles in the paper at the time where people were concerned that not every area in my .... area had complete 911 coverage. And I don't live in the sticks either.

I always thought that too when watching the segment. I think 911 was only 20 years old then. She probably grew up in an era without it so it was not programmed in her to call that service. Or maybe I’m wrong. Just stuff I’ve read about those times. I know when I was a kid everyone was always overselling 911 or making a big push to teach us to use it. It seems like if someone was breaking into her house she would have known to use 911. I’m guessing she probably was out of her mind due to the toxicity and just went off impulse.

I realize this is a few years old, but I just want to make the point that even though 911 came out in 1968, it wasn't immediate everywhere. We didn't get 911 where I live until around 1992. We had sheets next to the phone with the emergency numbers, and our phone books all had the emergency numbers printed inside the front cover. I'm not sure where she lived, but it's entirely possible they didn't have 911, yet. According to wikipedia, only 50% of the population had access to 911 by 1987.

I realize this is a few years old, but I just want to make the point that even though 911 came out in 1968, it wasn't immediate everywhere. We didn't get 911 where I live until around 1992. We had sheets next to the phone with the emergency numbers, and our phone books all had the emergency numbers printed inside the front cover. I'm not sure where she lived, but it's entirely possible they didn't have 911, yet. According to wikipedia, only 50% of the population had access to 911 by 1987.

Arlington was already a major suburban area of Dallas/Fort Worth by that time. Albeit a lot less populated than it is now. I think that they had 911 by then, but not 100% sure. They did when I moved there in 1990.

I don’t think it to be strange that no one called 911 given how it happened in real time in 1987 or whenever it was...It likely never crossed their mind to do that until they realized she was dying. I think if something like that happens now, most of us would dial 911 even if it is just a precaution. It’s crazy how much the show has dated. I think of how many solves we could have or how many leads and pranks that were given over the phone. That was a big part of the show.

I always thought it was strange that she called her sister and not 911, and that they didn't call 911 before leaving their house. But I'm assuming the police verified the call from Patsy to her sister took place.

Really not that strange since she lived alone. Even now with phones that have medications and emergency contacts, people rarely go to the ER alone if they have a choice and think they may lose consciousness - it's important to have someone awake that can advocate for you/deal with the situation if you are or will be unable to do so yourself.

911 was also new-sh/possibly unavailable at that time. EMS seems very common today, but even now many areas operate volunteer services where it might be faster to go to a hospital vs call EMS/paramedics. The tv show, Emergency! was created in part because EMS was so new - when the show was premiered in 1972, LA was home to 2 of just 12 paramedic programs in the entire US. The history of EMS in the US is fascinating and pretty recent.

For a service that feels like it's been around forever, it really hasn't been.

All of that is also to say that for most of her adult life, Patsy would have been calling a direct number or been going directly to a hospital for an emergency. Or calling a private ambulance company. She likely knew she wasn't able to fumble around for the right phone numbers but her sister could deal with the situation when she arrived.

The fact that no plausible connection can be made to any suspect makes me wonder about the remote possibility that this was an issue with the cold medicine itself. Maybe strychnine based rat poison used at the plant that bottles the medicine somehow came into contact with the cold medicine that ended up in this bottle. We don’t really know if the bottle Patsy used was a new bottle or not. I know that product tampering was ruled out, but product contamination is very different from product tampering. It’s always surprised me that someone would kill her in this fashion. If this were a contract killer there are presumably more discrete ways of doing the job than using a method that just screams murder.

If it were an acquaintance who she allowed in the house that night or a previous night who poisoned the cold medicine, then it is easy to see how this was pulled off. The big question of course is where did the killer get the strychnine, or even know first where to get it.

The fact that no plausible connection can be made to any suspect makes me wonder about the remote possibility that this was an issue with the cold medicine itself. Maybe strychnine based rat poison used at the plant that bottles the medicine somehow came into contact with the cold medicine that ended up in this bottle. We don’t really know if the bottle Patsy used was a new bottle or not. I know that product tampering was ruled out, but product contamination is very different from product tampering. It’s always surprised me that someone would kill her in this fashion. If this were a contract killer there are presumably more discrete ways of doing the job than using a method that just screams murder.

If it were an acquaintance who she allowed in the house that night or a previous night who poisoned the cold medicine, then it is easy to see how this was pulled off. The big question of course is where did the killer get the strychnine, or even know first where to get it.

That's a really interesting point, but that would have to be one heck of a coincidence. I feel like it makes more sense that someone would poison Patty, not knowing when she'd actually consume the cough syrup, but being aware of her habit of taking it to help her sleep.

This is one of those cases I would love to see solved. It's also one of those cases where you have more than one potential suspect....

That's a really interesting point, but that would have to be one heck of a coincidence. I feel like it makes more sense that someone would poison Patty, not knowing when she'd actually consume the cough syrup, but being aware of her habit of taking it to help her sleep.

This is one of those cases I would love to see solved. It's also one of those cases where you have more than one potential suspect....

I agree - totally interesting theory but pretty unlikely since there would very likely be more than one bottle contaminated and it'd be difficult to keep that quiet and track down all the bottles, etc.

I would love to see this case solved, but I've come to think that there's a lack of press coverage because they know who didn't but they can't prove it. It's also a case where there isn't much to be gained by press coverage if they know the person/s involved. If there weren't witnesses to the poison being procured, there isn't much that someone could come forward with that would result in a conviction.

Even the cases that don't seem to have a point to being aired - like Lena Chapin from the reboot - do in that there could be a witness or just by putting the information out there, her mom can't hold this now open secret over someone else. With this case, if police know who likely did it and how they got the poison and it's only these 1-2 people there's not much they can do about it unless there's a confession.

I just don't see how there's likely a witness or more who could provide missing evidence in this case beyond hearsay (like XXXX got drunk and said he swapped nyquil bottles) which would serve to confirm suspicions but wouldn't be enough to convict.

The investigation ruled out product tampering. So it had to have been spiked by a third party with access to her house. Only one person gained anything in the immediate aftermath of her death: her ex-husband.

The investigation ruled out product tampering. So it had to have been spiked by a third party with access to her house. Only one person gained anything in the immediate aftermath of her death: her ex-husband.

I was just coming to add this in. I was refreshing myself on this case and read that no other bottles of Nyquil from that batch were poisoned.

I was just coming to add this in. I was refreshing myself on this case and read that no other bottles of Nyquil from that batch were poisoned.

I don't have the time to look it up and can't remember where I originally saw this piece of information.. But ONE of the suspects/close acquaintances in this case had access to strychnine. I can't remember who it was tho. However, you looked at them and just sat there and couldn't figure out any kind of motive.

The killer was damn lucky the strychnine wasn’t definitively traced back to him or her. If it were someone close to her looking to kill her why on earth would he or she chose such an easily detectable poison?

It certainty was effective. I guess the killer wasn’t out to cover up the fact that this was a murder.

I will reiterate though that product tampering is not the same as product contamination. It seems of course unlikely since that would mean there would be other deaths like this around the same time. Who knows, maybe there were. I wonder how often mass spectrometers are really used in autopsies.

The investigation ruled out product tampering. So it had to have been spiked by a third party with access to her house. Only one person gained anything in the immediate aftermath of her death: her ex-husband.

I just re-watched this case yesterday. One thing that stood out to me was after the portion where Stack is narrating that Leo Fikes took and passed a polygraph, he moves on to Patsy's ex husband. He mentioned that he refused to take a polygraph and how that rubbed some the wrong way, but then added that there is evidence to suggest that both Fikes and her ex husband are both innocent of Patsy's death. That made me wonder what it could be that could possibly exonerate both men. I then wondered if perhaps when Patsy's autopsy was completed, that semen was found in her body that did not match either man? It would also explain the second plate near her bed that was empty of food.

I just re-watched this case yesterday. One thing that stood out to me was after the portion where Stack is narrating that Leo Fikes took and passed a polygraph, he moves on to Patsy's ex husband. He mentioned that he refused to take a polygraph and how that rubbed some the wrong way, but then added that there is evidence to suggest that both Fikes and her ex husband are both innocent of Patsy's death. That made me wonder what it could be that could possibly exonerate both men. I then wondered if perhaps when Patsy's autopsy was completed, that semen was found in her body that did not match either man? It would also explain the second plate near her bed that was empty of food.

It's entirely possible that she had someone over for dinner that night who had nothing to do with her death. Because I think the sleeping medicine was tainted the night she found her windows smashed in prior to her alarm being installed.

It's entirely possible that she had someone over for dinner that night who had nothing to do with her death. Because I think the sleeping medicine was tainted the night she found her windows smashed in prior to her alarm being installed.

How long before her death did that happen?

How long before her death did that happen?

I can't find anything with regards to the actual date when this happened, but IIRC, nothing was stolen from the home.

I'm not sure if its been mentioned or not but the link below states that the wax museum that Patsy owned was burned to the ground by an arsonist less than a year after her murder. The arsonist has never been found.

https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/56-poisoning-patsy

I'm not sure if its been mentioned or not but the link below states that the wax museum that Patsy owned was burned to the ground by an arsonist less than a year after her murder. The arsonist has never been found.

https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/56-poisoning-patsy

I thought her ex husband was suspected of the arson?

This was such a weird case where there were so many suspects featured and UM was in year one. it would be one of their signatures where they would focus in on 3 suspects, but as we have learned there have been many cases where none of the three were guilty. I think of the three, the most likely is her ex-husband who was accused of the arson and stocking Patsy.

I've also read a Dallas centric published article that made note of a married horse cutter that Patsy was allegedly having a relationship with. That relationship could have been related to the caller that spoke to her daughter over the phone (a disgruntled wife). Of corse the person who she last had dinner with could of been innocent and a disgruntled lover who may have known about Patsy's relationship with said person, could have murdered her. Most likely the last person that was with her, even if he were innocent, he would have been the strongest suspect. but since Arlington PD did not publicize the case very much (outside of UM), we don't really know many details.

I can't believe I missed this Stanley Lester Poyner guy mentioned earlier in this thread. It seems like a private investigator hired by Lori Williams' family believes he was responsible for her death, and that he poisoned her with arsenic. The only connection that Poyner would have to Patsy is that he was caught trying to steal a ledger book from the remains of the burned museum. But he definitely throws a wrench into my long held theory that the ex-husband was involved. Now I don't know.

Doubt anyone has an answer for this, but how difficult would it have been around that time, or even years earlier, to go down to Mexico and just buy strychnine at a pharmacy or from a chemist?

As I recall, the purity of the strychnine was of such that it could only come from a lab. Unfortunately there were plenty of university labs in the area that used the stuff and had lax security.

As I recall, the purity of the strychnine was of such that it could only come from a lab. Unfortunately there were plenty of university labs in the area that used the stuff and had lax security.

I also read that there were ranch hands/farms that used the chemical to kill pests. My dad worked at a water plant when I was a kid in a rural area of Texas and they had chemicals guarding the plant from rodents/pests. and that created some other issues with local wildlife. so I know that was and maybe still is a practice in some rural areas, in what way now compared to then, I don't know.

I still wonder about the other people (not featured on UM) that Patsy was associated with in and around the time that she died. to my knowledge, I did not know about this Stanley Lester Poyner character until now. I knew of an alleged extra marital relationship that Patsy had with a horse trainer that she was taking lessons from. I wonder if there is any information from local authorities that could help revive this case?

I still wonder about the other people (not featured on UM) that Patsy was associated with in and around the time that she died. to my knowledge, I did not know about this Stanley Lester Poyner character until now. I knew of an alleged extra marital relationship that Patsy had with a horse trainer that she was taking lessons from. I wonder if there is any information from local authorities that could help revive this case?

We know next to nothing about this horse trainer. But if Patsy did indeed have two plates set out for a date at her home with someone, he would be the obvious person who would have been there. I believe law enforcement believes that Poyner was the person most likely responsible, but since he is dead (police killed him in a shootout when he fled in his vehicle striking an officer after attempting to be questioned about the fire and Patsy's death) they cannot conclusively close the case.

We know next to nothing about this horse trainer. But if Patsy did indeed have two plates set out for a date at her home with someone, he would be the obvious person who would have been there. I believe law enforcement believes that Poyner was the person most likely responsible, but since he is dead (police killed him in a shootout when he fled in his vehicle striking an officer after attempting to be questioned about the fire and Patsy's death) they cannot conclusively close the case.

It's crazy to me that I never even knew about Poyner until I read your post in this thread yesterday.

It's crazy to me that I never even knew about Poyner until I read your post in this thread yesterday.

It is a little odd that UM didn't provide an "update" to the case mentioning Poyner as a suspect and being killed in a shootout with police 2 years after the segment aired.

It is a little odd that UM didn't provide an "update" to the case mentioning Poyner as a suspect and being killed in a shootout with police 2 years after the segment aired.

Indeed. Patsy having an affair with a married man, who could've then turned around and killed her (to keep his wife from finding out and/or Patsy from talking about it) would certainly seem to make the case a bit more sensational.

I have to wonder about that motive though and if there wasn't anything else on the line for Poyner.....

I have to wonder about that motive though and if there wasn't anything else on the line for Poyner.....

Poyner became a suspect because the cops found him snooping around looking for a ledger in the ashes of the museum after it burned down after Patsy's death. I think there was a financial motive.

Poyner became a suspect because the cops found him snooping around looking for a ledger in the ashes of the museum after it burned down after Patsy's death. I think there was a financial motive.

yes and UM kind of hit on the motive of finances for the wax museum, but they focused on her sister and brother in law since I think they were the ones that stood to gain complete control of the museum. Patsy's financial status and perhaps her social status as well had every thing to do with her being murdered.

yes and UM kind of hit on the motive of finances for the wax museum, but they focused on her sister and brother in law since I think they were the ones that stood to gain complete control of the museum. Patsy's financial status and perhaps her social status as well had every thing to do with her being murdered.


Yes I always felt there was something left out of Patsy's segment. Whoever laced the Nyquil knew her habits and knew them well.

Poyner became a suspect because the cops found him snooping around looking for a ledger in the ashes of the museum after it burned down after Patsy's death. I think there was a financial motive.

That's a curious one. Unless he was some sort of silent partner of Patsy/her sister or had otherwise gotten close enough to Patsy to be named beneficiary of something, I wonder just how that would work

That's a curious one. Unless he was some sort of silent partner of Patsy/her sister or had otherwise gotten close enough to Patsy to be named beneficiary of something, I wonder just how that would work

Financial impropriety or fraud would be my guess as to why he wanted his hands on the ledger. Maybe if he was embezzling funds from the museum, he would want those records?

ETA: Poyner was also a suspect in the death of museum employee Lori Williams, who died suspiciously before Patsy Wright. IMO, it's possible that both women found out something shady that Poyner was doing and he murdered them to keep them quiet. I still can't find one source that states Poyner was an employee of the museum or whether he was romantically involved with either woman.

Without knowing how Poyner could be connected in a financial sense, or more about any possible connection between him & Lori Williams, the only other thing I could think of is that Poyner was just a psychopath who wanted to take the wax museum ledger as a sort of 'trophy'

Watched this segment again and started thinking about this some more. Or rather, I started thinking about Stanley Poyner and a possible motive.

The UM wiki entry on the case (Link (https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Patsy_Wright)) mentions that a PI hired by Patsy's family noted a number of one way plane tickets between Dallas and Mexico in Poyner's apartment. Police also noted that Poyner had several connections 'outside the country' (Mexico?) that were "strange" and they believe that others were involved in both the deaths of Patsy and Lori Williams.

All we know about Stanley Poyner was that he was in his late teens - early 20s around the time of the murders and that around that same time, he was studying/working to become a mortician.

Going off of that, I got curious and wondered if strychnine had ever been used in mortuaries or in the embalming process. I didn't run across anything definitive either way, but curiously, did find that both Nebraska and Illinois have active statutes that prohibit the use of any product containing arsenic or strychnine in the embalming process (Link (https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/Documents/FuneralDirectingAndEmbalming.pdf)). So yeah, it wouldn't be *that much* of a stretch to say that Poyner could've possibly gotten his hands on strychnine (assuming it was ever used in embalming in the first place)

Again, he's relatively young and studying to become a mortician - what could've been his motive? Trying to figure that out is where things get sticky.

Now the PI notes that Poyner came into a lot of money and splurged on some large purchases. Based on that, it's pretty safe to say that others were involved and Poyner was getting paid off for stealing the ledger. Assuming the ledger was key, that would seem to suggest some kind of financial motive - either insurance fraud, possibly money laundering or maybe something else altogether. Or it could be a distraction, Poyner grabbing that to give the *appearance* that it was financially related. Either way, this is the starting point.


The next point would be to determine who knew Patsy's personal habits well enough to know to poison her cold medicine. From there, the next logical step would be to try and draw any connection between these people and Poyner. He could've supplied a suspect with strychnine, been paid off by this suspect or both. To cement a connection though - one of these has to be true. If you're able to exclude both points entirely, then Poyner is nothing but a red herring and you're back at square one.

Dig in to both Poyner's finances and trace the strychnine back to a source though and you should come up with something I would think.

Watched this segment again and started thinking about this some more. Or rather, I started thinking about Stanley Poyner and a possible motive.

The UM wiki entry on the case (Link (https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Patsy_Wright)) mentions that a PI hired by Patsy's family noted a number of one way plane tickets between Dallas and Mexico in Poyner's apartment. Police also noted that Poyner had several connections 'outside the country' (Mexico?) that were "strange" and they believe that others were involved in both the deaths of Patsy and Lori Williams.

All we know about Stanley Poyner was that he was in his late teens - early 20s around the time of the murders and that around that same time, he was studying/working to become a mortician.

Going off of that, I got curious and wondered if strychnine had ever been used in mortuaries or in the embalming process. I didn't run across anything definitive either way, but curiously, did find that both Nebraska and Illinois have active statutes that prohibit the use of any product containing arsenic or strychnine in the embalming process (Link (https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/Documents/FuneralDirectingAndEmbalming.pdf)). So yeah, it wouldn't be *that much* of a stretch to say that Poyner could've possibly gotten his hands on strychnine (assuming it was ever used in embalming in the first place)

Again, he's relatively young and studying to become a mortician - what could've been his motive? Trying to figure that out is where things get sticky.

Now the PI notes that Poyner came into a lot of money and splurged on some large purchases. Based on that, it's pretty safe to say that others were involved and Poyner was getting paid off for stealing the ledger. Assuming the ledger was key, that would seem to suggest some kind of financial motive - either insurance fraud, possibly money laundering or maybe something else altogether. Or it could be a distraction, Poyner grabbing that to give the *appearance* that it was financially related. Either way, this is the starting point.


The next point would be to determine who knew Patsy's personal habits well enough to know to poison her cold medicine. From there, the next logical step would be to try and draw any connection between these people and Poyner. He could've supplied a suspect with strychnine, been paid off by this suspect or both. To cement a connection though - one of these has to be true. If you're able to exclude both points entirely, then Poyner is nothing but a red herring and you're back at square one.

Dig in to both Poyner's finances and trace the strychnine back to a source though and you should come up with something I would think.

Here some 25+ years later.. That's going to be hard to do. However.. You are quite correct in saying that should have been done THEN.

I seem to recall that there was some tracking of it, but.. Seems they couldn't quite nail it down, at least, not to the level that would be acceptable in a court.

I always thought even today that the one who poisoned her was an ex of hers who wanted her dead, knew she drank that medicine and poisoned it.