Patsy Wright - strychnine laced NyQuil

[TheCars1986]

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.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

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.

[jOHnNyD]

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.

[Hambone2421]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Hambone2421

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.

[Hambone2421]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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?

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Hambone2421

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.

[Hambone2421]

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.c...oisoning-patsy

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

Originally Posted by Hambone2421

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.c...oisoning-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.

[TheCars1986]

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.

[EighthStreet]

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?

[SPD Yellow]

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.

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

Originally Posted by SPD Yellow

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?

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by DALLASTEXAN!!

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.