Patsy Wright - strychnine laced NyQuil

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by DALLASTEXAN!!

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.

[Huskerz85]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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.....

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Huskerz85

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.

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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.

[infinityluxe]

Originally Posted by DALLASTEXAN!!

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.

[Huskerz85]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Huskerz85

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.

[Huskerz85]

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'

[Huskerz85]

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) 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). 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.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by Huskerz85

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) 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). 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.

[mwcarolina]

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.

[tvscript124]

I haven't heard Crystaldawn's take on this case, but in watching it, the ex-husband seems like the prime suspect IMO. I may change my mind once I hear Crystaldawn's take, but here is my reasoning for why Robert Cox is guilty.

1) Restraining order Patsy took out against him
2) His habit of driving by her house and spying on her (wouldn't that violate the order?)
3) Him pressuring her to change her testimony in an arson civil case

Clearly this guy didn't care about rules or boundaries, so cold-blooded murder isn't a stretch. Of course, that begs the question of whether or not there really were two plates that night, in which case we can rule him out. I doubt Patsy was having him over for dinner. Then, this Stanley Poyner becomes the obvious suspect.

[TheCars1986]

I still would like to know what connection there was between Patsy Wright and Stanley Poyner, if there even was one at all. Everything I see briefly mentions Poyner as a "drifter", but there has to be a reason why he was snooping around the museum looking for a ledger book after it had burned down.

[terrytowel]

From A Current Affair - outlines the only connection between Patsy Wright and Stanley Poyner. His efforts to get her ledger book.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEuh6FH6NTA