How an anonymous note exposed woman’s sick plot to poison her boss THEN frame her own boyfriend for the murder
TO some, Mary Yoder had it all.
She was a loving mother-of-three, ran a successful chiropractor business with her husband and was healthier than most 60-year-olds, thanks to her self-care and wellness regimes.
Mary and her husband Bill met when they were both studying for a degree in chiropractic medicine and immediately hit it off. After graduating, they tied the knot and had three children - Tamaryn, Liana and Adam.
By the time their children had grown up, they’d been working together for a number of years and their clinic, Chiropractic Family Care, was booming.
Their smooth sailing was short-lived, though.
Mary began complaining of a stomach ache to Bill on July 20, 2015. The following day, she left work early as her illness worsened, leaving the family clinic in the capable hands of receptionist, 23-year-old .
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However, the mum-of-three wasn’t dealing with just a simple stomach ache. Her illness was far worse than anyone could imagine.
She was actually critically ill, and passed away on July 22 in hospital, after being rushed in to determine the cause of her symptoms.
Bill and the kids, who lived in New York, were heartbroken. They were suddenly swept up in a whirlwind of pain and confusion. Their healthy mother, who was into fitness and supplements, was dead.
A post-mortem later revealed that Mary had been poisoned with colchicine, a drug used to treat gout and inflammation, neither of which she suffered from. She had been killed.
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Mary’s killing was explored in a three-part docuseries called Little Miss Innocent: Passion. Poison. Prison, which is now available on Disney+.
During the investigation into her murder, Bill was the first to be probed by cops because he dated his late wife's sister shortly after becoming a widower.
However, the case took a turn when the Oneida County Sheriff's Office received an anonymous letter that blamed Adam for his mum's death in November 2015.
The mysterious note said that a container of colchicine was located under the passenger seat of Adam's Jeep.
It read: “If the toxin found in her was colchicine, it was Adam Yoder.”
Cops searched his car the next month and found the medicine right where the letter said it would be.
Investigator Mark Van Namee said that Adam was smoking a cigarette while police searched his car - and that he was so shocked when they found the bottle that the cigarette "almost fell out of his mouth”.
When formally questioned, he denied all allegations and argued that the colchinine container had been planted on him.
Police believed him, given Adam was out of town a full 300 miles away when his mum fell sick.
It was when ‘little miss innocent’ receptionist Kaitlyn Conley, then 23, was questioned that the fuzz investigation fully began to take shape.
Kaitlyn quickly became the prime suspect when police realised Kaitlyn had been in an on-and-off relationship with Adam for two years.
She had worked with the family for four years and Mary treated her like a daughter, given her relationship with Adam.
After being questioned, Kaitlyn eventually admitted that she’d written the anonymous note to the police and claimed that her ex-boyfriend Adam had confessed to her.
When asked why she hadn’t come forward sooner, Kaitlyn said she was scared of Adam.
Timeline of Kaitlyn Conley's case
Kaitlyn Conley was sentenced to 23 years in prison for fatally poisoning her boss and the mom of her ex-boyfriend, Mary Yoder. During the murder trial, prosecutors laid out a timeline of the events after the killing.
July 22, 2015 - Mary Yoder died
September 17, 2015 - Family learns that Mary died from taking colchicine, a toxin used to treat gout
October 15, 2015 - Family tells police that Mary's death is suspicious
November 23, 2015 - Cops receive an anonymous letter pointing to Adam Yoder, Mary's son, as being responsible for her death
December 8, 2015 - Police search Adam's car and find a bottle of colchicine, matching the anonymous letter's claims
December 23, 2015 - Cops search the chiropractic office to gather electronics and find torn envelopes similar to the anonymous letter
June 13, 2016 - Conley is arrested and charged with Mary's murder
April 2017 - Conley's first murder trial starts
May 2017 - Conley's first murder trial ends in a hung jury
November 2017 - Conley's second murder trial starts
November 6, 2017 - Conley is found guilty of manslaughter in the poisoning death
January 11, 2018 - Conley is sentenced to 23 years in prison
As investigators continued to probe, multiple clues led them to believe she was the person behind the death.
Her DNA was found on the colchicine vial from Adam's jeep, her computer and phone revealed sick research on poison and the email used to order the poison (which was apparently set up by Adam) was accessed on her phone.
Investigators theorised that Kaitlyn spiked Mary's protein drink during their lunch hour together at the clinic, and was trying to frame her ex-beau.
They believed that she had used a pre-paid debit card to try and purchase the poison in a way that meant it was untraceable to her.
Kaitlyn was charged with second-degree murder in 2016 but insisted she was innocent throughout the trial - and still maintains her innocence to this very day,
On November 6, 2017, she was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 23 years in prison at her second trial after the first ended with a hung jury.
The prosecution argued that Kaitlyn’s motive was to get Adam back - and if it was, it worked, because the former lovers rekindled their relationship shortly after Mary’s death.
In the Little Miss Innocent docuseries on Disney+, Kaitlyn says that she felt the police were playing a game with her, as “they knew the rules and she didn’t”.
Her dad and three sisters feature to express their strong belief that she wouldn’t hurt a fly, as do locals, some of which echo Kaitlyn’s family’s sentiment that she didn’t murder her former boss.
At her sentencing, Adam said that he would be haunted forever by his ex-girlfriend's crime
“I hate the defendant with every bone in my body, with every drop of blood in my veins. I hate Kaitlyn Conley,” Adam said in court, according to local outlet Rome Sentinel at the time.
“I hate myself infinitely more,” he continued, adding that he regrets introducing her to his family and getting her a job with his mum.
“I will carry that with me for the rest of my life.”
In January this year, Kaitlyn's conviction was overturned due to ineffective defence counsel in her first trial and mishandling of evidence by the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office.
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She was released from released from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, New York, in February, having served seven years of her sentence.
It is now said that the Oneida County District Attorney will be bringing the case back to a grand jury, but the date for that proposed trial is still unknown.