Lana and Steven Clayton

0:00 Hi, I'm Rich and I'm Tina. And if there's one thing we've learned in over twenty. Years of marriage, some days you'll feel like killing your husband, and. Some days you'll feel like killing your wife. Welcome to love, Mary. Kill Hi, Tina, Hey Rich, how are you? I'm good? How are you good? Our opening was especially funny to you. Why was that because. You literally looked like you wanted to kill me. You were just kind of like rolling your eyes at me, and you look like very angry, which normally you don't.

0:41 Yeah. So, you know, some some episodes start a little rough. For another, it's the last episode before Christmas, though. Yes it is. Are you feeling in the Christmas spirit? Well, it's snowing outside, looks really pretty. It looks really pretty outside. Yeah, ish, You know what, we our kids are older, and I think you need a little kid around to really have the magic of Christmas. Yeah. So I feel like everyone's a little grouchy. And yeah, well. I'm not grouchy because I am officially done with work with my day job for the year of twenty twenty four. That's great. Yes, I'm really looking forward to the time off. Yeah, what are you going to do?

1:21 I'm going to do as little as possible. Yeah, really, just chill out, read some books. I'll be working on the podcast, but I hope you have a wonderful break. I plan on it. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I've been diving pretty deep into the world of professional wrestling this week. So wow, that is interesting. There is a whole different world, isn't it. Holy cow, Yes, I think maybe I should have been a professional lady wrestler. You think maybe? Actually really the show Glow Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. I really loved that show. I don't think you watched it. I didn't watch it. No, it was just so good. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not into wrestling though either.

2:02 There's some things that are like pretty interesting. I'll just say it. I'm watching the Vince documentary on Netflix and it's not really has anything to do with the case that I'm working on, but I just thought I needed a little more background about wrestling, and it's fascinating. Well, we'll look forward to hearing about that. But this week we're going to South Carolina to talk about the case of Lana and Steve Clayton. You have shared a little bit with me about this case, and I'm a little a little work. It's a little disturbing. But before that, I do have a snack for you. You better or I'm walking. I know you've made that very clear. Up. I'm a little hungry today. I worked out last night. I think I'm just hungry today. I'm not sure how you're gonna feel about this snack because I was looking into what snacks are popular in South Carolina. Yeah, and strangely enough South Carolina. South Carolinians they really like moon pies also. Okay, but I didn't bring you a moonpie, just had that.

3:01 Well, you know, a lot of listeners said people said you should freeze the moon pie and some people said you should put it in the microwave air fire. And I didn't do either one. Did you not yet? No, I still planned to have. A fair amount in the cupboard. I'm guessing. Yeah, but what I brought you instead is pimento cheese and pimento cheese, well perfect, that is a classic. I made it. Yeah, it's really really that it has our not sour cream, but cream cheese. It doesn't have cream cheese. And some of the recipes do authentic Southern style pimento cheese does not have cream cheese. I actually researched that and learned that that is not a normal. Really excited because I love pimento cheese and you don't.

3:42 So well. I think it's pretty good because it doesn't have cream cheese. If it had cream cheese, I probably wouldn't like. Okay, well, do you want me to taste it? Or do you do? You want to tell me what's in at first? Oh? I mean it's pretty simple. It's just grated cheddar cheese and mayonnaise and pimentos, Worcestershire sauce. And just that word with no problem, and. Salt, pepper, cayenne. It's pretty simple. But yeah, let's try it. Yeah, what did you think of the pimento cheese. I thought it was delicious. You did a fabulous job. It's pretty It's pretty basic, but yeah it is. Well. Every year this time I usually go to Zingerman's or not Zingerman's, but I go to like Plum Market or a local place that has like Zingerman's cheese, and I get some pimento cheese and you'res just pretty much just as good as the Zerman's. So well done.

4:33 I thought it was good and I got some I don't know how to pronounce this bretton breton, breton crack breton. Yeah, those are good. Thank you so much anytime. Ten out of ten. I think I've been too like, too much of an easy grad lately, but that was really good. Good. I'll give it a eight out of ten. I like it. Let's get to today's case. Today's case is a request from our listener Susan, So thank you Susan for the request. Really interesting case. James Blackledge was out for a motorcycle ride on a hot afternoon in July twenty eighteen. He was riding through a beautiful lake front neighborhood in Lake Wiley, South Carolina, when a woman came running across her front yard frantically flagging him down. The woman, Lanta Clayton, was hysterical. She said her husband Steve, had fallen down the stairs. She thought he was dead. She asked the stranger to call nine one one, and then she ran off to the next door neighbor's house.

5:29 Tobolic sank, did you mean to thank missus Amber, Yes, ma'am. Mom down at Lake Wiley, Holy Father takes island pull Trod, I was just riding by, and a warman came running out and said her husband fell down the steps, and she thinks he. Did so A named an ambulance. Okay, and so the female flagged it down, said her husband set on the stamps. She was hysterical, so I think you might be gone. Okay, glad, do you have everyone coming light? You're tiring. I know you don't want to bother her. Has he been stick recently? Kitty had verdigergo. The neighbor that Lana ran over to see. Terry. Floyd was close friends with Lana and Steve. Lana pounded so hard on his door that he thought it was going to break. She could hardly tell Terry what was wrong.

6:14 She just kept saying, it's Steve, It's Steve. The two jumped down to Terry's golf cart and zipped over to the Clayton's house. Terry went in and saw his friend Steve Clayton lying at the base of the stairs. Terry tried to get a pulse, but there was nothing. Steve Clayton was dead at sixty four. Soon the police and paramedics showed up, followed by the York County Deputy Coroner, Based on an initial assessment of the scene, it seemed like a heart attack was the most likely cause of death. Steve's age, combined with his weight of two hundred and sixty pounds, the lack of anything that seemed suspicious at the scene, and Lana's account of the vertigo attack that Steve had been suffering from for the past few days all seemed to point in that direction. But when Steve's family members showed up on the scene, there were some things that didn't add up. Why had Lana run out and flagged down a stranger instead of calling nine one one herself.

7:08 I was wondering that. And Lana was a nurse, Why wasn't she attempting CPR? And why did she push to have Steve's body cremated so quickly after his death. It would be a race against time for the family to get answers before it was too late. Stephen Clayton was born in May nineteen fifty four in Miami Beach, Florida. His family didn't have a lot of money and worked hard to make ends meet. Stephen was driven to make a better life for himself, and he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. In high school, he was a celebrated athlete, taking up track, football, and wrestling. He worked his way through college at Florida State University, doing construction work while earning his business degree and then becoming a certified public accountant. Before turning thirty, he founded a company, Physical Therapy Resources, which grew quickly, establishing brandanches throughout the country. At age forty one, he sold his company from millions of dollars and retired a wealthy man.

8:07 But even in retirement, Steve kept busy. His goal in retirement was to give back and help young entrepreneurs through philanthropy and pro bono consulting. In addition to giving back, Steve had a diverse array of interests. He was, in many ways a larger than life character. I'm going to read a bit from his obituary. Stephen was a truly magnanimous man, and his broad circle of friends was infinitely diverse. He enjoyed spending time in the company of gardeners and janitors as much as he did with captains of industry and finance moguls. He had no mere acquaintances, as everyone he befriended became part of his enormous extended family. It was not uncommon to find Stephen on the phone at all hours of the day and night, freely giving of his time and abundant wisdom to all who sought his counsel.

8:57 His age did not define him. He was genuinely a kid at heart, energetic fun, and always ready to lead the next adventure. His exuberance for life, his captivating stories, and his irreverent sense of humor will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Steve was also an officionado of music, wine and cigars, a brilliant writer, a collector of fine art and sculpture, an avid golfer, and a true sports fan. He was a proud booster of Florida State University football, generously supporting his much loved seminoles throughout the decades. Stephen cared deeply for children and was a wrestling coach at University of South Florida and Tampa American Heritage Academy and Cardinal Gibbons. He was a loving mentor to countless youth, devotedly following each of their journeys into adulthood and remaining in close contact. Virtually all of the youth who were mentored by Stephen have gone on to become highly successful in their chosen fields. There are simply not enough superlatives in the English language to honor Steve as he deserves. But those who knew the essence of his heart will attest that it was a privilege beyond measure to have known this generous and loving man. His family and friends will forever remember his laughter and celebrate him for as long as we live. Seems like just a really just a great guy, and just such a diverse array of interests. Kind of a renaissance man, very successful, but always giving back to others as well.

10:24 Sounds like a great man. The one area of his life where Stephen was not so successful was in finding love. Friends and families say that they lost count of how many times Stephen was married before he met Lana. Most estimated around six times. Oh, but even his ex wives had nothing bad to say about Stephen. Some of them still said he had been the love of their lives even after the marriages ended. Stephen met Lana Sue Walsh through an online dating site in twenty ten. The two were living in North Carolina at the time. Lana, twelve years younger than Steve, was a nurse with a Veteran's Administration, helping sick and wounded veterans make the transition back into civilian life. Steve liked that Lana had a caring spirit and didn't seem to place a lot of value on money. She didn't wear expensive clothes, she didn't carry a nice handbag. Material things didn't seem to mean much to her. His family liked Lana as well, and felt like Lena would be there to help Stephen if he needed it as he got older.

11:25 Lana and Stephen got married in Charlotte, North Carolina, in November twenty thirteen. Soon after they married, the couple bought a house just across the border in South Carolina on Lake Wilie. It was a beautiful home modeled on George Washington's Mount Vernon Mansion. Oh wow, did you see pictures of this house? Yes, we will. I will post a picture of it. Is it amazing? It's beautiful. Yeah. It was situated on a couple of acres with a dock and a boat. He and Lana spent the next few years renovating the mansion. The house was valued at eight hundred twenty two thousand at the time of Stephen's death. Stephen also owned the lot next door are valued at three hundred and eighty five thousand. There were always people around at the Clayton's Lake Wilie home. Although Steven never had children of his own, he loved it when family and friends would bring their kids over. There were always parties with music, kids and dogs running around, dancing, and Stephen at the center of it all telling stories and jokes.

12:21 Just a couple of weeks before Stephen's death, he held his annual Fourth of July bash. It was a big party with a dance floor set up in the yard and fire works over the lake. In video from the event, Stephen and Lana can be seen dancing together. Most people who knew them thought they were deeply in love, but there were a few people who knew differently. Doctor Nan Say, a veterinarian who came to the house regularly to look after Stephen's beloved greyhound dogs, Guinness and Sadie, later said that she never saw them talk to each other. She couldn't understand why they were married, and just weeks before his death, Stephen had confided in his next Chris, that his marriage was in trouble. It didn't seem to be working out the way that Stephen had thought it would.

13:07 When Steve was younger, he had a near fatal scuba diving accident in the Bahamas. He ascended too quickly from the dive, causing a serious case of the Benz. The Benz, also known as decompression sickness, occurs when dissolved gases formed bubbles in the body due to a rapid decrease in pressure. The Benz can be extremely painful and can cause rashes, paralysis, and even death. Permanent damage can occur as well, including neurological problems, immobility, chronic pain, and, in Steve's case, outs of sickness and vertigo. Steve had gone through a physical rehabilitation program after getting the benz, but he still occasionally had debilitating battles with vertigo. In June twenty eighteen, one month prior to his death, he was out working in the yard when he suddenly got dizzy and developed severe ear pain. It was so intense he needed help getting inside.

13:59 He spent the next thirty six hours in bed, mostly sleeping, before he finally felt better. Three days before his death. Lana said that he suffered another debilitating vertigo attack and had mostly been in bed feeling nauseous and dizzy until the day of his death. Vertigo seems like one of those mysterious illnesses. Yeah, I don't think it's like an illness on its own. It's like a symptom of something else usually. But I think sometimes they don't know what is. Causing Yeah, vertigo exactly. It sounds It sounds really bad though. On July twenty first, twenty eighteen, Lana said that she checked on Steve around eleven that morning and found him asleep in his bed. She made sure he had water and his medications on the table next to his bed, and then she went out to mow the lawn. When she finished and went back inside, she said that she saw Steve lying at the bottom of the stairs. Frantic, she ran out and flagged down a man riding by in his motorcycle. He called nine one one while Leanna ran to the neighbor's house. Terry Floyd went back to the house with Lana and checked Steve for a pulse, but didn't find one. Soon after the emergency personnel arrived, Steve was pronounced dead. The police did a quick look through the house and found nothing that raised any red flags.

15:10 It did not appear that Steve had fallen down the stairs. There was a carpet runner that ran down the middle of the steps, and it appeared undisturbed. Steve's body had a few small abrasions, but nothing that indicated a tumble down the stairs. The deputy coroner, who had arrived at the scene concluded that Steve had probably walked down the stairs and then collapsed, most likely from a heart attack. Paramedics, deputies from the Sheriff's department, and a couple of neighbors all did their best to console Lana. She expressed that she felt guilty for not checking on him for the two hours she was out mowing the lawn. They told her it wasn't her fault. There was nothing she could have done.

15:51 Steve's nephew, Nick French, was a police officer just across the border in North Carolina. When he heard about his uncle's death, he rushed over and Steve had become close friends after Nick had married Steve's niece. While the York County Sheriff's deputies didn't see anything suspicious about the death, and the deputy coroner didn't see anything suspicious either. Nick knew his uncle well. Assessing the scene, there were some things that didn't quite seem right to him. First, it was odd that Lana didn't call nine one one herself. There were phones in the house. Why would she run outside and flag down a random passerby to call nine one one instead of doing it herself. And Lana was a nurse, why hadn't she performed CPR on her husband. Also, Steve's cell phone was nowhere to be found. Nick knew that Steve never went anywhere without his phone. Steve's sister, Rosie, who lived in Florida, had been trying to reach her brother for the past three days. He had never replied to any of her calls or messages, which wasn't like Steve.

16:51 Nick also noted that Lana's behavior seemed off. When Nick suggested calling another of Steve's nephews, Chris Fagan, to tell him that Steve had died, Lana said no, she didn't want Chris to see his uncle that way. Chris was an adult and he had been very close to Steve, so Nick didn't understand why Lana was so insistent. After repeating his thought that Chris should be called, Lana yelled at Nick. The behavior seemed strange to him, but people did sometimes behave in strange ways under duress, so maybe it was just the stress of the situation. Nick called Chris anyway, and he drove over to the house. Nick noted another strange interaction that Lana had with the deputy coroner that day as well. The coroner was asking Lana whether she had any thoughts about funeral arrangements. Lana was distraught and said, I can't think about that now, it's just too much. The coroner said, that's okay. We can take Steve's body to the morgue and run some tests.

17:47 You can decide on funeral arrangements later. Suddenly Lana was crystal clear on what she wanted to do. She said, oh, that funeral home, the one down the street. Let's have his body taken there. He wanted to be cremated. The other thing that raised flags for Nick French was when he went to the bedroom where Steve had been staying for the past few days since his vertigo attack. The bed was soaked with the urine to the point where it had soaked through the mattress and was puddling up on the floor underneath. Nick mentioned this to Lana, who said, oh, that's what happens when he has vertigo. To Nick, though it seemed like Steve had been in bed unable to get up. Someone would have to be severely incapacitated to stay in that bed for three days. Coupled with the fact that Steve's cell phone was nowhere to be found, it made Nick wonder whether Steve had essentially been a captive, unable to call for help. When Nick got home, he talked to his wife. He didn't want to believe it, but it felt like something was off about the whole situation.

18:45 Chris went home and had a similar conversation with his wife. Nick and his wife then drove over to Chris's house and said something's wrong. Chris breathed a sigh of relief because it validated his own suspicions. I'm disturbed by the fact that Lana, a medical professional, would leave her husband and a year in soaked bed. Yeah, it's really as disturbing. The first things you learned in nursing schools how to change a bad and I don't think anyone would want their loved one to lay in their own urine. No, you wouldn't think so, And it does seem like, you know, from everything we've learned up until now, it does seem like he was He must have been incapacitated, because nobody would lay in a bed soaked with urine unless they couldn't get up. And the fact that he had no cell phone, it just seems like she was keeping him captive and making sure he wasn't able to call anybody for help or get help from anywhere. So it's really sad that that was, you know, the way he spent his last three days of his life.

19:40 Yeah. At this point, there was no autopsy planned. The death was not considered suspicious. Steve's body was at the funeral home and scheduled to be cremated the next day. Nick and Chris knew that they needed to act fast. Nick called the coroner's office and requested that they perform an autopsy and a toxicology test. A family member can request an autopsy, but the final decision lies with the medical examiner or coroner. In this case, although there were officially no suspicions, the coroner agreed to perform the autopsy. It's possible that Nick's status as a police officer. Even though from a different jurisdiction, helped the coroner make the decision to proceed. The coroner's office sent transport to pick Steve's body up from the funeral home. An autopsy was scheduled for the following day. Lanna protested because she said that Steve had been a heavy drug user. She claimed that she wanted to protect Steve's reputation as a pillar of the community and that an autopsy would expose his secret drug life. Steve's family knew that he smoked pot regularly, but they weren't aware of any harder drug use. From the coroner's point of view, if they found cocaine or meth in his system, that would be a smoking gun pointing to a heart attack, as sudden cardiac arrest is consistent with the use of those drugs. The next day's autopsy didn't raise a red flags for the coroner. It seemed to confirm that Stephen died a natural death, although there was no smoking gun that proved it was a heart attack. Stephen had a light purplish discoloration from his

21:12 chest to the top of his head. This typically indicates cyanosis, which is a medical term for a bluish or purplish skin color caused by low oxygen levels in the blood. It generally indicates a problem with the heart or the lungs. The autopsy also showed that Stephen's heart was enlarged. It weighed seven hundred grams, double the average. His lungs were described as heavy with fluid, another indicator of heart problems. While Steve had no history of heart disease, he was a two hundred and sixty pound man who was not as physically active as he had been in his younger days. The coroner was feeling like the initial theory that Stephen had died of natural causes was probably correct. They just had to wait for the toxicology results before signing off.

21:56 Stephen's body was released back to the funeral home. In the meantime, the police did a quick background search on Steve and Lana to see if there were any past incidents to be aware of. It turned out that there was one very curious event that had occurred two years earlier. Steve was sleeping when Lana shot him in the head with a crossbow. Yes, you heard that correctly. Lana went to the Sheriff's department and reported the incident, she shot him and she went to the shaff yep she did. She and Steve both told the police that it was an accident. Apparently, the couple were planning to go hunting the next day and Lana was practicing loading the crossbow when it unexpectedly fired. The arrow grazed the back of Steve's head.

22:41 How often does that happen? I mean, you're practicing loading your crossbow in the bedroom and your husband's asleep, and it just happens to go off and it happens to hit him in the head. Well, if she truly meant to do it, the wouldn't she just shoot another bow? Well that might then that would look really suspicious, right to you shot two arrows and you said it was an accident. An investigation concluded that the incident was an accident and no intend to commit a crime was found during questioning. However, Lana did claim at this time that Steve had been mentally cruel toward her at times during their marriage. None of Steve's family members had heard about this incident.

23:21 Before, So it's kind of a strange incident because I've read a few different things about it, and I don't know if they're contradictory. But I did read, you know, in one place that they said they were going hunting and it was an accident, and by all accounts, Stephen, you know, believed it was an accident, told the police that. But then I've read other places where Lana is talking about the fact that Stephen was cruel to her and like abusive torque and stuff like that, which is strange because why would that even come up, Yeah, if this was an accident or you know, why did she even bring that up? So I'm not quite sure. I fully, I feel like I fully have all the information about this incident, but it's obviously a little bit strange. The arrow just grazed him. He didn't need medical treatment.

24:02 As far as I know. Yeah, the day that Steve died, his nephew Chris came over. Remember Nick had called him even though Lana didn't want him to come. After he got there, Lana said she would need Chris's help in organizing Steve's affairs. Chris said, the first thing we need is to find his will. That will let us know what Steve's wishes were. Lana told Chris that Steve didn't have a will. Chris said, yes, he does, I've seen it. Steve had asked him to be the executor of his estate and showed him the will. Steve had shown his will to other family members as well, but Lana stuck to her story. She finally got angry when Chris continued to insist that there was a will.

24:44 She stood up and said, I said there is no will and walked away. The next day, Chris called Lana and offered to come over and look for the will. Lana said, do not come here. This is my house. He was my husband. I'll handle everything. Then she you hung up. If you're an executor of an estate, do you have a copy of the will? Not necessarily. I mean I was the executor of my mom's estate and she didn't give me a copy of her will. I mean, I think it's probably a good idea to give a copy of your will to whoever you name as the executive. Or at least know the attorney as the will exactly, But I don't think it's a requirement. An interesting point about the will, or lack thereof, is the difference between North Carolina and South Carolina law. Remember, Steve and Lana had lived in North Carolina, but moved across the border to South Carolina a few years before his death. If someone dies without a will in North Carolina, a probate court will determine how their finances, properties, or other assets will be distributed. Usually that means surviving family members split the estate. In South Carolina, however, if a married person dies without a will, the entire estate goes to their spouse.

25:53 The day after Steve's death, neighbors observed Lana building a fire in the backyard fire pit. Saw the remnants of burned papers in the pit. And there's no telling what the papers were that Lana had destroyed. That's not suspicious, Yeah, not at all. On August fourth, twenty eighteen, thirteen days after Steve's death and before the toxicology test's results were back, Lana held a memorial service at their house. It was attended by close friends, family, and neighbors. Lana had packed up all Steve's clothes, boxed up his collection of vinyl records, and told family members they could take what they wanted. Steve also owned some valuable art. Lana sold those pieces.

26:34 That seems pretty quick to pack up all your belongings and get rid of everything. Yeah, just another red flag, and her behavior was definitely suspicious. Four weeks after Steve's death, the toxicology results came back. What it didn't reveal was the presence of any hard drugs, as Lana had claimed. There was tetra hydro canna biden all, a psychoactive component of marijuana. Excellent. Why do you do that like every time? Like I know it's like in your script somewhere. Oh, let Tina do this word. I did. I swear I did not plan it that way. But you say it. Oh you did? Great? I don't no, no, no, I. Would like you to say it. Tetrahydrocannabinol. Oh, you actually did it.

27:15 There's more difficult words coming. It's just to warn you. I'm sorry. Well, good thing. I'm a good pronouncer of typicult words. You are. The amount was small and had likely been in his system prior to him falling ill three days before his death. Besides, marijuana is not associated with sudden cardiac arrest. There was also diphen hydromine and into histamine and benzodiazepine valium. Those weren't surprising and the amounts were not significant. The one that was surprising was tetra hydrozylene. The coroner didn't actually know what this was, so she had to look it up. Tetra Hydrozylene, also known as t Z, is the active ingredient in vizine and other brands of eye drops. Th Z how helps to get the red out of irritated eyes by constricting blood vessels in the eye and reducing blood flow. If someone was using vizine by putting drops in their eyes as directed, the amount of thchz in one's blood might be on the order of one nanogram per millileterer. The concentration of thchz in Steve's blood was sixty eight nanograms per millileder. Tetrahydrozylene is perfectly safe when used as directed, but if ingested orally, it can be highly dangerous. It can cause nausea, vomiting, reduced heart rate, dizziness, and confusion. If an entire bottle of vizine is emptied into someone's drink, it can attack the respiratory system, causing breathing to slow and possibly resulting in death. It's odorless, colorless,

28:51 and tasteless. It's rare to see thchz show up on a toxicology report, but poisoning by THHZ was once used as a plot point in a CSI episode that aired in two thousand and two. The presence of TZ at a high concentration in Steve's blood immediately changed the investigation into his death. Instead of most likely being a heart attack, it was now highly suspicious. The cause of his death was THHZ poisoning. The only question was how it got into his system. Was it ingested accidentally, did he take it intentionally, or did someone poison him. We'll be back after a break. During the break, I had more of your pimento cheese. It's really good. I just wanted to mention really quick. At Zingerman sometimes they have like bacon, Like they have pimento cheese with bacon. So that might be a fun addition for the holidays if anyone is going to make.

29:51 Pamentas bacon does make most things better, So that sounds good. We'll talk more about tetrahydrosylene at the end of the episode. But it's pretty scary, Like this. Is so scary. You told me about this, and I keep thinking about it. I know, I know, it's really scary that it's odorless, tasteless, colorless. You'll buy it at the pharmacy, and yeah, it's really frightening. And there have been other cases. I'll talk about some of those, but it really is scary that this is something very easy to obtain and very hard to detect. The coroner called up the York County Sheriff's Department and shared their findings. They decided the next step would be to bring Lana in for an interview, but rather than a traditional police interrogation, they decided that the coroner would speak with her while the police observed from a separate room.

30:41 It wasn't uncommon for the coroner to sit down with next of kin to share autopsy results and ask some questions. By taking this approach, Lana might be less guarded than if the police were asking the questions. The coroner, Sabrina Gast, was nervous. This was not a typical conversation for her. Lana came in on August twenty ninth. It was five and a half weeks since Steve's death, and Lana came across as confident and assured. If she thought that she was a suspect, she didn't show it. That would all change soon, though. As corner Gast walked through the autopsy and toxicology results. She told Lana that they had found tetra hydroslene in his system. Lana knew exactly what that was right away. She said, Oh, that's his vizine. He would put a couple of drops in his coffee every morning.

31:28 Someone someone told him that it helped you go to the bathroom. He's been doing it for years. Just a note, do not do that. It does not help you go to the bathroom, and it's really really bad for you. At this point, police officers came in to continue the questioning, surprising Lana, they read her her Miranda rights. Lana now knew that she was in trouble. I feel like, you guys, are you know, doing your job and you're, you know, wondering if I kill my husband and I did not kill my husband. Immediately her tone changed. First, she started speculating that maybe Steve had died by suicide. Then she shifted her narrative to say that Steve had a mood disorder and that she always had to walk on eggshells around him. When he got angry, he could be really awful to her.

32:16 He would be verbally abusive and call her horrible names. Never mind that no one else in his family, including his ex wives, had ever seen that side of him. As one official later said, the most common reason that someone would suddenly shift gears and start claiming that their dead spouse was abusive is to begin establishing a defense. Eventually, Lana decided that she was done talking without a lawyer, and the interview ended. Officers informed her that they had a warrant to search her home and would be following her back there to execute the warrant. On the drive back to the house, Lana must have thought it over and decided on a new tactic. When the officers got there, Lana had something surprising to tell them. How about we do a little true crime theater. You can be Lana. Okay.

33:02 I did not give him marijuana or vellum or benadryl any of those things. He took those. But I did put vizine in his water. I was taking care of him and everything, but I was just so angry with him, and my girlfriend at work told me, well, you want to get even with somebody, you put vizine in a drink and it'll cause diarrhea. When I saw that vizine on the table at his bedside, I just took it and squirted it. And what did you've squirt it into his water? Into his water? I think I put the whole thing in the whole bottle. I think I did. Okay, I squeezed it hard. Okay. So where was he when you did this? He was sleeping. I don't know. I just saw it there and I just did it. I don't have an excuse.

33:46 I don't have I just did it. What if I did kill him? What if I caused his death with a vizine? I just want him to just I just wanted him to suffer. I was just angry. He was just constantly Lana, come here, or Lana, I'm here, you know, help me to the bathroom, do this, do that, and everything. It's just all built up. It just all I'll just build up. And I just I just wanted him to have diarrhea. I wanted him to just be miserable. Do you have any idea how Leanna knew that vizine was poisonous? Do we have her internet searches? I never found anything about any Internet searches or anything like that. She was a nurse, so she did have some you know, medical knowledge, although I don't think tetrahydroslen is a common well, you said.

34:32 The coroner even had to look it up. Yeah, according to her, you know, she said her a friend told her that you could put it in someone's drink. There was the CSI episode. She could have potentially seen that. There is Actually i'll talk about it more at the end, but there's a well known movie that some characters put vizine in someone's drink to make them have diarrhea, and it's like a funny, it's a comedy, but it's you know. There, Oh, that's kind of that's really scary. It really is. Yeah, we'll talk more about that, but it really is scary. But that was enough for the Sheriff's department. A clear confession from Lana that she had put vizine in his water, the detectives left to go and prepare an arrest warrant, charging Lana with murder. The next morning, before detectives arrived to arrest her, Lana wrote several notes to family and the police, saying she felt bad about poisoning Steve and that she couldn't live with herself.

35:24 She left the notes on a table outside on the deck, then swallowed some sleeping pills and turned the gas on. A neighbor happened to come by that morning and saw the notes on the deck, along with the business card of the detective on the case. He phoned the detective, who rushed to the scene and found her breathing but unconscious. Paramedics arrived and transported her to the hospital. There, her stomach was pumped and she was soon turned over to the police. The amount of pills she had taken wasn't enough to kill her, as the prosecutor later said, it was more of a suicide gesture than a serious attempt, perhaps an attempt at gaining simple. Is Lena's trial grew near her claims of abuse by Steve grew more serious. Where As she initially said he was verbally abusive, now she claimed he physically abused her as well. Again, there was absolutely no evidence that this was true, and none of Steve's ex wives or girlfriends had anything bad to say about him. She also claimed to have been a victim of sexual abuse in the past.

36:24 Before she met Stephen. She said she had been sexually assaulted throughout her youth and that those incidents had gone unreported. Then, after enlisting in the Air force. She said that she had been raped by three servicemen. This also went unreported. She claimed that Steve's abusive treatment of her triggered the trauma that she had suffered in the past, and it caused her to snap. Leanna also changed her story about the crossbow incidents to support her claims. While she and Stephen had both told the police at this time that it was an accident, now Lana said it was self defense. Quote. I was trying to protet myself from him because he was coming at me, and I had picked up the crossbow and turned and I just shot it.

37:07 At him, which is strange because he was shot in the back of the head too, So if he was coming at her, I don't know how she would have shot him in the back of the head. Yeah. While Lanna claimed that she squeezed raisine into Steve's water one time in a fit of anger, the prosecution had a different theory. Based on the evidence, they believed that she incapacitated him with a smaller dose. That's why he was in bed for three days prior to his death, unable to get up and unable to use the bathroom. Lana took his phone from him it had never been located, so he couldn't call for help. Then she gradually rammed up the doses of the tetrahydrosylene that she was giving him. On the day that he died, they speculated that he knew what she was doing and used every last bit of strength he had to get up and try to escape.

37:54 He made it as far as the bottom of the stairs, where he collapsed and died. In terms of motive, the secutor believed that Steve was planning to leave Lana. As we mentioned earlier, he had confided to people close to him that things weren't great in their marriage, having some wealth and having been married several times before. Steve had made Lana sign a prenup when they were married, meaning that she was not going to get as much in a divorce, so she would get more if he was dead than if. She had divorced him exactly. Some of Steve's family members have speculated that Lana had been planning on killing Steve for some time. In fact, the move from North Carolina to South Carolina may have been part of her plan. As we mentioned earlier, South Carolina law states that if someone dies into state, meaning without a will, the spouse gets everything. That's different from North Carolina law, where a probate court usually distributes the assets among surviving family members, So it's possible that Lana knew this and convinced Steve to buy the house in South Carolina. His will, which several relatives claimed to have seen, was never located. It's believed that Lana burned any copies of it, along with many of Steve's other papers and a bonfire the day after his death. Instead of going to trial, Lana reached a plea deal with the prosecutors.

39:12 On January sixteenth, twenty twenty, she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter along with malicious tampering of food. Here is part of her statement in court. I want to apologize to Stephen's family. I did impulsibly put the vising in step and strength, and I did it with the intent to make him sick and uncomfortable. I was upset about the abuse and just wanted him to lay me alone. I never thought it would kill him. I had never heard of vis him deadly. After finding out the vising was a cause of death, I attempted to take my life as well. I couldn't live with the thought that he did such a terrible thing.

39:55 Prosecutors called her claims of abuse and that she just wanted to make him unc comfortable a sham. Quote. Having destroyed Stephen Clayton himself, Lana sue Clayton comes to court trying to destroy his reputation. He's not here to say anything about it because she killed him. Do you think she was truly remorseful based on the short clip that you heard of her statement. I think she was remorseful that she got caught. Yeah. The sentencing guidelines were anywhere from two to fifty years. Lana's public defender argued for a sentence between two and five years, arguing, quote, we believe it was one time with no premeditation and was done after incidents of verbal abuse.

40:37 He also argued that the sexual abuse Lana claimed to have endured in her past should be taken into account. In the end, Lana was sentenced to twenty five years in prison. The judge said, quote, how can you maintain you did this to teach him a lesson when it is obvious from the facts you let him suffer for three days, you ignored him. Another court ruled that she was not entitled to any money from Steve's estate. I want to talk more about tetra hydroslen, but before we get to that, I have a couple of questions for you. First of all, do you think that if Steve's nephew had not been a police officer, do you think she would have gotten away with it?

41:17 Oh? I do I think so. I mean, he insisted on having the autopsy, and had there not been an autopsy, they wouldn't have found the Yeah. Yeah, I wonder if, like, if he hadn't been a police officer, if he had just been a regular Joe Schmoe and had insisted on the autopsy, if they would have done the autopsy or if they would have ignored that. I will never know whether that would have happened or not. But I would think of a family member as adamant that they want an autopsy, that one would be performed. Yeah, you would hope. So. I really have no idea how many people in the United States are cremated versus buried. But it's crazy that a lot of crimes can be covered up once the body is cremated. Yeah, it is. It does seem like that's almost a red flag. If somebody put to have cremation done really quickly, and I think in Steve's case, I think relatives were doubtful that he had actually wanted to be cremated. I think that was maybe another red flag in their mind, was they thought that he probably didn't want to be and that he wanted a funeral, you know, with friends and viewing and all that kind of thing. So, yeah, it does seem to happen a lot in the cases we talk about.

42:24 In the United States, the cremation rate is steadily increasing and is projected to reach approximately sixty one point nine percent in twenty twenty four. Wow, I didn't realize it was more than half. Yeah, I wouldn't have thought that either. We talked about it briefly. There was some speculation from Stephen's family that maybe maybe she had been planning this for a long time, and maybe that's why she wanted to move from North Carolina to South Carolina. What do you think about that it was, I mean, it was a few years before he died that they made that move, But do you think that's a possibility that she had been kind of planning it out that long and figured that it would be better if they were in South Carolina. Well, Steve was no stranger to divorce and breakups, right, So if he was unhappy, would he have divorced her?

43:08 Or was he like, oh, I've been divorced so many times, I need to keep this marriage together. Yeah, So it seems like if she had been planning it for years, you know, if. They were probably unhappy earlier, then yeah, that I don't think that theory makes sense either. It just seems like that would have been that's a really long game to play, Like it was at least three years before he died that they moved, and I just don't think that she probably planned that far in advance. And like you said, if their marriage was really bad even at that point, he probably would have left and divorced her. You mentioned earlier that she wasn't materialistic. Mm hmm. So why, I mean, why did she kill him? Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, being materialistic is one thing, but also feeling afraid that you're going to be left out in the cold after a divorce without getting any money as another thing. So it could be that she just was afraid of, you know, being broke.

44:00 But she did have a job, I mean, she had a decent job and a career, so unfortunately we'll never know for sure. Well, financial security is a pretty good motive, even if you're not materialistic, just having enough money to live out the rest of your years. Yeah. Do you think twenty five years was a fair sentence for what Lenna did? Do you know when she'll be eligible for parole? I don't. I mean, if she's in her fifties, I think that seems fair. I just googled it and South Carolina does not have a second degree murder charge, because I would think that would be a second degree murder charge rather than voluntary manslaughter. But that's just how they do it right in South Carolina. That might be a fair sentence, But I always feel if your actions intentionally killed someone, that should mean life in prison.

44:46 Yeah, I mean I can see a case for that. It's voluntary manslaughter, so it means that she did it intentionally. So yeah, yeah, I don't believe that she just thought she was giving him a bad case of diarrhea. No, I don't think. I don't believe that either. Do you want to talk a bit more about tetra hydrosylen because I do think one of the most interesting things about this case is that a common, easy to obtain product like vizine can be used to poison someone. That scares me a lot. It does, and not only that, but as we mentioned, it's odorless, colorless, and tasteless, and it's not routinely tested for in a standard autopsy, so it's generally only tested for in specific cases where there is suspicion of poisoning or overdose, or if there are unusual circumstances surrounding a death.

45:31 I'm actually not sure why the lab doing Stephen Clayton's toxicology test included tetrahydrosylene as one of the substances tested for because his death didn't seem suspicious, but perhaps because Nick French, who was a police officer, asked for the autopsy to be done, maybe they decided to test more broadly to include less common toxins. In any case, it made me wonder how often tetrahydrosylene is used as a poison I did find one study that was done. It looked at all cases from one particular lab in Pennsylvania over an eleven year span from twenty ten to twenty twenty one. I'm not sure how many total cases they looked at, but one hundred and twenty nine of them tested positive for tetra hydrozolen Of those, only ten were in concentrations greater than one hundred nanograms per mill leader.

46:21 In those, In one of those cases, the person was still living. Two others were from what was determined to be a dual suicide. So that left a pretty small handful that were potentially homicides, so not that many, but that's just one lab. I did find a few other cases of homicide by tetra hydrosolene poisoning. One of those occurred just three weeks after Lana's arrest and just twelve miles away in the town of Mount Holly, North Carolina. It's very possible that the perpetrator in that case heard about the Lana Clayton case on the news and was inspired by it. In that case, a paramedic name Joshua Hunsucker is accused of killing his wife, thirty two year old Stacy Hunsucker, by adding eye drops to her water.

47:04 The cause of her death was initially ruled a heart attack. Hunsucker refused to allow an autopsy to be performed on Stacy, saying that he did not want her to be cut up, despite the fact that she had agreed to be an organ donor. He had her cremated. Soon after her death, Hunsucker collected almost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in life insurance. Stacy's mother grew suspicious and contacted the life insurance company, which resulted in an insurance fraud investigation. The only reason Hunsucker was caught was because it was eventually discovered that a private organ donation company had vials of Stacy's blood in storage, which were found and tested thanks to the insurance fraud investigation. The test results showed levels of tetri drosalne of thirty to forty times the amount that would be expected from using vizin as directed in that case. Hunsucker is still awaiting trial in another case in so Bourbon, Milwaukee, Jesse Krzuski, a thirty seven year old woman, was charged with homicide in twenty twenty one for killing her friend Lynn Hernan, who died in twenty eighteen at the age of sixty two. Krzuski had supposedly been helping to care for Lynn, who had serious medical issues, but instead she had been stealing money from Hernan over the course of several years, and then she poisoned her with tetra hydroslene. Krezuski tried to convince the police that her friend had died of suicide, but when the police discovered that she had stolen one hundred and forty four thousand dollars from her friend, they came to believe it

48:36 was homicide. Krezuski was convicted earlier in twenty twenty four and sentenced to life in prison. In the movie Wedding Crashers that's the movie I mentioned earlier, there's a scene where Owen Wilson's character adds eye drops to the drink of Bradley Cooper's character with the intent of causing gastro intestinal discomfort and diarrhea, and it works. In twenty nineteen, a North Carolina woman in inspired by the movie, squirted eye drops into her fiance's Coca Cola. He saw her do it, and then he locked himself and their baby in the bathroom and called nine one one. The woman initially denied the allegations, but then she said she did it to make him sick, saying that she wanted to take her daughter and move out she was charged with distributing a noxious or deleterious substance that might be injurious to a person's health or might cause physical discomfort. So interesting examples, but I just wanted to bring those up because I think given how easy it is to access tetrahydrosylene, the fact that it's colorless, tasteless, and odorless, and the fact that deaths by tetrahydrosylen can often be mistakenly attributed to heart disease, it's a bit surprising that it's not routinely tested for in autopsies. So I'm not sure if.

49:50 Or the vizine should be a controlled substance. Yeah, exactly, Like maybe you should require a prescription because then you would know if somebody was using it or had So Yeah, it's really that was a really disturbing aspect of this case because yeah, it's just it's just scary. Yeah, we have iszene in the house. Well, I mean, I guess there's any number of chemicals in your house that could potentially kill you, but the fact that it is odorless and tastes yeah. And I know you can't test for everything. I was reading other cases where like oldiander was used to poison someone. And there's a lot of substances that you know aren't routinely tested for in an autopsy unless there's some suspicion.

50:32 But it seems like in this case, unless it's really difficult or expensive to test for it, it just seems like it's probably something that should be a little more routine than it is. Johnson and Johnson, the makers of vizine, they gave a statement to forty eight Hours when they were putting together their episode on this case. It's said, in part quote, we're deeply saddened to learn of this news and are devastated that anyone would use our product for such an abhorrent act. Using tech hydrosolene the active ingredient, and vizine on the surface of the eye has been demonstrated to be safe for self use for more than fifty years. Vizine is clearly labeled for external use only and should never be swallowed. AIKES Rest in peace, Stephen.

51:23 It's been thirty years since Jean Beney Ramsey was found dead in her home, and John Ramsey has been everywhere recently, a lot of podcasts, and I think there's a new Netflix series, and there's been some new evidence or a new possible suspect. What do you think about that? Have you had time to look into it? Honestly, I haven't looked into it a lot. I did read a little bit about it, but it does seem very interesting based on what I read, I should dive into it further. But apparently it's supposedly a guy who was hired by some of John Ramsey's ex employees, and he talked to John Ramsey at some point and told him information like things he had seen inside the house that someone wouldn't have known, and that he said he wrote the ransom note.

52:09 Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, but that's about all I've read about it. It seems intriguing for sure. I've never quite bought the theory that a family member did it, So for me, any new information, yeah, I'm willing to take a look at it. Yeah. Same. The thing that I always have gotten stuck on is the ransom note, because it just didn't make sense that some intruder would come in and spend a half hour or whatever it took. Yeah, that just didn't make sense. But if this theory is correct, if it was really some kind of retribution from people that work for him or whatever. Then that makes at least a little more. Sense when you always point to the ransom note, like how did they know the amount of hisstmas? And that does give that a little more clarity.

52:55 Yeah for sure. Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens, and I will read more about it because I I was obsessed with that case many years ago, and I should probably dive back into it. Really, are you saying that you're gonna know, we're gonna do it? Making no commitments, but. I mean, I think at this point, like there's so much new information or new I don't know if anyone needs or wants us to cover the case. True, I don't know how they decide what is tested and what is not tested. But there's still items like I believe the note has never been tested, so let's test that evidence. I think if John, who just turned eighty one, if he's given you know, a little more clarity as to what happened, I think that would be great for him to, you know, leave this earth knowing what happened to his daughter. Yeah, for sure, we have a few more questions from or ask me anything. Do you want to answer those. Sure, what is your skincare routine?

53:51 Oh? Man, that's good. How much time do we have? Really? That was asked by our daughter. I believe really, she probably wants to know your skincare routine. No, I think she knows my skincare routine. My skincare routine is pretty basic. I bought you some stuff, and then you didn't use it. Really use it occasionally? Does not how skincare works? You need to use it twice a day. No, that doesn't. That's not how okay? And then you said, like recently, maybe I should ask for some for Christmas? Yeah, what are you looking for specifically? I just want my skin to look radiant. It's honestly pretty annoying because your skin looks pretty good.

54:33 I think in the history of our relationship you've had like a pimple twice. Yeah. I don't do a whole lot to my skin, to be honest. I mean you could, you could have a little more moisture, I. Guess, great question. Yeah, thank somma. What's the secret to a long, happy marriage? I can tell you what the secret to a long marriage is. Wow, I'm just kidding. What do you what do you think? I was going to make a joke about pretending that you're always right, but pretending exactly. But the real answer, I think it comes down to communication and just being as open as possible with each other and sharing, you know, when things.

55:16 Are I think you have to marry a person that you like and a person that I mean, it starts with that first choice. Right, Yeah. The tricky thing is, though I. Think, sorry, I can't wait to hear this go ahead. Well, the tricky thing is that I think people change over the years. Right, So you marry someone when you're what twenty five or thirty or whatever it is, and you know the person is going that it's going to be a different person twenty years from now. But I think if you have a good relationship and you have good communication between the two of you, then I think that can be a good thing that you're both growing and changing. And I think there's perspiration in your brow, Like really there is about answering. So something that if you cannot listen to this would be helpful, and I'll answer it for our listeners. Something that I realized a few years ago was that sometimes we expect our spouse to be perfect and not realizing our own imperfections, and I think that frame of reference helped me realize that, you know, I shouldn't get angry with you for every little thing, and that I'm not perfect, so I shouldn't expect you to be perfect and pick your battles. If something is really bothering you, then you have to sincerely. And I think we do this not very often, but once in a while, I think this is really bothering me, and you know we need to talk about this, agreed. Are there any true crime books that you recommend to listeners?

56:44 There are a couple that jump out to me of cases that we've covered or that I've researched. One is Secrets of a Marine's Wife that was about the case of Aaron Corwin that we covered probably a year and a half ago. Was really really well written book. And the other one that jumps to mind is Death on Ocean Boulevard, which was about the Rebecca's A Howe case. Oh okay, again a really interesting one. And then one other one that we haven't covered but I guess qualifies as a true crime book is Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. One of my favorite books for. Me small Sacrifices by and Rule about Diane Downs. That's just off the top of my head. I haven't done a good job keeping track of my good Reads account, but Small Sacrifices was really really well done, and I hope to read more of Ann Rules in the next year.

57:32 Obviously a great true crime writer. One more question for you, what games do we like playing? Well, lately, we've been on a Rummy Cube kick. I mean lately means like the last year. Yeah, since we went on vacation last summer. We started playing it as a fan. Sometimes we just play it on our phones and we all just sit in the living room and yeah, that's a simple game. We're not like, we're not dumb, but we're not good at like learning new games. One game that we really is called Masterpiece. It's from like nineteen seventy. I bought it at a rummage sale and we love the game. It's so fun. I would definitely get it on eBay. I looked on Amazon the other day and it's not there. But it's like everyone is an art dealer, and it's kind of like Monopoly, where you have a bunch of money and you are buying these art pieces.

58:19 I don't know how many there are. There maybe thirty in the game thirty And it's cool because it's like, you know, paintings by you know, Picasso or Lenois and their actual paintings. So if you have, you know, especially a younger kid, you can you know, learn a little bit about the paintings and then you assign every game. You know, it's randomly assigned the money values, and two of the paintings are forgeries, and so everyone's trying to build the biggest art collection that you can. So, yeah, we really enjoy it. There's a little bit of strategy. Yeah. Another one I was going to mention is Code Names. We've played that quite a bit over the last couple of years, and that's really fun for four of us to play together. And it's really hard though, I feel like I'm really bad at it, but it's a lot of fun.

59:02 Yeah, and Raco I think we got last year for Christmas. It's the simplest game, but again, it's just very entertaining to be able to play like a little game and have discussion. Yeah. I'm looking forward to playing some of those games over our holiday break. Maybe Santa will bring us a couple of new games. Ooh, it's exciting. Well, if anyone has any movie, book, game recommendations, send them over to us. We'd love to learn what your favorites are and try them out. One more episode for twenty twenty four, and then we're moving on to twenty twenty five. So next time, I guess we'll probably talk about our plans for twenty twenty five and New Year's resolutions. And Rich said to send any recommendations our way for books and movies and stuff, but some case recommendations that you'd like to hear in twenty twenty five, send those to us as well.

59:52 Yeah, always looking for interesting cases. Well, thank you all so much for listening. We really appreciate you, and we hope that you have a great holiday season. Wherever you are. We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on social media, send us an email at Lovemarykill at gmail dot com. Consider supporting us on Patreon dot com slash Lovemrykill. We have one tier five dollars a month for early ad free access and a monthly bonus episode until next time. Don't kill your husband and don't kill your wife.

1:01:05 Long term? What that was? Shut up? I'm not perfect like you long term, all right, I got it. Long term, long term, say it. Long term, long term, I can't say it.