it didn't seem like it could be real. like how would this happen to me? >> i would never imagine that i'd be in this position, when i've worked so hard to have a good life. >> reporter: it was a baffling case of murder. and she found herself at the center. the shy, young office manager. >> she was sweet, she was quiet, she was respectful. >> we had no idea. no idea this was happening. >> reporter: her boss and friend, the chiropractor patients loved -- poisoned! >> they had everybody there and no one could do anything! >> he said, "we've never seen anything like this." >> just so many things start gelling to make us suspicious. >> reporter: first, police looked at her husband. >> it always seems to be the spouse.

>> they were sure that my father had done this! >> reporter: then -- a clue led to her son! >> the poison is in his jeep? >> yes. >> reporter: so why was she in the interrogation room? >> my life is over. >> they're interrogating her for murder. >> if you could have seen what they put that girl through. >> reporter: this deadly case of poison would have a toxic twist. >> so much of this made me feel crazy. >> people aren't waiting for facts to come out. >> you feel like all of a sudden, somebody dropped you in the middle of hell and you can't find your way out. i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's andrea canning with "poisoned." >> reporter: she was the kind of doctor who went above and beyond. >> the patients loved her. they didn't just see her as a doctor. they saw her as a mentor and as a friend.

at 60 years old, mary yoder, a popular chiropractor, was the picture of health. >> she was extremely healthy. >> she's fit and beautiful. she ran. >> oh, triathlons. >> triathlons. >> reporter: energetic, vibrant, until mary the doctor was suddenly a patient in the icu. >> throughout the night, she starts coding. the hospital has to bring her back each time. >> they had every specialist, they had everybody there, trying to figure out what was happening. >> reporter: one rare blood test would eventually solve the medical mystery. but it opened the door to a new one -- the evil kind. the kind of case, where nothing was what it seemed. >> it was so surreal, i didn't even know how to handle it. >> reporter: a surprising romance, an anonymous letter and a twisted trail that would lead to the unlikeliest of suspects. >> we felt that whoever wrote this letter was probably our killer. >> there are so many twists and turns in this case, someone could it

lot of money. >> reporter: mary yoder was the shining light in her family. she grew up in upstate new york with two brothers and five sisters, including sallie, janine and sharon. >> what was she like as a sister? >> loving. >> a darling. she was always upbeat and full of fun. >> reporter: they loved mary because she was up for anything, with eclectic hobbies. she was an avid gardener a musician. here she is singing a duet with sallie. >> reporter: and sallie also got her sister into this. >> oh, belly dancing? >> we costumed and choreographed -- a dance for a local hafla, which -- it's a egyptian dance, yeah. >> reporter: it was in the

70s in college when mary met bill, who would become her husband. >> they chose to pursue holistic living and you know -- you know, healthy lifestyle and spiritual growth. >> reporter: the sisters say bill was more introverted than mary, an intellectual. >> he was seemingly very soulful, which was what mary liked. >> right. >> you know, very deep. >> very deep. >> deep thinker. >> reporter: bill earned a phd in philosophy and took courses to become a chiropractor, which got his wife thinking. >> mary decided, you know, "i'm smart enough. i'm gonna be a chiropractor, too." so at that point, then they, you know, decided they'd go into business together when they graduated. >> reporter: they opened a chiropractic clinic and started a family.

liana is the oldest, born a year after they married. >> they had started very young and they were two broke kids at that point and they were trying to figure out life. >> reporter: tamaryn is her younger sister. >> two years later, i came along. and then ten years after me, adam came. we adored him. >> yeah. and -- and he was ours. i mean, we -- >> uh-huh. >> he -- we cuddled him, we held him. >> reporter: the yoder family was always close and when adam was older he helped out at the family business. then his girlfriend katie took his place as office manager. >> i would schedule patients and greet them. >> reporter: katie had a particularly strong bond with mary. considered her a mentor. >> you couldn't help but to like her. >> did you feel inspired by her at all? >> yes, i did. she always kept such a positive outlook no matter what was going on or what was happening in her day, and that was really encouraging. >> did she do any work on your back? >> yes. i got chiropractor adjustments. sure. >> reporter: mary was also a big li

recommended them to the people she treated. >> she was always trying to encourage people to live a better life. >> reporter: by 2015, mary and bill started to slow down, thinking about retirement. >> they were planning their trip of a lifetime. >> where were they going to go? >> europe. and that was their plan going up into this trip is let's decide what our next chapter of life is gonna be together. >> reporter: it was also around that time -- an afternoon in july -- that mary came to her sister janine's house out of the blue. >> mary stopped by to see you? >> you know, mary and i would get together periodically. but never, in all the 20 years that i'd been there, did she ever just pop in. i was really surprised. and -- but i -- i had the impression she wanted to talk. >> reporter: but instead mary cut the visit short and left quickly. >> and she said, "no, no, i -- i gotta go." but she said, "there's no reason that we can't make a habit of this." and so i said, "okay, great." >> reporter: it all puzzled janine. she wondered if mary wanted to confide in her about something but got cold feet. then just a week later, mary got sick. very sick. and it came on fast. her day began with a full sc

but holly hilts, a patient, noticed something wasn't right. >> she just had redness around her eyes, like when you're getting a cold but, you know, we just thought, okay, she's human. she gets sick too. >> reporter: it turned out she wasn't just sick. mary was violently ill, with vomiting and diarrhea. bill rushed her to the hospital. >> that's how i woke up, was the phone call from my father. and he just -- was just on the ph -- just, "mom's really sick." >> reporter: what was wrong with mary? >> when we come back an illness that was even baffling to doctors. >> they had everybody there trying to figure out what was happening and no one could do anything. >> it was completely shocking. it was surreal. >> in our gut, we felt something's not right. ♪

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>> and told you mary was sick? >> yeah, she said, "mary's in the hospital." and she was desperate on the phone. and i was like -- i was like, well, mary's the healthiest woman i know. >> exactly. yeah. >> it's gotta be -- i just said, "tamaryn, everything will be fine. everything will be fine." >> reporter: but when mary's sisters got to the hospital, they realized how bad it was. >> we went to the hospital. and -- it was just -- it was crazy. they were -- they had no idea what was wrong. >> reporter: mary's daughter, tamaryn, was in the room as her mother started to code. >> every time her heart would stop and they would revive her, she would come back and she would be responsive again. and she would -- she was intubated, but she could still mouth, "i love you" around it. >> reporter: daughter liana, a

the hospital as a team of specialists was brought in. >> you must have felt so helpless, being the doctor of the family and you're not -- you're not there. >> they had everybody there, trying to figure out what was happening, and nobody could do anything. >> they brought in so many specialists. they had no idea. you know, they just couldn't figure out what was wrong with this woman. >> reporter: mary's sister sharon is a nurse. she was down in florida getting updates. >> janine said that she had coded three times. and i -- i just knew that wasn't good. so i called my husband, who has more experience working in the hospital than i do. and he said, "you need to be prepared. this isn't good." >> this is a medical mystery? >> yeah. >> no one -- no doctor is coming out and telling you, "here's what she has." >> no. >> they didn't know. >> "here's what

>> reporter: a family vigil was under way in the waiting room. and hours later, the horrible news came. >> and so -- it was on july 22nd? >> yep. >> 2015? >> yeah. >> janine ended up telling me -- calling me and saying, "sharon, she's gone." and i just remember, like, screaming and banging on the steering wheel. and i said, "janine, 60-year-old healthy people don't just drop dead." >> reporter: katie, the office manager, was there, too. >> what was the mood like when they -- when they all finally learned the news? >> they were devastated. it's unimaginable. >> reporter: katie, who had always looked up to mary, said she was heartbroken. >> it was completely shocking. it was surreal because how could this person who was so full of energy and so vibrant just be gone so suddenly?

>> i remember at the time saying i -- i don't understand this. i -- if there had been a car accident or something, that, i could understand. but i don't understand. >> how a healthy -- >> this. what happened for her body to just quit -- >> shut down. >> cause it made no sense at all. >> reporter: a few days later daughter liana got a call from the medical examiner. >> and he said, "based on the severity of how quickly this illness hit her and the fact that it looks like it was an infectious cause with the high white blood cell count and her gall bladder being inflamed, we think it's something called colitis or ascending cholangitis. >> and this is -- this is what you told your aunts -- >> yeah. >> this is what i -- >> that you believed -- >> yeah.

yeah, exactly -- >> the most you had to go on? >> correct. >> that was -- at that point, that was the most we had. >> reporter: it looked like mary had died from some kind of serious infection. >> so then we're thinking, "okay, well, i guess it was natural causes." >> reporter: sharon, the nurse, was confused. >> i said, "it makes no sense to me. but -- she told us that. so we accepted it. and -- it wasn't easy because we didn't understand it. >> reporter: sharon suggested to liana that the medical examiner should do toxicology tests. just in case. >> she did say that "they are going to do the toxicology tests that you asked for." and i said, "thank you." >> reporter: a month went by, the toxicology report hadn't come back. that's when janine happened to run into one of mary's doctors. he told her something that surprised her -- they had already decided it was not an infection. >> he goes, "we have no idea how she died. he said, "so many specialists were called in. we'd never seen anything like this in all of our years of practicing." >> and you had no idea about any of this? >> no. no. and so we -- that's -- just so many things start gelling to make us suspicious. >> reporter: so the medical mystery was only deepening. >> we always -- from -- the moment mary died, in our gut, we felt something's not right. >> something's not right in what way? like, foul play -- >> well, how -- >> or that -- something went

wrong? >> just a feel -- a sense that, yeah, s -- something's not right -- >> something's not right. >> coming up, we have to find out how this got in her system. >> there's a safe and effective dose, and the a toxic dose we have to find out how it got into her system. >> did somebody deliberately give this to mary? and that smell puts the giddy in "giddy-up"! ah... the irresistible scent of gain flings laundry detergent. you can't help but smell happy. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> reporter: in the wake of mary yoder's death, sadness rippled through her upstate new york community. as office manager, katie had the grim task of calling mary's

>> reporter: what were the responses you were getting from people? >> people were shocked. for her to just be gone so suddenly and after such a brief illness that people couldn't believe it. and i didn't have any answers for them. >> reporter: one of the people katie spoke with was holly hilts, the patient who saw mary the day she fell ill. >> i'm like, "what? how can that be?" for somebody as -- that is that healthy? >> reporter: mary's family was devastated. but at the memorial service, her sisters thought bill was handling the loss better than they expected. >> when i saw bill, we locked in a long hug. i was sobbing. and it felt and sounded like he was sobbing, too. and when we broke from our embrace there were no tears. but there were other people there that day that were saying, oh, yeah, bill -- oh, he was crying. he was sobbing hard. >> reporter: and as time passed -- >> we assumed that our

brother-in-law was going to completely fall apart without mary. and he really just didn't seem like the grieving partner that, you know, we were expecting. >> reporter: the grieving sisters had so many questions. and the medical examiner was still working, trying to figure out mary's cause of death. it was proving difficult. >> they really have the ability for one more test. >> reporter: dr. jeanna marraffa is an assistant clinical director for the upstate new york poison center. when the m.e. only had one blood sample left, he contacted her. >> and that was really what they came to me with, is there anything that you could think of that we could test for? >> reporter: it was a roll of the dice, but she suggested checking for one particular drug. >> her symptoms really led me down the line of thinking that colchicine was very high on my list as potential causes. >> reporter: colchicine is a drug that's used to treat the disease gout, a form of arthritis. in a high enough dose it becomes toxic.

result in anything from significant, severe side effects to fatality. >> reporter: and the final test proved it. the medical examiner called mary's daughter, liana, the physician in the family. >> he's like "okay, we did get a cause of death back, it's colchicine." and i said, "what?" he's, like -- he repeated. "it's colchicine." i'm, like, "the gout medication?" i was completely confused. i mean, the only capacity that i knew that was as a short-term acute treatment for gout. i -- >> which we knew our mother never had -- >> she didn't have. >> i was like, "what? well, how did she get it?" and she -- she didn't know. so i said, "so she was poisoned, then?" and she said, "well, we -- we have to find out how it got into her system." >> reporter: where's your mind going now? are you thinking foul play? >> i was the first one to take that leap. i was the first one. it's -- i was just getting all these bits and pieces of

making sense. >> reporter: did you feel like you were playing armchair detectives trying to -- >> sharon and i was. >> reporter: cut through everything? >> yeah. >> reporter: figure out what really happened? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: weeks went by -- then three months after mary's death, sharon decided to call a real detective. >> we get a phone call. >> reporter: mary's sister spoke to lieutenant robert nelson. he's a detective with the oneida county sheriff's office. >> she asked if we would get involved in the investigation to determine how mary got this in her system. >> reporter: do you feel that this is something that would fall under your purview? >> yes. at this point, we're like, "well, we need to get a hold of the m.e.'s office to see exactly, you know, what they have. what did they -- what was the cause of death? >> reporter: the detective learned there was nothing in mary's medical history to explain why she'd be taking colchicine. why would she have this poison, this drug, in her system? >> that they didn't know. that's when they started looking at different things. she took all these supplements. they looked at supplement contamination.

>> reporter: mary's son adam and katie gathered her supplements to have them sent for testing. >> reporter: anything there? >> never -- we -- finally got the test back from there, and nothing from there. >> reporter: negative? >> negative. >> reporter: but, there was another possibility, too. colchicine comes from a plant called autumn crocus. and mary was an avid gardener. >> autumn crocus can be mistaken for wild garlic. so if she had taken the -- the leaves off or -- boiled the bulbs in water, and somehow ingested it that way, that would cause the colchicine toxicity. >> reporter: this is a deadly plant. >> yes. can be. >> reporter: did she have autumn crocus in her garden? >> no. they looked at that. there was none of those plants in the garden. >> reporter: how much colchicine do you have to ingest for it to be deadly? >> if you're talking gout medicine, it's like -- you would have to take anywhere from 40 to 60 pills, depending on your size. and it -- you would have to take it all at once to be -- to be a lethal dose. >> reporter: if mary did take that many pills, maybe she did it on purpose.

>> we talked to family, we started talking to people. we don't believe it's suicide. >> reporter: that left one other scenario, a disturbing one. >> reporter: did you think that she could be poisoned, given -- >> never. >> reporter: just -- >> no. >> reporter: the violent nature of it. >> no, because --the thought of anybody doing that to her -- >> reporter: but that's exactly what the detective was considering. >> did somebody poison mary? did somebody deliberately give this to mary? >> we sat down with the m.e.'s office and went through everything, all their -- the autopsy. at that point, we were looking at it as a homicide. >> reporter: now the hunt for a killer was on. and some of mary's sisters thought they knew where investigators should start. >> reporter: coming up -- >> she says "i think he's got a girlfriend!" >> reporter: mary's husband bill, and a mysterious "other woman." >> we began to wonder was there a relationship beforehand? that would have been a motive. then we would a had to say "well, bill now has a motive for this."

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reporter: it was four months after mary yoder's death, and investigators told the family they were convinced mary had been murdered. >> what is that moment like, when your mom is now -- >> why? >> a murder victim. >> there isn't even words for it. your world flips upside down and nothing makes sense. and up isn't down and down isn't up anymore. so that was terrifying. >> reporter: and mary's daughters believed their mother hadn't just been kild.

she'd practically been tortured. >> colchicine. one of the hallmarks of it, it stops your heart. it breaks it. and it breaks it over and over and over again. >> reporter: detective robert nelson was trying to figure out who might have used the drug to poison mary. >> there were actually a couple of t.v. shows that kind of echoed this case. >> yes. there was the tv show "house" which had colchicine. >> colchicine does its damage in a very specific order. >> but this is real life now. >> yes. did a patient come in that day and do something that we don't know about? did they give mary -- you know, something to eat.

>> reporter: any obvious suspects, potential suspects? >> no, not at first. >> reporter: but detective nelson had to start somewhere. what about the person closest to mary, her husband? >> what was it that was leading you in bill's direction? >> at this point, basically just because he was the husband. in these types of cases, it always seems to be the spouse is the one responsible if it's a poisoning case. >> reporter: mary's sisters had known bill for decades. >> if there were problems in the marriage, was mary the type to share with her sisters? >> she would talk about frustration in certain situations. but she tried very hard never to say anything negative about bill. >> yeah, she always put a positive spin on anything if she could. >> reporter: still, her sisters never forgot a story mary told them. it happened before the time of her wedding thirty eight years earlier. >> they're out in my parents' yard and bill says to her, "you know this is to be an open marriage, right?" and she was taken aback. she said to me, "i had the strength to tell him, 'no, bill, we're going to have to not get married, you know, if you can't commit to monogamy." >> he backed down? >> yeah, he came back and said, "okay, i thought about it and i can commit." >> reporter: but did he?

years that followed bill would often disappear on weekends. >> he'd take night trips to albany, weekends, to be by himself, he said, to write. >> reporter: janine kept wondering about that day mary dropped by her house out of the blue. did she want to tell her something about her marriage? >> i think she wanted to talk or she wanted to open up the door, you know, for us to start -- start talking about something. >> reporter: the sisters also thought back to bill's behavior. how he seemed so unemotional to them after mary's death. >> some of the things were that we weren't comfortable with was that they didn't know what she died of exactly. but he had her cremated very quickly. he had her phone turned off very quickly. >> too quickly? >> yeah, too quickly. >> reporter: still, the sisters say the marriage looked pretty solid in recent years. >> our brother-in-law seemingly became a really good husband. you know he was helpful in ways and letting her do things she wanted to do. i was just thinking, "well, gee, bill has really come a long way." >> reporter: and certainly no one wanted to believe that mary's own husband would harm her. >> when i was interviewed, i was not ready to say that i suspect my brother-in-law.

because i really had no real evidence and i felt, in all fairness to another human being, i'm not going to accuse him of something without evidence. >> reporter: any fair-minded detective would need that evidence, too, along with a clear idea of a motive. >> did bill stand to inherit everything that was mary's, everything in the marriage? >> they had the business together, but there was no large sums of money that bill would have gotten if -- of mary's death. >> reporter: still authorities kept tabs on bill, monitoring his behavior. >> how did you take that, knowing that the police were looking at your dad? >> it's terrifying. but we didn't understand because there was nothing in their relationship that indicated that there was any trouble. >>. >> reporter: did you think it was possible that -- >> we didn't know if our father was involved. we didn't know if it was a complete stranger.

absolutely no idea. >> reporter: detectives told the siblings not to talk about the investigation, especially not to their father. >> well, we weren't letting him in on the fact that we had been talking with the investigators. >> reporter: they eventually called bill in for an interview. >> bill's not an emotional person. so he didn't seem very upset. you know, he wasn't very outgoing in his emotions. >> reporter: he's not shedding any tears or -- >> well, we're not speaking to bill 'till five months later, after mary's death. >> reporter: bill spoke to them for five hours. and he gave investigators permission to search the couple's chiropractic business, where deputies collected computers, a typewriter and a fax machine. >> he signed a consent. we went to the office. and he was very helpful. i mean he -- he was very forthcoming, he gave us everything we asked for. >> reporter: and they had a lot of questions for bill. at the top of the list? something they'd learned while they were tracking him. it turns out bill was already dating again. in fact, it was mary's mother who first called it.

going out of town?" and i said, "i don't -- i don't know, mom, maybe he needs some time or whatever." and she says, "i think he's got a girlfriend." >> this is coming from a 92-year-old woman -- 91-year-old woman. >> and she goes, "i'm not feeling right about this." >> reporter: detective nelson was the one to tell sharon their mom was right. >> he told me that, um, they had in fact found bill to be with another woman. >> did he tell you who the woman was? >> no. he did not. >> we begin to wonder was there a relationship beforehand? >> why is it important to determine now if this relationship started before mary's death? >> if it was before mary's death, obviously, that would have been a motive. then we would have had to say, "well, bill now has a motive for this." >> that's kind of a big deal. >> yes. and that came up, that was an obvious red flag and we were very concerned about it. >> reporter: in his interview with detectives, bill said he had not cheated on his wife. the relationship began after mary died. and phone records seemed to confirm it. >> we were able to verify all the -- all this information that he wasn't having phone

her, prior to mary's death. >> reporter: so the obvious suspect, the husband with a new romance, didn't seem so obvious after all. but the detective had a new lead. a big one. and it would change everything. >> coming up -- >> you might have a smoking gun here. >> yes. >> like a bolt from the blue: an anonymous letter lands in their laps. and it would lead to a poison piece of evidence. >> that's your big moment in this case. >> a big moment. >> when "dateline" continues. &t can actually repair and protect sensitive teeth. and as long as they brush twice a day, everyday, then they can expect to continually have that reparative layer of protection against sensitivity. sensodyne repair & protect has clinical evidence showing how effective it works. i absolutely think that dentists are going to want to recommend sensodyne repair & protect. ♪

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reporter: detective robert nelson was making little headway in solving mary yoder's homicide when a bombshell clue landed on his desk. an anonymous letter. >> i received the letter stating adam did this, he was responsible. he told this person that he did it. >> reporter: adam was adam yoder, mary and bill's 25 year old son. the letter said he was the killer. the person who penned the letter claimed to be close to adam, writing: "he got a bottle of colchicine off online and put the toxin in one of her vitamins when he was over at his parents house." with a jolt the letter dramatically shifted the focus of the investigation from father to son. you might have a smoking gun here. >> yes. there was a lot of detail in that letter. >> reporter: did adam have any criminis

>> reporter: remember adam dated katie, and her parents, vin and cathy, knew him well. >> when he was dating our daughter he would come to the house every day. >> reporter: and how did you feel about the relationship? >> there was always something off, something we didn't care for with adam. he was kind of off, detached. >> we'd eat dinner as a family and adam would sit across from me. >> he wouldn't make eye contact with you -- >> talked -- >> and he wouldn't really talk to anyone in the family. >> the communication stopped a little bit between myself and him. >> reporter: did you at any point feel like maybe i should say something?

or did you totally stay out of it? >> no, we did mention to katie that we didn't think there was something different with adam, and we really didn't feel comfortable about it. her sisters also recognized that fact, too. >> reporter: shannon and sara conley are katie's twin sisters. they weren't sad when katie and adam split up. why did they finally break up? >> katie just had enough of him being up, being down, being up, being down, and just some of the things he would say just weren't right. >> reporter: did adam have any issues with his mom that you know of? >> i know they definitely were not as close as our family was. he would just kind of talk down about his family. it was like, i don't get it. like, "i've met your mother. she's great." >> reporter: so why? if there was any truth to the letter, what motive would adam have? the letter seemed to have an answer. why did it say he did it? >> he thought he'd gain financially if his mother passed away. he thought he'd have a financial gain. also, that there was arguments between him and his parents that he was upset with the with

reasons. >> reporter: and the letter told authorities something else. the colchicine container is under the front seat passenger side of his jeep until he figures out where to dispose of it next. what's your strategy going in with adam? >> we sat down and we talked as to how we want to go about with adam. we said, "let's -- let's bring him up here. if he comes up in his vehicle, the letter says the colchicine in the vehicle. we'll talk to adam. see if he comes up with the colchicine. >> reporter: was this a bit of a test to see if adam would show up in the jeep? >> yes. >> reporter: and when adam arrived to talk to the detectives -- he was driving the jeep in question. >> we were trying to get a feel for adam at that point to see, you know -- is he responsible for his mother's death? so we spoke to him. we then showed him parts of the letter that said where this colchicine would be. and which he was taken aback. >> reporter: what was his demeanor over that letter? >> shocked. >> reporter: did you feel -- his reaction was genuine? >> yes.

but we still had some concerns also about his reactions. >> reporter: in what way? >> he was just hesitant to let us go look in his vehicle. >> reporter: while one detective talked to adam, another called his sister liana. >> they're, like, we actually have a letter. what do you mean you have a letter. well, the letter's actually pointing the finger at your brother and it says he has got this in his car. >> reporter: the poison i -- >> the poison in his car, and i said what do you mean you have a letter that says my brother did it? and then he said, "no, it's important. we got to look in your brother's car." you got to convince him to let us -- you know, if you can talk to him, let him know 'cause if he leaves the station this isn't going to be good." >> reporter: adam eventually gave investigators permission and they went outside to the parking lot. moment of truth. you open the vehicle door. and what do you find inside? >> they go out there and -- and they search the vehicle right where it says it's going to be in the letter. and we pull out a, uh -- cardboard sleeve with the colchicine inside the sleeve. >> reporter: and just like that the investigator seemed to have the weapon right in his hand. that's your big moment in this case. >> a big moment. >> reporter: coming up --

it just wasn't fitting. this deadly puzzle wasn't solved yet. >> you feel like all of a sudden, somebody dropped you in the middle of hell and every time you get an answer, it's worse. i kept looking for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i was doing okay. then it hit me... managing was all i was doing. when i told my doctor, i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease even after trying other medications. in clinical studies, the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal

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♪ you make my dreams come true ♪ ♪ well, well, well youuuu ♪ topped steak & twisted potatoes at applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. reporter: the anonymous letter writer had been right. the colchicine used to kill mary yoder was under the front passenger seat of her son adam's jeep. it was a pure form of the drug, far more potent than what doctors prescribe. and adam? what's his reaction? >> i think he was shocked at that point when aw

>> yes. >> reporter: what's more, in the jeep along with the colchicine there was a receipt for the drug. and on the receipt -- >> it had an e-mail address. it also had adam's name on there. and from there, the mradamyoder1990 gmail account, which was very important to us, was listed on there. >> reporter: adam said he'd never seen the colchicene before in his life. someone must have planted it. >> in that moment, what are you thinking? >> at that moment, we're thinking would he bring the poison up here with him? i mean it doesn't make sense. if you're -- if you killed your mother, and you got the colchicine, you wouldn't drive

up to the sheriff's office with the colchicine in -- knowingly in your car. you would get rid of it. but again, you have anonymous letter saying he admitted to doing it, and that the colchicine would be in his car. so you kinda have a split reaction as to which way we are looking at it. >> reporter: could adam really have poisoned his mother? when they looked into his whereabouts on the day mary got sick, they discovered adam was more than 300 miles away visiting his sister. >> i knew at the time my mom got sick, he was with me and i couldn't understand wait how would he have been involved? >> my mother was my brother's biggest supporter. he turned to her first for everything. and the thought -- them trying to say that he did this didn't make sense. >> reporter: it didn't entirely make sense to detectives either. >> you let adam go. >> yes. >> but-- i would imagine you're not crossing adam off your list yet. >> no. we are comfortable-- enough to let him go but-- we didn't say he absolutely had nothing to do with it. >> reporter: the investigation led them to talk to adam's cousin and roommate david king. he's the son of mary's sister, janine. david told them that after mary

died, adam was enrolled in college, but his life seemed to be falling apart. >> he slowly started dropping all of his classes. and he was pretty much staying in bed all day and drinking a lot. >> were you really concerned about him? >> i was. he had expressed to me that he which was very concerning. >> reporter: it was only when detectives were interviewing david that he realized adam was a person of interest in mary's death. >> did that just floor you? >> i was absolutely floored. and at that time they had asked me flat-out, "do you think adam could've killed his mother?" >> what did you tell them? >> at the time i said, "no, i don't think he would." >> at the time? >> at the time. >> reporter: david would later wonder if his cousin's behavior was the result of grief or guilt.

had no doubt adam was innocent. they were convinced he was being framed. >> who did you think could have framed him? >> at that point, a possibility was my father. >> so you actually believed your father might've-- >> we believed it -- >> framed your brother -- >> could've been possible. the investigators were leaning very heavy onto it. and pretty much telling us without coming out-- right out and saying it, that they were sure my father had done this. >> reporter: it was impossible to wrap their heads around. >> this can't be real, this can't really be happening. >> we had to reality check with each other because it-- >> yeah. you're, like, "did it happen or did it not--" >> yeah, is this a dream? what's going on? >> you feel like all of a sudden, somebody dropped you in the middle of hell. and you can't find your way out. and every time you get an answer, it's worse. >> reporter: but detectives didn't have enough evidence to prove any of their theories. >> it was frustrating. i mean there was a lot of nights we were fr

nothing else was pointing the finger at adam. it just wasn't fitting. and the same with bill, we'd want to say, "okay-- bill did this. but why did bill do it?" so there was times we were kind of wondering. >> reporter: looking for new insight, detectives turned to someone outside the yoder clan- katie who dated adam and worked for bill and mary. >> we just wanted to speak to her to see-- if she knew anything about bill, about mary, other than, you know, outside of the office. >> reporter: often employees are the ones who hear and see a lot. >> yes. >> reporter: katie was in the middle of final exams at college but made time to come in for an interview. >> did you wonder why? >> i wondered what had started an investigation and i-- i wanted to help in whatever way i could. i just didn't know what they were getting at. >> reporter: detectives thought katie could tell them a lot about mary and bill. >> they were like night and day. >> in what way? >> mary was very outgoing and very vibrant, and bill was more reserved. >> and--

and less about being friendly with patients. >> reporter: she, of course, knew a lot about adam, too. >> things weren't perfect between adam and katie. >> no. >> but-- but they clearly had something, because they kept going back to each other. >> yes. they would talk on and off. they would text each other. they would get back together, and then they would break up again. >> did they have a lot of questions? >> they did. >> reporter: investigators talked to katie three times over the next few days. by the third interview, she started telling them the same thing adam's cousin had said, adam hadn't been himself lately. >> she makes some comments about, adam's acting strangely. and isn't acting right. >> is she worried about adam? that maybe adam had something to do with this? >> yes. she's kind of hinting that the way adam is acting, that he may be responsible for his mother's death. >> reporter: as detectives listened to katie talk about adam, her ex, they wondered where this was going. a light bulb went off for the investigator. >> he took a shot and said, "did you write the letter?" >> and what does she say? >> she said, "yes." >> reporter: detectives had found the person who wrote that letter pointing the finger at adam. but the discovery was about to point them in a new direction. >> that's a twist. >> yes. >> announcer: coming up -- >> are you okay? >> yeah.

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reporter: continuing with our story, chiropractor mary yoder's sudden death was a puzzle. >> no one could do anything. >> people were shocked. she was so healthy. >> healthy people don't just drop dead. >> reporter: then doctors discovered she'd been poisoned with a rare drug. >> we were looking at it as a homicide. >> announcer: police looked at her husband, bill. >> she said, "i think he's got a girlfriend."

>> announcer: >> reporter: and, her son adam. >> i've always had my concerns about adam. >> announcer: >> reporter: now, investigators are about to focus on a surprising new suspect. >> it was the hardest person to ever wrap your head around. who would it be? >> no way. >> it just doesn't make sense. >> never ever in your wildest dreams would you imagine this would happen. >> announcer: here again, andrea canning. reporter: december 2015, five months after mary yoder's fatal poisoning, detectives' heads were spinning. they couldn't figure out who had written that letter pointing the finger at adam as the killer. now katie, adam's ex-girlfriend, admitted it was her. >> are you okay? >> yeah. i'm --i'm sorry. i'm scared. >> what? >> i'm scared. >> i understand that. look, i'm going to be in here with you, okay? and together we're going to get through talking about this. >> reporter: through tears, katie went over the details in the letter. she said adam confessed to her,

he poisoned his mother with colchicine. >> he had it shipped to the office? >> i think that's what was in the package that i signed for. >> reporter: in the letter she said adam hid the poison in one of mary's vitamin pills. but katie wasn't sure if he really meant to kill his mother. >> you said it may have been a accident. did he express that he didn't mean to do this to you? >> well, he said he regretted it. >> he regretted it? >> reporter: as for how she knew where adam had stashed the poison, katie said he told her when she was literally sitting on top of it. >> you were in adam's jeep? >> yeah. >> right? he told you that you he'd put colchicine under your seat -- under his seat? >> under my seat.

>> under your seat? he told you that? >> but i didn't want to look. >> reporter: katie had known adam for years. but now, she told the detectives she didn't know what he was capable of. >> you think adam's going to do this again? >> do i think he could do it again? like, would it surprise me? no. >> reporter: she said she didn't report adam sooner for one simple reason -- she was afraid of him. >> i know you can't protect me. >> we can protect you. >> you can't protect me. >> protect you from what? adam? >> yeah. >> if you're saying adam's responsible, why would adam come after you? >> why? >> yes. >> because if he knows that i -- like, if he knows that i came to you. >> reporter: katie's admission that she was the letter writer seemed like the big break detectives needed. and it was -- but not in the way you might think. >> reporter: and you thought that possibly the killer wrote the letter. >> yes. >> reporter: are you thinking

>> absolutely. >> reporter: really? >> yes. >> reporter: key witness or prime suspect? which was she? as the interview went on, the detectives pushed her harder. >> what made you write the letter? you wanted us to know? >> yeah. >> or did you want to see adam get in trouble? >> no. like, it's not to see adam get in trouble. >> reporter: is katie starting to panic? did you feel that? >> yes. i think at this point, she's becoming worried about where things were turning and now it's looking for her. because if we didn't arrest adam when we found the colchicine, now she knows we don't necessarily believe what's in that letter. >> i'm just -- i'm afraid because adam's really smart. >> reporter: at one point, katie told the detectives adam had threatened to frame her. >>th

>> okay, for what? for being at the office? >> yeah. like i'm connected to everything, he said. >> anything we asked her, she says i know things are pointing at me but it's adam. she always tried to point the finger back at adam. >> reporter: she also said something they thought was just plain weird. she made an observation about who uses poison. >> guys also don't use poison. >> a lot of people do. >> they say it's a lady's weapon. >> they say it's a lady's weapon? >> yeah. >> reporter: of course, that didn't prove katie was mary's killer. she was free to go. but she had not done much during that interview to dispel the detectives' suspicions either, far from it. >> we wanted to speak to her again. but at this point now, we also had a lot more police work to do. >> reporter: they started to dig. and quickly thought they were on the right track. for one thing, katie had opportunity -- she was with mary at the office that day. poison experts thought mary had ingested the colchicine around lunchtime.

and have lunch and make their drinks. if mary was out in this other room a couple offices away working on patients, katie would have the time to go back there and do something -- >> reporter: and that gmail account that had been used to buy the poison, digital records showed adam's computer had never been used to log into the account. but katie's computer had. >> katie had accessed the mradamyoder account from not only home, but from the office. >> reporter: in fact, the entire digital trail seemed to lead detectives right to katie's doorstep. on her phone they found several searches for the word colchicine. >> all this evidence comes in against her. nothing's coming back on bill and nothing came back on adam. >> reporter: but there was a gaping hole in their theory. if katie really ma

that was katie herself. it was time for another conversation. and this one was going to get intense. >> why did you do it, katie? help me understand. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: coming up -- >> no way. katie? they can't be looking at katie. >> reporter: an interrogation, turned marathon. >> and he says "katie will not be going home." >> never in your wildest dreams would you think that this would happen. i'm here to talk to you about how at&t gives you more. and so am i. like how when you buy the amazing new iphone 8 you get another one on us. see we give you more phones and more spokespeople. are you guys doing a spokesperson thing right now? yes. awesome, can i be in it? well, it's kind of like a two-phone deal. so two spokespeople. got it. k. thanks. at&t it's time for more. it's time for more. buy the amazing iphone 8 at at&t and get a second one to gift, on us. ltry align probiotic.n your digestive system? for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. get 24/7 digestive support, with align.

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reporter: katie conley, just 22-years-old, was now a prime suspect in the poisoning death of her boss, mary yoder. >> by all accounts, this seemed like a very nice relationship between a younger woman and an older woman. >> yes. >> a mentor relationship. >> yes. >> so was this very surprising to you then? >> absolutely. once she admitted to writing that letter, it was definitely a turn of events for us. >> reporter: for two months, detectives followed the digital trail, and it led them to only one conclusion. surprising as it may have been, it was looking like katie was mary's killer. the only thing detectives say they didn't have was her motive. >> you bring katie in. is this go time? >> at that point, we wanted to find out why. we had all the other evidence leading to that point that she purchased it. she's the one that poisoned mary. we wanted to know why. >> reporter: the conversation started with pleasantries about katie's family farm. >> how's the chickens? >> good.

quickly got down to business. >> here's where we're at a crossroad in this case, ok? we've kind of done a lot of work, okay? and we know that your phone is used quite a lot for items in this case, okay? >> mm-hmm. >> you're the one that purchased the colchicine. >> no. >> help me. >> i didn't though. >> i can -- >> but you're never going to believe me. >> nobody else will believe you. >> her story changed so many times. we caught her in a lot of lies now. >> you lied to me. >> i didn't mean to lie to you. >> but you did. >> reporter: after awhile, they got to the point. >> that's the only thing we need at this point is why. you need to tell me whether you wanted to hurt her or did you want her to get sick or what? we need to know. >> i wouldn't try to hurt her. >> okay. >> i would

>> no. >> i know killers come in all shapes and sizes. but katie does not look like a killer. >> no. but again, it's poison. and she had made a comment earlier that it's a lady's weapon. >> reporter: the detectives kept at it. they questioned her for more than six hours. she never asked for an attorney. >> it's not a question anymore of who, katie. it's why. now, please, just tell me why, katie. then we can help you. it's the only thing left. >> my life is over. >> what drove you to do this, katie? was it adam? >> if i go to jail, i'll go to jail forever. >> reporter: at one point, she appeared to get sick. >> take some deep breaths, katie. take some deep breaths. help me understand. >> i wouldn't risk my life for this. >> at the end i had her saying a lot of things about she wouldn't admit to actually why she did this. she would state her life was over. but again, she would try to

but at this point everything was pointing to her. >> i have a lot of people who love me. i have a family. >> reporter: katie's family was right there at the sheriff's office with her. her parents had driven her there thinking investigators needed her to sign a quick deposition. an hour at most. >> and i went to the window and i said, "my daughter is with -- signing papers -- she's supposed to be out half an hour ago. i want to talk to her. i want to know, i mean, what's going on? >> reporter: her parents had no idea she was being interviewed as a suspect. but as the afternoon wore on. >> they're not signing -- >> sign a deposition -- >> a deposition. they're interrog

so then the door is locked to get to my daughter. i beat on the door -- >> wow -- >> and finally a sheriff came in. and i says, "my daughter's in there." i says, i want her out now or i want to go in there. something's wrong here. >> reporter: it was then when a detective appeared. >> he comes back out, cathy and i are at the door, katie's not with him. and he said, "katie will not be going home --" >> with you tonight. >> she is responsible for mary yoder's death. she killed -- we know she did it. we know she did it. she'll be spending the night in jail. my wife passed out. she did everything, but passed out, i caught her. and then he closes the door. >> reporteas

lives as parents? that you can't help your child, that you are not in control, that you have absolutely no way to put your arms around her and tell her everything's going to be okay? >> reporter: despite what the detective said, they didn't charge katie that night. she came out, badly shaken the conleys helped each other to the car and headed home. >> katie was sitting in the back seat. and don't ask me -- this is the hardest question i've ever asked anybody in my life, okay? i says, "katie, did you kill mary? did you kill mary, katie?" >> and without hesitation she says, "dad, i loved her. i loved her. i wouldn't kill anybody." >> reporter: it was the answer they expected of course. they say the daughter they raised was no killer. >> as a mother you always thin

call that your child has been in a car accident or that there's an illness. but never, ever in your wildest dreams would you think that this would happen. at all. it's n -- it's not our daughter. >> reporter: katie's sisters felt the same way. the big sister they'd looked up to, loved animals, would never hurt anyone. least of all mary. >> katie had nothing to gain from her death and everything to lose. she lost a mentor, a best friend. no motive. no gain. nothing. >> i know her. i know my sister. katie did not do this. >> reporter: in fact, as word travelled that katie was the new target of the investigation, no one could make sense of it. not mary's patient, holly hilts. >> did you believe it? >> no. not at all. not at all. from what i know of katie, there's no reason that she would have done something like that. >> reporter: mary's own sisters, who had roped the authorities into the investigation, didn't believe it either. >> no way. katie? >> they're -- >> they can't be looking at katie. >> so we-- >> that's what we're thinking. janine king. >> right. >> reporter: they phoned the sheriff's office to say there must be some mistake. >> we all called them and said,

there's another suspect. if by chance, that other suspect is katie, consider the possibility that she may be being framed." >> reporter: even mary's daughters were at a loss. >> how could this be? how could she -- what do you mean? it was just shocking. >> it was the hardest person to even wrap your head around that could be involved. >> what did your dad say when he heard katie was being looked at as a suspect? >> he didn't believe it. >> reporter: but investigators were convinced. >> were you confident you had the killer? >> oh, absolutely. we had the right person. and everything we had, we had the right person now. >> reporter: and a grand jury agreed. four months later, katie conley was charged with second degree murder. the investigation had its surprises, but it would be nothing compared to the drama of the trial. >> ladies and gentlemen, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

vengeance thy name is kaitlyn conle conley. >> announcer: coming up -- >> it's hard to know that i'm innocent and still feel like people want me to be guilty. >> announcer: what could be katie's motive for murder? prosecutors come up with a doozy. >> was she helping you through your grief? >> yes. >> kaitlyn conley wanted adam yoder back. >> announcer: when "dateline" continues. you look amazing. and you look amazingly comfortable. when your v-neck looks more like a u-neck... that's when you know, it's half-washed. add downy to keep your collars from stretching. unlike detergent alone, downy conditions to smooth and... ...strengthen fibers. so, next time don't half-wash it. downy and it's done. america's favorite cookie ♪ delicious chocolate candy ♪ oreo chocolate candy bars ♪

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so you can obviously come to the fence? >> i can come to the fence. >> reporter: when we met her, katie conley had been living under house arrest for several months, confined to her parents' farm, tethered to an ankle monitor. >> so your home has kind of become your own prison in a way. >> yes. >> reporter: katie's lawyer wouldn't let her answer our questions about the evidence in the case. >> no. >> no, okay. >> reporter: but she did tell us how much she missed mary yoder, her boss and friend. >> would you ever have any reason to do anything to mary? >> no. no reason ever.

we never had so much as a cross word with each other. >> did you poison mary yoder? >> no. >> reporter: at times katie seemed overwhelmed by the upcoming trial. >> sorry. >> reporter: it's okay. it's okay. is it -- >> sorry. >> is your anxiety about just what's coming? >> it's hard to know that i'm innocent and still feel like people want me to be guilty. >> you do feel that way? >> i feel like people aren't waiting for facts to come out, and they're ready to believe whatever they're told. >> reporter: oneida county assistant d.a. laurie lisi was confident that the facts would speak for themselves. >> we knew it was a circumstantial case, which means it's always an uphill battle, but we felt like we could connect all the dots.

>> reporter: the courtroom was packed on the first day of katie's trial. she sat quietly at the defense table as the prosecution began. >> the evidence will show katilyn conley -- >> reporter: lisi told the jury she had overwhelming evidence that would prove katie poisoned mary, starting with the timeline. one by one, mary's patients from her last day in the office took the stand. >> was dr. mary appearing to be ill at all in the morning? >> no, she wasn't. >> reporter: those who had appointments with mary before lunch said she was her usual vibrant self. but her patients in the afternoon -- >> didn't have the big smile on her face. it was very apparent that she was not well and something was wrong. >> reporter: but all the patients agreed that katie was the only other person at work that day. so the prosecutor suggested she was the only one with the opportunity to poison mary. >> sheld

she needed to do to put that poison wherever she ultimately put it. >> i think she coded, like, six or seven times. >> reporter: bill yoder, mary's husband of 38 years, told the jury about mary's agonizing last hours in the hospital. >> she had a huge tube down her throat and tubes everywhere. and she just looked absolutely terrified. >> reporter: the prosecutor wanted to quash any lingering rumors that it was bill who killed mary. she said bill was the grieving husband. >> so immediately after your wife passed away, what did you do? >> i remember walking out of the hospital door into the sunlight. and the next memory i have after that was -- i was sitting on my bed in the dark just crying and crying and it hurt so much. >> reporter: bill's daughters were relieved their dad had been cleared by investigators. liana testified foe

prosecution that he was a broken man after her mother's death. >> i couldn't tell you the last time i saw my father cry. but since then every day pretty much saw him cry. >> reporter: the prosecutor said it couldn't have been bill. there was so much evidence katie bought the poison. she was the one who searched for colchicine on her phone. and both katie's work computer and work typewriter had been forensically linked to the order. >> imagine that. you're purchasing colchicine to kill your employer. and you're doing it while you're at work. that, ladies and gentlemen, is cold. >> it was for one gram of colchicine; is that correct? >> yes. >> reporter: and this witness, a

supplied the colchicine, said she spoke on the phone with someone at the yoder's practice. >> can you describe that individuals voice? >> it was a female's voice. it was soft. it was soft, soft, sweet voice. >> did it sound old or young? >> young. >> reporter: soft, sweet, young. who else could that be, asked the prosecutor. but perhaps the most damning evidence was something katie told detectives. the colchicine was purchased with pre-paid credit cards. and in katie's police interview, she admitted to buying those cards. >> you purchased those credit cards, didn't you? >> yes, yes. >> if you purchased them, you're involved in this. >> reporter: the prosecutor said it had all taken months of painstaking planning. but the question hanging over

the courtroom was why? maybe the e-mail account used to order the poison offered a clue -- mradamyoder1990@gmail.com. the name of her ex-boyfriend. >> kaitlyn conley wanted adam yoder back. and i submit to you, she poisoned adam yoder's mother, her boss, in hopes of bringing adam yoder back to her. >> your honor, the people call adam yoder. >> reporter: adam told the jury that if katie was trying to woo him back, her plan worked. he called katie on the way to the hospital. >> why did you call katie conley? >> because i was panicking and katie knew my mother. >> reporter: adam said after his mother passed away, he and katie got back together. >> did you have sexual relations

with katlyn conley on july 25, 2015? >> i did. >> was she helping you through your grief? >> yes. >> reporter: but the prosecutor said the relationship collapsed a couple of months later. and that's when katie came up with a new plan -- frame adam for the killing. >> because, ladies and gentlemen, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. vengeance thy name is kaitlyn conley. >> reporter: the prosecutor said katie planted the bottle of colchicine in adam's car then tipped off authorities. something she denied in her interview. >> so if we say, "did you place this under adam's seat?" your answer to that is going to be what? >> no. >> reporter: but a forensic scientist testified adam's dna was not on the bottle's wrapper. katie's was. >> the major contributor of the cardboard wrapper matched the dna profile from kaitlyn conley. >> reporter: it was an outlandish crime, the prosecutor said, so cruel, so cold. >> her ultimate revenge was not only to take away his mother, but to make it look like he was the one responsible for it. >> do you believe katie conley killed your mother? >> absolutely. >> yes, yes.

>> reporter: but katie's defense said they were wrong. far from being a criminal mastermind, it was katie who had been framed and a surprising relationship was about to be exposed. >> what's going through your mind when you learn of this relationship? >> unbelievable. >> announcer: coming up -- >> he was kissing her and it was very intense. >> announcer: a bombshell explodes in court. mary's husband. and mary's sister? >> that's when we really started thinking seriously that bill did it. people would stare. psoriasis does that. it was tough getting out there on stage. i wanted to be clear. i wanted it to last. so i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. and keeps on working. now? they see me. see me. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you-

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>> reporter: on day 11 of katie conley's trial, the defense began its case. rooting for her were some unlikely supporters.

>> she's on trial for murdering your sister, and you're standing behind -- >> the defense. >> the defendant? >> i know, it is -- >> the alleged killer? >> a very unusual situation. right. but we just felt like this is the last thing our sister would've wanted. >> reporter: but there was another sister who wasn't sitting on the defense's side, a sister they didn't talk to anymore. her name is kathy. and it turns out she is the woman bill started dating so quickly and, some said, so suspiciously after mary's death. sharon was the first to figure it out. kathy had been hard to get ahold of in the weeks after mary died. and bill had been going out of town. >> and i said, "oh, gee, maybe they're off together," just kind of throwing it out there, flippantly. and janine went, "do you think?" >> what's going through your mind when you learn of this relationship? >> unbelievable. i mean, that's when we really st

bill did it. >> reporter: and that's exactly what the defense wanted the jury to think. >> you will find motive through the testimony on the part of william yoder. >> reporter: in court, katie's attorney christopher pelli told the jury that mary's killer wasn't katie. it was bill. >> he really is the only person that i can in good heart and faith say had motive to -- to actually kill his wife. >> reporter: according to the defense, bill was no grieving widower. >> do you remember the first time that you had sexual relations with kathy richmond? >> i don't remember the date, no. i don't -- i wasn't keeping a journal. >> reporter: bill said in court the same thing his text messages seemed to confirm for detectives the romance with his wife's sister only started after mary

sister only started after mary died.the romance with his wife's sister only started after mary died.sister only started after mary diedied. and that's what kathy said, too, when she was asked the same question. >> the romantic relationship began some time in september. late september, mid-september. >> reporter: but this woman, one of kathy's neighbors, told a different story. she said she'd seen the two kissing on kathy's porch a couple of weeks before mary's death. >> bill was holding kathy and he was kissing her and looking in her eyes and it was very intense. >> reporter: the defense said not only did bill have a new relationship, he'd just received a big pile of money, too. >> i have to ask you how much you inherited in total from your father's estate? >> about $400,000. >> reporter: in the eyes of the defense, that made mary expendable. >> mary had been the primary bread winner for quite a long time. he'd gotten an inheritance. now, he no longer needed m

bill never called for an investigation. >> bill is at fault for not going to the police. >> reporter: so, if bill had motive, did he also have opportunity? bill denied he was in the office the day mary got sick. remember, her patients hadn't seen him. but katie's defense said that didn't mean he wasn't there. this witness used to work with bill at the office. >> do you remember specifically ever being told "i don't want anybody to know that i'm here."

>> sometimes he might say you know, don't let -- don't tell the patient i'm here because they might want to see me. >> reporter: the defense also suggested bill had a second opportunity to harm his wife when he was by her side at the hospital. toxicologist jeanna marraffa told the jury she couldn't rule out that mary got a second dose of poison. >> if there was a second dose, then there's no possibility -- no possibility that kaitlyn could have been involved because she didn't have access to -- to mary at that particular time. >> did you feel that this case was just swimming in reasonable

doubt? >> i felt like i was drowning in it. >> reporter: the defense told the jury there was an innocent explanation for much of the state's case against katie. katie's dna had been found on the colchicine bottle. but, as office manager, she handled everything delivered to the practice. as for the sales rep who said she'd talked to a woman with a sweet young voice -- >> dr. mary yoder is rather soft spoken and young sounding and very vibrant herself. >> reporter: and think about this, the defense attorney told the jury bill had access to katie's work computer and office typewriter. >> if bill were to frame katie, you believe it wouldn't be all that hard. >> no. i mean, katie worked at-- at-- at the office. he would have been able to

to her being charged. >> reporter: but what about those searches for colchicine on katie's phone? >> how do you get around that? she's looking at this very rare drug that i had never heard of until i started working on this story. >> the prosecution couldn't say that, "katie searched this particular term prior to mary's death." it was, it appeared that it was afterwards. >> reporter: the defense said the evidence against katie wasn't there and the state's motive? preposterous. the idea that katie killed mary to get back together with adam didn't make any sense, he said. according to her sisters, she was the one who initially dumped him. >> finally, she just had enough. she didn't want to be with him anymore. >> reporter: as for the anonymous letter pointing the finger at adam, the defense never explained why katie wrote it if bill was the real killer. but he wanted the jury to see the lengths katie had gone to help the investigation, enduring hours of intense questioning. >> you wanted the jury to know how cooperative katie was with the authorities. >> yes, i did. she had the opportunity on i believe seven different occasions to say, "you know what? i think i want an attorney." but instead, she continued to cooperate and be subjected to some pretty severe interrogation tactics. >> then if you didn't do it, you know who did it. >> i don't know. >> i wouldn't risk my life for this. >> reporter: detectives lied to

katie about some of the evidence. that's why the defense said the jury should ignore anything katie said during that interview. >> do you think that your 23-year-old could give an accurate statement under those conditions? i-- i-- i think not. >> reporter: detectives say their techniques were by the book. but mary's sister sharon couldn't believe what katie went through. >> at that point, i wished that i had never called for an investigation. >> reporter: sharon was more convinced than ever that katie was innocent and bill guilty. she said as much in open court. >> it is still my theory that he killed my sister. >> what if you're wrong? what if she really did do this? have you thought about that? >> we just-- >> every once in awhile and-- it's just-- just so not-- >> we have tried to-- >> true that-- yeah. >> wrap our heads around it a thousand ways to see if-- there's any way possible that we think she could've done this. and it just doesn't make sense. we don't believe she did this. >> reporter: but what would the jury think? there was one more surprise to come. >> announcer: coming up: >> i actually thought we'd have a verdict in 15 or 20 minutes of not guilty. >> announcer: deliberations defy predictions, the wait for a decision would take far longer than that.

>> we were totally terrified. >> announcer: when dateline continues.

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corner. >> janine and i both have daughters in their 20s. we were totally terrified for her. >> reporter: but defense attorney chris pelli was confident katie would be acquitted. >> i actually thought that after i gave my closing that we'd have a verdict in 15 or 20 minutes of not guilty. >> reporter: what was it like waiting for the verdict? >> oh, well, the first 20 minutes were okay. but then it went on for day one and day two. >> reporter: two days became three. what were they talking about in there? the detective hoped the jury would see past the pretty, put-together young woman in court. was katie really what she seemed? >> katie, i believe, has another side to her, other than this side that everybody sees from her, that she presents to everybody. >> reporter: if this is true, this is a diabolical side. >> yes. an evil side. >> reporter: mary's daughters agree. >> there was another side of katie that we had not known was there. >> reporter: the jury deliberated alro

four. and on day five, they passed a note to the judge. >> this will be a hung jury. >> reporter: there was no verdict. the crowd went silent. afterwards, katie's attorney spoke to some jurors. they told him eight of them wanted to acquit katie, and that the weakest part of the state's case was bill. did you feel that they were believing that he was lying? >> they told me under no uncertain circumstances that "he was full of it." >> reporter: but bill, of course, was never charged with any crime. he told "dateline" he did not poison mary and had nothing to do with her death. and no matter what katie's defense thinks, he can never be charged. as a witness at katie's grand jury hearing, he was given automatic immunity from prosecution. no matter what happens is he protected for life? >> for life, forever -- forever.

the accusations against their father had made the trial even more painful. >> it was just one malicious attack after another. my dad had never attacked anyone -- >> no. >> -- in his life. he was just a broken, 70-year-old man that was barely functioning. >> reporter: now they prepared to sit through it all again. >> there was no hesitation. we were going back. we were retrying the case. we needed to get justice for this family and for this woman. >> reporter: five months later, everyone filed back into the oneida county courthouse for trial number two. >> all rise. >> reporter: the prosecutor's case was virtually the same. she said everything investigators unearthed pointed to katie as mary's killer. >> the evidence will show that all roads lead to kaitlyn conley. >> reporter: but katie had a new defense attorney and a new twist to her strategy. he said, yes, katie was

innocent. and yes, katie was framed. but this time her lawyer was pointing the finger not at bill but at someone else. >> ladies and gentlemen, it was adam. it was adam. >> reporter: adam, mary's son. defense attorney frank pollicelli argued that the crime happened just the way katie described in that letter. >> he put the colchicine in her supplements when he was over there either mother's day or father's day, when he had a falling out. >> reporter: as for how katie's digital fingerprints ended up on everything related to the colchicine transaction, katie's attorney suggested that could easily have been adam. >> how do you know, first of all, that she was the one that was researching the poison, since adam had total control of all of her electronic equipment any time he wanted it? >> reporter: a key witness this time was adam's cousin and former roommate, david king.

david had come to doubt adam, and defend katie. and defend katie. do you believe katie had anything to do with the murder of mary yoder? >> no. not at all. >> reporter: on the stand, david told the jury adam was no novice with computers. >> are you familiar with adam's expertise in computers? >> i -- i helped him build a computer in the past. he was going to school for computer science. >> reporter: the defense said adam could have hacked katie's devices. or maybe he didn't need to. david testified he saw adam with katie's laptop. >> and how do you know he had her laptop? >> i had asked him about it, since it was in a flowery laptop sleeve and it had a picture of a victorian background. that just didn't suit adam's character, so i asked him about it. he said it was katie's. >> reporter: and the defense said adam had access to katie's

earlier, he and adam used to drop by the office when no one else was there. >> i had helped adam clean the office a number of times. >> don't think that adam didn't have free reign of that office, ladies and gentleman. he came and went as he pleased, anytime he wanted to, okay. >> reporter: and the defense said there was something else. something important. remember in her interview with detectives how fearful katie said she was of adam? >> you can't protect me. >> protect you from what, adam? >> yeah. >> reporter: katie's attorney said there was a good reason for katie to be afraid. he said adam had abused katie, both physically and sexually. >> he beat her. he hit her. he raped her. he used her. why wouldn't she be scared of him? >> reporter: a year before mary's death, katie filed a police report accusing adam of rape. the defense read a text message katie wrote to adam. katie's words describing the attack. >> "you grabbed my right wrist and said you'd snap my wrist and

'i'm going to kill you, i'm going to kill you katie.' the way you said it, the way you looked at me -- and then i was afraid." >> reporter: adam denied the allegation, and katie dropped the complaint. but the defense hoped the jury would see katie as a victim, not as a killer. >> there's no motive in this case. she loved mary yoder, and there's nothing in this case to indicate she did anything other than loving mary yoder. >> the people call adam yoder to the stand. >> reporter: adam yoder had given his side of the story to investigators early on. what would he say now? >> announcer: coming up -- >> the pain kept getting worse. i couldn't even get out of bed. >> announcer: a son on the stand with a devastating claim. had katie used poison on him? >> do you believe katie gave him something that made him sick? >> absolutely. >> announcer: who would the jury believe? and would there be a verdict this time?

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reporter: at f

had been framed by mary's husband, bill. but at trial number two, the alternate suspect right from the start was mary's son. >> ladies and gentlemen, it was adam. it was adam. >> did it feel like your brother was on trial? >> oh, yes, absolutely. and it just was one allegation after another. >> reporter: now, in court adam took the stand to respond to the defense firsthand. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: adam told the jury he never ordered the colchicine, and he did not plant evidence on katie's computers or phone. a prosecution computer expert said katie's devices had never been hacked. and adam told the jury he was hardly the hacker katie's side portrayed. >> do you have hacking skills? are you able to break into systems? >> no, i do not, and no, i am not. >> reporter: to the defense's claim that adam physically abused katie, he did admit to one incident. >> i snapped and i slapped her a few times. i regretted it immediately.

i left the house. >> reporter: but as for the alleged rape, no charges were ever filed against adam. and he told the jury he had zero memory of the night it supposedly happened. he'd been drinking heavily. >> so was this essentially a blackout period? >> yes, it was. >> reporter: he said the next morning things seemed fine between them. it wasn't until about three months later that katie accused him in that graphic text message. >> i was in shock. i didn't know how to react. i was panicking. ultimately, i had drank enough to black out that night, so i couldn't defend myself. i didn't have a version of the story to say to her in response. >> reporter: but adam did have a story about katie, an accusation of his own. and it was a stunner. adam suggested katie might have poisoned him, too. a couple of months before his mother's death, he said katie handed him a bottle of supplements to help him get throfi

>> she told me it's to help basically focus, boost memory. she said make sure i take it consecutively and consistently because it works better over time. >> reporter: after taking the pills, adam said he became so sick, he had to go to the e.r. >> the vomiting and the pain. i started experiencing severe abdomen pain and eventually severe back pain as well. >> reporter: that's just how mary's illness began. >> do you believe that katie gave him -- >> absolutely. >> something that made him sick? >> absolutely. >> reporter: katie's defense said she had nothing to do with adam's illness. in fact, the state's own lab experts tested the remaining supplements in the bottle -- and found no poison. but the prosecution's suggestion was clear -- maybe katie tried out the colchicine on adam first. >> i asked her if she had poisoned me in a joking way.

>> that, no, she would never hurt me. >> reporter: like his father, adam had full immunity from prosecution, and he was also cleared by investigators. he maintained his innocence in court. >> did you ever cause colchicine in any way, accidentally or intentionally, to be ingested by your mother? >> no. >> reporter: and there was one last discovery that pointed away from adam. right before the second trial, the state's computer experts got their hands on a digital backup of katie's phone. in the files, they found evidence of more incriminating searches. >> before she actually honed in on colchicine, she looked at arsenic, she looked at thallium, she looked at cyanide. >> i submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that the evidence is clear, and that the common denominator is this defendant, kaitlyn conley. >> reporter: once again, katie's fate was in the hands of a jury twelve men and w w

much of her life. or home to her family, a free woman. >> it's inconceivable. no one could ever say that this is what she did. this is not her. she's the same nice, nurturing, helping person that she was and always has been. >> reporter: the charge was second degree murder. but after all that testimony and over the objections of the defense, the judge allowed the jury to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter. to convict, the jury would only have to find that katie intended to hurt mary, not kill her. a day passed without word. on day two, the judge received a note. >> the note reads "hung jury." >> reporter: it was looking like another mistrial. the thought was exasperating for mary's children. >> we almost got to the point

where we're, like, we were -- is this all ever going to be worth it? >> reporter: the judge encouraged the jury to keep trying. >> i urge that each of you make every possible effort. >> reporter: and just two hours later -- >> the record will reflect that the jury has reentered the courtroom indicating that they have reached a verdict. >> reporter: first, the most serious charge. >> murder in the second degree, how do you find the defendant? guilty or not guilty? >> not guilty. >> reporter: not guilty of second degree murder. as for manslaughter, a crime that could send her to prison for up to twenty five years -- >> guilty or not guilty? >> guilty. >> reporter: as katie absorbed the news, her mom had to be escorted out in tears. katie tried to reassure her family. but her sisters were distraught. >> katie, we love you. we love you. >> reporter:s

sisters. without them, an investigation may never have happened. now, someone they thought was innocent was headed to prison. >> you know there will be an appeal and we'll be involved in that. and do whatever we can. >> you're going to keep fighting for katie? >> have to. >> yes. >> definitely, definitely. >> was justice done with the guilty verdict? >> there's an accountability. >> yes, she did not -- >> and -- >> get away with it. >> reporter: mary's daughters are relieved the trial is over but they mourn the family they once had. so many lives shattered. >> this destroyed an entire family. not just -- >> multiple families -- >> a death, but -- >> not just our family. it destroyed her family. it destroyed so much. >> we're hoping to finally be able to go back to the good memories and not have to relive the worst one. we want to be able to actually celebrate her life. >> reporter: mary's loved ones may be divided over who killed her, but there's one thing they can agree on. it's not how mary died that should be remembered. it's how she lived. >> she could light up any room,

any situation. i mean, she was there for you no matter what. no matter when you called, no matter what you needed your mom for. >> the world is not as wonderful a place as it was. >> mary loved life more than anyone else i ever knew. >> and she made a point of loving it. she really did. >> announcer: that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll see you again next friday at 9:00/8:00 central. and of course, i'll see you each weeknight for "nbc nightly news

well, before it was even founded, a french teenager, bienville, scared away a british warship with just a story. and great stories kept coming. like when the military came and built the boats to win the war. [warplane] some are tales told around crowded tables.... [streetcar rumble] and others are performances fit for the stage. stella! cause for three hundred years, great stories have started the same way. one time, in new orleans. [crowd applause] now at 11:00. a teacher sentenced for sexually abusing students at school. >> i don't think he should be trusted ever again. >> tonight the emotion inside the courtroom as parents confronted him. friday bomb shell. michael flynn, the biggest