Family split on Kaitlyn Conley's conviction in Mary Yoder's poisoning death

sixty-year-old new york chiropractor mary oder attends to her patients at her whitesboro medical practice it's a successful chiropractic business she and her husband bill have owned for more than 30 years on this particular sunday it was business as usual she was seeing patients throughout the day and that day she left for lunch to go take care of her mom when she came back to work probably around 1 30 a few hours later while at work she became ill not able to shake her sickness mary heads home early around 4 30. she doesn't know what she's sick from she just had them diarrhea and vomiting at this time odd symptoms for mary oder who is usually the picture of health part of her medical practice included a belief in holistic medicine and herbal supplements even growing some of her own herbs in her cherished home garden my sister was very health conscious okay and she sold these supplements and stuff i mean she lived on supplements back at her home mary decides to try to sleep it off but by morning her symptoms have taken a turn for the worse the following morning her husband bill brings her to the saint luke's emergency room mary is admitted to the hospital and doctors run a battery of tests trying to identify what's making her so violently ill it's now been over 24 hours since mary first became sick at 10 o'clock that night she gets up and she falls in the hospital in a room at which time after that they then emit her into icu at the hospital where she just continues to deteriorate tragically by morning mary suffers her first heart attack this will be followed by a staggering seven more [Music] the final one in the afternoon is when she passes away just 48 hours after leaving feeling under the weather mary is dead cause of death doctors are at a loss it just didn't make sense based on mary's age and her health and stuff because mary dies under the hospital's care a routine autopsy is ordered once she fell the hospital because she had been in the hospital for over 24 hours they then won an autopsy done and the autopsy results they look at the slides underneath the microscope there's something not right the autopsy showed that she was a perfectly healthy woman who something so virulent had entered her body to cause complete organ shutdown within like 36 hours and i said so what are you saying like insect bite or something but it was no insect bite it was poison this had to be shocking it was very shocking the medical examiner's office contacts poison control for help they test mary's body for common arsenic and cyanide poisonings the results are negative then two long months pass for mary's friends and family when chemists at poison control get a positive hit had you ever heard of this particular poison before never she died from a colchicine toxicity which poisoned her colchicine when used properly is an effective medicine for treating gout which is an inflammation of the joints but if you don't have gout a little dab will do it it takes only a minute amount to get somebody sick or kill them coltracine toxicity causes fever abdominal cramping vomiting basically all of your liquids leave your body she suffered a number of heart attacks i mean this was a death that was drawn out over a period of almost two days how would you characterize this death and what she went through i'd say it would be brutal we couldn't believe our sister had died of colchicine poisoning now they know the substance that killed her investigators have to find out how it got in her body she has a garden and possibly taking something from the garden she also takes supplements so they're also looking at some contamination in the supplements they had those collected and sent out for tests the results no contamination it was no accident and even suicide is off the table after investigators speak with friends and family that leaves just one unsettling option somebody murdered her mary yoder's death has ruled a homicide by the medical examiner's office now they know how she died but who poisoned mary anytime somebody dies the the spouse is you know somebody that's looked at usually very hard and for good reason oftentimes you know they're responsible for it on the day mary became ill oddly her ever-present husband bill was absent from the office and bill's absence makes cops suspicious especially when they can't verify his whereabouts were you questioned i was brought in at the very beginning of the investigation i got the impression they thought bill did it and they asked me for it out did i think he did it at that point in time i said no because in all fairness to another human being i have no reason to think he did but i said i will qualify that however though if you find out that he's involved with another woman then i think it's possible that's exactly what i said and bill allegedly was involved with another woman and not just any other woman it turned out to be my sister as an older sister kathy do you think bill's relationship with kathy began before mary died yes i do even though bill and kathy are a couple now both deny they were romantically involved until two months after mary's death but there were other things bill didn't seem that interested in the investigation and started taking frequent trips out of town for mary's family and even police it was all painting one very suspicious picture of husband bill you know he didn't seem to be you know anybody that saw it agree he said whatever yeah he just didn't seem to be but before cops can question bill they get something in the mail that makes them question everything the onondaga county medical examiner's office calls the sheriff's department they received an anonymous letter that claims to have information regarding the case new york doctor mary yoder has been poisoned to death comps suspect the husband until authorities receive an anonymous letter and its naming names actually two letters the onondaga county medical examiner's office calls the sheriff's department they've received an anonymous letter that claims to have information regarding the case that same day the onetta county sheriff's office receives an identical copy of that letter claiming the same more specifically the letters claim to know who poisoned mary oder they pointed to mary louise yoder's youngest child adam yoder that's right the letters claimed that mary's son adam killed his mom and the letters identify the lethal lacing by name colchicine the very same toxic substance discovered in mary's body cops immediately shift their focus from bill yoder and turn it to his son adam is quickly brought in for questioning and cops grill him about the letter tell him some of the stuff that's in the letter saying that there's some evidence in adam's car that we would be interested in evidence what is his reaction he's kind of shocked when he hears everything and we tell him what we want to do look in his vehicle oneida county sheriff's deputies inspect the car and just as it was described in the letter under the passenger seat they find it a bottle of colchistine a cardboard wrapper and a receipt detailing the transaction and that receipt has an email address that's similar to several that mr yorder has cops appear to have their prime suspect in the murder case of mariota now they just need to corroborate their findings and interview potential witnesses they start with those who know adam best like his on-again-off-again girlfriend caitlin conley when mary yoder died katie was identified as a loved one in her obituary katelyn also worked for the yoders at their chiropractic business she works the front desk she's been working there for four years katelyn was very close with mary and her family and even made this facebook post the date after mary passed in it she wrote quote if love could have saved you you would have lived forever and ends with this thought god has gained the best angel we love you detectives figure if anything suspicious was going on between adam and his mother caitlyn might know about it we're hoping she would provide some she was going to be a witness and provided some information if there was anything that she knew about she has information all right she's pointing the finger at adam in this never before released police interrogation caitlyn tells cops that adam admitted to poisoning his mother adam told you that he did this to his mother right and where he put the culture scene right he told you all this why would he tell anybody on this what he did why would he confide in anybody you did something in somebody way right and i think it's like a power thing i think it's a control thing it's another thing that keeps me so he's gonna tell you he did something like this and then control you from saying anything or what you're going to use that out against you what can i say between this shocking revelation from caitlyn and the incriminating letters cops believe they have their man case closed well maybe not so fast while cops bring in caitlyn for another interview explosive intel comes back from the state police forensic lab they believe the letters originated from the yoder's place of business and they've tested the anonymous letters for dna they said there was female dna underneath the stamp [Music] female dna it's an interesting fact that gets cops thinking about the person who could have written these letters they asked caitlyn for a dna sample she readily offers it up and this theory she describes this what she does at the office as far as she pre-stamps the envelopes kaitlyn even reportedly brings in envelope samples and letterhead from the office she wants to help us find who killed mary oder and this same time detectives take another look at evidence collected from adam's car along with the poison was the receipt and an email address attached to the transaction when he's questioned regarding this adam says it's similar to some that i have but that's not my account but detectives don't just take his word for it they had subpoenaed google to get some more information about that gmail account the results the email address has only been accessed in two places at caitlin conley's home and on her cell phone that's when he said this isn't this can't be adam adam there's no control over this phone only you do so we know you went in and you logged into that that account there's no way there's no other physical way you had to enter a password you had to log into it okay agree okay there's no other way he can't do that he's not here he doesn't have access to your phone right i don't think so no he can't do we check there's no way he can get into your phone if he's not here you can't items would be anywhere else he can't get into your phone can't do it so that's be verified so we know you're the one that runs into this gmail account at this point cops believe caitlyn is hiding something but the 23 year old woman continues to point the finger at her ex-boyfriend adam and two detectives kaitlyn's story sounds oddly familiar like they've heard it somewhere before or read it we had always believed that whoever wrote this letter was responsible for mary's death so detectives ask her flat out if she wrote the anonymous letter we needed to know who wrote that letter so you wrote the letter to the envy's office and to us correct you said you typed that up at school okay you got the letters the envelopes from the office and which time she admitted that she was the author of the letter she wrote the letter caitlin conley's no longer a witness and from that point on she was a number one suspect for us katelyn is arrested and charged with mary yoder's murder but what could her motive possibly be why in the world would caitlyn want to do what cops are accusing her of murdering her boss and framing her one-time boyfriend in their fourth and final interview with caitlyn cops pressed the young woman searching for a motive the only question we have left is why life's not over kitty you're young your life is not over you just need to know why what drew me to this drawing to do this katie was it adam [Music] you won't go to jail forever there's reasons for everything [Music] caitlin conley is charged with second degree murder and the death of her beloved boss but cops still don't have a motive 23-year-old caitlin conley is charged with second-degree murder and the fatal poisoning of her boss mary yoder the oneida county courthouse is packed as opening statements began in the sensational murder trial that ra the quiet upstate new york city of utica and i'm telling you right here and now that this case is entirely about focus and caitlyn's defense attorney christopher pelley claims only one person had the motive and means to kill mary oder the deceasing is hard to swallow but it's there that's right bill yoder the same man who cops began looking at after he went suspiciously absent from their business on the day mary became ill the defense claims bill likely laced mary's protein shake that morning before work and that's why he avoided the office that day bill is brilliant he's a two-time phd he's a highly intelligent man he's a detailist he has motive motive according to the defense in the form of an alleged illicit affair with mary's older sister kathy richmond we found out that there were several witnesses that placed kathy and bill together prior to mary's passing including her neighbor and there's something else the defense claims directly connects bill to the toxin that killed his wife super weed as the defense called killer weed killer weed during the 80s it was acknowledged that there was a mixture that was used he said mary came up with this mixture that was used to enhance the growth of plants exactly what colchicine would do if it was used to grow marijuana all you have to do is go on the internet and look that up in fact the defense claims mary likely ordered this drug never knowing that it would be one day used to kill her but prosecutor laurie lisi claims bill had nothing to do with it she says it was all caitlyn and the motive for murder is pure and simple revenge basically that after adam broke up with the defendant caitlin was a woman scoring she wanted to try to get back at him by killing his mother but two of mary's own sisters adamantly disagree with the prosecution we thought she was being framed do you believe caitlyn conley is responsible for your sister's death no not at all and after three weeks of testimony and five days of deliberations the defense is able to create enough reasonable doubt to leave jurors hopelessly deadlocked the judge is forced to declare a mistrial the family is from a lot but we're strong we know she's innocent but prosecutors don't let the charges drop and five months later caitlin conley is back on trial for murder then a huge gamble right before the start of caitlyn's second trial her family hires a new attorney mary oder died from colchester poison that's true and that's the only thing that and what's more a bold and risky move by caitlyn's defense team when they completely change their defense strategy this time her new attorney frank policelli plans to abandon the theory that mary's husband did it and instead he points the finger squarely at mary's son and katelyn's ex-boyfriend adam yoder this is what the evidence will show adam is a troubled person and mary and he had had a falling out the defense begins with painting a toxic relationship between caitlyn and adam built on codependence and even violence mary's nephew who lived with adam around the time he dated caitlyn took the stand to testify to their tumultuous relationship you think katie was a victim of domestic violence at the hands of adam allegedly and i do also the defense claimed adam not caitlyn was the one full of revenge and that he set out to frame her for his mother's murder after caitlyn refused to get back together with him the defense even enters into evidence text messages from adam to caitlin where he appears to be begging her to come back in one text adam writes i miss you a lot i'm thinking about you always then in another text when caitlyn claims she got pregnant with adam's baby and terminated the pregnancy adam responds i'm so expletive torn up and hurt and confused now katie writes i didn't want to do that alone and you didn't want to be there adam texts back you wouldn't have been expletive alone i'm not a piece of expletive that decision should have been made by two people either way he said he intended to marry her at one point these texts from adam appear to undermine the prosecution's case that caitlyn killed mary in retaliation after adam rejected her still the prosecution never waivers from their main theory that she was trying to get back at adam but there is one significant thing that prosecutors do change from the last trial to this one prosecutors added on the lesser charge of first degree manslaughter for the jury to consider if they find caitlyn not guilty on this second-degree murder charge then after weeks of testimony jurors begin deliberations and they request to take another look at a moment captured on police interrogation video adam told you that he did this to his mother where an investigator asks caitlin why she believes adam would keep the poison in his car that would directly link him to the [Music] crimes jurors wonder if it's a curious statement or guilty slip of the tongue either way they don't seem to be buying the new defense that adam is the real killer instead they appear to side with the prosecution's presentation of electronic evidence against caitlyn including incriminating searches and transactions captured on the defendant's cell phone and computer the cell phone the computers and all those things that were forensically examined those are what the prosecution really relies on and says that realistically reasonably who else would have been using these devices to look up the poison to create the letter of intent the evidence is clear and that the common denominator is this defendant the now 24 year old caitlin conley is found guilty of first degree manslaughter but before sentencing caitlyn's defense attorney makes a final plea for the verdict to be thrown out claiming prosecutors did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt that caitlyn poisoned mary you cannot prove that on july 20 1 15 in the afternoon at the business of the chiropractic katelyn kindly poisoned mario it's not there and never will be there and the jury's verdict was irrational and you should set aside the verdict thank you then it's time for victim impact statements mary yoder's son and caitlyn's ex-boyfriend adam yoder has a few choice words for his former flame i introduced katie conley to my family and because i loved her they all accepted her and treated her as family as blood make no mistake i hate the defendant with every bone in my body and every drop of blood in my veins i hate caitlin and conley because caitlyn and conley murdered my mother and mary's husband of 40 years bill yoder also addresses the court did he gave me even with my son she decided to murder his mother and then you could hear a pin drop as caitlyn makes her way to the podium for a final statement to the court before learning her ultimate fate with all her respect to the justice system into our jury system i'm innocent i'd like to thank my family and friends and strangers are standing up and support me support yes and you'll never believe who is in caitlin's corner mary daughter was my sister [Music] a sensational new york trial of passion poison and now penalty is underway inside a standing room only oneida county courthouse the thing that stands out in my mind most of all is those last two days of mary yoder's life she went through agony over and over until the end when the moment everyone has been waiting for as judge michael doing announces caitlin conley's fate the evidence presented at the trial indicates that miss conley was the only person at that time that knew why this was happening and how her life was going to end it will be the sentence of this court as to the defendant's conviction for manslaughter in the first degree that she will be sentenced to a 23-year determinant sentence in state prison after two trials and weeks of testimony this bizarre case comes to a close [Music] but not for everyone involved including some of mary oder's family members and they're being very vocal i mean they are joining a campaign to essentially free caitlyn conley right and making frequent appearances on crime reporter rocco laduka's talk radio show i spoke with several sisters of mary yoder they believe caitlyn in this case the wrong person is being punished for this that troubles them because they know caitlyn as well and they certainly know what mary thought of caitlyn and they can't believe that she did this and rocco was quick to point out that there wouldn't have been a murder investigation if it wasn't for these same sisters speaking out it wasn't mary's husband or son or daughters that alerted the sheriff's office it was the the same sisters of mary who alerted the sheriff's office who now are the ones saying that they believe they've arrested the wrong person so if not caitlyn who do they believe really killed mary my brother-in-law and my nephew are responsible for my sister's death her allegation goes against all the evidence presented to the jury in addition neither bill or adam yoder has ever been charged to mary's death and they have always maintained their innocence but despite this a few of mary's family members still question caitlyn conley's conviction i believe that a young woman has been wrongfully convicted and that the persons involved in my sister's death have immunity mary's sister janine claims that prosecutors made their first mistake by granting full immunity to both bill and adam in exchange for their testimony for caitlyn's grand jury proceeding it's blanket immunity total immunity it can never be revoked but the prosecutor defends his decision were they given blanket immunity okay so in new york state is transactional immunity however and this is the part that always somehow another gets left out however you do not get immunity if you lie but some of mary's family members feel so strongly in conley's innocence they've started the free caitlyn conley campaign the fact of the matter is there were three suspects initially it was william yoder adam yoder and caitlin conley i couldn't help but question what sort of investigation can you really conduct if you forced your hand to only pursue one person and mary's family members say bill's affair should have been enough for cops to investigate him further i spoke with mary's sister sharon over the phone he was found to be with another woman later we found out it was our older sister kathy do you think bill's relationship with kathy began before mary died yes i do relationships don't just start overnight a neighbor testified that she had seen bill over at kathy's house and she witnessed this was testified to a passionate uh kiss and embrace between them while she and her daughter were walking by bill and kathy are a couple now but in court both testified the romantic relationship did not start until months after the murder then there's mary's son adam the sisters claim he was on the alts with his mother around the time she died mary and he had had a falling out and he mary had been an enabler you know and but she was starting to take a firmer stand with him and that you know not giving him money crime watch daily reached out to both bill and adam yoder to get their responses to these allegations so far they have not gotten back to us i called up with the lead investigator on the case to get his reaction to the claims made by mary's family members are you for certain that you have the right person there i'm absolutely sure we got the right person all the evidence came back against uh caitlin connor we interviewed bill we interviewed adam this was a long six-month investigation we talked to a lot of different people everybody had the opportunity to speak to us and tell us what their theories their thoughts were all right the evidence at the end nothing came back on bill nothing came back on adam everything came back on katelyn conway katelyn's defense team will be given the opportunity to appeal her conviction what do you and your family have to gain by coming on national television here right now in defense for caitlyn conley to exonerate her in the public eye that it will help with the appeal conley is currently serving a 23 year sentence for first degree manslaughter but no matter how much time katelyn spends behind bars mary oder's family is forever divided over her guilt or innocence and left mourning the loss of one of their beloved members what hurts me the most is just knowing that i won't see her again our time to you know to be together to really enjoy each other and it's just been you know stolen

Channel: True Crime Daily

Views: 1,553,147

Keywords: Kaitlyn Conley, Mary Yoder, New York chiropractor Mary Yoder, Whitesboro Medical Practice, colchicine, Oneida County District Attorney, Oneida County Sheriff's Department, Onondaga medical examiner's office, Adam Yoder, Bill Yoder, prosecutor Laurie Lisi, journalist and radio personality Rocco LaDuca

Id: m1Schiht0ZA

Length: 29min 30sec (1770 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 22 2020