The Antifreeze Murders

Summary

Podcast Summary: Crime Scene – "The Antifreeze Murders"

Podcast: Crime Scene (Sony Music Entertainment)
Episode Title: The Antifreeze Murders
Date: June 4, 2026
Hosts: Jonathan Hirsch & Cooper Mall

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Episode Overview

This episode of Crime Scene unravels the shocking true story of the Staudi family antifreeze murders in Springfield, Missouri. Hosted by Jonathan Hirsch and Cooper Mall, the episode meticulously reconstructs a case where the boundaries of trust, family, and evil collide. Through a careful reexamination of evidence, police interviews, and personal confessions, the hosts guide listeners through a chilling tale of serial poisonings committed within a family, exposing deep personal dynamics, investigative failures, and the eventual pursuit of justice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Crime Unfolds: A Family Struck by Tragedy

[00:30–06:44]

• Initial Suspicion: Jonathan introduces the Staudi family, highlighting a shocking string of deaths: Mark Staudte (husband/father) passing away in April 2012, followed just months later by his son, Sean.
• Medical Examiners at Fault: Both deaths are ruled “natural causes” by the county examiner, despite eerily similar symptoms: flu-like illness, rapid deterioration, and seizures.
• Community Reaction: Friends and the local church rally around Diane Staudte, the matriarch, offering condolences without suspecting foul play.

“It looked like terrible luck… but it was something much darker.” — Jonathan Hirsch [00:30]

2. Killers Hiding in Plain Sight: The Pattern of Serial Domestic Poisonings

[06:57–09:57]

• Cooper contextualizes the case historically, referencing well-known female serial killers like Nanny Doss and Mary Beth Tinning, noting how family-embedded poisoning crimes often evade quick detection.
• The common thread: Deaths looking plausible on their own, with patterns only emerging after multiple tragedies.

“The first ones free…these perpetrators don’t get caught on victim one. Often they get caught when the pattern is discovered.” — Cooper Mall [06:57]

3. The Surviving Daughter & The Investigation Breaks Open

[12:54–15:19]

• Third Incident: In June 2013, daughter Sarah collapses and is hospitalized with rapid kidney and brain failure. Doctors suspect poison when reviewing family history and alert homicide detectives.
• Critical Tip: An anonymous call—later revealed to be from the family’s pastor—finally spurs law enforcement action.

4. Diane's Motive & Chilling Confession

[15:44–19:51]

• Motivation Unveiled: Diane describes misery and resentment in her marriage, the burden of being sole breadwinner, and dissatisfaction with her children—with the exception of her favorite, Rachel.
• Confession Details: Diane calmly admits to poisoning Mark, Sean, and Sarah by mixing antifreeze into their drinks—Gatorade for Mark, Coke for Sean and Sarah.

“I knew they were drinking antifreeze, and I was so mad at them, I didn’t want to take them in.” — Diane Staudte [18:14]
“Just a little [antifreeze]…in their Coca Cola.” — Diane Staudte [19:48]

5. Rachel’s Role & The “Murder Diary”

[19:58–23:06]

• Rachel’s Participation: Under police questioning, Rachel acknowledges being part of the scheme, purchasing antifreeze online and directly assisting with the poisonings.
• Damning Evidence: Rachel kept a diary entry (dated June 13, 2011) predicting the deaths of her father and brother—providing a blueprint for the murders.

“It’s sad when I realized how my father will pass in the next two months. Sean…will move on shortly after. It will be tough getting used to the changes, but everything will work out.” — Rachel’s diary (read on air) [21:50]

6. Victim Psychology: Why Didn’t Sarah Flee?

[23:06–24:18]

• Cooper and Jonathan discuss psychological barriers for victims inside abusive or insular families, likening it to cult dynamics and the powerful, paralyzing sense of internal logic that can keep victims from seeking help.

“Leaving means sounding an alarm… knowing you’re the reason your entire life is about to blow up.” — Cooper Mall [23:58]

7. The Arrests and Legal Resolution

[28:42–31:14]

• Arrests & Charges: Diane and Rachel are arrested in June 2013, each facing charges including first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
• Plea Deals: Rachel accepts a plea in exchange for testifying against her mother, receiving two life sentences plus 20 years. Diane enters an Alford plea, receiving life without parole.

8. Aftermath & Reflection

[31:14–33:31]

• Diane’s Media Denial: In a 2022 ABC interview, Diane reverses her story, suggesting she confessed under duress and that Mark was responsible for his own death and others—claims not supported by evidence or her prior confession.
• Enduring Impact: Sarah, the surviving daughter, is left permanently disabled and living in assisted care.

“I forgive my mom for what she did to me. But she not only took away my dad and my brother, she took away my lifestyle, my livelihood, and my independence.” — Sarah Staudte’s sentencing statement [31:59]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On trust and betrayal:

  “We trust the people closest to us… We can be so terrifyingly wrong about who they really are.”
  — Jonathan Hirsch [01:53]

• On serial domestic poisonings as a pattern:

  “It’s a phenomenon… these deaths looked plausible on their own.” — Cooper Mall [08:23]

• The chilling bluntness of Diane’s confession:

  “I did like… I really didn’t know what else to do.” — Diane Staudte [19:12]

• On Rachel’s diary:

  “It functions almost as a self-reinforcing commitment device… almost like a to-do list.” — Cooper Mall [22:25]

• On victim psychology and why people stay:

  “What happens inside of your world has its own internal logic…” — Jonathan Hirsch [23:46]

• On gaps in forensics:

  “These cases expose a real gap… where you have multiple sudden deaths in a single household, that should automatically trigger an expanded toxicological review.” — Jonathan Hirsch [34:22]

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Key Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | What Happens | |-------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:30–02:49 | Introduction of Staudte family tragedy; mysterious flu-like deaths | | 06:44–09:10 | Serial poisonings in domestic settings—historical context | | 12:54–15:19 | Sarah’s hospitalization triggers police involvement after years of missed patterns | | 15:44–19:51 | Diane confesses to poisonings and her motives | | 19:58–21:50 | Rachel’s involvement and the “murder diary” | | 23:06–24:18 | Discussion: Why don’t victims leave? The psychology of familial trust | | 28:42–31:14 | Legal outcomes: arrests, plea deals, and sentencing | | 31:14–33:31 | Diane’s recantation on television; hosts reflect on pathology and denial post-conviction | | 34:22–35:57 | Forensic lessons: policy changes inspired by the case |

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Analysis & Reflections

The Nature of Familial Evil

Jonathan and Cooper repeatedly return to the idea that “the enemy within” often goes unsuspected because of familial trust, and that danger is compounded when societal mechanisms (medical examiners, police) accept surface explanations without challenging the pattern.

Legal and Investigative Gaps

Despite multiple tragic deaths, only the near-fatality of Sarah and a concerned pastor’s tip forced authorities to reconsider the “natural causes” diagnoses. Afterward, the case influenced forensic policy on handling multiple deaths within a household.

Lingering Questions

The episode ends by inviting listeners to consider how they themselves might react if they discovered evidence of premeditated violence in their family, highlighting the complexity and tragedy of cases where psychological and emotional bonds become a tool for evil.

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a compelling, harrowing account of the Staudi antifreeze murders, balancing meticulous reporting with nuanced psychological analysis. It demonstrates just how easily patterns of evil can go undetected within everyday families—and how justice eventually catches up, even if belatedly.

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[To continue the conversation or access bonus content, visit the hosts on Patreon or @sonypodcasts.]

Transcript

[Sports Announcer]

This is what everyone's talking about.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Everything's on the table.

[Sports Announcer]

This is what champions come to take. This is what everyone came to see. No do overs, no second chances, no more Mr. Nice Guy. This is winner take all. The NBA Finals continue on ABC and the ESPN app.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

In 2012, in Springfield, Missouri, a nurse and church organist has to bury her husband and her son. And then a year later, she nearly has to bury her daughter too. On paper, it looked like terrible luck. A string of flu like illnesses turned fatal. But what happened to the Staudi family wasn't the worst string of bad luck you've ever heard. It was something much darker. Welcome to Crime Scene, the show where we tell the stories behind the world's most unforgettable crimes. And this week on the show, the story of Diane and Rachel Stoudy. A family in turmoil, a poisonous pact, and a series of coincidences too unlikely to turn away from. Sony podcast and the binge. This is the story of the antifreeze murders. Hey, y'.

[Sports Announcer]

All.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Welcome to the Crime Scene office. My name is Jonathan Hirsch, and each week over three acts, we dive into the most shocking and complex true crime stories of our era. And each week I'm joined by my friend and fellow documentarian, Cooper Mall. Hi, Cooper.

[Cooper Mall]

Hi, Jonathan.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

And don't forget, this show is a part of the Binge the true crime network. I head up and each month we bring you a new limited true crime series. Go to getthebinge.com if you want to learn more.

[Cooper Mall]

Wow.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Cooperation. Today's story. I've been trying to think about a way to describe what is so remarkable about this case. I think it's that we trust the people closest to us. Our circle of trust, our survival as family members, as friends, relies upon a deep trust in the people we love the most. That's often implicit and so often in these crime stories, it is breaking of that trust that results in unraveling and potentially in danger and even in murder. But in this story, it really shows how even the people we trust, we can be so terrifyingly wrong about who they really are.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah, I mean, love really puts those blinders on.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

It does. And so does family. And this is that kind of dynamic in a sharp relief. It's really. It's a really chilling story.

[Cooper Mall]

Let's get into it.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Okay. Our story begins in Southern Missouri, Springfield. Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012. There's a 911 call from a woman named Diane Stoughte. Her husband, Mark Stoughty, has been sick recently. They thought it was the Flu until he collapsed. At first she thought it was a seizure of some sort. And now that she's on the line with the emergency operators, she wasn't so sure. He had no prior history of seizures. Dispatchers called the paramedics who arrived on the scene. But Mark would not survive the day. It was shocking, devastating in fact. But, you know, this is more common than you'd think. Nearly 50,000 people die of the flu and pneumonia each year. And Mark had been tired in the days leading up to his death. He suddenly fell sharply ill. And just a couple of days earlier, though, his son had noticed that Mark had been acting differently. He even wrote about it on Facebook. He said that Mark was getting sicker. He slurred his words. He was walking wobbly, his body was moving, more tired than normal, that he had to rest when he was behind the wheel of the car because he realized that the car was starting to swerve a little bit as he drove. The Greene county medical examiner determined that he died of natural causes, though. And after that, the family was allowed to mourn, to try to move on. Mark was cremated. His ashes were scattered in a nearby lake. And Diane, his wife, would be left to raise their four children. Mark and Diane had been married for 27 years. Diane Saudi would be starting over, essentially at 50 years old. She was a registered nurse with fine short red hair and bangs. And she was also the church organist at Redeemer Lutheran. Also, she was really the family breadwinner. People who knew her described her as sharp, organized, and a rock within their church and their community and of course, within their family. Her oldest son, Sean, was 26 years old. He lived at home. And then there was Sarah, who also lived at home with them, and then Rachel, who was away at college. And Brianna was the baby. She was only nine years old when Mark died. And it wouldn't be long before another tragedy would befall the Staudi family. Five months later, Diane would find herself calling the Springfield 911 operator again. And this time it was for her son Sean. She came home and she entered his room and found him non responsive like his dad. She said he'd been sick recently and just thought it was the flu. He also had this seizure like symptom as well. And just as suddenly as Mark had died, Shawn died too. This was a bizarre coincidence, truly an unfair tragedy. Diane's church descended on the poor stouty family, and they sought to support them in any way that they could. I remember looking at these Facebook posts that Diane had put out and it was Just page upon page of people reaching out to offer their condolences and support. Because this all just didn't make a lot of sense. The same medical examiner who dealt with Mark's body would also end up dealing with his sons. And as with his dad, he would make the same determination, albeit coincidental. This was a death by natural causes. So nothing to see here.

[Athletic Brewing Company Advertiser]

No.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Unbelievable coincidence. But is that really what happened? All right, let's take a break here for a second, because what we've just walked through isn't like a fluke or like bad medicine. It's a pattern.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. And, I mean, I think a harsh reality about cases like this is a lot of times people kind of get. Can get away with the first one. Right. And sometimes even the first few. I mean, it's like the whole adage of, like, the first ones free. Right. And these types of perpetrators don't get caught on victim one. Often they get caught when the pattern is discovered. So I kind of found some names dating back, like, almost a hundred years in American history on this. And starting around 1927, this woman, Nanny Doss in Oklahoma, she killed her husbands and seven other family members before anyone connected any of it. They called her the Giggling Granny because she laughed during her confession.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yikes.

[Cooper Mall]

Then there's this woman, Mary Beth Tinning in upstate New York, who had lost nine children over 14 years.

[Diane Stoudy]

Wow.

[Cooper Mall]

And every one of them was rolled SIDS. You know, sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Right. Yeah.

[Cooper Mall]

Or natural causes. Until a hospice nurse finally said, this can't be biology. Right.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yeah.

[Cooper Mall]

And then another woman, Velman Barfield, she killed her mother, her fiance, and two elderly people she was caring for before her son got suspicious enough.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Wow.

[Cooper Mall]

To push for a real autopsy. I mean, this is clearly a phenomenon.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

And. Yeah. I mean, the common thread in all of those cases that you just shared and. Wow. I want to learn about all of them. Maybe we'll add this to the newsletter. So sign up for Patreon. We'll talk more about those cases there. Each of these deaths looked plausible on their own. You know, and then the medical examiner sees one kind of death and finds a story that fits and signs the certificate. Right. And they're on their way. I mean, our inaugural episode, the Boys on the Tracks. Look no further than that story to see how a medical examiner will fill in the blanks.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. And I think that is the, you know, the move that often breaks these cases is somebody eventually identifying the pattern. Right. And they say this cannot be coincidence. It makes me think of our binge series Hunting the Boogeyman.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yeah. And so for those of you who haven't heard Hunting the Boogeyman, check it out on the Binge. It is a remarkable story about a woman who was assaulted at 21 and she didn't realize until way later that she was the first victim in a series of assaults that were done by the same person who later came to be known as the NorCal Rapist. And Paul Holes, the famous investigator who cracked the Golden State Killer case, was also the individual who helped to solve this case. It is remarkable, but truly to your point, this is another scenario where the patterns don't always line up at first, but once they do, that's when cases like this start to unravel.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah, and sometimes it takes a while to see them in totality.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Coming up, two deaths, one survivor barely hanging on, and a tip that changes everything. Do you ever feel like you just

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[Cooper Mall]

So just to catch us up, Mark Sty is dead.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yes.

[Cooper Mall]

His son Sean is dead. Both deaths have been ruled natural causes. Both men have been cremated. Something isn't adding up to me here. Like, what the hell is going on?

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yeah, these deaths are too similar. We'll wait until you hear what happens next. A third member of the family gets sick. In June of 2013. Sarah, the eldest daughter, collapses suddenly. She's rushed to Cox South Hospital in Springfield, and her kidneys and brain are failing. Doctors put her survival odds at zero. And that is when a doctor looks at this family's history and puts in a call to the police. They contact Springfield PD Homicide Detective Neil McCammus. They tell him it's not a question of if she dies, it's when. But it's probably not a rare or fatal flu. The symptoms that Sarah is experiencing are consistent with poisoning. The speed at which the organ failure is presenting in Sarah's body was one of the giveaways. That and the family's history. And when they pull Sarah's intake paperwork, they see that her father died suddenly in April of 2012. Her brother died suddenly in September of that year. Same household, same reported symptoms. Three people at the same address with the same same presentation. McCammis opens an investigation. And on June 11, 2013, the Springfield Police receive a tip. It was anonymous at the time, but we'd later learn it turned out to be none other than the family's own pastor, Jeff Sippy of Redeemer Lutheran Church. The man who watched this family from the pulpit every Sunday. He officiated Mark's funeral. He. He was the one who finally said that something was terribly wrong here and now, after years of these inexplicable deaths, the microscope was on the Staudi family and specifically on Diane. By most accounts, Diane was miserable in her marriage. For years, friends had urged her to leave Mark. He was kind of a passive guy. He was disengaged. He was financially dependent on her. He was a musician. He wasn't really great at keeping up around the house. I think she felt like she was running the household day in and day out. She'd work full time as a registered nurse. She'd play the organ on Sunday, and then she had to raise their four kids as well. And he seemed largely checked out and wasn't working, so wasn't really supporting the family in that way either. And she hated him. That's not speculation. That's exactly what she told investigators.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

What was your marriage like?

[Diane Stoudy]

How can I say this? We were still married, but it was not what you call a good marriage.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

Have there been any infidelities on either side?

[Diane Stoudy]

He has, yeah.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

So I'm guessing then, just briefly thought he wasn't the best husband.

[Diane Stoudy]

Probably not. Just society, no.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

What do you mean by that?

[Detective Neil McCammus]

Not this.

[Diane Stoudy]

Well, he was running around, and he would drink and smoke pot, and.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

So he wasn't a very good guy, is what you're saying.

[Diane Stoudy]

Yeah, I know. You know, I've had friends who told me I should kick him out, but I couldn't find myself kicking him out.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

Why not?

[Diane Stoudy]

I was afraid he'd kill himself.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Diane said that he was bipolar, but she also seemed to feel that he would be in danger if she left him. And she said that despite his many flaws, she loved him, but certainly not in the way that she loved her kids. At least some of her kids, I should say. One in particular. Rachel. Of all the kids, Rachel was her favorite. They were close in a way that kind of excluded others. They texted constantly. She was, it's been said, the family's golden child. She's an artist and a musician, just like her mom. And Rachel was also on the dean's list at Missouri State. And she was planning a future. Diane saw herself in Rachel. So at the center of this case is the question of how all of these children related to their mother, Diane. And it's a question that Detective McCammis is pressing hard to answer. So while Sarah is fighting for her life in the ICU, McCammous invites Diane and her favorite daughter Rachel in for questioning. This is June 20, 2013. They're not under arrest. They chose to talk to him first. They separate mother and daughter.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

Tell me about it.

[Diane Stoudy]

Diane.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

In the interrogation room, McCammus notices something immediately. Diane is flat, calm in a way that she reads wrong. Her. Her answers seem to shift. Her timeline doesn't really hold. And when he presses her, she breaks.

[Diane Stoudy]

There's a lot of arguments and cut it really short and sweet. I knew they were drinking antifreeze, and I was so mad at them, I didn't want to take them in.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

I did like. She confessed to poisoning her husband, Mark, her kids. Sean and Sarah walked through the rationale for each in this clinical, almost bureaucratic way. She had a burden. She was lightening her load. She was the breadwinner for a family of four children. Her husband struggled even to keep the house in order. The responsibility of caring for everyone in this family, she said, was just way too much. Then she detailed how it was done. She spoke in a manner that was chillingly plain, deliberate.

[Diane Stoudy]

And I didn't know what else to do. I really didn't.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

For Mark, she mixed the antifreeze, AKA ethylene glycol, into his Gatorade. For Shawn and Sarah, it went into their Coke.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

And what were you putting it in?

[Diane Stoudy]

Coca Cola.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

What else?

[Detective Neil McCammus]

How much would you put in?

[Diane Stoudy]

Just a little. Yeah.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

The drinks they reached for without thinking. Rachel is then also brought in for questioning.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

Rachel, whose idea was this?

[Diane Stoudy]

Mom brought it up. We discussed.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

So you and mom are close enough. You guys are just like we talked about earlier. You guys are best, you know, close enough friends and, you know, mother, daughter that you guys have a tight enough bond that you guys could discuss this. She was the one to bring it up.

[Diane Stoudy]

Yeah.

[Detective Neil McCammus]

What'd she say to you?

[Diane Stoudy]

Basically went through different options, was trying to find things that wouldn't be traceable or at least would be hard and trace if you didn't know what you were looking for.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

She frames Diane as the architect, but she was fully involved in killing her relatives. Rachel helped buy the antifreeze online. She mixed it into the drinks alongside her mother. Mark's Gatorade, Shawn's Coke, Sarah's Coke. And chillingly, Rachel told Detective McCammus they weren't done. After Sarah, Brianna was next. The nine year old who lived through all of this was supposed to be the final victim. Her stated reasons for each victim, her father, a little peace. Shawn, who was annoying and worse than a pest. And she said Sarah was just nosy. Apparently, Sarah had read something that was private of Rachel. And this is where the most Extraordinary piece of evidence in this entire case surfaces. Rachel had kept a diary. And in an entry dated June 13, 2011, more than a year before the first death, she wrote this. It's sad when I realized how my father will pass on in the next two months. Sean, my brother, will move on shortly after. It will be tough getting used to the changes, but everything will work out.

[Cooper Mall]

Jonathan. This reminds me of Ruby Frankie.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Oh, my God. Yeah, y'. All. Ruby Frankie.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. I mean, and I covered that case as well. And she had kept a detailed diary of the abuse of her children. And, you know, while working on that story, I found that psychologists who study predatory domestic violence, the, the notes and the. The written documentation of this stuff, even private, it functions as almost like a self reinforcing commitment device. If you almost like a to do list. Right.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Interesting.

[Cooper Mall]

It makes their plan real for them.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Almost like they're kind of like their vision board. They're like mapping out their own pathology.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. And I totally see that with this journal here.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yeah, absolutely. So Mark and Sean are dead within 15 months of that entry. And most jarring of all is that Sarah had read this diary entry about her father and brother dying. And apparently Sarah confronted her mother about the journal entry, and instead of being horrified, her mom told her, just don't read Rachel's journal again. That's none of your business.

[Diane Stoudy]

It.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

It's devastating. Sarah reads a diary entry predicting the death of her father and brother. She says something and then she stayed.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. And I want to kind of slow down on this because I think there's an instinct here in cases like this to ask, why didn't Sarah just run or go to the police? Right.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. If you haven't been through it, I could see somebody saying something like that. I think I know where you're getting at.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. And I don't know if that's always the right question here. Right. Or at least the. The question that makes sense if you're somebody on the outside of a family. Right.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Because, I mean, as somebody raised in a cult, I totally know what happens inside of your world has its own internal logic that doesn't really correspond to what the rest of the world thinks or does.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. And in these situations, it's. Leaving isn't just leaving. Right. I mean, leaving means sounding an alarm. It means someone like Sarah having to pick up the phone and be like, hey, my mom's a murderer. And knowing that you are the reason your entire life is about to blow up.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

And doing that on the strength of what, like a gut feeling. Like something that your sister could just explain away. It's just like a weird diary entry. Like, people don't blow up their families on a gut feeling like that. They wait for proof. And in this case, it's the waiting that actually becomes a mortal threat for her. Sarah barely survived. She was left with lasting neurological and physical damage that was the cost. And now she lives in an assisted living facility. Now Diane and Rachel have both confessed. We have a diary that reads like a blueprint for murder. What nobody in that interrogation room knows yet is that the next move is going to come from Rachel herself. Coming up, a mother and daughter under arrest. And the moment one of them turns on the other to save herself.

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[Cooper Mall]

Okay, so we've got two Stouty family members dead.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yeah.

[Cooper Mall]

One survivor. Now a recorded confession from Diane and this pre crime diary from the daughter. So prosecutors here are going to have to build a murder case when the only physical evidence are the bodies of Mark and Sean. And those have already been cremated. So it's going to be a really tough case. How does justice catch up?

[Jonathan Hirsch]

So on June 21st and 22nd, 2013, Diane Stoudy, 51, and Rachel Stoudy are arrested. Both are charged with one count of first degree murder and one count of second degree murder and then one count of first degree assault. So it accounts for the second three family members and then one count of armed criminal action. Both are held without bond. The prosecutors initially indicate they intend to seek the death penalty against Diane and Brianna. The youngest, who was nine when her father died and 11 when her mother and sister were arrested. She was placed with relatives. She lived through all of it without knowing what was happening in her own home. Rachel's case moves further. In May of 2015, she accepts a plea deal. Two counts of second degree murder, plus assault and armed criminal action. And in exchange, she agrees to testify against her mother. Judge Thomas Mountjoy sentences Rachel to two concurrent life sentences plus 20 years. And under Missouri law, she will not be eligible for parole until 2020. 55. She will be 64 years old. So Diane, for her part, enters an Alford plea. So an Alford plea is a kind of guilty plea in which the defendant acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict, but they also maintain their innocence through the process. It's a way of sort of like pleading guilty without confessing to the crime explicitly. So she is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Interestingly, one of her daughters ultimately decided to forgive her mother. She said in her sentencing statement, I forgive my mom for what she did to me, but she not only took away my dad and my brother, she took away my lifestyle, my livelihood, and my independence. This is Sarah Stoughty, who now lives in an assisted living facility. This wasn't the favorite daughter and this wasn't the co conspirator. This was the one who needs round the clock care. So here's the coda to all of this. In 2022, nearly 10 years after that recorded confession, Diane Stouty sits down with ABC's 20 20.

[Diane Stoudy]

Do you think you deserve to be in prison? Yes and no.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

She says she never did it in this flat, emotionless tone. So she describes this scenario in which Mark had, like, connections to dangerous people, that he had arranged these deaths and she confessed to protect herself and her children. She sort of implied that she was coerced, that there was a conspiracy. Investigators find zero evidence of this. By the way, the recorded interrogation tapes, which ABC aired publicly directly contradict her account. And Rachel, for her part, didn't corroborate this revisionist history.

[Cooper Mall]

I'm sorry, but Diane's plea is really strange to me.

[Diane Stoudy]

She.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yeah, the whole TV appearance thing too.

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Yeah.

[Cooper Mall]

I mean, she had done the Alford plea after a confession on tape, right?

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yeah. Like it exists in this sort of legal twilight, if you will. You know, like the conviction and the sentence are real, but the one thing that isn't real is her admission.

[Diane Stoudy]

Yeah.

[Cooper Mall]

I mean, and the prosecution wouldn't even need her to plead guilty because they already had it in her own voice.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

And the Alfred plea isn't really a defense strategy in this situation because she's not protecting herself from being prosecuted to the full extent of the law because she already is. It's like this personal thing, like she's choosing to explicitly say that she wasn't the one who killed her husband and her son and poisoned her daughter.

[Cooper Mall]

So the case just moves on with Diane being processed, moving into her jail cell, and she's holding onto this official version of events where she didn't do it, although she had previously said she did.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Yeah. She's already on the record refusing to admit what she did. And the legal system would have that refusal in 2016 written into the official record and like, signed by a judge.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. So when she sits in front of these ABC cameras years later and tells people, I didn't kill my husband and son, what is going on? Right.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Like, it is very, very puzzling. And I think, you know, it speaks to what a lot of people will see in Diane Stoughty, which is somebody who is incapable, a narcissist, let's say incapable of truly owning up and confessing to the crime. I mean, a lot of y' all in the really spirited discussions that we've all been having on our patreon and on YouTube about the Corey Richards case, point to this same dynamic where at the moment of opportunity in the eyes of the court and the public, that these individuals have to really take ownership of their crimes is precisely the moment when they double down.

[Diane Stoudy]

Yeah.

[Cooper Mall]

And I find that to be almost like it just adds insult to injury. Right?

[Jonathan Hirsch]

It really does. And, you know, there's another piece of this case that I think interested me in. In bringing it to y', all, which is, I think the Stouty murders. They expose a real gap in how we investigate household deaths. Right. This succession of coincidences, it's oftentimes referenced in forensic pathology training now as a cautionary example where you have multiple sudden deaths in a single household, that that should automatically trigger an expanded toxicological review. That hasn't always been done in these cases. So in the case of the Stouties, it took two funerals, a near death in the icu, and a gut feeling from a pastor before the wheels of justice really started to turn here.

[Cooper Mall]

Part of what I can't stop thinking about with this story is that Sarah had read this diary entry predicting the deaths of her father and her brother.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Imagine coming across that.

[Cooper Mall]

Yeah. She confronted her mother, and then she held onto that for reasons which we've discussed. And I am curious, you know, what y' all would have done in that position, right?

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Oh, yeah. Join us on Patreon and let us know or in the comments here, wherever you're watching or listening to this, what would you do if you came across, like, a murder diary from one of your family members?

[Diane Stoudy]

Yeah.

[Cooper Mall]

I don't know.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

You're gonna phone them in. You're gonna wait it out. What do you do?

[Cooper Mall]

Okay, Jonathan, before we go.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

Okay.

[Cooper Mall]

I've listened to the first two episodes of youf Are An Act. Oh, my God, what a story.

[Jonathan Hirsch]

It is remarkable. So for those of you watching, Listening at Home, you are. Next is our latest series on the Binge. It's out now. And if you're a subscriber to the Binge, you can listen to all the episodes. Right now just go to the Binge on Apple Podcasts. Or you can go to Our Patreon account, patreon.com thebinge the link will be in the description so you can check it out. But right now in the series, Vicious is the villain of our show and he's this Internet terrorist. He wasn't just a troll, though. So, like, imagine you're, like, getting a new phone after being harassed by somebody online and then three minutes later a text message pops up from him like there really was no logging off. The harassment was unrelenting. Just makes you wonder like what are your kids going through online when you're not watching? At least that's what I think of it. Kind of remind me also a little bit of the Sugarland murder story where,

[Cooper Mall]

yeah, I could see that there's just

[Jonathan Hirsch]

so much darkness and complexity happening under the surface and it just makes you wonder, you know, what are folks doing? What are your kids doing when you're not looking? It's a frightening and chilling story and I highly recommend this series to all of y' all who are watching or listening at home. Hey y', all, thank you so much for joining us on Crime Scene. Just a reminder here, you can watch or listen to us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. This show is a production of Sony Podcasts and the Binge. Thank you to everybody who makes this happen week in and week out. Also, we're journalists. We love journalism. These stories have been deeply reported, the ones that you hear on the show and you can find an extensive bibliography by going to to the show notes of this episode and to every episode to learn more about the reporting that informed all of the great stories you hear on Crime Scene. And just one last note, you can get exclusive content from us and the binge over 60 jaw dropping true crime stories bingeable and ad free right now by signing up for our [e-mail] so go to getbing to get access to our entire catalog of stories but also to get behind the scenes access to all of the stories that Cooper and I are working on. To join us in the conversation about these cases, go to getthebinge.com to learn more.

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