The Suspicious Death of Valerie Carr (Maine)

Summary

Dark Downeast: The Suspicious Death of Valerie Carr (Maine)

In the February 20, 2025, episode of Dark Downeast, investigative journalist Kylie Lowe delves into the mysterious death of Valerie Carr, a case that has left her family yearning for answers beyond the official ruling of an accidental overdose. This detailed exploration uncovers layers of domestic violence, legal battles, and lingering doubts about the true circumstances surrounding Valerie's untimely demise.

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1. Introduction to Valerie Carr’s Case

The episode opens with Kylie Lowe introducing the case of Valerie Carr, whose death in November 2008 was officially deemed accidental due to medication overdose. However, her son, Ian Vance, harbors deep suspicions about the true nature of her death.

[00:03] Kylie Lowe: "Ian Vance was just a kid when he lost his mother. Her death was ruled an accident, but now as an adult, he questions everything."

2. The Day of Valerie’s Death

Valerie Carr lived in Bangor, Maine, with her children. On a seemingly ordinary school day, her son Ian recounts the unsettling moments leading up to his discovery of her lifeless body.

[01:12] Ian Vance: "I remember standing by the door and I yelled to my mom... And so I said, I love you, I'll see you later. And I left."

After school, Ian noticed his mother's unusual behavior upon returning home hours later. Convinced something was wrong, he and his sister rushed back to find Valerie unresponsive.

[03:06] Kylie Lowe: "They ran back to their apartment as fast as their legs could carry them."

3. Initial Investigation and Toxicology Findings

The Bangor Police Department conducted a preliminary investigation, examining Valerie's home and medical records. Detective Tim Cotton, a familiar figure in Maine law enforcement, led the inquiry. The initial autopsy revealed no signs of trauma, but toxicology reports later showed elevated levels of sertraline and pseudoephedrine, leading to the conclusion of accidental overdose.

[07:45] Kylie Lowe: "The only external injury listed in the autopsy report was a 1.3-centimeter dull red round contusion on the back of her left wrist."

4. Domestic Violence Background: Dale Carr

Valerie's ex-husband, Dale Carr, a registered nurse with a history of misconduct, played a significant role in the family’s turmoil. His past included charges of theft, domestic violence, and possession of child sexual abuse material.

[08:54] Kylie Lowe: "A little over a year before she died, Valerie divorced her husband, Dale Carr. The divorce came after years of alleged domestic violence against her and the children..."

5. The Pizza Incident and Protection Order

A pivotal moment in the family's history, known as the "pizza incident," involved a violent confrontation between Dale and his children over a slice of pizza. This event led Valerie to seek a protection from abuse order, further estranging Dale from the family.

[18:09] Ian Vance: "So I jumped on his back, and I put my dad in a chokehold."

6. Dale Carr's Legal Troubles and Conviction

Dale Carr's legal woes continued with multiple convictions related to theft and domestic violence. His professional career suffered as Mercy Hospital terminated his employment upon discovering his possession of child pornography.

[20:38] Kylie Lowe: "At the adjudicatory hearing In August of 2010... he was required to pay a fine and cover fees associated with the hearing."

7. Suspicion of Foul Play and Heavy Metal Poisoning

Ian Vance and other family members have long suspected foul play in Valerie's death, citing inconsistencies in the investigation and potential motives stemming from Dale's abusive behavior. An intriguing lead involves a mysterious note found in Valerie's wallet referencing heavy metals, hinting at possible poisoning.

[38:07] Ian Vance: "There's no way that she would have put herself through all of that... I mean, there's no way that she would."

8. Toxicology Analysis and Medications

A deeper analysis of the toxicology report reveals that Valerie's blood levels of sertraline and pseudoephedrine were significantly higher than therapeutic doses, raising questions about whether the overdose was truly accidental or orchestrated.

[35:10] Kylie Lowe: "Valerie's blood level of 910 nanograms per milliliter is roughly three times higher than the upper end of these ranges."

Despite the official ruling, the absence of evidence supporting foul play leaves the case shrouded in uncertainty. Interviewing retired Detective Tim Cotton, Kylie highlights the lack of physical evidence pointing to an altercation or forced overdose.

[38:07] Ian Vance: "There's no way that she would have put herself through all of that... there's no way that she would."

9. Conclusion: Ongoing Questions and Honoring Valerie’s Legacy

Kylie Lowe concludes the episode by reflecting on the unresolved questions surrounding Valerie Carr's death. While the investigation officially closed the case as an accidental overdose, Ian's pursuit of the truth underscores the enduring impact of Valerie's loss on her family. The episode emphasizes the importance of remembering Valerie's vibrant life and the love she shared with her children.

[40:04] Ian Vance: "I just wish I could have had a video of her playing the piano. I don't have anything. I just have the memories."

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Final Thoughts

Dark Downeast meticulously unpacks the layers of Valerie Carr's death, blending personal testimonies with official records to present a comprehensive narrative. While the official stance remains that Valerie's death was accidental, the episode leaves listeners contemplating the lingering mysteries and the quest for justice by those left behind.

For more information and to support those affected by similar tragedies, listeners are encouraged to visit thehotline.org or report to the Cybertip Line.

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This summary captures the essence of the episode "The Suspicious Death of Valerie Carr (Maine)" from Dark Downeast, providing an insightful overview for those seeking to understand the complexities and unanswered questions surrounding Valerie's death.

Transcript

[Kylie Lowe]

Ian Vance was just a kid when he lost his mother. Her death was ruled an accident, but now as an adult, he questions everything. Details unearthed from decades of court records reveal the circumstances of Valerie's life leading up to her death. Circumstances he feels should have been scrutinized more closely before closing his mother's case. I'm Kylie Lowe and this is the case of Valerie Carr on Dark Down East.

[Ian Vance]

It was pretty much any any other school day.

[Kylie Lowe]

It was November 6, 2008 and Ian Vance was 12 years old. He lived in Bangor, Maine, in the Capehart apartment community with his brother and sister and his mother, 37 year old Valerie Carr. Ian is a grown up now with a wife and children of his own. But his memories of that day will never fade.

[Ian Vance]

I get home, go upstairs. I put my backpack away. It was kind of odd. So when I walked in the door, all the lights were off and so I thought, kind of weird, okay, you know, whatever. And I remember standing by the door and I yelled to my mom, hey, I'm going over to. My friend's nickname was Boo Boo because he always got hurt. So I was like, hey mom, I'm going to Boo Boo's house. We're going to play video games, I'll be back later. And I took a double take and I was looking and I was like, I was looking at her stomach to see if it was rising and falling. And my mind played a trick on me. Basically it was my mom's too young, she can't be dead. She is breathing. Just go play with your friends. She'll be making dinner by the time you get back. And so I said, I love you, I'll see you later. And I left.

[Kylie Lowe]

Ian's sister was in an after school program, so she got home after him that day as she usually did.

[Ian Vance]

A couple hours, two, three hours maybe, she went home and then she found me at my friend's house and my sister came up the stairs and she's like, mommy's being really weird. And I was like, what do you mean? And she's like, well, she's just sitting on the couch and her movie's over and she's just sitting there. And I was like, okay. And I was trying to think rationally in my head, okay, well, she's been having migraines lately, you know, past couple months. And she's probably just tired, you know, instead of going up to bed, she fell asleep on the couch. I asked my sister, is she sitting like this, her legs kind of spread out, her arms to her side? And her head back. And my sister said yes. And at that moment I knew something was very wrong.

[Kylie Lowe]

They ran back to their apartment as fast as their legs could carry them.

[Ian Vance]

And I open the door, I turn the lights on and she's in the exact same position as she was two or three hours before. So we both run up to her, we're shaking her, we're trying to wake her up.

[Kylie Lowe]

Ian grabbed the phone to call his friend's dad.

[Ian Vance]

They flipped around and came to my apartment so fast and got my sister and I out of there. They ended up calling the police. You know, they did everything that they could.

[Kylie Lowe]

First responders attempted to revive Valerie, but it was too late. Her time of death is listed as 5:01pm the time she was found. However, it's believed she was already dead when Ian first saw her body when he got home from school around 3:30 that afternoon. Bangor police responded to the apartment to investigate the unattended death. I requested records from the investigation from Bangor PD and received a scant six page file with a few investigative narratives for case number 0807-2869. Detective Tim Cotton was among the responding officers that day. If you're from Maine, you may know the name Tim Cotton. He is known locally and across the country for his humorous Facebook posts on the Bangor Police Department page and a few books he's written. This case was pre social media fame. Detective Cotton arrived at the scene around 6pm Another officer already there advised Detective Cotton that there was a partial bottle of Sertraline, a generic version of Zoloft, in Valerie's bedroom. Sertraline is an SSRI and is often prescribed to treat depression, anxiety and other disorders. According to Detective Cotton's narrative, the prescription had been filled four days earlier, November 2, with 15100 milligram tablets. Dosing instructions said the tablets should be cut in half. 13 pills out of the 15 remained in the bottle, suggesting that Valerie was taking the medication. According to the prescribed dosage, half of a tablet each day for the previous four days. Detective Cotton viewed Valerie's bedroom and didn't see anything unusual about it. But he photographed the room, along with the two other bedrooms on the second floor and the bathroom. Anyway, as was routine, he also photographed the medicine cabinet and its contents. Again, nothing unusual to speak of there. The detective couldn't find any doctor's appointments listed amongst Valerie's paperwork at home. And when he spoke to people who knew Valerie, they couldn't think of any medical condition that might explain her sudden death. Detective Cotton was later advised that A physician wanted Valerie's body to be taken to the medical examiner for a post mortem examination. The doctor may have been Valerie's primary care provider at the time, but there's no context in the case file, and I haven't been able to track the doctor down. As funeral home personnel prepared to transport Valerie's body for autopsy, Detective Cotton inspected her for any sign of trauma or injury. He found none. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Marguerite DeWitt performed the autopsy on the morning of November 7th. Valerie's lungs showed pulmonary edema, fluid in the lungs. She had lung inflammation due to aspirated material inflammation of her liver. Without a clearly identifiable cause, and scar tissue and other signs of possible long term stress on her heart. The only external injury listed in the autopsy report was a 1.3-centimeter dull red round contusion on the back of her left wrist. In summary, there were no signs of significant trauma to Valerie's body that could explain how this otherwise healthy woman died. But when the toxicology report returned a few weeks later, that's when the answers were finally made clear. Valerie's blood samples were tested for dozens of substances. Screenings for opiates, cocaine, benzodiazepines, weed, barbiturates, alcohol, and a few others. All came back negative, with none detected. However, the talk screen detected elevated levels of two other Sertraline and pseudoephedrine. Sertraline is the same medication that Detective Cotton found in Valerie's home. Pseudephedrine, as you may know, is a common ingredient in over the counter nasal decongestants and is intended to treat symptoms of colds and allergies. The sertraline test found 150 nanograms per milliliter in Valerie's blood sample. Pseudoephedrine levels were found to be 910 nanograms per milliliter, aka a lot of both substances outside the typical therapeutic dose. With that, the medical examiner ruled that Valerie died as the result of accidentally taking excess prescription medication, causing combined sertraline and pseudoephedrine toxicity. Case closed. That may have been the official ruling, but a closed case wasn't closure. For those who knew and loved Valerie.

[Ian Vance]

There were not one, not two, but a plethora of people who suspected there might be foul play, that this was not an accident.

[Kylie Lowe]

A little over a year before she died, Valerie divorced her husband, Dale Carr. The divorce came after years of alleged domestic violence against her and the children, as well as Dale's conduct as a registered nurse that resulted in several disciplinary actions. From the Maine Board of Nursing Records show that Dale's prohibited conduct as a nurse dated back as far as 1994 when he worked at Nicholson's nursing home in Winthrop, Maine. According to Maine Board of Nursing documents, he was accused of stealing scheduled drugs from his patients at the nursing home for his own private use. He reasoned that his patients, quote, would be too confused to know whether or not the medication had been administered, end quote. But alas, Dale got caught. During the course of the investigation into the drug theft, then Monmouth Police Chief Ken Latulipe spoke with Dale and Dale asked the chief about Valerie who had left home. Dale wanted to know where she was. The chief asked Dale what he should do if police located Valerie. In the police chief's version, Dale said, put a bullet in her head and save me the trouble. Dale later said that he was misquoted. He claims his statement was actually, quote, put a bullet in the person's head who took my wife, end quote. He followed it up saying that he would, quote, unquote, beat his wife when he found her. In November of 1994, Dale was convicted of theft by unauthorized taking for stealing the medications from his patients. He was also convicted of terrorizing stemming from the statements he made about Valerie. He was sentenced to 364 days in jail, all suspended and one year probation plus a ten dollar fine. That December, the Maine State Board of Nursing formally reprimanded dale with a one year suspension of his license, all but 30 days suspended and a 12 month probation period with conditions. The conditions included refraining from any conduct that would be grounds for disciplinary action. A few months later, In March of 1997, the state board of Nursing received a letter about Dale's conduct at a client's home. The letter accused Dale of making harmful and inappropriate remarks to the client's family and a certified nursing assistant working in the home which upset an 11 year old family member of the client. That conduct violated the terms of his license probationary period and so Dale's license was suspended. As of March 18, 1997, Dale's license was still under suspension when In April of 1997, Dale he accompanied another nurse to a patient's home. That nurse was having trouble inserting a cannula to start an iv, so Dale assisted. There was no evidence that the patient was harmed by this. However, Dale was prohibited from practicing professional nursing while under suspension, so he faced another formal reprimand. According to a February 1999 consent agreement, Dale agreed to pay a $1,000 civil penalty and complete a professional boundaries course. His license was also placed on a minimum three year probation period and it would remain under probation until the Board voted otherwise. On March 14, 2005, the board ended Dale's probationary period. Dale's nursing license remained in good standing until after Valerie died, but when the main Board of nursing took disciplinary action against him Once more in 2010, Dale would be prohibited from ever practicing professional nursing again. In July of 2010, the Maine State Board of Nursing met in a public session for an adjudicatory hearing to decide whether Dale Carr violated board statutes and rules while licensed as a registered professional nurse. The Board heard testimony and reviewed evidence, and while this was not a criminal trial and the standard of proof was different, the Board found the testimony and evidence of the alleged violations to be credible. A decision and order filing summarizes the Board's findings of fact regarding the alleged violations. According to that decision in order, Dale Carr had been employed as a registered nurse at Mercy hospital in Portland, Maine until about November 24, 2008 when he was fired due to his alleged involvement in domestic violence and viewing child sexual abuse Content what Ian is about to share may be upsetting. We are going to discuss physical and emotional abuse of children and women and child sexual abuse material.

[Ian Vance]

Please listen with care so my dad is a he's very prone to violent outbursts. In my younger years he worked overnights and the one rule was when he's home he's sleeping and to not be loud. It was basically we had to be as quiet as church mice so that he wouldn't wake up and get angry. You could hear him like the whole house would shake him stomping down the stairs and my brother and I got the worst but he would spank us with a belt or he had think of a paint mixer like one of those wooden sticks, but it was about half an inch thick and carved into that stick was the stick.

[Kylie Lowe]

After Valerie's death, Ian and his siblings were evaluated by a licensed social worker specializing in assessing abuse and exposure to domestic violence for children. Ian, his brother, and his sister all spoke of the physical abuse inflicted on them by their father. Ian's younger sister also told the social worker about the stick and the severity of the marks left on their bodies. The social worker found clear evidence that Ian and his siblings were psychologically and physically abused by their father and had witnessed domestic violence against their mother. In 1994, possibly around the same time Dale was under investigation for the drug theft charges, Valerie left home and stayed at a domestic violence shelter because of Dale's shouting and threats. That was the Same year, he was convicted of terrorizing Valerie. Valerie herself outlined other instances of domestic violence and abuse. In a protection from abuse order request she filed, Valerie said that In October of 2004, Dale told her she was the kind of woman that deserves to be beat, end quote, and grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to throw her down the stairs. In September of 2005, Dale allegedly tried to strangle Valerie and then shoved her around the kitchen. When asked other questions about their father, Ian and his siblings said that Dale pretty much only did three things. He worked, he went to sleep, and he played on the computer. In December of 2006, Valerie reported Dale's computer activities to the FBI. She believed he was downloading and viewing child sexual abuse material. According to testimony from the Board of Nursing hearing, Valerie and a few of Dale's friends had previously confronted Dale about the illegal and exploitative images. They told him to get rid of his computers and stop the behavior. Valerie tried to implement a system where they'd both have to enter one half of a password to access the computer. But the effort failed. In a letter from Valerie to Dale described in the Main Board of Nursing disciplinary hearing documents, she wrote, I know that your addiction to child pornography is not only disturbing, but way out of control. The whole child pornography pedophilia has been my greatest stress cause, end quote. Dale allegedly told his friends that if Valerie ever tried to report him for the images, he'd just say it was Valerie who put the photos on the computer. Or he'd argue that the images were computer generated or photoshopped, which he believed would be hard to prove otherwise. The FBI did not take action on Valerie's report at the time, but soon local police would. It started with an incident on January 15, 2007. That was the day Valerie got Dale out of the house and and away from her children once and for all.

[Ian Vance]

My siblings and I call it the pizza incident because this revolved entirely around my brother and I arguing over the last slice of pepperoni pizza. So, in true fashion, my father comes storming down the steps, flies into the kitchen, takes the plate, throws it in the corner on the counter, proceeds to grab my brother, pin him on the floor, yell some obscenities at him, and then I thought my dad was gonna kill my brother because of how angry he was. And so I jumped on his back, and I put my dad in a chokehold.

[Kylie Lowe]

Ian remembers his father pulling him off his back. Ian's brother then said something to their father, and Dale allegedly struck him in the face, causing an injury Valerie heard the commotion and ran to check on her son before turning to Dale. Ian remembers Dale trying to explain what happened, but Valerie grabbed the phone and locked herself in another room to call police.

[Ian Vance]

And that was the very morning that the police almost actually physically removed my dad, almost picked him up and carried him out because he was so belligerent.

[Kylie Lowe]

Another source I spoke to confirmed the details of the pizza incident as it was relayed to them from Valerie herself. This incident is also described in Main Board of Nursing documents. Dale was taken away from the house that day, but he reportedly returned sometime later to leave a note. It read in part, cross quote, you flatter yourself thinking you are worth spending my life in jail for. I want my bullets back. Trust me, you aren't worth it. End quote. On January 16, the day after Dale was removed from the home, Valerie filed a request for a protection from abuse order. A temporary order was issued that day and it was officially granted on February 5, 2007. The order did not make findings of abuse. However, it prohibited Dale from, quote, threatening, assaulting, molesting, etc, end quote. His wife and children. He was not allowed to be at their home.

[Ian Vance]

It was years before I saw him again after that.

[Kylie Lowe]

The same day that Valerie got Dale out of the house, she reported Dale's alleged use of child sexual abuse material to the Monmouth Police Department. She consented to police removing all the household computers for analysis by a detective who could recover any deleted files. Following a forensic analysis of the computers, the Detective found over 2,300 images of suspected child abuse material on the desktop hard drive. The detective believed that they were real photos of male and female children between the ages of 6 and 12 years old. The images had been deleted from the computer at 8.16pm on January 16. The detective believed that whoever deleted the images was the same person who downloaded them in the first place. Although Dale argued that he was out of the house at the time due to the protection order, the Main Board of Nursing found evidence to be persuasive that Dale did not give a credible account of his whereabouts at the time and date. The images were deleted from the home computer and records show he was not at work. The board felt it was reasonable to believe that Dale could have snuck into the house and cleared the computer that night. However, to be clear, this has not been proven. So as of January 2007, Dale was under investigation. But perhaps more importantly for Valerie, Ian and his siblings, Dale was out of the house. The protection order remained in place and Valerie filed for divorce, which was finalized in the summer of 2007, things were getting better. Ian remembers the fun he had with his mom one night after his dad was out of the house.

[Ian Vance]

One of my mom's favorite singers was Mark Schultz and Phil Collins. And that night there was actually a pay per view of Mark Schultz playing live. And my mom put that on for us and she blasted the TV volume as loud as it could go while we were all just eating candy and chips and all this other stuff, you know, totally unhealthy. But it was probably the best night I remember ever having with my mom that night. She was so just loose and carefree and, you know, didn't care about the rules and, you know, of course I was. I was a little kid staying up past midnight.

[Kylie Lowe]

On December 14, 2007, the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office arrested Dale Carr on a charge of possessing sexually explicit material of a minor under the age of 12. According to reporting by Megan V. Molloy for the Kennebec Journal, his trial was set to begin in late April of 2008. Valerie was expected to be the key prosecution witness, but the trial was delayed when a judge ruled more testimony was needed to determine if the sexually explicit photos of children were real. Dale's defense attorney argued that pictures could be Photoshopped, and who is to say that the photos in question weren't manipulated? It was the defense's stance that the jury would not have enough information to decide if the photos were real or not. On the prosecution's side, the deputy DA argued that they didn't have to identify or provide the subjects in the photos themselves or proof of their age, as long as the ages could be reasonably inferred from the photos. The judge ultimately decided experts would have to testify to the authenticity of the photos and the ages of the subjects before the case could move forward. But Valerie never did testify against Dale. She died before that happened, and without her as a primary witness, the case was dropped. Dale did face consequences resulting from the investigation and charges, though not criminal ones. Dale's employer, Mercy Hospital, reviewed a transcript of testimony from a hearing before the charges were dropped. After reading about what the detective found on the computer, Dale got fired. In their decision to terminate his employment, Mercy Hospital officials wrote, mercy is satisfied that you, in fact, did possess many highly offensive pornographic images of children on your personal computer. Although this conduct occurred outside of the workplace, Mercy cannot and will not employ persons who engage in behavior that so offends its mission and values and that involves the actual or potential exploitation of children. In addition, we have learned that you have been charged at least twice with violating a protective order. While possession of child pornography alone is sufficient cause for your termination, we consider these charges to raise further serious concerns about your fitness to serve as an employee of mercy. End quote. At the adjudicatory hearing In August of 2010, after hearing testimony and reviewing evidence of his alleged domestic violence and use of child sexual abuse material, the board of nursing voted 5, 0 to revoke Dale's registered professional nurse license. Finding that his nursing practices constituted a serious threat of harm to the public. He was required to pay a fine and cover fees associated with the hearing. The NURSYS license verification system shows that Dale's license remains revoked today. According to a January 2023 press release by the U. S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maine, In September of 2019, Dale Carr began chatting online with someone he believed to be a 13 year old girl. But it wasn't. He was chatting with an undercover FBI agent. Over the course of several weeks, Dale repeatedly asked for sexually explicit photos and videos and expressed his interest in having sex with the person he believed was a child. In October 2019, Dale sent a photo of his penis to the person he believed was a child. The FBI continued their investigation to confirm the identity of the person in the chat rooms and prove the photo was real and sent by Dale. And then Dale was arrested in August of 2022. On January 24, 2023, Dale pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. He faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release. In August of 2023, he was sentenced to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Court records show that after a three day sentence reduction, he was released sometime around February 2024 and is in the community. My attempts to reach Dale Carr for comment were unsuccessful. Everything you've heard in this episode is in the public record. For the avoidance of doubt, he is not a suspect nor is he accused of any crime as it relates to to Valerie Carr's death. The original investigation, at least according to the limited case file documents that still exist from that original investigation, did not uncover any evidence of foul play in Valerie's death, period. The medical examiner ruled Valerie's death an accident and it has never been investigated as anything else. There is no crime, according to the official findings of the investigation. However, Valerie's loved ones have long questioned if the ruling in her death was the whole truth. And it's not hard to see why some people have their suspicions. No doubt there were crimes committed against Valerie unrelated to her death. But is it possible her death was the result of foul play and not the accident? Investigators ruled it to be. On November 12, 2008, a few days after Valerie died, someone called Detective Kerry Werner of Bangor pd. The caller's name is redacted from the case file, but the detective uses she pronouns when referring to the caller. The caller told Detective Warner she found a note in Valerie's wallet. It was a list of three lead, mercury, and arsenic. Next to the list was the phrase, quote, poisoning side effects, end quote. The caller recognized the handwriting, but that name is also redacted from the case file. Detective Warner's narrative goes on to say that the caller was concerned that name redacted may have been poisoned by name redacted. Based on information in the next few lines of the report, it seems that the caller was concerned that Valerie may have been poisoned. But by who can't be determined from the records. According to Detective Warner's report, investigators planned to request a heavy metals screening as part of the autopsy. I don't see one in the final report, though. I reached out to the medical examiner's office about this to see if one was ever ordered, but I haven't heard back. Ian gave me the name of someone who he believed may have found that note. I spoke to her, but she wanted to remain anonymous. And it turns out that this person was unfamiliar with the note in question and doesn't remember finding it. But she believed it was possible. Valerie was concerned that her children were showing signs of heavy metal exposure. And the note could have been something she jotted down at one of the kids doctor's appointments. And whoever found it could have been unaware of this. Bangor PD had a copy of this note at one time, but it has since been destroyed, so it's hard to take this much further. Besides, there were other substances in her system that the ME decided contributed to her death. But the caller's fears that Valerie may have been poisoned by someone show that suspicions surrounding the circumstances of her death were there from day one. It's not like the questions have materialized out of nowhere so many years later. Setting the topic of heavy metal poisoning aside, let's examine the toxicology findings a little more closely. I spoke to a doctor of pharmacy to learn more about the interactions of the medications found in Valerie's system, the sertraline and pseudoephedrine. She told me that at normal therapeutic doses, there should be no interactions and certainly no fatal interactions. Between the two. However, in excessive amounts, the medications can cause what is known as serotonin syndrome. According to the Mayo Clinic, serotonin syndrome is a serious drug reaction that causes high levels of serotonin in the body. Signs and symptoms include insomnia and confusion, rapid heart rate and high blood pressure, headache, shivering and goosebumps. In more severe instances, serotonin syndrome can cause high fever, tremor, seizures, irregular heartbeat, unconsciousness and even death. The doctor of pharmacy I spoke to said that it's not typical that those prescribed sertraline would be warned of serotonin syndrome because it is relatively rare and only in extreme cases. So it is possible that Valerie did not know about the risks of combining the two medications and accidentally took too much, just as the medical examiner ruled. But Valerie would have had to take a lot of pseudoephedrine. The photos taken at the scene and of Valerie's medicine cabinet have since been purged from Bangor PD's system. So I don't know what specific type of pseudoephedrine product was in her house, if anything was there at all. So for reference, let's consider Maximum Strength Sudafed, a Sudafedrine product. According to the manufacturer's website, Maximum Strength Sudafed sinus congestion contains 30 milligrams of Sudafedrine dosage. Recommendations for adults and children 12 years and over is two tablets every four to six hours, so 60 milligrams with the maximum recommended dosage in 24 hours being eight to tablets now, according to comments and analysis on the toxicology screen results, typical peak levels after normal doses of pseudoephedrine are in the range of 160 to 360 nanograms per milliliter for a 60mg immediate release dose and 265 to 315ng ML for a 120mg controlled release dose. Valerie's blood level of 910 nanograms per milliliter is roughly three times higher than the upper end of these ranges. To produce the levels found in her blood at the time of her death, Valerie would have had to take nearly three times the recommended daily dose of a maximum strength product like I just described. Then there's the other substance in Valerie's system at the time of her death, the Sertraline or generic Soloft. We know from the incident report that two full tablets of sertraline were missing from her prescription bottle, which if taken as prescribed would have been four once daily doses of 50 milligrams, half of a 100 milligrams tablet per dose, which lined up with the date of the prescription. According to comments on the tox screen, following a single oral dose of 50mg peak plasma levels would be 9.5ng ML and occurred at 6 to 10 hours post dose. Or for someone on a daily regimen, as is believed to be the case for Valerie, the mean peak steady state level following a daily regimen of 50 milligrams per day is 32 nanograms per milliliter. Again, Valerie's numbers were well outside what you'd expect to see for someone who is prescribed 150 milligrams per day. An incident report states that Detective Tim Cotton photographed the bedrooms and bathroom, including the medicine cabinet and its contents. Seeing those photos today would be interesting to say the least. Was there a pseudoephedrine product in the medicine cabinet or somewhere else in the house? How much was missing from the package or bottle? Can a straight line be drawn from any pseudoephedrine medication in the apartment to the amount in Valerie's system at the time of her death? Those questions may remain unanswered because again, the only case file documents that survive today are six pages of written narratives and no photos. As for the sertraline, the incident report clearly states that the officer only counted two tablets of the medication missing from the bottle at the scene. Now, it's possible Valerie had other bottles of it not found at the scene, or that she took both of the missing tablets at the same time despite the prescribed dosage. But based on the analysis and comments written in the toxicology report, I'm not even sure that would have produced the levels of the medication found in her blood. Ian told me his mother wasn't the careless or forgetful type. In his assessment, it would be unlike her to take more than the recommended dose or to forget how much of something she took and when she took it. The idea that she accidentally took such a high dose of any medication will just never make sense to him. So is it possible that someone forced Valerie to take pseudoephedrine and or sertraline, knowing these two medications had the potential to cause a fatal interaction? It is possible. Yet there is no evidence that's what happened. There were no signs of trauma on Valerie's body, no indication she struggled with an assailant. Nothing to say she was surprised by someone entering the apartment and forcing her by some unknown method to take a fatal dose of medications. I reached out to now retired Detective Tim Cotton for an interview. He respectfully declined a recorded interview. But in our email exchange, he reiterated that if there was anything suspicious, signs of a struggle or something else indicating foul play in that apartment, he or any of the other officers would have seen it. In his opinion, which he clarified was not based on factual data, Valerie's death had the markings of something other than an accident, but not a homicide. It is possible that Valerie died by suicide, but Ian rejects this theory.

[Ian Vance]

There's no way that she would have put herself through all of that. The mental anguish, the court hearings, the protection from abuse. I mean, there's. There's no way that she would have. My brother and my sister and I were her whole world. There's no way that she would leave us kids to have any potential, to be living with my father.

[Kylie Lowe]

There's no way there could be another explanation of how Valerie came to have those levels of medications in her system if it wasn't really an accident, or if she didn't intentionally take the medication herself. And if someone didn't force her to take it, it's possible that someone surreptitiously poisoned her with it. But again, there's nothing to support that conclusion. The accidental death ruling remains until or unless new evidence points to a different conclusion. I decided to cover Valerie's case because Ian reached out to me in hopes of learning more about the circumstances of his mother's death. Before we met, he'd never seen her autopsy report or toxicology results or the case file or many of the other court documents I've referenced in this episode. That was my goal, to help him learn more. Now, more than anything, all of the questions and suspicion aside, Ian wants his mother to be known and remembered. He wants to honor her story and her life so that her death was not in vain. Valerie was a devoted mother. She was creative and musically gifted. She loved to sing in church choir and perform on stage in local community productions. Some of Ian's most precious memories of his mother happened when she was sitting at the piano.

[Ian Vance]

But I don't think she realized how much I loved listening to her play the piano. She was classically trained. I mean, she would play Beethoven and Mozart. And one particular night, I had a camera. And of course, at this point, I have since lost that camera and everything that was on it. But I remember laying on the couch and recording her play the piano and having this sense of calm over my entire body, just watching her play the piano and watching how her fingers just danced over the keys, and she made it look so easy. And anytime she played the piano, I always wanted to be right next to her, watching her create something that sounded so beautiful. I just wish I could have had a video of her playing the piano. I don't have anything. I just have the memories. Those were the best times. I would just sit back and just watch her. And it made it feel like there was nothing in the world that could hurt us.

[Kylie Lowe]

If you are experiencing domestic violence, free confidential support is available. Visit thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-SAFE the National center for Missing and Exploited Children operates the Cybertip line to report suspected child sexual exploitation, including online enticement of children for sexual acts, extra familial child sexual molestation, child pornography, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene material sent to children, misleading domain names and misleading words or digital images on the Internet. Go to report.cybertip.org foreign thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this [e-mail] Be sure to follow the show on Instagram arkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe and this is Dark Down East. Dark down east is a production of Kylie Media and Audio. Chuck so what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve.