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Mary Yoder was the sun her family orbited around the glue that held them all together. And nothing was more important to Mary than her role as a wife and a mother when she unexpectedly passed away on July 22, 2015. At 60 years old, her family had to learn how to live without her. But that wasn't the end of the story because they were convinced Mary's death wasn't an accident. And before long, their suspicions were confirmed. A few days after Mary's death, the medical examiner, a man named Dr. Clark, performed an autopsy. According to him, Mary's organs were shades of green, purple and brown, which is not normal. This pointed to only one possible conclusion. Poison. After running several tests, Dr. Clark learned that Mary had high levels of of colchicine in her system. It's a medicine that's used to treat gout, a type of arthritis that causes inflammation. There are a few warning signs that someone has overdosed on the drug, including vomiting and diarrhea. And like any other medication, if you take too much of it, the results can be fatal. It appeared that's what happened to Mary, but that didn't make any sense to her family. Mary didn't have gout, so why would she take a medicine meant to treat it? Her loved ones had several different theories, though. One was that Mary's love of gardening had inadvertently caused her sudden death. After all, colchicine is derived from the plant autumn crocus. Maybe Mary accidentally grew the flower in her garden, not knowing it was toxic, and somehow ingested it. She was also extremely health conscious and took lots of different supplements. Some family members wondered if those had gotten contaminated. Whatever had happened, her death certainly wasn't natural. But at that point, no one suspected foul play. For the next two months, Mary's family grieved her loss. But it was difficult to find closure when there were still so many questions hanging around her death. One of Mary's sisters, a woman named Sharon Mills, just couldn't let it go. That fall, she contacted a detective named Mark Van Naime, who worked for the Oneida County Police Department, where the town of Whitesboro was located. He was determined to get to the bottom of things, and there were several people he thought were suspicious, starting with Mary's own husband, Bill Yoder. After Mary passed away, Bill was heartbroken. She was the love of his life, and they'd been married for nearly four decades. Everyone thought it would take years for him to move on. But in September, two months after Mary died, something changed. Bill started seeing someone new. Her name was Kathleen or Kathy. She and Mary had a few notable similarities, including the fact that they were sisters. When Detective Van Niemie learned who Bill's new girlfriend was, alarm bells went off in his head. He wondered if his marriage to Mary hadn't been as perfect as it seemed. Perhaps Bill had been in love with Mary's sister and poisoned Mary so that he could finally be with Kath. It was a clear motive. But before doing anything else, Van Nieme had to look for evidence. However, on November 23, 2015, Van Naime would get his hands on a document that pointed him in a very different direction. That day, the Criminal Investigations Unit in Oneida county received a shocking letter. It was typed and anonymous. According to the author, Mary's death wasn't an accident, and they knew who'd killed her. It wasn't Bill. Allegedly, it was their youngest child, Adam. Not only that, but the author knew where to find the murder weapon. The Colchi scene that had killed Mary. Apparently, it was in the front seat of Adam's Jeep. It was clear to Detective Van Naime that the author was someone close to the Yoders. The information about the Colchi scene hadn't been made public. So either the person who wrote the letter had been at the hospital when Mary died, or her relatives had notified them about her cause of death. Learning the author's identity was important, but it wasn't Van Niemie's priority. He needed to know if the contents of the letter were true. Which meant searching Adam's car. To do that, Van Nieme had to apply for a warrant. Unfortunately, the court denied his request. They ruled that anonymous information like the letter wasn't grounds for a warrant. It was a disappointing setback, but Detective Van Niemy wasn't ready to give up. If he couldn't get a warrant, he'd just ask Adam if he could search his car without one. Around two weeks after the anonymous letter surfaced, Adam agreed. For Detective Van Naime, this cast doubt on the possibility that he was Mary's killer. After all, if Adam was guilty, he could have simply refused. Not only that, but Van Nieme learned that on the day of Mary's death, Adam was nowhere near Whitesboro. He was visiting one of his sisters on Long Island, a six hour drive from Mary's office. The only way Adam could have poisoned Mary was if he had given her the drugs in a time release capsule. It seemed unlikely, but Van Nieme wasn't ruling anything out. So he went ahead and searched Adam's car on the afternoon of December 8th. The vehicle was the typical messy car of a young adult. And there was a Mountain Dew bottle and one of the cup holders and brown fast food bags crumpled in the front seat. Adam stood to the side smoking a cigarette while the team got to work. One of the forensic investigators put on a pair of gloves and opened the door to the front passenger seat where the letter said the poison could be found. And to everyone's surprise, it was right there under the seat. A bottle of colchicine lay on the floor. There was a receipt right next to it with Adam's email and the delivery address. Listed as Bill and Mary's chiropractic office. It was dated January 5, 2015. Six months before Mary's death. Adam's cigarette hung limply from his lips as he looked on in shock. At this point, Detective Van Neme had already told him about the anonymous letter. Adam insisted that whoever had written the letter was trying to frame him. He swore he'd never seen the drug or the receipt in his life. Despite the evidence, Van Niemy had a hard time believing that Adam had orchestrated such an elaborate plan. Plus, he'd been extremely cooperative and had a rock solid alibi. And Something about the letter had just seemed off. Like the person who wrote it was too eager to name Adam as the killer. In the end, Van Neme agreed with Adam. Someone was trying to set him up. But if Adam didn't do it, then who did? At this point, Van Naime turned back to his original suspect, Bill. The detective wasn't sure why Bill would try to frame his own son. But his relationship with Mary's sister Kathy rubbed Van Nieme the wrong way. He thought there was more to the story. So Van Nieme decided to reach out to someone who interacted with Bill regularly. Not one of his children who might try to protect him, but someone close to the family who'd been part of the Yoder's lives for years. Someone like Katie Connolly. On December 18th and 19th of 2015, 21 year old Katie was interviewed at the Oneida County Sheriff's office. She spent hours answering questions about Mary's last day at work. She even helped draw a floor plan of the office. Even though Katie was at the office the day Mary was poisoned, she wasn't a suspect. She had no motive for wanting to kill Mary. And she'd been so helpful answering all of the detectives questions. And nothing she said implicated Bill. So after letting Katie go, Van Naime and his team decided to try a different approach. They wanted to know when Bill and Kathy had started seeing each other. If it was before Mary's death, that would solidify Bill's potential motive. When they asked Bill to look through his phone and computer, he was happy to cooperate. It seemed like he had nothing to hide. After searching his text messages, detectives found that the earliest communication between him and Kathie had occurred 10 days after Mary's death. They also found no evidence of deleted messages. Instead, the messages they did find were tame. Kathy had also recently been widowed. It appeared that mutual grief had bonded them together. It was looking less and less likely that Bill was the killer. Which meant the real murderer was someone else who'd been close to the Yoders. Someone who'd known them, gained their trust and then betrayed them in the worst way possible.

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After ruling out 25 year old Adam and 70 year old Bill as suspects in Mary Yoder's death, Detective Van Nemey was at a standstill. So in December 2015, he took another look at one of his only pieces of evidence, the anonymous letter the police department had received. The actual writing wouldn't be helpful since it had been typed, but there was a postage stamp on the envelope. Van Neme quickly ordered a DNA test. The results didn't reveal a specific person, but they did show that the DNA on the stamp was female. This made it even more unlikely that Bill had been the one to send it, which led Van Nieme to consider other suspects, including Katie Connolly. Although she'd been cooperative in her previous interviews, Van Naimi knew that didn't mean she was innocent. She may have been behind the letter, which also meant she could have planted the poison in Adam's car. Then NAMI decided to evaluate the receipt they'd found, the one that showed Adam had purchased the drug using his email address. His team traced the IP addresses used to log into the email account, and what they stumbled on was highly suspect. One of the logins led them to Katie's home address. Now, this wasn't necessarily a smoking gun. The detective reasoned that Adam could have simply purchased the drug while at Katie's house. But Adam had testified that he and Katie weren't dating at the time, so it would have been unlikely that he was at her place. At this point, it was Adam's word against Katie's, so the only way to find out who to believe was to call Katie back in for another interview. On the chilly evening of December 21, 2015, Katie returned to police headquarters. She slouched in her chair and picked at her fingernails as she waited for Detective Van Naime to start the interview. When he sat down across from Katie, he didn't tell her that she was A suspect. Instead, he asked her for help. He said his team wanted more information about Adam. So the detectives found it bizarre when Katie started to panic. After all, they hadn't accused her of anything yet. She started to hyperventilate. Detective Van Naime knew he had to keep pushing. He asked her point blank if she had written the anonymous letter. Katie didn't give a straight answer, so Detective Van Nieme repeated the question. Katie responded, you can't protect me. Van Naime didn't know what to make of this, so he asked a third time. And that's when Katie confessed. Yes, she had written the letter. Van Neme nodded, then left the room briefly to make sure that their conversation was being recorded. When he came back, Katie spoke quietly. He could hardly pick up what she was saying. Throughout the rest of the interview, Katie repeated that Adam was the killer and that she had nothing to do with it. When Van Nieme asked if the murder weapon was ordered from her house, she deflected. When he asked whether she knew Adam's email password, she didn't give a yes or no answer. This put Van Niemy on high alert. It seemed like Katie had something to hide. She told Detective Van Namy that Adam was trying to frame her. But Detective Van Naime wasn't convinced. He told Katie that usually guys don't hang on to the murder weapon, meaning that if Adam were the killer, he wouldn't have kept the bottle of colchicine, especially not in his car. And that was when Katie said something truly shocking. Something that would change the entire nature of the investigation. She looked up at Van Neemy, brown hair framing her pale face. She said that guys didn't use poison. When the detective asked why not, she said, quote, because it's a lady's weapon. Something in Katie's tone had changed. Her voice was no longer quiet and shy, but oddly bold. She even smiled at him. Detective Van Naimy's mind started to reel. What was Katie playing at? Had she just hinted that she was the one behind the murder? That her accusation of Adam had been a lie? Van Nemeen ended the interview feeling thoroughly conflicted. But soon even more evidence would surface that painted Katie Connelly in a very bad light. As 2015 came to a close and the Yoder family experienced their first holiday season without Mary, Detective Van Neme zeroed in on the receipt. His team had been able to trace it and learned that the colchicine had been purchased using two prepaid credit cards. Those cards had been purchased at Hannaford Supermarket, which was located along the Route Katie likely took home from work. And they'd gotten more information from Katie's iPhone, which she'd agreed to let them look through. That's where they discovered a document scanning app called cam scanner. The documents stored on the app revealed that Katie had set up a shell company called Cairo family care. It just so happened that was the company that was used to purchase the colchicine, not chiropractic family care, which was the actual name of Bill and Mary's business. They also found another piece of damning evidence. A note on her phone that was all about colchicine poisoning. There was no doubt that Katie looked guilty. There were the prepaid credit cards, the confession about the letter, Screenshots from her phone, and proof she'd logged into the email account used to purchase the poison. Armed with all the new evidence, Detective Van Neme had his next mission. To see if he could extract a legal confession. On February 5, 2016, Katie was called down to the Oneida county sheriff's office to sign a deposition under oath. When she arrived, she was led into an interrogation room. The this time, the detectives didn't beat around the bush. They told Katie that it was over. They knew she'd done it. Now they just wanted to know her motive. But Katie wasn't going down so easily. During that interview, she gave the performance of a lifetime. She broke down in hysterics, even dry heaving. But the detectives weren't about to exclude. Excuse her. Instead, one of them put the garbage can by her and told her not to throw up on him. The interrogation continued for hours. During questioning, Katie admitted to purchasing the prepaid credit cards that were linked to the murder weapon. However, she continued to insist that she had not killed Mary. The team tried everything to get her to confess. And they told Katie they wanted to help her, that she was smart and had a bright future. All they wanted was the truth. Still, Katie held firm, and in the end, they had to let her go. But she wouldn't be free for long. Hi.

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By the spring of 2016, the investigation into the death of Mary Yoder had ramped up. It had been less than a year since she was fatally poisoned. And Detective Van Naime had zeroed in on a suspect. 23 year old Katie Conley, the former girlfriend of Mary's son Adam. But Katie wasn't acting like she was a murder suspect. In fact, she didn't seem worried at all. In May of that year, she graduated college with a degree in business. She'd even finished with a 4.0 GPA. Now she was thinking about applying for jobs or maybe going to graduate school. But she would have to put all that on hold, because in June, a secret grand jury convened. They were presented with a mountain of evidence against Katie. In the last few months, forensics had been able to test the bottle of colchicine for DNA. Unsurprisingly, it was a match for Katie. The jury was shown this information, as well as the anonymous letter and the IP address showing Katie's multiple logins to Adam's email account. In the end, they presented 124 exhibits. And on June 13, 2016, the grand jury came back with a decision. Katie Connolly was indicted on charges of second degree murder. This meant the jury either didn't think the killing was premeditated or they simply didn't have enough evidence to prove it. But the prosecution might be able to. On April 25, 2017, Katie's trial began at the Oneida County Courthouse. News vans flocked to get footage of the 24 year old entering the historic building. The quiet town of Whitesboro had suddenly become the focus of a media frenzy, and it seemed like the entire country was watching. So were the Yoder and Conley families who were both in attendance. And when it came to the Conleys, they had something very important on their side. Their reputation. They were well respected. In Whitesboro, most people saw Katie as a well mannered girl who wouldn't hurt a fly. Some people had even put signs in their yards that read, free Katie Connolly and wrongfully charged. And throughout the trial, Katie certainly looked like the picture of innocence. She wore crisp blazers and kept her hair down. But none of that changed the fact that the evidence against Katie was persuasive. The prosecution argued that Katie had poisoned Mary by lacing her protein powder with colchicine. They presented item after item to the jury. They even showed how they traced the purchase of the murder weapon back to Katie using digital forensics. And they brought in the woman who Katie had allegedly ordered the colchicine from. Well, not only that, but they offered a possible motive. The Yoder's lawyers argued that Katie was furious with Adam because he wouldn't take her back. And that's when she tried to poison him with those alpha brain supplements. Adam got extremely sick, but not enough to die. At that point, Katie set her sights on her next victim. Someone whose death would shake Adam to his core. His mother, Mary. Their case was strong, but the defense wasn't going down without a fight. They needed to cast a reasonable doubt. So they decided to target Mary's husband, Bill. They took cheap shots at his character. They got Bill on the stand and asked if he had wanted an open marriage, then if he was a member of porn sites. Bill replied no to both of those questions. After that, they grilled him about his relationship with Mary's sister Kathy. They asked invasive questions about the couple's history, including when they'd first had sexual relations. Bill shrugged his shoulders and said he couldn't remember. He said that he wasn't keeping a journal. While Bill was put in the hot seat, Katie had been keeping her cool. She only cried once during the entire trial. When her ex boyfriend Adam testified against her. He talked about their up and down toxic relationship, declaring that Katie was not a good girlfriend. When the lawyers on both sides made their closing statements, feelings in the courtroom were mixed. It wasn't clear which way the jury would go. The defense's skewering of Bill's character may have turned one of their heads. And they only needed one juror to doubt Katie's guilt. The jury deliberated for five days. For her part, Katie didn't seem worried. The weekend before the verdict was announced, she and her sisters were seen taking selfies and giggling in front of a sports car owned by Katie's lawyer. It seemed like going to prison wasn't even on her mind. On May 18, 2017, the jury had come to a decision. Katie's parents sat across the aisle from the Yoders. Bill and his two daughters held hands as the verdict was read. Ten jurors found Katie innocent. Just two found her guilty. Since there was no consensus, it was declared a mistrial this wasn't necessarily a victory for Katie. She hadn't been exonerated. But she would get to go home that day to her family instead of heading to a cold prison cell. Katie smiled as she left the courtroom. Her mother answered questions from reporters outside the courtroom. She said she always knew Katie was innocent. On the other hand, Bill and his children were clearly disappointed. But the prosecution wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet. Six months later, they would take Katie back to court. In the meantime, she would remain under house arrest. In the months until the second trial, the prosecution gathered even more evidence. This included additional messages and notes from Katie's phone. One screenshot they found showed a calculation that Katie had made. She'd plugged in Mary's weight to figure out how much colchicine it would take to kill her. Another calculated how much it would take to kill Adam. These screenshots breathed new life into the prosecution's case. And they were ready to make katie pay. On October 16, 2017, the first day of testimony began in round two of the murder trial of Mary Yoder. This time, the defense decided not to focus their attention on Bill. Their new strategy to pin Mary's murder on Adam. They tried to prove that Adam had tried to frame Katie. And they referred back to Katie's sexual assault accusation from 2014, the one that she herself had retracted. But the prosecution fought back. They used Adam and Katie's toxic relationship to show that Katie killed Mary out of vindictive hate. They also fired back against the defense's claim that Adam framed Katie. The prosecution had looked through Bill and Adam's phones. Those searches hadn't revealed anything incriminating. While Katie's phone was full of the sinister searches about poison. After a month of arguments, the prosecution rested their case. They had done everything they could to convince the world that Katie was a killer. But would the jury feel the same? On November 6, 2017, a verdict had been reached. Mary's daughters held hands, gripping so tightly they left bruises. The tension in the room was palpable. No one knew which way the jury would go. First, the jury read their verdict for murder in the second degree. Not guilty. Next, the verdict for manslaughter in the first degree. Guilty. Katie didn't cry, but her parents broke down in tears. On another bench, the Yoders embraced each other, the relief clear on their faces. But their nightmare wasn't over quite yet. They still had to get through Katie's sentencing. And that took place two months after the verdict. On January 11, 2018, both the Conleys and the Yoders were in attendance. During the sentencing, the Yoders would have the chance to speak about the pain Katie had caused their family or to ask the judge for a lesser sentence. Katie would also have the opportunity to ask for leniency. When Bill got up in front of the judge, he talked about his all consuming grief. It had been over two years since his wife's death, but he said his life still felt empty and hollow. His voice was shaky and he tripped over his words. He spoke about how much Mary's death had affected his children. He said a part of them had died that day. After Bill sat back down, it was Adam's turn to speak. He was emotional, but his voice was clear. Adam asked for forgiveness, but not for Katie. He wanted it for himself. He'd introduced Katie to his family. He was the reason she'd entered their lives. He was the reason Mary was dead. Then Adam told the room full of people, including Katie's family, that he hated her. Unlike the first trial, Katie stared straight ahead while listening to Adam. She didn't cry and she didn't seem regretful. And after Adam sat down, it was finally time for Katie to learn her fate. Would she spend the next few decades in prison? Or would a judge take pity on her? In the end, the judge's decision came down to Mary's last 48 hours on Earth. Hours filled with suffering in the ICU. Hours spent with tubes down her throat. Unable to speak. She never got to say goodbye to her family. With that in mind, Katie was sentenced to 23 years in state prison, which is at the higher end for first degree manslaughter. By the time she got out, she would be 47 years old. Katie would serve her sentence at the only maximum security state prison for women in all of New York, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Her team of lawyers promised that they wouldn't take this lying down. Over the next few years, they tried their best to appeal her conviction. But Nothing worked. Until seven years later. It was a new year. January 2025. Katie had spent the last seven years in prison. She was now 31 years old. And on January 31st, she would become a free woman because her condition conviction had been overturned. The reason? Ineffective counsel. Katie's lawyers failed to meet the minimum standard of competence. In this case, ineffective counsel referred to Katie's lawyer, who didn't challenge the search of her cell phone. Today, Mary Yoder's suspected killer is free. But she might not stay that way forever. Mary's family and her lawyers aren't done fighting for justice. And In April of 2025, the Oneida District County Attorney's Office made an announcement. Katie's case will go back to the grand jury at some point in the near future. It's impossible to say what the outcome will be. The results have been drastically different each time. But whatever happens, one thing is certain. Mary Yoder was so much more than a victim. She was a wife, a mother, and a pillar of her community. Her ability to see the good in people is part of what made her so loved, and that's a quality that we should all strive to have. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories. Come back next time for the story of a new murder and all the people it affected. True Crime Stories is a Crime House original. Powered by Page Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two part series, you'll get access to both at once plus exciting bonus content. We'll be back on Tuesday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benidon, Natalie Pertovsky, Rachel Engelman, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Lauren Gould, Haniya Said and Russell Nash. Thank you for joining us. Looking for your next Crime House listen? Don't miss Crimes of with Sabrina, Deanna Roga and Corri Vn. Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season from Crimes of the Paranormal, unsolved murders, mysterious disappearances, and more. Their first season is Crimes of Infamy, the true stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. And coming up next is Crimes of Paranormal real life cases where the line between the living and dead gets seriously blurry. Listen to Crimes of every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.