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Detective
a
Narrator
competitive cyclist is killed under mysterious circumstances.
Investigator
There's a dead body laying in the ditch. It's got a dog collar around his neck.
Forensic Expert
He had several small cuts, abrasions. But you don't have this obvious cause of death.
Narrator
The investigation provides a number of questionable leads.
Investigator
She said that he had had an affair.
Forensic Expert
He had been charged with a domestic battery offense and also an invasion of privacy.
Investigator
Usually sex, drugs or money is why someone gets murdered.
Forensic Expert
He wouldn't let me call the police
Investigator
about the man that came to the
Forensic Expert
door to threaten to kill him three or four times.
Investigator
We drew fluids, we went the extra step and took the stomach contents.
Narrator
But the truth turns out to be stranger than anyone could have imagined.
Investigator
We found a screenshot of the death cap mushroom. You eat it and you are dead.
Detective
We have to take all these little pieces of a puzzle and put them together.
Investigator
It is almost the perfect murder. Almost.
Narrator
Noblesville, Indiana is a quiet city 25 miles north of Indianapol.
Forensic Expert
The southern half of this 400 square mile county is very suburban. We have some of the safest and in many ways wealthiest per capita wise communities in the state, if not the whole country.
Narrator
But on April 24, 2020, an urgent 911 call from a local resident serves as a reminder that the area isn't immune to violence.
Investigator
911, what's the location? Your emergency over north road. There's a dead body laying in the ditch. I saw him walking down the street. It's a male, I'd say, I don't know, older, 30s, 40s, maybe 50s. And it's got a dog collar around his neck.
Narrator
Investigators are immediately dispatched to the scene.
Investigator
I found a white male. I estimated his age to be between 45 and 55. He had no shirt on, had a pair of sweats on, and a shirt was tied around his left wrist. You could physically see some red dots throughout the shirt, and you could assume it was blood. At that point, we secured the scene. It's on a country road. It's not very populated, but it is a traveled road.
Detective
There is what they reported as a dog collar or a dog leash wrapped around his neck. I saw and immediately recognized as a rifle sling that you'd put on a rifle. You could tell from the amount of lividity and some insect activity that had been deceased for a couple days.
Narrator
Unfortunately, there is little evidence indicating who the victim is or how he died.
Forensic Expert
He had several small cuts, abrasions, not sufficient to cause blood loss that would result in death. So you don't have this obvious cause of death.
Investigator
He has no ID on him, so we have no clue who he is. DNA would take months to identify him. So our only real option was to do fingerprints. We obtained fingerprints from the deceased. We conducted an area canvass, and there were no vehicles found in the area. No neighbors have seen anything or hurt anything.
Narrator
While awaiting the fingerprint results, Investigators further assess the man's condition, and a theory surfaces.
Forensic Expert
Not only was he shoeless and sockless, but the bottoms of his feet and the tops of the feet weren't dirty. One could draw a conclusion there of not only had he not died in that position, but he likely had been dropped there.
Detective
We're not too far away from a neighborhood we've had a lot of overdoses in. Is this somebody that's overdosed and died, and their friends didn't know what to do, and so they dumped the body right over here? We kind of start to establish our next steps to figure out exactly what's going on.
Narrator
With nothing else to gain from the scene, investigators transport the body to the morgue for closer inspection.
Detective
When I take photographs at the morgue, I do an overhaul of the entire body, and then I start to section the body off. As I got to the arms, I noticed around the wrists some adhesive. And that kind of seemed a little strange. As I continued. I got to the ankles, and I noticed the same basically demarcation where you could see that it appeared a piece of tape had been wrapped around his ankles. So I'm thinking this is probably not just an overdose death, probably a homicide. We need to start digging into that aspect of who is this guy and what's going on here? Luckily, we were able to get some fingerprints that were on file with the
Investigator
state that matched, he was identified as David Michael Fouts of Pendleton,
Narrator
Indiana. Native David Fouts was born on May 23, 1969 and raised on the family farm. As an adult, David left his rural roots for a fast paced career in technology.
Friend of David
Dave was involved in the computers and technical side of things.
Investigator
David was manager at Salesforce based out of Indianapolis. He worked from home.
Friend of David
He was a top notch professional in the technology and computer field. He had a fairly high profile job and I know it got stressful at times.
Narrator
In addition to professional stresses, David struggled in love. By his mid-40s he had been married and divorced.
Friend of David
As far as when Dave separated from his first wife, I began to notice a change in his personality probably around 2013. He was not quite happy. Go lucky. He seemed to be more withdrawn.
Narrator
David found relief from the pressures of his career and personal life through his hobbies.
Investigator
David had a house on the east side of the county where he had greyhounds and they were retired racing dogs.
Friend of David
Also, he was heavily involved in cycling and road racing. He truly wanted to improve and get better. I would see him two or three times a week when he would attend my training classes. I found that Dave was always quick witted, had a good joke ready for anybody who crossed his path. He was always concerned about the well being of his fellow cyclists or his friends. I think he did that as a way to take the attention off himself. He would pour that compassion into his friends rather than draw them into any heartache he might have been experiencing.
Narrator
By 2016, 47 year old David was committed to his work and pastimes and content to live life alone. Until 50 year old Katrina Gentry walked into his life.
Investigator
Katrina is one of, I believe, three daughters of Glen Gentry and he owned a roofing business in Richmond, Indiana. They had a very rough upbringing. She had children, I believe fairly young. Three children.
Narrator
Like David, Katrina had never been lucky in love. By 2016 she had a divorce and several failed relationships behind her. Her children were also adults with their own families. But Katrina didn't look or act like a typical grandmother.
Investigator
Katrina was very attractive, very outgoing.
Ex-Boyfriend Joe O'Brien
She liked going to concerts, she liked going to comedy clubs. She didn't like to be in a crowd, but if she were, she liked to be the center of attention.
Narrator
Katrina's outgoing nature balanced David's introverted personality. After three years of dating, the couple married in 2019, But their new family unit has been destroyed after David is found murdered on a rural stretch of road. Now investigators must apply forensic knowledge to make sense of this puzzling Crime scene,
Forensic Expert
It's clear that he hadn't died that day. We found fly eggs in his sweatpants, which suggests that he had been deceased at least for a day.
Investigator
There were no signs of trauma, none. So, you know, you would expect maybe some ligature marks on the neck, a gunshot wound, but there was nothing noticeable that would have caused his death.
Detective
We start to lean towards we're going to need toxicology because we're thinking, you know, maybe some type of poisoning.
Investigator
We drew fluids, urine, blood for examination, for toxicology, but we found nothing physically that we could say killed him. So we went the extra step and took the stomach contents to see if maybe it was something that he had ingested. You couldn't tell what food he had had to eat last except for it looked like there were bits of mushrooms that had been chewed up and swallowed. Purdue University is in Indiana and we were able to get a hold of their mycology department. The doctor identified the mushrooms as L. Conatum, which is a poisonous mushroom that can kill you even if you're dead. It will metabolize out of your body so there will be no signs of this poison, this toxin in your body within I think 72 hours, maybe less. And David had been dead for a few days.
Narrator
Detectives are left with a new conundrum. Had David eaten the mushrooms willingly, unaware they were deadly? Or is this indeed a murder one unlike any seen before?
Investigator
There is so little known about mushrooms and there was no case in the history of the world where they'd been intentionally used to kill someone. This type of mushroom.
Narrator
Coming up, a grieving widow points the finger David had and a fair behind
Forensic Expert
my back for a number of months
Narrator
with her until suspicious Internet queries put a new suspect in the spotlight.
Forensic Expert
That extraction revealed web searches for what it takes to get an arrest warrant for murder.
Narrator
Detectives are nine hours into investigating the death of 51 year old David Ferrari after finding evidence in David's stomach that might point to a unique murder method. Investigators speak with his widow Katrina.
Investigator
I informed her that David was dead and that we'd found him in a ditch in Hamilton county off of Overdorf Road. She grabbed her chest and she was crying.
Narrator
Are you sure what happened?
Investigator
We're almost certain who it is.
Narrator
Can I see what happened?
Investigator
We'll discuss that after. I'm not going to tell you no, but might be wrong. It's hard to explain how anybody's going to react to the notification that their loved one's been killed. It seemed over the top. It fell off.
Narrator
Once Katrina recovers from the Shock. She reveals a surprising piece of information to detect.
Investigator
She described that she and David had a loving relationship, but he had had an affair, and Katrina knew who it was and what was going on.
Narrator
I've never met her, but I know her name because David had an affair behind my back for a number of months with her.
Investigator
This can't be happening to me. We were going to try to make this marriage work. She told us she started noticing in their bank statements that monies were being spent and she could not account for them. So that was interesting.
Narrator
When Katrina looked into it, she found out David had given his lover money to purchase a vehicle.
Forensic Expert
Katrina was spending most of her time at the country house in. In Noblesville, and he was living at the Pendleton house. They weren't necessarily seeing each other a lot at that time.
Investigator
We asked when the last time she had seen him was, and she told us that it had been on Tuesday, and this was on a now a Saturday morning. So we asked her. Usually sex, drugs, or money is why someone gets murdered. Well, what would be the reason to kill David?
Forensic Expert
Katrina said David had been involved with this other woman, and it was a love triangle. So David had been previously threatened by this other third party, this other leg in this love triangle.
Investigator
She described to us on several occasions that a male had come to the house and that he had threatened David directly. He wouldn't let me call the police about the man that came to the door to threaten to kill him three or four times. She said it was very clean cut. And then she gave us a rough time frame of what she had been doing. Tuesday through Friday,
Narrator
Detectives request access to Katrina's phone records to verify her alibi, as well as the name of David's lover, which Katrina willingly provides.
Investigator
There was nothing to physically say or point to Katrina, so it was unclear whether she was a suspect at that point or not.
Narrator
To verify Katrina's claims, investigators track down David's lover, and she says Katrina was misinformed.
Investigator
We did an interview with her. She said that David had never met her ex lovers. She cooperated fully and gave us everything that we asked for.
Narrator
Due to her easy cooperation, detectives dismiss David's lover as a potential person of interest.
Forensic Expert
They also go and talk to any of the men that she's ultimately involved with.
Investigator
One was in prison so he could immediately be ruled out. The other one lives in Florida, and we were able to make contact with him. He was able to provide an alibi, which we were able to follow up on and check out.
Forensic Expert
There's just nothing there that corroborates that they would be involved in David's death.
Narrator
In search of further leads, detectives take a closer look at David's lifestyle.
Detective
Who is David Fouts? What other connections may he have that could give us evidence of who maybe did this?
Investigator
Neighbors really didn't even have much to say about him. He just seems like he worked and then he came home. I would describe David to be somewhat of a private person, especially with his personal life.
Friend of David
He always gave a big smile and a hug when he would greet you. I found that Dave was a very engaging and willing to help type of guy.
Detective
There was nothing that we found that was like, aha, this is going to lead us somewhere.
Narrator
For a more thorough idea of his character, investigators run a background check on David Fouts. What they discover is surprising.
Forensic Expert
In the public records, David had been charged with a domestic battery offense in September of 2019 and also an invasion of privacy.
Investigator
Katrina accused him of domestic battery, and he was. He was arrested for that. David said it didn't happen, that he had never touched her.
Forensic Expert
There was no contact order between them as a condition of David's bond.
Investigator
I spoke with his attorney and they were going to fight the case in court. And that court date was coming up.
Narrator
To find out the truth about their relationship, detectives analyzed the couple's phone records.
Forensic Expert
Katrina talks about seeing David on the 21st and in her phone calls in the, I think three, four weeks up to that, there were a lot of phone contacts between their two phones. What is interesting is after 2, 3 o' clock in the afternoon on the 22nd, there is no more contact between Katrina's phone and David's phone.
Investigator
Why does that suddenly stop? She never tried to contact him after the 22nd. We found him dead on Friday the 24th.
Narrator
Katrina's photos and web history are even more incriminating.
Forensic Expert
That extraction revealed web searches for interesting things like crimes of passion in Indiana. What it takes to get an arrest warrant for murder in Indiana. Very concerning and questionable things.
Investigator
Within that, in her pictures, we found a screenshot of the death cap mushroom. Deadly ones like the death cap, you eat it and you are dead.
Narrator
For investigators, it all points to one theory.
Investigator
We strongly believe that these mushrooms played a huge part and likely killed David. And the death cap mushroom is the one that was on her phone.
Forensic Expert
From the cell site location information, David's phone never left Pendleton, and Katrina had not tried calling him again, which suggests she knows exactly what has happened to David. He's already gone.
Narrator
Now that investigators have zeroed in on Katrina being involved in David's death. The question is whether she acted alone.
Forensic Expert
In Additional review of the phone records reveals that Katrina has a very close friend A lot of contact with Terry Hopkins. Terry Hopkins cares for Katrina's dad, Glenn.
Detective
Deputies are trying to figure out exactly what their relationship is. Sometimes it almost seems like a boyfriend girlfriend relationship, and sometimes it seems like a father daughter relationship. So we're thinking, is Terry involved?
Narrator
There is no doubt that Terry cares for Katrina, and messages between the two make his feelings about David clearer.
Investigator
David and Teri did not get along. They hated each other.
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Narrator
After phone records reveal Terry Hopkins close relationship with Katrina Fouts and his intense hatred for her husband, Indiana detectives must investigate whether one or both could be responsible for David Foutz's murder.
Detective
We looked into Terry Hopkins and we find out that he was a former Richmond police officer and that he'd been retired.
Narrator
On April 26, two days after David's body was found, detectives request that Katrina come to the station.
Investigator
We asked if she and Terry had ever been romantic. She kind of laughed and said no. She described Terry as father from another mother, a dear family friend, as well as the caretaker for her father. They lived in Richmond and they'd been friends for some time.
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
He got to know her father through an organization in the community and they formed a friendship and her father slowly started showing signs of dementia. So Terry assisted him in day to day living tasks.
Investigator
Terry was known to have, according to Katrina, some health issues. As well, he was diabetic, he had congestive heart failure.
Forensic Expert
They talked to her about when they would have been together last and she indicated that on the night of the 21st that there had been plans for Katrina. Terry and Katrina's dad, Glenn.
Investigator
Glenn decided he did not want to come. So Terry met her at a close by convenience store and then they went and picked up food and went to the country house.
Forensic Expert
It got late, they fell asleep and when one of them finally roused, it was like three in the morning, they split and went back to their homes.
Investigator
Thursday, Terry had come back up and was nice enough to bring her this hydraulic lift cart to help her move particles around the country house. And that was pretty much all the summation of what she said that they had done.
Narrator
Rather than take Katrina's story at face value, investigators used cell data to track her and Terry's locations leading up to the time David was killed.
Investigator
We learned Terry came up to meet with Katrina around 6:00 in the evening. We have video surveillance from a bank of them going toward the country house. Their GPS services put them at the country house for an extended period of time. At some point in the wee hours of the 22nd, both their phones are shut off for GPS and or powered down. So we do not know where they're at at that point. The services were turned on again around 11 in the morning and Katrina pretty much all stayed at home for that day. That was a pretty big flag. So it is our belief that Katrina and Terry shut off their cell phone devices so they couldn't be located. Based upon the totality of the circumstances, that gave us enough probable cause to actually get search warrants. On 29 April, we executed three search warrants. One in Richmond at Terry and Glen Gentry's house, the other at the Pendleton house, and then the last one was at the country house. Nothing of substance was really located at the Pendleton house. But there was a walkie talkie found in the glove box of Katrina's vehicle.
Detective
It just kind of seemed out of place because why would this middle aged lady have a walkie talkie vehicle?
Narrator
The country house also provides some interesting discoveries.
Forensic Expert
They find rifle sling. That is the same brand as the rifle sling that was found around David's body.
Detective
To our knowledge, David didn't own rifles. Katrina's dad owned rifles. But David really wasn't there using the rifles, the rifle slings in the garage,
Narrator
detectives find the hydraulic cart Katrina told them Terry had brought when they last saw each other.
Detective
On top of the cart is a Piece of cardboard that has a footprint on it or a footwear impression of a shoe. There's another piece that has tire tread impressions. So we take all those things in all this moving, we do move a mat that's right inside the door from the garage to the house. And there is what appears to be a little bit of blood on the floor underneath this mat.
Narrator
Samples of the blood are taken for testing. If it's David's, this is likely the true crime scene.
Detective
The rifle sling on his body and the rifle sling found in the house, it just kind of was consistent that, hey, we need some kind of leather strap or some kind of way to hoist this body. Let's use that. And they have to figure out, okay, now he's in the garage. How do we use this cart to load him into the car and move him from here over and dump him?
Narrator
The final search warrant executed at Terry's home only heightens their suspicions.
Investigator
In the back of Terry's car, we found a box of miscellaneous articles, A box cutter. There was a roll of duct tape. There was what's called a dead blow hammer, which is like a plastic hammer that's filled with sand.
Narrator
Investigators also tracked down receipts and surveillance from a local hardware store where Terry purchased the items.
Detective
Not only did they buy this big cart, but a couple different knives, duct tape, zip ties, rubber gloves, a tarp, some rope. Things that you may want to get if you are involved in a homicide. We also search Terry's F150 pickup truck. I find a on walkie talkie that matches exactly to the one that I found in Katrina's vehicle.
Investigator
They were both set to channel 10, sub channel 11. It is our belief that Katrina and Terry, when they shut off their cell phone devices, they used these walkie talkies to communicate.
Narrator
While this evidence alone doesn't justify an arrest warrant, it does lead law enforcement to a likely conclusion.
Detective
There is no smoking gun, if you will, in this case. We have to take all these little pieces of a puzzle and put them together. This picture is, you know, that Terry and Katrina were in cahoots to get rid of David.
Narrator
Coming up, detectives uncover a chilling pattern of behavior.
Ex-Boyfriend Joe O'Brien
She would have blown up my house, cashed that check, and she would have been gone.
Narrator
But will it be enough to bring a suspected killer to justice?
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
I think she saw the slow decline in logical thinking, and she used it to her advantage.
Narrator
Five days into the murder investigation of David Foust, A mountain of circumstantial evidence has been gathered, incriminating his widow, Katrina, and Her friend Terry Hopkins. When investigators ask Katrina to extend explain the evidence they found, she answers with a lawyer. So instead, they bring Terry in for questioning.
Forensic Expert
Here we are about four or five days after, after David's body was found, and we see there's massive bruising on Terry's chest. There's all these abrasions on Terry's hands. It looked like he'd been. He'd had a rough go at some point.
Investigator
I thought we are definitely onto something here, that he is involved. With those rights in mind, are you willing to give us a statement and talk to us about this? My good sense tells me that I need to wait and request for an attorney. I said, I do wish you luck in all sincerity. You change your mind, you want to talk to us.
Narrator
With Terry exercising his right to an attorney, investigators pivot their focus back to Katrina. A deeper look into her past provides some revealing information.
Forensic Expert
She had a conviction for false informing rising out of a rape investigation.
Investigator
I think it was a rough time frame of 2009 to 2011. She had engaged in sexual act with someone and then had said that she had been raped.
Narrator
The accused insisted the sex was consensual, and an official police investigation determined the allegations were false. As a result, Katrina was formally charged with false informing.
Investigator
Katrina was subsequently forced to pay for the state police SWAT team, all their fuel, all their overtime, and everything.
Narrator
When investigators speak to Katrina's ex boyfriend, Joe o', Brien, he says lying came naturally to her.
Ex-Boyfriend Joe O'Brien
I met her through her first husband. The marriage ended in 2013. She shows up and tells me that she's back in town, but she doesn't have a place to stay, so I let her stay at my place. Katrina is a person who, one on one, she will try to best you. She has to be the focus of everybody in the room. And if you listen to some of her stories, you'll know right off the bat that there lies.
Narrator
According to Joe, Katrina only cared about one thing, money.
Ex-Boyfriend Joe O'Brien
If that person is giving her money, she's happy. But the moment that person says, you're not getting another dime from me, she's going to the next person.
Narrator
Joe says Katrina's behavior became even more alarming right before their breakup.
Ex-Boyfriend Joe O'Brien
I had been in a car accident, and first words out of her mouth were, oh, my God, we need to get life insurance. What's going to happen to me if you were to get killed? She just kept pressuring me every day, have you looked into getting life insurance? I finally broke down. I looked into it, gave her a price of half A million dollars. One day in the basement, I found a basket that is not supposed to be there. And in that basket, I found five grenades. They were right underneath my chair that I sat in, on the floor above that. I think she was going to kill me. She would have blown up my house, cashed that check, and she would have been gone.
Narrator
Although Katrina was never charged with anything regarding Joe, to investigators, the pattern of behavior suggests she'd be capable of doing something similar with David. To find out if Terry was the kind of man who'd be a willing accomplice, detectives talked to his ex wife, Deb Hopkins.
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
I was interviewed by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. They wanted to get to know Terry's character. We were high school sweethearts. I just fell in love with his personality. He was fun, loving, ornery, gentle, kind. Everything that I always enjoyed in a person.
Narrator
Deb tells investigators Terry began his career in law enforcement right after they were married.
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
He started out, obviously, as a patrolman. When he retired, he was the captain over Internal affairs.
Narrator
But in 2014, a year after his retirement, Terry's health took a turn for the worse.
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
He had a frontal lobe stroke. We don't know what brought it on, but I noticed a change in his personality. He was verbally and emotionally and psychologically
Forensic Expert
busy, but never physically. He was having the affair. I walked in on him and his
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
narrative lover having a conversation on the
Forensic Expert
phone, confronted him about it, and left that night. And it went back.
Narrator
Deb filed for divorce in 2019 after 45 years of marriage. That's when Katrina stepped in, asking Terry to move in with her father.
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
He and Katrina's dad were friends for approximately 10 years. Terry just moved in with him to help him.
Narrator
Deb says Katrina used the situation to turn Terry against her husband, Davenport.
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
Terry liked David, and as the marriage went on, he started getting the, oh, he's abusing me. The hatred of David was very evident. I mean, you could see physically see tense muscles, clenched jaw whenever he would talk about David. I think she saw the slow decline in logical thinking, in thought processes, in judgment, and I think she used it to her advantage.
Investigator
Do you think that Terry would try to protect Katrina if he thought she
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
was in harm's way?
Narrator
Yeah. What detectives still need, however, is physical evidence linking Terry and Katrina to David's murder. They hope science will provide it.
Investigator
The shirt that was wrapped around David's left wrist was sent for DNA analysis, and we learned it contained David's DNA. But a lot of blood on it belonged to Terry Hopkins. I can't Justify why Terry's blood would be on David's shirt. When did they come into contact?
Forensic Expert
Also, Terry and Katrina's DNA was on the cardboard box for the lift cart. Terry's DNA was on the lift cart itself. And David's DNA was on the rubber mat that would have been on top of the lift cart. And that was all very significant forensic evidence. The concept that we have is that he had been in some way incapacitated at the Pendleton house. From there was killed, loaded in the car. Because there's no clear explanation explanation nor really is there a reasonable one that says that Terry's and Katrina's DNA are involved in the box and the cart and David's on the mat. That doesn't involve Katrina and Terry being directly involved with the transportation of David's body.
Narrator
But even with the DNA evidence, investigators still have the big questions.
Forensic Expert
At the end of the day, we couldn't prove that the mushrooms killed.
Investigator
Any samples we had from David did not test positive for the, the muscarin toxin, which is the toxin again, that could kill you. We didn't know how he died. It is almost the perfect murder. I don't think there was a point where we thought we wouldn't be able to solve it. But will the prosecutor accept charges? That was the issue.
Narrator
After a five month investigation, Indiana detectives take their findings to the district attorney's office looking for arrest warrants for Katrina Foutz and Terry Hopkins.
Investigator
The weirdest thing about this case, this is the mushrooms. The murder was almost perfect, but there's certain things that you can't get away from. They overthought it. They did stupid stuff. In the end,
Narrator
The DA agrees the evidence is compelling. On September 17, 2020, the arrests are made.
Investigator
Terry had a lot of guns. He was living in a house which he and his ex wife were supposed to be selling. We surrounded his house, used a SWAT team to call him out. There was a point where I was worried. I thought he was just going to commit suicide. But he finally came out.
Forensic Expert
Katrina was arrested through a traffic stop. She has two phones with her. One is burner phone and she also has $40,000 in cash.
Narrator
If Katrina was planning to find flee, it's too late now.
Investigator
Katrina had made me promise her that I would let her see the killer. So I walked into her jail cell and I had a clipboard with a mirror on it. And I made her look at me and said, here she is, you did it. And she looked back down and said, he doesn't even like mushrooms. That was all she said, and I walked out.
Narrator
Detectives find Terry more willing to cooperate now that he's free of Katrina's influence.
Investigator
He told us that Katrina had devised a plan to feed David mushrooms. That that night they did indeed meet on the 21st. They came back to the Pendleton house. Katrina walked in and said, to the effect of, honey, did you eat those mushrooms I made for you? And David said, yes. Said he didn't feel good and was having trouble with breathing. At that point, Terry walked in and there was an altercation of some sort. Terry said he put his arm around David's neck and just kind of squeezed him, and David stopped moving. So we asked, well, how did you get David into a car? Was he dead or alive when you got him in a car? I don't really remember. He couldn't keep his story straight because of illness at that point, due to
Narrator
Terry's quickly declining health, he never makes it to court.
Forensic Expert
His health just continued to deteriorate. His heart was failing him. And ultimately, before he could be brought to trial, he passed away.
Narrator
In 2022. Katrina's murder trial begins without Terry's confession. The case is largely circumstantial.
Detective
What we had was physical evidence that had DNA and microanalysis that kind of
Investigator
matched everybody together, either alive or dead. David was transported to the country house, and his body was stored there for two days.
Detective
David was around 200 pounds. The rifle sling was something that they could just grab when they're trying to figure out, how are we going to move this body? Then, using this hydraulic cart, they could jack the body up off the ground and push it into wherever they needed to.
Forensic Expert
The night of the 23rd, into the 24th, they used the walkie talkies to coordinate between the two cars and dump the body.
Narrator
The defense argues the state's theory is. Is just that, a theory. There's no way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Katrina was involved. The jury agrees in part, she was
Investigator
not found guilty of murder.
Forensic Expert
The jury just couldn't be sure that she killed him. But they knew that she had made an agreement to kill David, that certain overt acts had been taken instead.
Narrator
Instead, they find Katrina guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and failure to report human remains.
Investigator
Katrina was sentenced to 34 years in prison.
Ex-Wife Deb Hopkins
I felt she should have got life. She took life. I think she should have been in here for life. But Indiana says different.
Ex-Boyfriend Joe O'Brien
She's in the best place that she can be right now. I just feel that whoever is her friend in prison, think twice.
Investigator
David finally had a family and grandkids. He loved unconditionally. And Katrina's daughter. I know that they loved him. He didn't deserve to die the way he did. It's terrible. Absolutely terrible.
Friend of David
If nothing else, Dave's murder shows us all that we. We can do a better job of being more interactive on a human level with our friends and loved ones and get the support that you and we all deserve.
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Host: Oxygen | Release Date: April 19, 2026
In this episode, Snapped recounts the chilling and unusual murder of David Fouts in Noblesville, Indiana, a case centered on his widow, Katrina Fouts, and her close friend, Terry Hopkins. Through forensic science, digital evidence, and interviews, investigators piece together a case that would come to hinge on poison mushrooms, a tangled web of relationships, and ultimately, circumstantial evidence. The episode’s core explores how a seemingly “perfect” murder unraveled, revealing motives of jealousy, greed, and manipulation.
Location & Condition:
Initial Theories:
David Fouts:
Katrina Fouts:
Forensic Findings:
Investigation Broadens:
Katrina’s Alibi & Behavior:
Key Digital Clues:
Quote:
Relationship:
Physical Evidence & Search Warrants:
Quote:
Katrina’s History:
Terry’s Declining Health:
Arrests:
Confrontation:
Terry cooperates post-arrest:
Terry dies of heart failure before trial. (42:20)
Prosecution's Case:
Verdict:
Sentencing:
Family and Friends React:
Tone:
The episode maintains Snapped’s signature blend of investigative seriousness and suspense, framing the story with empathy for the victim while dissecting the psychological and forensic details of the case.
Summary Prepared for: Listeners seeking a comprehensive, suspenseful account of a real-life murder investigation—especially those interested in forensic puzzles, digital evidence, and the psychological dimensions of true crime.