Murder With My Husband - 196. The Christmas Poisoner

Episode Date: December 25, 2023

In this episode, Payton tells Garrett the case of Jerry Davies, a man who says he helped bury a body in a snowbank.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Listen on apple: https://apple.co/3sMXYum Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6GaodpBsSpBuUMhmEXhjK2?si=67c9faf80cbf4fed More social links: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Case sources: “Winter of Frozen Dreams: The Shocking True Story of Seduction, Suspicion and Murder in Madison” by Karl Harter WisconsinHistory.org - https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM65269 Cracked.com - https://www.cracked.com/article_28844_the-crazy-real-story-wisconsins-massage-parlor-and-cyanide-murders.html Badger Herald - https://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2009/04/09/winter-reveals-story/ TheLineUp.com - https://the-line-up.com/notorious-female-killers The Chicago Tribune - https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/park-ridge/ct-prh-park-ridge-history-july-tl-0702-20150626-story.html JustiaUSLaw.com - https://law.justia.com/cases/wisconsin/court-of-appeals/1982/80-1224-cr-5.html ShawLocal.com - https://www.shawlocal.com/2013/01/22/cyanide-killings-can-confound-investigators/asuik1c/ KentCollinsLaw.com - https://www.kentcollinslaw.com/blog/direct-evidence-vs-circumstantial-evidence/ NYDailyNews.com - https://www.nydailynews.com/2017/01/07/wisconsin-student-turned-massage-parlor-maiden-proved-toxic-to-some-around-her/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to an ONO media podcast. Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Payton Morlin. No, I'm Garrett Morlin. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. On the count of three.

One, two, three. What are we doing? Happy holidays! Happy holidays, everybody. I'm pretty sure today is Christmas. So if you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas! It's true. I mean, let's be real. I feel like this episode is probably going to be listened to after Christmas because I don't know, maybe people will listen on Christmas.

It's just come out on Christmas. Yeah, the 25th. All right. Cool. Fitting for our Christmas tree. I hope that you are feeling the love today. And if you're alone, I hope you're enjoying it. Just relaxing, having a good time listening to Murrath my husband, right here. They keep you company. If you're alone, we're here. You know, something about, I don't know if people know this, but Garrett and I can't actually

see through this Christmas tree on our set, but there's this tiny tiny little space where I can see one eyeball. So if you line up just right, I can see you're one eyeball. Yeah, I can see like a little bit of your head. Really? I can't I can only it over the street. And I just find myself peeking over looking for that eyeball. Yeah, looking good, babe. Yeah, your eyes looking green. All right, Gare, what is your Christmas 10 seconds? Oh, it's not really going to be like a Christmas or holiday one because we are recording this a little bit ahead of time. Well, I got a story for everybody. So yesterday or a night yesterday, it was a few days ago.

I was running. You know, I just did my normal running thing and I decided, you know, I'm gonna change paths. I'm gonna change it up a little bit. I'm gonna go a different way and it was a long run. It was, I think like a six mile run. And I was tired. You do realize you have 20 more miles on top of that long six mile run. I'll get up there. Anyways, I'll start and everything was going good. It was, oh, was running in the dark. I was saying you left out an important detail.

I don't recommend to run the dark, but if you do make sure you have some flashlight, maybe an air horn It's something just that you can alert other people and I'll give you context in a second I was running and I was huffing and puffing, making my way down the... Down town. Make my way. I was making my way down the street, or down the sidewalk. I'm in front of me.

I see a woman, and I see two small dogs, and then a big dog. And it was dark, but there was some light where I could tell the dog was wearing a service vest, like a red service vest. And in the girl in front of me, the lady with the two small dogs and the big dog that's not an alieche, which is, that's, that's whatever. She has the, what do they call the big headphones?

They're called AirPods Maxis. So she had AirPods Maxis on. I had AirPods in. I'm running. I'm getting closer. And I know my feet are stomping. They're I'm running I'm getting closer and I know my feet are stomping they're they're stomping as I'm getting close behind her nothing is not turned around I'm like okay I'll get a little bit closer boom boom boom

huffing and puffing getting closer nothing so I full-on just stop I stopped running because if I tried to run past her it would have just been a nightmare anyway it still was a nightmare because all of a sudden, the Goldman retriever, the big dog, turns around and you would think that I was a monster. He freaked out. I think as I snuck up on all of them. So he turns around, the service dog starts freaking out,

barking at me. I thought he was gonna attack me. I was like, oh no, what do I do? And then when he starts barking, the little dog turned around they start barking she can hear her through her headphones she turns around and she screams she goes and she screams all dogs are barking at me I'm just sitting there going oh my gosh what do I do and she goes oh my gosh you scared me and I was like I

don't know how you I didn't say anything and I was like sorry I just ran past her and kept running anyways it, it was a lot. Up big dog was gonna attack me. Little dogs are freaking out. She acted like I was a robber, holding grew up at gunpoint. And anyways, kept running, everything was fine. Just thought I would tell a little story that if you're walking or running at night time, make sure that you have your headphones

on transparency mode, make sure your dog isn't about ready to attack me and... But all I got, what do you think about that, babe? You should have looked her inside, ma'am. Let me tell you something. I was huffin' and puff me. I was huffin' and puffin'. I don't know how you didn't hear. It was actually the whole thing was kind of awkward. Hopefully she doesn't listen to the podcast. The chances are like less than 1%. But. No, what I was gonna say is you should look

at her and say listen, sit down, man, I need to tell you something. Sit down, I'm gonna run it. Sit right down here on the curve and I need to tell you something. I am 50% of a true crime podcast. And every week I hear about these brutal murders who majority of the time time the victims are female. I could have killed her and no one would have had any idea. You need to be running with transparency

mode. Why are your headphones on? And it's not her fault. I'm not victim blaming, but there's things we can do to stay safe. And one of them is running at night in the dark. And I will say where you were running has no street lights. No, no street lights. Literally, I had my flashlight. I was holding, I hold my phone as my flashlight while I'm running and so it lights up everything in front of me.

And I know she has three dogs with her, but come on. Well, I'm gonna be honest, that Golden Retriever was gonna throw down. Which great. That was just a good thing. She was also talking to her mom, which was kind of funny.

She goes, Mom, hold on one second, I gotta call you back. And I was just cracking up. I don't know, the whole thing was pretty funny. And that is my running story I have for everybody that is my 10 seconds. And I guess we can get into this week's case, unless you got anything for us, babe. Would you like a 10 seconds on Christmas? Oh my gosh, really?

Go ahead. This is my favorite Christmas present I've ever got. Just not too long because I know everyone's going to get impatient. My 10 seconds is I know holidays can be hard. So I hope you all know that we love you so much and we can all get through this holiday together Remember that everyone in this community is listening to the same episode You're listening to and we all enjoy it and we all love it and that that can get us through. That was a very selfless 10 seconds. No me

You know me. Don't try to trick the audience They don't try to trick them. Okay, our sources for this episode are Winter of Frozen Dreams, the shocking true story of seduction suspicion and murder in Madison by Carl Harder, WisconsinHistory.org, crack.com, BadgerHerald, the lineup.com, this Chicago Tribune, just see us law.com, shall local.com, Kent Collins law.com, and New York Daily News dot com trigger warning. This episode features discussions of suicidal ideation. So please listen with care. Feel like a lot of our episodes lately have kind of had the same trigger warning. So we all know

I've watched a lot of law and order over the years. If there's one thing I've taken away from it, it's that a prosecutor loves direct evidence, a bloody fingerprint, an eyewitness who saw the crime, a recorded confession, a smoking gun that conclusively tells the jury, this is the guy, or girl. But that's not always how the cookie crumbles. Believe it or not, many cases find their way to the courtroom based

on circumstantial evidence alone. Maybe someone was in the same place around the same time as the crime, or someone overheard the defendant having a suspicious conversation. Circumstantial evidence is tricky because it requires a sharp jury to draw their own conclusions based on what's presented. And it makes getting a conviction that much more difficult. In today's case, circumstantial evidence was pretty much the only thing a jury had to work with. Particularly because one of the best witnesses in the case changed their story just days leading up to the trial.

And then mysteriously wound up dead themselves. It's Christmas morning in Madison, Wisconsin, 1977. And yes, I have to admit I did pick this episode because... What day is it? Christmas. In otherworldly temperature of 22 degrees below zero has descended upon the capital city overnight. Over the last few weeks, Madison was pummeled with eight inches of snow, which still framed the icy roads because it was that cold it wasn't melting. But it made Christmas

morning all the more magical for the children at home opening up their gifts from Santa back in the 70s. And if you asked 31-year-old Jerry Davies, however, he had little idea what day it was. As his Chevrolet whipped down Madison's abandoned streets, he wondered for a moment why the roads were so clear. But the thought escaped his mind as soon as he pulled into the empty parking lot of the Madison Police Department. Crunching through old dirty snow, he stomped up to the front door,

swung it open. Christmas carols played softly in the background as he approached the tinsel-covered duty desk window. An officer not expecting to be caught stuffing Christmas cookies in his mouth at 10 a.m. that morning was shocked to find the distraught Jerry Davies looming over him. And then the words came pouring out of Jerry. I don't know who it was, but last night, I buried a man in a snowbank. It was around 10.40 am when a phone rang in a house just a few miles down from the precinct. Detective Chuck Lolling was standing in his bathrobe,

drinking from a mug that read, My Favorite Cop is a Grand Pop. He and his wife were preparing for the arrival of their grandchildren, one Lolling's heart sank. There was only one place that could be calling him on Christmas morning, and he knew it was going to ruin his day. Minutes after taking the call, Detective Lolling was rushing upstairs for his uniform, and when he returned to the kitchen, he kissed his wife and extended his apologies. Save me some Christmas dinner, he said. Apparently, a man buried a body in a snowbank last night and he's offering to take us there. Okay.

So within the next few hours, detective loaning and several other Madison PD vehicles were pulling up to the entrance of the Black Hawk ski jump. They could all see their breath as Jerry Davies, this man who wandered into the police, led them by foot further towards a snowbank just off the road. Almost immediately, Lolling saw what they'd come for. An arm jetting out of the packed snow, the fingers clenched as if it had been holding

something. As the officers got closer, they could see the victim had suffered several blows to the face and head, and oddly enough, the only piece of clothing he was wearing was a wristwatch. Slowly, the police removed the body from the densely packed snow, preparing to take it in for an autopsy, and that's when Lolling heard a wretching sound behind him. Jerry Davies, unable to stand the sight of the man that he'd left out there was now vomiting all over the crime scene.

Okay, so Jerry told the officer that he buried the body, correct, at this moment. Yes. All right, I think I know this, where this might be headed, so I'm just making sure I got everything organized. Where what is your theory? Can't tell you. I'm gonna keep it right here in my head for now. Where do you think it's headed? We'll see, we'll see.

Jerry Davies wasn't cut out for whatever was about to come his way. He'd spent his entire life in Madison, Wisconsin and other small rural communities in the area. He even spent his entire life in Madison, Wisconsin, and other small rural communities in the area. He even went to college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, only to quit after three semesters. He eventually took a job in the university's audio visual department, but Jerry could never venture very far away from home. He was a mama's boy. He went to his hometown of spring green every weekend to check in on her, which is where he should have been this morning, probably eating a giant ham. If devastating guilt hadn't led him to the Madison Police Department where he was now spilling his guts out to a room

full of strangers. In fact, Jerry was so visibly distraught by the situation that officers had him examined by a doctor. Before, Detective Lolling was annoyed that this man had ruined his holiday with his family, but now honestly he kind of just felt sorry for him. Jerry was sobbing, hyperventilating, and had a hard time getting the words out. He insisted he had no idea who the man in the snowbank was. Only that he'd helped someone else put the body out there. And that someone was his fiance, a woman named Barbara Hoffman. What the freak? Jerry had met Barbara in the most unusual of places.

And I'm using quotes here, a massage parlor in Madison, a place called Jans that offered a lot more than you paid for if you know where I'm going. Happy endings, man. But Jerry wasn't the kind of guy that just stumbled into one of these massage parlors. It took him three days and several six packs to work up the courage to finally try it out three years years earlier, back in 1973. See, Jerry was a bit inexperienced when it came to sex.

At that point, he was about 28 years old and had never really been with a woman before. Jan's health spot seemed like the perfect place to just rip off the bandaid. And when he came for his third appointment... Oh, man. I mean, when he walked walked in when he walked in for his third appointment Good for him, you know good for him. He was Introduced to a masseuse named Barbara Hoffman Immediately Jerry was entranced by Barbara. She didn't bat her lashes and play Coy with him like the other girls had. She was strong, assertive, dominant, if you will. She was considered the queen of the massage parlor.

And what? Like, this ain't very family-friendly on Christmas. It's a Christmas episode. All right, keep going. And unlike the other workers, she talked to him. She got to know who he really was. And the more he fell for her, the more frequent a customer he became. Wait, so that was his fiance. Well, it's going to be his fiance, but he's meeting her right now. Over time, it became less about the sexual favors he was paying for. And more about the emotional connection they were forming at his appointments. And shockingly, it wasn't all in his head,

because Barbara eventually asked Jerry if he'd want to spend some time with her outside of Jans. From there, the relationship took off. To the point where Barbara quit working at the parlor in May of 1976, and got a job as a receptionist at a medical insurance firm. That's pretty crazy that worked out. What a place to meet. That's, that's pretty crazy that that worked out. What a place to meet.

What a place to meet. What do you tell people? We met. She was my masseuse. She just gave the best back massages and now we're married. But there were a few red flags. Jerry probably should have picked up on.

Even though they'd been seeing each other for over a few years by this point, Barbara only spent time with Jerry once or twice a week. Plus, she had a hard time being intimate with him, which he found strange considering her former profession. Still, none of this stopped Jerry from proposing to his first true love, and shockingly Barbara accepted his proposal. However, by December 1977, as you know, things had gotten pretty weird and the wedding plans were still up in the air. Which brings us back to that Christmas afternoon, where Jerry finally composed himself enough to open up to Detective Lulling and explain

the events that had led up to that snowbank that morning. Well, Jerry says that two nights prior on the evening of December 23rd, he was heating up dinner when the phone rang. It was Barbara asking him if he wanted to come over and watch some TV on her couch. Now, Jerry's a bit surprised to hear from her because he'd just driven her to work earlier that day. And he specifically asked if he was going to see her

before she went to her parents for the holiday, but she said no, she had too much to do. Still, when she calls him to come over to her apartment that night, he drops everything. And by 9.30 p.m., the two are snuggled up on her couch, drinking, and watching Johnny Carson. A little while later, Jerry does his off, but then he wakes up around

2.30 a.m. It's now Christmas Eve morning to a suddenly frantic Barbara. She's saying, Jerry, wake up, I need to talk to you about something. She claims it yesterday, when she got home from work, she had found a dead body in her bathroom, and she now needs Jerry, her fiance's help to get rid of it. Wait, in her home bathroom, were there at? Yes. Okay, and Jerry just happened to not see this dead body, or they're not living together. No, not living together.

No. Okay, okay. So now Jerry, who still have a sleep, must be wondering if this is some sort of bad dream, but he's still using his head better than Barbara because he's like, um, if you found a dead body, let's call the police. And Barbara's like, no, absolutely not. How is she going to explain to the cops that this dead body just happened to show up in her apartment? Now Jerry said she seemed scared and adamant that the shady people who ran Jan's massage parlor were behind the whole thing.

Question, if I came to you and said, I found a dead body in a bathroom, what is the first thing you would do? And I seem genuinely scared. Would you call the police or would you help me? Well, I would say, do you know the body? How do you think it got here? And if you came to me and said it was the shady people

who ran Jan's parlor, I would say, Okay, let's call the police. If you had nothing to do with it, let's call the police. So no matter what, well, what if I did have something to do with it? You'd still call the police, correct? Yeah, but first I'd say, okay, honey, I'll help you and I run out of it. Oh, okay, okay, I got you. I'd get, I get to say first and then I call the police.

Either way, you'd call the police. Yeah, that's just a lot of trauma. I don't know if I could. Yeah, I mean, I call the police. Either way, you'd call the police. Yeah, that's just a lot of trauma. I don't know if I could hand it. I mean, I call the police too. I was just wondering because I mean, it's hard because Jerry's, I don't know, we'll see. I feel like, I mean, he eventually does call the police, doesn't he?

That's true. I feel like he's gonna get taken advantage of here. So let's see. So she's like, no, no, no, it's the shady people who ran Jan's massage parlour. They were the ones who left this guy in her bathroom and she thinks they were trying to frame her first murder. So after this, Jerry just kind of follows his fiance's lead when he asks where the body

is now. Barbara says she's moved it downstairs and out back near the dumpsters. She tells Jerry, go get your car and meet me out back and we'll just get the body off the property. After that, they drove out to the black hot ski jump and left the man there packing him tightly in the snow. The entire ride home, they sat in silence. Jerry was too afraid to ask any questions. And when he finally got back to her place, she got out, pulled Jerry to clean his car and sent him away. Barbara obviously had no idea that in 30 more hours, Jerry would be overcome with guilt and replaying the entire scene for the Madison Police Department.

Shockingly, the police wasted no time getting a search warrant for Barbara's apartment, particularly for a holiday. By Christmas afternoon, they were forcing search warrant for Barbara's apartment, particularly for a holiday. By Christmas afternoon, they were forcing their way into Barbara's now empty home to find there was nothing out of the ordinary. No forced entry, no signs of a dead body, no struggle of any kind, no strange smells, no blood, no fluids. Police did end up collecting a few items, some dirty clothing, towels, and a few items addressed to a woman named Linda Miller.

But for the most part, it looked as though the deceased had never even entered Barbara's apartment. Come 9pm though, there was a major break in the case. The identity of the deceased man had been revealed. A woman had called the police to say that her brother, a single man with no wife, kids, or very many friends, had not shown up for their Christmas festivities. Rather than digging into their Christmas dinner, she and her husband were driving down to Madison to confirm the identity of a dead body. I mean, you get a call, this man's missing, and you have a body that's shown up,

you put one plus one equals two. And sure enough, it was her brother, a 52 year old man named Harold Burge. Around the same time that night, police had tracked down the location of Barbara Hoffman. She'd been spending Christmas evening at her parents' house in Park Ridge, Wisconsin, about an hour and 45 minutes away from Madison. When they knocked on the door, they asked if she would come down to the station and Barbara went willingly. But after finding out what she was there for, she refused to answer any questions without her lawyer. That's a first.

That is not, I mean, not a first, but that is very where, that is not having very often where someone finally goes. Get me a lawyer. I do find it strange that she willingly drove to the police department and was like, so what do you guys want? Maybe I'm assuming the questions started getting very

like personal and obvious that they were thinking she did it and she was like, no, I'm not doing this. I need a lawyer. So truth was, the police had underestimated Barbara Hoffman and she was a lot smarter and more calculated than most people knew. When the now 25-year-old Barbara began working at Jan's massage parlor back in 1974, she was still a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Actually, she'd been majoring in biochemistry and had a 3.9 GPA and was fluent in three different languages. Totally crap, Marbra. But that year at university, something changed for Barbara. She took that job at Jans and on November 15th, 1974, just 12 credits shy of completing her degree. Barbara dropped out of school. Even stranger, she didn't seem to have any real friends, or anyone who knew her or spent time with her outside of work, other than Jerry Davies. And now, possibly the murder victim, Harold Burge. The following day, December 26th, Harry's body had thought enough for pathologists to perform an autopsy, and here's what they

found. Harry had suffered multiple blunt force injuries to the head and neck, resulting in severe brain damage. He had what appeared to be fingernail scratches at the base of his neck. Vomit was also present in his nose, mouth, and lungs, but they concluded that his cause of death was likely the blunt force trauma to the head. So this was a brutal murder. What was strange, however, was if Harry had been in Barbara's apartment the night of his death, there was zero sign of it. Upon returning to Barbara's

place, a forensic team scrubbed every inch looking for any hairs, fibers, blood, fingerprints, any shred of physical evidence that he'd spent time inside, only they found nothing. Even if Barbara had done a rigorous cleanup job after the fact, the teams had ultraviolet lights and other tools that showed where blood and fluids had recently been cleaned. Okay, so Jerry, did he go, did he help move the body from inside the house? No, or it was outside the house already. And she said he was already, he was inside the house. She said he had been up in the bathroom.

She had moved him by herself out back. And then then Jerry came into the picture. I'm sure we'll get to that as well. As we know, bodies are not light, an expression lead as a female who's alone trying to move that. I mean, that's hard. Right. But police aren't getting any sign

that this body had ever even been in the house. They were certain of one thing, though. Barbara and Harold weren't complete strangers after all. So as they dig in, they discover. Harold, a chronically single middle-aged man, shared a lot of the same qualities as Jerry Davies. He didn't have many friends, he never had a serious girlfriend, and he had frequented Jan's massage parlor. And who did he request to satisfy some of his more unusual preferences?

The magic touch of Barbara. The queen of the parlor, Barbara Hoffman herself, of course. touch of Barbara. The Queen of the Parlor, Barbara Hoffman herself, of course. Apparently, like Jerry, the two even began seeing each other outside of the parlor for a time to time, and that's when Harold Burge made some pretty wild life-changing decisions. Harry adjusted the deed to his home to include the name of his now-new fiance, a woman named Linda Miller, who he had also made his soul heir. He then changed his life insurance policies to make Linda the beneficiary a total that amounted to $34,000.

And if the name Linda seems familiar, that's because we've heard it before. It was written on some of the mail sent to Barbara Hoffman's address. Remember, they found this mail that was addressed to a woman named Linda, which is why they even collected it, because whose mail is at Barbara's house. See Linda Miller was the name Barbara had assumed after she left the massage parlor for her new job. She had wanted a fresh start, free of any associations from her sorted past. So she had it changed legally, complete with a savings account, a social security number, and a clear

cut motive for getting rid of Harold Birch. Because now Linda, who is Barbara, has two fiances, two clients from Jan's parlor. We have the victim Harold and then we have Jerry who helped her get rid of the body. Now detective loaing was pretty sure he'd figured this whole thing out and if Jerry Davies agreed to be the chief witness in the case Then he was pretty certain they'd have her behind bars in no time for the murder of Harold Burge and they'd have her behind bars in no time for the murder of Harold Burge. She had killed him because she now had two fiancees and she had used Harold to get this money to get his life insurance, everything killed him

and then was gonna run away with Jerry. Even with this evidence, again, it's all circumstantial. Uh huh. So, hard. So after piecing together, Harold's last few days on Earth, here's the rather convincing scenario that Detective Lolling came up with. On the evening of December 22nd, Harry attended the annual Christmas party for the

Uni Royal Tire plant where he worked as a forklift operator. After digging into the buffet, Harry said goodbye and headed over to his fiance, Bar was apartment around 9 p.m. Now this, if you haven't put two into together, would make sense why Barbara could only see Jerry once or twice a week because she's entertaining an entire other fiance. But at some point that evening, the couple had an argument, perhaps over Jerry Davies even. Either way, it turned violent, Barbara Claude at his neck as Harry fought back. Eventually, she grabbed something like a frying pan and hit him over the head with it over

and over again. Perhaps not meaning to have caused a fatal blow, Barbara panicked, stripped his clothes and de-cleaned her apartment. Then later that night, when no one was around, she dragged his body out behind that dumpster, which would account for some additional bruising found on Harry's legs and lower back during the autopsy. But the following day, she realized there was no getting Harry into a car by herself. Rigger Mortis had said in, along with the freezing cold temperatures made him impossible

to move. And that's when she enlisted the help of Beyonce number two, Jerry Davies. At least this is the theory detective lolling is pushing. Problem was there was still no direct evidence connecting Barbara Hoffman to the death of Harold Birch. I mean, you've got all this circumstantial evidence. Yeah, you have motive, you have ideas, but nothing that is can be proved. Right. The only witness was a neighbor, an engineering student who spotted Barbara on the

morning of December 23rd before Jerry Davies was made aware of the crime. The witness said he saw Barbara getting into a car that wasn't hers and backing it up next to the dumpster behind the apartment complex. Later, he said he saw her taking a basket full of dirty clothes outside. So he's like the neighbor comes forward and is like, yeah, I saw her pull a car up. Detectives are theorizing this is when she was trying to move the body by herself, but discovering that she couldn't get the victim into the car. And then she took out some dirty clothes. What he didn't see though, or here for that matter, was Barbara commit any sort of crime.

He didn't see her trying to move a body. He didn't see her killing someone. So it was still very possible that she was telling the truth, that some sketchy people involved in the massage parlor were actually framing her. Which in a way made sense, because rumors claimed, once Barbara quit Jans, she stole several of their clients and set up shop inside of her own apartment, keeping the full percentage

for herself. So she leaves Jans and takes a whole bunch of clients with her. It makes sense except for the part that his life insurance and everything goes to her. Where there's like so many coincidences. Right. Still detective loaing in his team found the scenario unlikely between the insurance policy and the change of ownership on Harold's home. It looked like Barbara was trying to cash out, which was enough to arrest Barbara Hoffman

for Harold's murder on January 18, 1978. Only to have her released three days later on $15,000 bill. I mean, they weren't gonna keep her. Barbara Hoffman was a free woman while she awaited her day in courts. But this made Detective Lolling nervous, particularly for Barbara's second fiancé, Jerry Davies. In February, Lolling went to Jerry to suggest that he just cut ties with Barbara, maybe even get out of town. He felt certain that if Jerry wasn't careful, he would be her next victim. And that's because Barbara at this point knows that

the prosecutors, number one piece of evidence against her is Jerry Davies. Yes. Then around March 24th, the Madison Police Department received a letter with no return address, the handwritten note inside red. I want to set the record straight, I was scared, I was jealous. Barb is innocent and I wrecked her life. This letter was from Jerry Davies and it claimed the stories he told police during his confession were all lies. The Barbara had nothing to do with the death of Harold Davies

and he was the one responsible. Oh, bull crap. So this changes things a bit. And police are thinking this actually would make sense. Maybe Jerry found Harold in Barbara's apartment, learned about who he was and got so angry that he took the man's life. Maybe she really did come home to find Harry dead in her bathtub, like she initially claimed only Jerry was the one responsible. Jerry, at least what you've explained so far just seems too innocent, especially with the reactions and like completely just convulsing and throwing up and freaking out over the dead body. I don't think that's something a person

just killed someone does. Well, at least we're thinking, maybe he moved Harry down behind the dumpster since that would have been a difficult job for Barbara to manage. And the new theory was falling into place. And now that police had a full-on confession, they finally had some direct evidence.

I mean, a confession is proof enough. But that was just a written confession, correct? Yes. Like he didn't say this. No, it was just a random note sent into the police department. All right. All right. And then a day later, on March 25, 1978, the case took an abrupt turn. That afternoon, a tenant in Jerry's building called the maintenance man to say, there was a loud clattering sound coming from Jerry's apartment and it was really starting to annoy him. So around 3.20 p.m. the maintenance guy and the property manager entered Jerry's apartment to a pretty horrific site.

Jerry was in the bathtub. The broken overhead fan worrying loudly above him. His eyes were wide open with a small smirk across his face as a purple tinge had started to coat his skin. Rigger Mortis had already set in for Jerry Davies. Half hour later, his apartment was swarming with police. The corner found no signs of a struggle, no bruises or cuts.

However, sitting on the toilet tank was an empty bottle of volume. Their first impression was suicidal overdose. No, there's no way. And when his neighbors were questioned, not a single person saw anyone enter or leave Jerry's apartment the entire weekend, still there was a lot that wasn't adding up.

Neither the pathologist nor the coroner knew of a single instance of someone overdosing on volume alone. Plus, there were other little things, like Jerry had shaved before entering the tub, had written a check for next month's rent, had left out clean towels for himself. Things you probably wouldn't do if you planned to never exit the tub. Why grab a towel? Knowing the detective loaning had been there about a month earlier, warning Jerry about the dangers of Barbara, they collected all the evidence they could gather. And soon enough, Lolling discovers another explosive detail pointing in Barbara's direction.

Jerry had also taken out a life insurance policy, and guess who was the beneficiary? Barbara Hoffman. Oh, that's just ballsy at that point to do it again. No way. Barbara Hoffman. Oh, that's just ballsy at that point to do it again. Except here's what's strange. Jerry had made the first two premium payments on the plan, but the third payment was stopped, and the policy had lapsed a month before Jerry's death, which meant Barbara wouldn't get a dime of that money. And apparently she knew that because she was the one who had stopped the third payment from growing through. The whole thing was incredibly odd, but it got even weirder around April 7th.

A member of the state crime lab named Kenneth Kemfert had been running a series of tests on Jerry's body, trying to determine if there were anything else in his system that may have led to his death besides the volume. For days, Kenneth's work yielded no results until April 7th, when it dawned on him. The body had a familiar yet unusual smell. Burnt Almonds. If you didn't know, burnt almonds are a tell-tell sign that the body has been poisoned with cyanide. It was the one test he hadn't yet run, but by the following day he got the confirmation he was looking for.

Burnt almonds. What in the world? Jerry Davies had ingested twice the lethal dose of cyanide. So what did police do with this information? Well, they went back to some of the samples kept from Harold Burgess autopsy, and when they ran the test on Harry, they found he too had cyanide in his system. 40 times the lethal dose. Barbara, Barbara, Barbara killed two people.

So two of Barbara's lovers, both dead, with cyanide poisoning. Problem was, there was no evidence that she was the one who had administered it. For all the police knew, it still could have been Jerry that had slipped it to Harry and then taken it himself once he realized what he'd done. A perfectly viable theory, until a new witness came forward to say he had some valuable testimony against Barbara Hoffman, and he'd be willing to give it up if they dropped a former charge against him. With Jerry Davies, there one key witness in the case now deceased. Police were eager to get whatever information they could on Barbara Hoffman. And what this new witness, William Garrett. His name's William Garrett.

Yeah. Oh geez. Had to say was pretty damning. William was the manager of Jan's health spa. So he worked closely with Barbara and her clients. And now he's coming and saying, I will testify against Barbara. Freaking Garrett, man. And he claimed that Barbara had laid out her plans to him shortly before she'd stopped working there. He's he comes forward and he says she met a guy at the parlor, although it was unclear if she was referring to Jerry or Harold, but she had a long con to marry him, get her name on his life insurance policy, and then

put her next phase of the plan into motion. She said, with her extensive background in chemistry, she knew how to culture a toxin that would lead to death. And once she'd completed the process, she'd take her new husband to Mexico on their honeymoon and administer the toxin, making it look like an unexpected illness, and then she'd collect the second payout. Now, much of the testimony added up to detectives. Barbara had been engaged to both men, had insurance policies out on both, except both died shortly before any trips to Mexico.

So, despite some lingering questions, in December of 1978, Barbara was also charged with killing Jerry Davies. A judge ruled that the murder charges for both men would be heard together during the same trial by the same jury. Got it, but I think it's smart, actually. Yeah, a day that finally came on June 19th, 1979. And frankly, Barbara had some pretty good evidence or rather lack thereof stacked in her favor. Also, I'm not going to lie. Barbara's pretty smart. Mm-hmm.

Very like she's clever, kind of scary. So for starters, the defense argued that they had a written confession from Jerry Davies that he was the one who had killed Harold, a letter that was confirmed to be written in Jerry's handwriting and not Barbara's. What? In case that had crossed your mind. And again, I will say handwriting evidence, not a hundred percent, like not the most secure thing,

but it's definitely matters. That's kind of weird though, yeah. Then there was the fact that Jerry's policy had been canceled prior to his death, particularly by a stock check made by Barbara. But she could have just done that because she didn't want to get caught for the first murder, so it was a good way to like cover herself or... Agreed.

This one. Agreed. However, the prosecution argued that this was a move suggested to her by her lawyer, just like what Gareth said. They're like, no, no, no, no. She did this to make herself look less guilty. But if that was the case, then why follow through on the elaborate plan to kill the second man, like why even kill him and not get the money, especially because suicide staged or not would render any policy ineffective. Then there

was the lack of DNA or any concrete evidence for that matter found in both Barbara and Jerry's apartments, not a single fingerprint, hair, or spot of blood that could conclusively say Harold Burge was even in Barbara's apartment, or that Barbara was even in Jerry's apartment before he died. Even more interesting, there wasn't any trace of cyanide ever found in Barbara's home.

So they're like, where did this cyanide come from? And it turns out that Jerry himself had ordered this cyanide, which looks good for Barbara, because this goes back to the theory that Jerry had done the killing. I just don't believe it, but yeah, I keep going. Except when they talked to the person who had taken the order for the cyanide for Jerry,

he was like, no, Jerry was the name on the check, but it was a female who ordered the cyanide. So, you know, you have this testimony coming up. And I have to say her parents come forward at trial and testifying her like, no, we were with her on the night of the 23rd, which then wouldn't make sense because where were they when Jerry showed up? And then also, how could they have driven in the snowstorm,

but they do come forward and testify that they are with her trying to give her an alibi. And they only do this after words they don't tell the police this originally. They only do it at trial. So still jurors took everything into consideration and by June 28th, 1980, they came back with a verdict. On the charges of murdering Jerry Davies, the jury found Barbara Hoffman, not guilty, not guilty. And on the charges of murdering Harold Birch, the jury found her, not guilty, guilty. Wait, so not Jerry, but Harold. Yep, okay. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 11 years.

On July 3, 1980, Barbara was transported to the Tecita Correctional Institute in Fond Ulock, Wisconsin. She was up for parole in August of 1991, but was denied. As of this recording, Barbara Hoffman remains behind bars while maintaining her innocence, saying, I did not commit the crime of which I was accused and of which I was convicted. And that is the case of Harold Burge and Jerry Davies. Holy crap, so do I think she did it? Yes.

Do I think she should have been found guilty? No. Really? Surprisingly, I just think that there is a small one-percent chance that she did not do it. And if there's any reasonable doubt, I don't think she can be found guilty. But do I think she did it? Yes. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying?

I do agree that there's too much reason we'll doubt in this case. There's just too much reason with that. That's the problem. I mean, it's a totally plausible theory that Jerry found out about Harold and got mad. And you know, but there's also the plausible theory that Barbara did it. But without any concrete evidence,

I don't know if we can say. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think so. That's crazy. Also, Jerry and Harold died. That would be kind of it. Go over that because we were talking about Barbara, but that's horrible. And she seems like a sneaky girl. Yeah, sneaky Barbara.

You Barbara, that's crazy. Alright you guys, that was our Christmas episode. I hope you have a fabulous, fabulous day and new year. I hope you have a great new year. We have some fun things coming up. 2024 for Oh No Media, so I'm excited to share that and we will see you next week. Next year, we'll see you next year.

Next year. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.