Poison
41:17 Share

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Some stories have a way of sticking with you. For me, it's the 48-hour series Murder in the Orange Grove. But Audible has a best of 2024 list that's packed with unforgettable listens you won't stop thinking about. Check out Framed. It's

It's one of Audible's top picks and an astonishing true story of wrongful convictions that keeps you hooked from start to finish. Whether you're into thrillers, memoirs, or even romance, there's something for everyone. Head over to audible.com slash 48 hours and discover all the year's best waiting for you. That's audible.com slash 48 hours. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Fans of the 48 Hours Podcast know that a good lead is always worth checking out. And if you're a listener who enjoys from the car, you'll want to know that the National Sales Event is on at your Toyota dealer, making now the perfect time to get a great deal on a dependable new SUV, like an adventure-ready RAV4. Available with all-wheel drive, the new RAV4 is built for performance on

any terrain or wherever your story takes you. Or check out a stylish and comfortable Highlander with three spacious rows of seating for up to eight passengers. Plus, both RAV4s and Highlanders are available in hybrid models, so no matter your style, you can drive efficiently and save on gas.

Visit your local Toyota dealer and check out amazing national sales event deals on RAVs, Highlanders, and more when you visit buyatoyota.com. Toyota, let's go places.

Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two-year contracts, they said, what the f*** are you talking about, you insane Hollywood a**hole?

So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. $45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes per detail. I very much dislike mysteries. I don't like not knowing answers to questions.

I was never going to quit until I knew what happened to Eric Miller. Eric came home that night extremely ill. He keeps getting worse and worse as the night wears on. He realized that he had to go to the hospital. I mean, the first thing that crossed my mind, I mean, this guy's a scientist. He was a pediatric AIDS researcher.

He works in a laboratory. What are in laboratories? A lot of dangerous things. Eric was very agitated. They had to put him in restraints. Watching my brother that way, out of control, it was horrible. It was the worst night that I can remember of my life.

Test results came back and they showed Eric had received very high doses of a very lethal toxin. Was someone trying to kill Eric Miller? And I couldn't believe it. I thought, how could this happen? Officer Ford is sent to Rex Hospital to speak with Eric Miller.

I went into his room, he was laying in the bed. He had a hard time talking. He was in obvious, obvious signs of pain. And he told me he has no enemies, he has a happy family. His life seemed perfect and just could not think of anybody that would want to hurt him. It was a long, terrible death. Eric Miller, we tore his life apart.

We shined a light in every recess of his life. And we found nothing. But my instincts were crying out. This was not an accident. It was a very carefully planned homicide. My name is Chris Morgan.

I don't like people getting away with things. This is my city, my home, and nobody is going to be allowed to get away with murder in my town. Minutes after Eric Miller's heart stopped, his parents, Verus and Doris, arrived at the hospital. He was laid in this bed with a tube in his mouth because they had tried to resuscitate him. He was cold, and I wanted to take that tube out.

I wouldn't have to cover it up because he was so cold. None of what happened that evening made any sense. Eric, sick with flu-like symptoms for weeks, seemed to be on the mend, recovering. They were going to take care of Eric. Eric was going to be all right. Six months earlier, their 30-year-old son, a respected young scientist, was the perfect specimen of health. He'd always been that way.

Growing up in rural Indiana, Eric was the picture image of the all-American boy. He was a bit mischievous. His older sisters, Pam and Leanne. He would hide behind the couch when your boyfriends were over and, oh, I'm here. But Eric's interests matured.

I think Eric truly blossomed when he went to college. He got involved in biology and chemistry and research and he found that that's what he wanted to do. He also fell in love. Eric met Ann Breyer in a Purdue University science class. I had met some of the girls he had been dating prior to Ann. Then I could tell there was a difference when he introduced me to Ann.

He proposed for Valentine's Day. Ann's college roommate, Renee Henson. This was the happiest time of her life. She was marrying the man of her dreams. They bought a house in Raleigh, North Carolina. Eric got a prestigious position as a pediatric AIDS researcher, and Ann was a chemist at a large pharmaceutical company. When their daughter Claire was born, Eric was over the moon. He looks at me and he says, Mom, you always told me how much you loved me.

But he said, I never knew how much you loved me until I had Claire. But Eric wouldn't live to see his daughter's first birthday. At the funeral, his beloved wife, Ann, was grief-stricken.

I was gut-wrenching watching her. It's an image Eric's friends, Fran and Dale Martin, can't forget. She grabbed onto me and just, you know, cried that cry where your whole body is shaking. And she was just inconsolable. She was saying, why? Why did Eric have to die? Why did he have to die? Why did he have to die? Doctors had no easy answer. Two weeks earlier, Ann had rushed Eric to the hospital.

after he came home from a night out bowling and was violently ill. Eric's symptoms looked a lot like a very bad flu. When he got better, they released him. But just weeks later, Eric was deathly ill again. To everyone's shock, blood tests revealed Eric had been poisoned with arsenic. How do you get arsenic poisoning? Hours later, Eric Miller was dead. The police immediately launched an investigation.

We need to get samples of everything in the house to find out where the arsenic came from. Detective Deborah Reckentine was sent to search the Miller home. Every shampoo, conditioner, soap, any fluid, everything out of the refrigerator, a sample was taken.

Police scoured Eric's place of work for clues. One of my first thoughts was he's working in a lab. Lieutenant Chris Morgan. Maybe something was dripping down. Maybe, you know, he had a roast beef sandwich that somehow got exposed to arsenic by mistake. But this was not a mistake. Medical examiner Tom Clark.

The levels in Eric Miller were high enough that accidental exposure is not a possibility. Not a possibility. Not a possibility. Ruling out accidental exposure left Lieutenant Chris Morgan with just one possibility: murder. He was looking for a suspect who had access to Eric, access to arsenic, and someone who knew that arsenic poisoning often mimics flu-like symptoms and can go undetected. Someone perhaps like a fellow scientist.

After we get done with pictures, we'll proceed there. He's in a very competitive field. And I mean, he was doing quite well. Was there some kind of professional jealousy that could have led to his death? There are more than 100 labs in the Raleigh area. They call it the nation's research capital. But at Eric's lab, police couldn't find a trace of arsenic or anyone with a motive. Police were hoping Ann could help them. Her father was holding her up. And so she appeared to be very weak. She would sob.

and she would break down. But after speaking with detectives, Ann called her friend and sounded scared, worried maybe, that police considered her a suspect in her husband's death. She goes, "Well, you know, I have arsenic in my lab." At that point then, I said, "Innocent people need lawyers too, Ann."

Dale knew there had to have been arsenic in dozens of labs and was concerned Ann would be the victim in a rush to judgment. He wasn't the only one. I felt like there was no way that she could have done this to him. She loved him. In fact, Ann wasn't with Eric when he first started feeling sick that night at the bowling alley. It was a guy's night out. Biochemist Daryl Willard ordered a pitcher of beer.

Darryl passes out the beer cups. Eric had drank half of his beer. He had commented that, "Hey, this beer tastes kind of funky. Something wrong with it." An hour later, Eric was severely ill. My boss said, "We need to go out and question this Darryl Willard guy." But before police even got to his door, they learned intriguing new information from Darryl's colleagues.

Daryl Willard was deeply infatuated, if not in love, with Ann Miller. Could that, they wondered, be a motive for murder? Even if you think it's a bit overhyped, AI is suddenly everywhere, from self-driving cars to molecular medicine to business efficiency. If it's not in your industry yet, it's coming fast. But AI needs a lot of speed and computing power, so how do you compete without costs spiraling out of control? Time to upgrade to the next generation of the cloud.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OCI. OCI is a blazing fast and secure platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, plus all your AI and machine learning workloads. OCI costs 50% less for compute and 80% less for networking, so you're saving up

pile of money. Thousands of businesses have already upgraded to OCI, including MGM Resorts, Specialized Bikes, and Fireworks AI. Right now, Oracle is offering to cut your current cloud bill in half if you move to OCI. For new U.S. customers with minimum financial commitment, offer ends 12-31-24. See if your company qualifies for this special offer at oracle.com slash cbs. That's oracle.com slash cbs.

Hey Prime Members! Have you heard? You can listen to your favorite podcasts ad-free? Good news! With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts included with your Prime Membership. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to amazon.com slash adfreepodcast. That's amazon.com slash adfreepodcast to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads.

Lieutenant Morgan wanted to talk to everyone Eric Miller came into contact with the first night he became sick at the bowling alley, especially the man who poured Eric's beer, Darrell Willard. He's been ducking us. He's been not returning calls. You know, he hadn't given us an interview at all.

37-year-old biochemist Daryl Willard worked at the same company as Eric Miller's wife, Ann. But beyond that, those who know him best say he's an unlikely murder suspect. I mean, he was very good at his job, very respected. Daryl and his wife, Yvette, are devoted to their daughter, Kelsey. Kelsey, she's drooling. He was a great, great dad. He was so good with Kelsey. She absolutely adored him.

But shortly after Eric's death in 2000, police began digging into Darrell Willard's background and found evidence suggesting another scenario. Phone records between Darrell and Eric's wife days before Eric's murder hint at what may have been an inappropriate relationship.

There was a ton of communication between the two of them. How often? Multiple calls on a daily basis. When you look at the phone records and you're finding phone calls where Ann has called Daryl at 4:30 in the morning, you got to ask yourself, "Who calls a casual acquaintance, a coworker at 4:30 in the morning?"

Then there is a trip to Chicago, also just days before the bowling alley incident, that the two take together. Ann says it's a company business trip, but when police investigate, there was no company trip. They check into Ritz-Carlton and spend the weekend up there, ordering a whole lot of room service. Police also retrieved emails from Ann's computer. "I never want to stop making you feel," Ann wrote to Darrell. "I want to show you new things."

I want to touch places in you that you knew not existed. Just hours after Ann sent that email, Darrell poured Eric a beer at the bowling alley. Did he attempt to kill Eric Miller that night at the bowling alley? No doubt in my mind, he did. But Morgan suspected something more complicated was going on. When Eric came home after bowling, Ann rushed him to the emergency room where doctors ran a battery of tests.

Eric's sister was there when he began to hallucinate. He was thrashing and he started to cry and he's like, why, why are they doing this to me? I remember laying on top of him physically because he was thrashing so much and I was so afraid he was going to hurt himself. And I laid on top of him and I just got in his face and I said, Eric, you need to calm down. It's going to be okay. After that horrible night, Eric did begin to slowly improve and days later was discharged.

While recuperating at home, his parents stayed by his side. One night, they decided to give Ann and Eric some time alone. Some friends of theirs had brought in some food. Ann was going to serve that, and they were going to have that and have just the quiet time. But after Ann says she and Eric ate a chicken dinner, Eric became violently ill again and went back to the hospital. Doctors pored over the tests from his previous day and discovered the arsenic in Eric's blood.

Lieutenant Morgan had many questions for Eric's wife, but now Ann was refusing to cooperate. We tried to contact Ann. She never came by. She never called. Instead, within days of Eric's death, Ann hired attorneys, effectively cutting police off. She had retained the most experienced lawyers that money can buy. Wade Smith and Joe Cheshire.

The lawyers who successfully defended the young Duke lacrosse players accused of rape. And while Morgan thought it suspicious, Eric's family was more forgiving. I just dismissed it. I'm like, okay, well, I guess that happens lots of times. The spouse gets blamed for things. The Miller family embraced their grieving daughter-in-law. After Eric's death, Ann asked to spend Christmas in Indiana with them.

She wanted to be here where Eric was. She wanted to sleep in his bed. But they would soon learn a horrible truth about their daughter-in-law. On January 21, 2001, a month and a half after Eric's death, the Millers came to Ann's house for Claire's first birthday. They had no idea we were coming. The police wanted to confront Ann about her affair.

We went and knocked on the door. But when she saw them, she ran upstairs. Mr. Miller opened the door. I said, "Mr. Miller, we're here to talk to you about Darrell Willard." We have reason to believe that Ann and Darrell Willard have engaged in a relationship. What was your reaction? I got mad as hell. Did you confront Ann? Ann had run upstairs and hid herself in the closet. I was devastated. I was just so hurt.

and I felt Eric was so betrayed. She had been talking to this Willard... Numerous times. Numerous times on the telephone. And the one that really put a dagger in my heart, that she talked to him for 24 minutes, two hours before Eric died. Don't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Something's wrong big time. While Ann wept in the closet, Detective Morgan was nine miles away in front of Daryl Willard's house.

He came to the door and Darryl, I mean, he just had the look of a man who was experiencing total defeat. Morgan wondered aloud to Darryl whether Ann had sent him up. I said, Darryl, I think you've been used by a woman. He looked up and with resignation on his face, he said, yeah, and she's done a very good job of it. And then he said, I can't talk to you anymore. I need to call my attorney.

Daryl sat in the back of Morgan's car and phoned his lawyer. Morgan stood outside, wishing he could overhear the conversation. He was certain Daryl knew who killed Eric Miller, that he was the key to unlocking the mystery. But 24 hours later, news broke... I have a one location of your emergency. ...that changed everything. He's in the garage. I want you to stay on the line with me, okay? Okay.

No one saw it coming. Late Monday afternoon, emergency crews got the call to Darrell Willard's home after his wife found his lifeless body in his garage. The news shocked Lieutenant Chris Morgan. Somebody came running in saying, oh my gosh, you ain't going to believe this. 24 hours after he tried to interrogate Darrell Willard about his role in Eric Miller's murder, Darrell Willard...

His wife, Yvette, found Darrell's body. By his side, a note apologizing for leaving his family, but also denying his involvement in Eric Miller's murder.

I've been accused of an action for which I am not responsible, Darrell wrote. I have taken no one's life save my own. He was supposed to go to see the attorney that day. The intense scrutiny put on the Willard home may have become too much. Yvette says her husband was worried that morning after the police searched their home looking for arsenic. Stories about his affair with Ann.

His romantic trip to Chicago with her just days before Eric fell ill at the bowling alley were going to be all over the news. I told him that I needed to go to work and explain to my boss because we knew it would be in the paper.

Yvette already knew what the world was just finding out about her husband's affair. Willard had some kind of relationship with Miller's widow before he died. For weeks, she had her suspicions. I knew he was attracted to Ann when I knew the way he talked about her versus the way he talked about everybody at work. Before Ann, Daryl had been depressed, trying to take stock of his life as he approached 40. You know, we'd been married for a while.

The newness has worn off. Okay. And we just started, you know, fighting a little more. But after he became friendly with Ann, Daryl began paying more attention to his appearance and working out. On Yvette's birthday, Daryl told her he needed some time away to think things over. I knew what he was going out of town for. That was the weekend in Chicago? Yeah. With Ann Miller? Yeah.

Why didn't you confront him? Why didn't you say something? Fear. You can know the truth, but once those words get out, you can't get them back. And I guess I was hoping he'd realize what he was doing. But after Eric's murder, Darryl sat his wife down. And he said he didn't know if he loved me and that he'd been having an affair. And I said, with Anne, he said yes. What do you think was going through his mind? Did he think he had a future with this woman?

She says Darrell is just not capable of murder.

He would have encouraged Ann to seek a divorce, not help her kill her husband. And although he was innocent, she says, her husband was emotionally fragile and could not handle the very public accusations. He had made one comment to me prior to his death. He said, you know how to bend. You can take things and you just bend and you keep going. He says, I can't. I'll break. What was your last conversation with your husband? The morning.

It was the day after they searched the house and I told him it was going to be a really hard day and I asked if he'd give me a hug and he did. I thought he was going to break my bones. He was squeezing and then I left. While Yvette dropped Kelsey at daycare and headed into work, Darryl was planning his death. "The world looks black to me," he wrote. "All I can see is the smearing of my name, pain caused to my family."

personal humiliation, and probable economic ruin. Darrell thought his family would be better off without him. Who's to blame here? Ann Miller. My husband would still be here if it wasn't for her. The Millers, on the other hand, didn't know what to believe. Ann was feeding us information that Darrell was obsessed with her. We did think that it was possible that Darrell poisoned Eric and in the end was trying to get him out of the picture.

But when the full autopsy report was released, the Millers were flabbergasted. I think it's very likely that Eric Miller received at least one dose of arsenic in the hospital and very likely the fatal dose. Incredible as it sounds, Dr. Clark is almost certain someone came into Eric's hospital room and finished him off with a final fatal dose. But that wasn't the only stunning news.

To the shock of investigators, Dr. Clark's team found arsenic in Eric's hair four months before he went bowling with Daryl Willard. And months before police believe Daryl and Ann started an affair. Arsenic's not the kind of crime you can commit at any distance. You have to be able to put the arsenic in the food or drink and introduce it into the body. In terms of possible suspects, that left only Ann.

For months, Morgan believes Ann dosed her husband with arsenic. I do think that Ann was seeing just how much poison it would take to make Eric sick, sort of experimenting. And then Morgan says she turned to Daryl. Ann reached a point in time where she was ready to eliminate Eric. She needs to make sure that she keeps her hands clean and has a reasonable patsy.

that if something does go wrong, he can take the fall. If Ann really was this cold and calculating, was she in fact a psychopath? Morgan and the Millers feared the worst. Would she now try to hurt baby Claire? I am scared. I am scared to death for Claire's well-being. You know, at any moment, she could be poisoning Claire.

You can't always see bad weather coming, so it's essential that you're able to see through it when you drive. Michelin wiper blades with advanced technology hug your windshield like a Michelin tire hugs the road, channeling away water, snow, and ice so you can see clearly. Drive confidently and breathe easy. Michelin wiper performance, clearer than ever. Upgrade to Michelin premium wipers today at your local auto parts retailer.

The search for truth never ends. Introducing June's Journey, a hidden object mobile game with a captivating story. Connect with friends, explore the roaring 20s, and enjoy thrilling activities and challenges while supporting environmental causes.

After seven years, the adventure continues with our immersive travels feature. Explore distant cultures and engage in exciting experiences. There's always something new to discover. Are you ready? Download June's Journey now on Android or iOS. I was sure that Ann Miller was directly responsible for her husband's death.

Lieutenant Chris Morgan was desperate to put Ann Miller behind bars. You kept your eye on Ann Miller. We did for a period of time. We watched her pretty much round the clock. They're coming out. In a space of about six months, she had completely reinvented her life.

Morgan couldn't believe that so soon after Eric's murder, Anne packed up her life in Raleigh and took Claire 120 miles away to Wilmington, North Carolina, far from the reach of the Raleigh Police Department. She had latched on to a new man in her life. Her new boyfriend was musician Paul Konst. He was just a normal, everyday guy. And she had a new job. Trying a new career, working for an interior designer.

Is that what you would normally expect from a spouse whose husband's been murdered in such a cruel way? An innocent person, he believed, would have been hounding the police for answers. Ann Miller should have been on a first-name basis with every detective involved in this investigation.

We just want to talk to you for a minute. But Ann wasn't interested in talking to anybody. Could we please have a minute of your time? Morgan wondered what kind of person watches her husband die and doesn't look back. I think she is a psychopath. She never felt any guilt. She never felt any remorse. He feared for what could happen next. Did you also believe she would harm her own daughter? We didn't know, but I didn't want to take that chance.

She just lost control. Morgan turned to his friend, forensic psychologist Michael Teague, for help. I think even people like Ann have emotion. I don't think Ann's got any emotion. Sometimes we would argue over whether his insights were correct. Think you're wrong on that one, my good doctor? Teague was being very objective. Missing the point again. I need...

objective viewpoints. She wanted him dead, T. Eventually, she wanted him gone. You didn't think that Anne set the profile of a killer? She's not very typical. I mean, most of the women who kill their husbands are not highly educated as she is, did not come from a very high-income background. Anne grew up in a traditional church-going family, the eldest of three girls. Her mother, a teaching assistant, and her father, a sales executive, say she is a devoted and loving daughter.

Teague wondered, did Ann just snap one day? Or was she the psychopath that Morgan described, someone likely to kill again? There's more to this picture than just your typical murder of a husband by a wife. Teague needed a face-to-face with Ann, so he went undercover visiting the design shop where she worked. I didn't recognize her. She projected meekness and just weak. She came across as so harmless.

Ann had a chameleon-like quality, he concluded, a dangerous ability to transform herself and fool people. I think Ann is very disturbed, very high risk. If she had no boundaries to stop her from killing the saint like Eric Miller, I don't see what would stop her in the future.

New troubling information was coming to light about Anne every day. Emails revealed that at the same time she was having an affair with Daryl, Anne was having a romantic relationship with a man from California, all while Eric lay dying in the hospital. And on the day Eric was transferred to the ICU, Anne chose not to spend the day with him, but at the beauty salon. She did say she was ready for something new, something fresh.

Another time, she left Eric's hospital bedside to clean house. She threw away all of Eric's soiled clothing from his first night of being ill. She threw away all of the bathroom rugs. Instead of just washing things like any normal person would do, she threw everything away. At the time, Eric's sisters believed Anne was just overcome with stress. In retrospect, what do you think she was doing? She was covering her tracks.

And that's not the only evidence she destroyed. After Eric's death, Ann insisted her husband be cremated against his family's wishes. You did not want your son cremated. We did not want him cremated. We just, we didn't want it. It was like he's died and then they was going to destroy him again.

But Ann begged for Eric's ashes to be interred at the Catholic Church in Raleigh, so she and Claire would be able to visit every Sunday. She just knew how to play your heart strings. Just weeks later, though, Ann would move away from Raleigh and leave Eric's ashes behind. The Millers were furious and concerned.

Morgan and Teague asked Child Protective Services to remove Claire from Ann's care. They told us flat, unless Ann gets arrested, we're not going to do anything looking into this case. Both Morgan and Teague believed that an arrest was imminent. We thought we were going to be getting a call at any minute saying, pick Ann Miller up, arrest her. But the call never came. Oh my gosh.

The district attorney's office wasn't quite ready to move at the same pace that we were. We needed something in addition to just suspicions, suspicious circumstances, and circumstantial evidence. District attorney Colin Willoughby wanted hard evidence, especially if he was going to square off against Ann's high-profile defense attorneys. It was necessary to have solid proof. There was no ending to this story.

It was true. Morgan had no one who could place the arsenic in Anne's hands. It was 2002 and more than a year had passed since Eric Miller was murdered. Morgan. Frustrated, Morgan reread the case file again and again. And then late one night, looking at the file for what felt like the 100th time, Morgan says he saw it.

Plain as day. The opening. Exactly. The key to solving Eric Miller's murder.

Gain specialized knowledge at the crossroads of real estate, sustainability, built environments, and infrastructure with Georgetown's one-year master's in global real assets. Learn to make investment decisions across the built environment, from traditional real estate to infrastructure and sustainability. Plus, you'll get firsthand experience underwriting live deals in hands-on real estate clinics.

And with personalized career coaching, as well as access to a robust network of business school alumni and industry leaders, you'll be equipped for success.

It's time to tap into the rapidly expanding career opportunities in global real assets, including real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and energy resources. Earn a master's in global real assets from Georgetown to gain in-demand skills and stand out in the real estate industry. Explore the program at msb.georgetown.edu slash gra-podcast.

This episode is brought to you by Columbia Sportswear. From snowy trails to city streets, Columbia has you covered. Their OmniHeat Infinity Jackets are the gold standard in warmth, pushing the boundaries of innovation. Feel the difference as thermal reflective technology wraps you in warmth, whether you're hiking mountains or conquering your daily grind. Visit Columbia.com to learn more. Lieutenant Chris Morgan couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before.

In the case file was a transcript from a police interview with Yvette Willard that could crack the case wide open. She told investigators that days before her husband, Darrell, committed suicide, his attorney, Rick Gammon, warned him that he could be charged with attempted murder in the Eric Miller case. Why is Rick Gammon telling Darrell that he could be charged with attempted murder? Well, it's got to be that

Darryl has told Rick Gammon something. So Morgan asked. I said, Rick, let me ask you this. When are you going to tell us what Darryl Willard told you? And my response to Chris was, Chris, you know I can't do that unless I was ordered to do that by a judge. Attorney Rick Gammon. I told Darryl Willard over and over and over again that any and everything that he told me was confidential. They say dead men don't tell tales,

But Morgan was banking his case on changing that. Getting Gammon to break attorney-client privilege was Morgan's only hope. That's going to be the key to this case. District Attorney Colin Willoughby took up the cause. The privileges between lawyers and their clients and priests and their parishioners are probably the two most sacred, and those are probably the most difficult to go after.

Despite the pressure, Gammon refused to break his silence. I don't want to see anyone who's committed murder to go free, even though I'm a defense attorney. But on the other hand, you know, the attorney-client privilege is so important. It's really about black and white for you. There's no moral or ethical struggle. Oh, sure, there's a moral struggle, but there's not a legal struggle. As the case dragged on in the courts, questions about Ann and her relationship with Daryl Willard lingered.

Desperate, Eric's sister Pam phoned Ann and secretly recorded the conversation. It's newspapers that you called Willard like I don't know how many times. What is that all about? He said this guy was stalking you. Obsessed might have been a good word, but I don't know what you want me to say. I want you to tell us what happened. What this is all about. Would it make any difference?

Would anybody listen to me? Yes, you're listening. I really don't think anybody would listen to me. Weeks passed. Months. Years. A lot of people said I'd been so obsessed with it, I paid no attention to my career. Three years after Eric's murder, Ann wed her musician boyfriend, Paul Konst, and Morgan approached retirement age. The only thing I cared about, it would seem to the outsider, was...

Ann Miller going to jail. Then in the spring of 2004, the North Carolina Supreme Court made a startling decision, ruling that Gammon must reveal what Darrell Willard told him about Ann's role in Eric's murder. He told me that he met Ann one day in a parking lot. Ann was crying, and she admitted to him that while Eric was in the hospital...

She took a syringe that contained a substance and injected it into his IV. Darrell asked her, why did you do this? And she said, I just, I don't know why I did it. The DA could now put the arsenic that killed Eric Miller in Ann's hands. As for Darrell Willard, the judge revealed that Darrell told his attorney that he never tried to kill Eric. You felt vindicated? I felt that he at least got to speak up and defend himself.

Ann was ordered to surrender and was charged with Eric's murder. The DA was worried, though, about Gammon's statement being used at trial. Even if a judge allowed it into evidence, any conviction would be subject to appeal. What's more, the DA thought, Ann might charm a jury. We needed to protect our granddaughter. We needed to take Ann out of her life, at least until...

Claire's an adult. The DA wasn't willing to gamble and neither were the Millers. A plea was offered. 25 years in prison for Eric's murder. Ann takes the deal. So in 2005, five years after their son's murder...

The Millers finally hear their daughter-in-law accept guilt. Ann's family was also in the courtroom. Ms. Conch, did you, with malice, unlawfully and intentionally participate in causing the death of Eric Miller? Yes. There it was. In a small, barely audible voice, Ann admitted killing Eric.

But the Miller family wanted answers. Their emotions were raw. Leanne, why don't you look at me? Why can't you look at me? Eric's sister Pam. Why did you brutally murder my brother Eric? Poisoning him, watching him suffer. I think sometimes that you just can't explain it. There's pure evil in the world, and I think she falls into that category of pure evil. Leanne was next.

that you and truly love your daughter how could you when you have taken away one of the most precious gifts that she will ever have her father I will never understand and why you just didn't divorce him she can't divorce him because that

in Anne's world amounts to admitting that she's not perfect. - So instead of shattering this image of the perfect couple, you're saying that Anne Miller decided to kill Eric. - Exactly. From Anne's point of view, she would be looked at by her friends as this total victim.

With Ann Miller's sentencing, Chris Morgan retired from the police force. The main question I'd like to ask her is, "Why did you think you'd be able to get away with this?" And while the case that consumed him for nearly five years is finally over, to this day, Morgan feels little satisfaction. What in the hell have I got to be happy about? Two good men are dead.

Two little girls will never know their father. I'm not happy about any of this. My job was to get justice for Eric Miller. Justice has been done. Ann Miller-Kantz is scheduled to be released from prison in 2029. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.

At iFly Indoor Skydiving, everything's better when you fly together. This holiday season, share the dream of flight and make your celebrations unforgettable. For a very limited time, get 10 flights for over 50% off with iFly's Black Friday Friends and Family Package.

Elevate your holiday festivities with magical memories for all ages. Go to iflyworld.com to grab your Black Friday friends and family deal. That's iflyworld.com.

Did you know that after World War II, the US government quietly brought former Nazi scientists to America in a covert operation to advance military technology? Or that in the 1950s, the US Army conducted a secret experiment by releasing bacteria over San Francisco to test how a biological attack might spread without alerting the public?

These might sound like conspiracy theories, but they're not. They're well-documented government operations that have been hidden away in classified files for decades. I'm Luke LaManna, a Marine Corps recon vet, and I've always had a thing for digging into the unknown. It's what led me to start my new podcast, Redacted Declassified Mysteries. In it, I explore hidden truths and reveal some eye-opening events, like covert experiments and secret operations that those in power tried before.

In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harbored a deep,

There wouldn't be a girl on pit count once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us.

I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction.

Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.