Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
To get this episode of Forensic Tales ad-free, check us out at patreon.com/forensictales. Forensic Tales discusses topics that some listeners may find disturbing. The contents of this episode may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. The Fourth of July weekend is an American family tradition, a time to celebrate, barbecue, and enjoy fireworks with your loved ones. After a long, hard day at work,
Frank comes home to spend time with his two young daughters. He approaches his little girl, but she doesn't look quite right. He runs over to pick her up. As he carries her, Angie's body goes limp. His precious little girl foams at the mouth and blood begins to spill. A terrifying nightmare has just begun.
This is Forensic Tales, episode number 84, The Mysterious Deaths of Angelina and Deborah Logue. ♪♪
Thank you.
Welcome to Forensic Tales. I'm your host, Courtney Fretwell. Forensic Tales is a weekly true crime podcast covering real, spine-tingling stories with a forensic science twist. Some cases have been solved with forensic science, while others have turned cold. Every remarkable story sends us a chilling reminder that not all stories have happy endings.
If you're interested in supporting the show, getting early access to weekly episodes, bonus material, ad-free episodes, merchandise, and much more, consider visiting our Patreon page at patreon.com slash Forensic Tales.
Before we get into this week's episode, I want to give a huge shout out and thank you to this week's newest patrons of the show, Lady J and William H. Thank you so much, Lady and William. Another great way you can help support Forensic Tales is by leaving us a positive rating with a review or telling friends and family who love true crime about us.
Now, let's jump right into this week's story. On Thursday, July 4th, 1974, the Logues and their seven children had plans to spend the long holiday weekend at the home of Harry and Lucy Knudsen in Long Island, New York.
The Nutsons were the children's aunt and uncle. And because Harry and Lucy had a huge home with a big, nice swimming pool in the backyard, their home was a popular spot for long holiday weekends like the 4th of July. Frank Logue, the father, worked the July 4th holiday, but made plans to meet up with his family after work and spend the weekend together.
The Logues didn't have many plans for the weekend. The idea was just to stay at the Nutsons' home for the weekend, barbecue a little bit, and just let the kids play in the swimming pool. Two of the Logues' children, who especially loved to swim and play in the pool, were 7-year-old Angelina, a.k.a. Angie, and her 4-year-old sister, Debra, a.k.a. Debbie.
Angie and Debbie and their siblings played in the backyard pool all day until around 6 p.m. Around 6 p.m. that night, the adults told the kids and the rest of the girls that it was time to get out of the pool because dinner was coming and they needed to get out and change their clothes.
As the kids came out of the swimming pool, they were completely exhausted. Now, this isn't really surprising considering all of the kids just spent hours in the pool under the hot sun. Seven-year-old Angie told her mom while getting out of the pool that she felt cold and she felt tired. She told her mom that she just wanted to go lie down for a minute before dinner was ready.
Now, this comment from Angie didn't seem to bother or concern Angie's mom at the time. She just thought maybe Angie played a little bit too hard and just needed a little nap before dinner. She was, of course, only seven years old. So she took Angie to go lie down on one of the pool's lounge chairs and covered her up with a towel so she could take a nap.
Angie's younger sister, four-year-old Debbie, also complained to her mom about the same thing as she got out of her aunt and uncle's swimming pool. She told her mom that she was cold and tired and wanted to go lie down.
So just like with Angie, the mom took four-year-old Debbie to another lounge chair across the pool and lied her down with a beach towel. She just figured that both of her girls needed a little nap. A little while later, around 7 p.m., the girl's father, Frank, came over from work. As he walked into the home, he noticed that everyone except for Angie and Debbie were inside the home.
So Frank asks his wife where the girls are. She tells him that both of them are asleep outside by the pool, that they're lying on lounge chairs. So Frank then decides to grab a glass of iced tea from the kitchen and then heads out to the pool to wake the girls up for dinner.
He knows the girls are tired and that they spent the entire day in the pool, but they needed to at least wake up and eat dinner. After they ate some dinner, they could go to sleep for the rest of the night. When he approaches Angie along the side of the pool on the lounge chair, she doesn't seem to look right.
Her skin has turned a pale gray color and one of her eyes looks like they were dilated. He has never seen his daughter look like this. Frank decides to pick Angie up from the pool chair and takes her inside of the house. As he's carrying her inside, he starts to feel her body stiffen up and then eventually go completely limp.
At the same time that he's carrying her inside the house, he starts to notice a small amount of blood and a small amount of foam starting to come out of her mouth and her nose. Angie's aunt, Lucy, who's a former surgical technician with the army, started CPR on Angie, who by this point was unresponsive.
While Lucy's performing CPR, Frank picks up the phone and dials 911. The police arrive within minutes and immediately call a rescue squad with an ambulance. Angie is fading in and out of consciousness. The ambulance takes Angie to Good Samaritan Hospital. On the way to the hospital, Angie's breathing and heart stop several times and it doesn't look good.
Paramedics are barely able to make it to the hospital while Angie is just hanging on by a thread. Only minutes after the ambulance leaves with Angie, someone inside the home notices that four-year-old Debbie also seems to be getting sick.
She has all of the same symptoms that her older sister Angie had. Stiff body, foam and blood were coming out of her mouth and nose, and then loss of consciousness. The police take her in the patrol car and also drive little Debra to Good Samaritan Hospital. Once they arrive, Angie and Debbie are rushed into separate rooms in the hospital's intensive care unit.
Both of the young girls barely survived the ride to the hospital and were both put on respirators to try and stabilize their breathing. After being on the respirator for under five minutes, seven-year-old Angie was dead. After doctors pronounce Angie dead, they turn their attention to Debbie.
The ICU doctors had no time to figure out how or even why Angie died. That's because they knew that whatever or whoever killed Angie was also going to kill Debbie if they couldn't figure out what to try to do and save her.
Neither the doctors nor the police had any clue what caused a perfectly healthy seven-year-old girl to simply walk out of a swimming pool and then die. Did someone in her family do this? Did they poison her? Was she murdered some other way? Nobody knew.
All the authorities' information and what they had was that two sisters mysteriously got deathly sick after swimming in their aunt and uncle's pool. But before they could try and answer any of these questions, they needed to try and save Debbie's life.
Even if the ICU doctors thought that maybe these girls were poisoned either accidentally or intentionally by someone in the family, they had no idea what that substance might be. And if they don't know what was poisoning them, then they wouldn't know what type of antidote or medication to try and give Debbie to ultimately save her life.
Now, typically in cases involving accidental or intentional overdose or poisoning, the doctors at the hospital are told what substance the person ingested, whether that's prescription pills, whether it's a child who got into something, maybe a pesticide that they weren't supposed to. And then the doctors have the ability to prescribe the appropriate treatment or medication to combat the poisonings.
But in this case involving Angie and Debbie, the girls hadn't ingested anything. They were just in a swimming pool all day long, at least according to what the family said. Later that night, while Debbie remains unresponsive in the intensive care unit, the hospital contacted the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office 24-hour poison identification service.
This unit at the medical examiner's office is responsible for responding to possible cases involving unknown poisons and has a doctor on call 24 hours a day. Philip Giacinta, an assistant toxicologist within the unit, is the one who responds to Debbie's case. After receiving the phone call from the hospital, Philip drove over to collect biological samples from both Angie and Debbie.
He collected samples of blood, urine, and stomach contents from both the girls to be tested to try and figure out what was making them so sick. While the doctors monitored Debbie's condition in the ICU, which appears to be worsening, the toxicologist placed the biological samples in the lab's gas chromatograph.
The machine works by tracing wavy lines on a flowing sheet of paper as the machine analyzes the samples. If the machine detects a particular poison or deadly substance in the biological sample, the graph will peak in certain positions. This machine will detect anything from simple pesticides to some of the most deadly substances.
But as the toxicologist runs sample after sample through the machine, he isn't picking up on any known toxins. He then took the biological samples and tried running a couple other tests on them to try and figure out what was in those substances. He ran them through different techniques. Number one, thin layer chromatography. And number two, ultraviolet spectrophotometry.
The first one, thin layer chromatography, works by separating non-volatile mixtures within a sample. This type of test is used to observe reactions within chemicals. It can help to identify certain compounds that make up a particular mixture. And in this case, it was used to determine what kind of substance might be in Debbie and or Angie's samples.
Then, number two, the ultraviolet spectrophotometry is a method that studies the absorption of ultraviolet light or visible light by chemical compounds. But even after the assistant toxicologist used both of these methods to try and identify a possible toxin, still nothing turned up in the samples.
No machine, no test used that night could detect any trace of any known poison in either of the sisters. By the following morning on Friday, July 5th, Debbie had slipped into a coma and the doctors took Angie's body to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. Dr. Weinberg and Dr. Edelman performed Angie's autopsy.
Neither of the doctors noted anything unusual about Angie's body. She didn't have any visible injuries to her body. Her organs appeared to be completely normal. Her heart was fine, her liver, her brain, her skin. Everything to these two doctors seemed completely normal. Whatever killed her and now was slowly killing her younger sister wasn't showing up on any traditional autopsy.
Dr. Weinberg and Dr. Adelman took samples of Angie's tissue for further testing to be done. Even though the blood and urine samples collected at the hospital didn't turn up any clues, they were hopeful that a tissue sample might reveal something. But unfortunately, that type of testing would take weeks for them to get any sort of results or answers back.
And over the next couple of days, Debbie's condition worsened. On July 13th, after nine days in the hospital, Debbie's vital organs failed and she was pronounced dead. She was only four years old. Angie and Debbie's death baffled not only the doctors, but also the forensic science experts.
Before July 4th, 1974, Angie and Debbie were two perfectly normal and healthy young girls. They had no prior medical conditions. They didn't take any dangerous medication. Whoever or whatever killed the sisters was a complete mystery. This episode of Forensic Tales is brought to you by Best Fiends.
This summer's gonna be big. Now that everything is finally getting back to normal, people will be heading out for long overdue vacations. I know we are. And that means people will be playing Best Fiends like crazy. Best Fiends is the five-star rated puzzle game that's the perfect travel companion. I love it because with Best Fiends, the fun never ends.
There are literally thousands of levels to play and tons of cute characters to collect. It's like a summertime vacation for my brain. With thousands of fun puzzles to solve, there's something new every day. I am on level 105 right now, so I've got a lot more work to do.
Make the most of your summer downtime and spend some time with your favorite fiends. Download Best Fiends on the App Store and Google Play for free today. That's friends without the R. Best Fiends. The attempt to figure out what happened to these sisters turned into a nationwide effort that lasted around the clock. In the days and weeks following the girls' mysterious deaths,
Forensic experts around the country joined the investigation. Everyone was desperate to find out what happened to these two young girls who had their lives tragically cut short. The authorities sent tissue and biological samples of the girls to dozens of crime and forensic labs all over the country. The list even included state and privately run labs.
Not only were people worried that something or someone killed these girls, but whatever or whoever was responsible is still out there and could kill again. Long Island officials spent days and weeks searching the home where Angie and Debbie stayed. Authorities collected items from inside the home like cleaning products as well as prescription medications.
They collected samples from the water in the swimming pool where the girls swam that afternoon. They collected soil from around the home, leaves, flowers. They collected anything they could get their hands on that could contain a possible source of poison. But nothing turned up.
During the course of the investigation, a neighbor told police that they saw toads running around the neighborhood just days before the girls' deaths. The neighbor thought that maybe these toads were poisonous and that the sisters may have come into contact with them during their stay at their aunt and uncle's house.
But when the authorities caught up with some of these toads in the neighborhood and captured them, they proved to be harmless. These toads were not responsible for the girls' deaths. One of the most prominent theories early on in the investigation was that chlordane termite formula might be what have killed the girls.
So the theory is that back on July 3rd, the day before the Logues showed up at their aunt and uncle's home, Angie and Debbie were seen playing in their front yard. That same day, exterminators were treating a neighbor's home for termites and used the chemical chlordane, a common chemical used to treat and get rid of termites.
Now, the theory was that maybe some of this chemical drifted into the Logue's front yard where the girls were playing that afternoon, and then they were accidentally poisoned. This theory isn't too far-fetched because this chemical can be a toxic substance to humans. But the police on the case quickly ruled this theory out.
First of all, chlordane is one of the most widely used pesticides and is always handled with care. Whoever the exterminators were who worked on the girl's neighbor's home would have exercised an extreme level of caution while spraying the neighbor's property. It's not like they would have been spraying the chemical directly on Angie or Debbie, which would have been required for it to become lethal.
And then number two, second of all, not a drop of this pesticide was found in either of the girls' system. Absolutely, if these girls would have come into a deadly amount or come into a deadly contact with this pesticide,
If it was enough to kill them, then the forensic pathologist, as well as the toxicologist who tested the girls' samples, well, that pesticide would have certainly showed up on any one of these tests. But a complete toxicology report ruled this chemical out at least a half dozen times.
Now, remember, these samples had been tested in countless private as well as government-operated crime labs all across the country. So you can't blame the fact that this pesticide didn't show up on the test to a faulty test or a faulty person behind running the test. This pesticide was tested in all of the labs that looked at these girls' samples.
And again, not one of these crime labs turned up anything unusual in the girls' systems. So since the authorities could not get a hit by testing biological samples, they turned their attention to items the girls would have come into contact with right before they died. Maybe, just maybe, something the girls touched that afternoon caused them to become sick.
So the first item that they tested was a plastic sheet that Angie laid on at her aunt and uncle's home by the swimming pool. The hope was that the sheet might contain traces of a fruit drink that the girls shared that day. But again, nothing turned up of any investigative value on the plastic sheet.
and no trace of anything poisonous or harmful in the fruit drink. As the forensic test came back empty-handed, the police then turned their attention to the girl's family. The family is asked whether the girls had any allergies. Did they know about any sensitivity to a certain chemical? Again, there was nothing.
The family said the girls didn't have any allergies and had never been tested for anything and never had anything like this happen in the past. And then medical records verified basically everything that the family said. The girls didn't have anything in their medical records to suggest a deadly allergy or anything like that. The family was also asked the number one question,
Is there a possibility that someone could have intentionally poisoned the girls? After six months of performing every possible forensic test on the girls' tissue and biological samples, the Suffolk County Medical Examiner announced that Angie and Debbie's deaths were undetermined.
Dr. Sidney Weinberg announced, quote, we've had some of the finest laboratories in the country working on it without success. I suppose we're going to be faced with the inevitable and say we don't know, end quote. So now what about the question of foul play? If every possible forensic test out there couldn't figure out how these girls died,
Is it possible they died some other way and they weren't poisoned? Well, if you ask the Suffolk County medical examiner, he would say yes, it's possible. Angie and Debbie became victims of foul play that afternoon. But his answer to this question is a little deceiving. Forensic pathologists and medical examiners are tasked with determining the manner and cause of death.
When it comes to manner of death, they need to figure out, did this person die naturally, accidentally, were they murdered, or did they commit suicide, or is it undetermined? These are the five manners of death that the pathologist will then write and sign on the death certificate.
But in this case with Angie and Debbie, only one manner of death could be officially ruled out, and that was suicide. Based on the battery of forensic tests performed on these sisters, the Suffolk County Medical Examiner couldn't say for sure if they died naturally, accidentally, were victims of homicide, or if they simply were undetermined.
Now, what's interesting about this case is that nothing was found during the autopsy or the test on the tissue and biological samples. Literally nothing. So if there's no evidence to support any manner of death besides undetermined, I suppose, it's then considered undetermined. You can't rule out homicide. You can't rule out natural or accidental death.
So when the medical examiner is asked if homicide or foul play is a possible manner of death with Angie and Debbie, then the answer is yes, because it is possible.
Then there's the cause of death. The Suffolk County medical examiner needed to identify the specific injury or illness that killed the sisters, which, just like the manner of death, is a mystery. Typically, identifying the cause of death is relatively straightforward.
For instance, when someone is shot with a gun, most likely the cause of death is a fatal gunshot wound. Manner of death is homicide. Or if someone suddenly passes away in their sleep and an autopsy reveals that the person suffered a massive fatal heart attack, the medical examiner can rule the cause of death a heart attack and the manner of death is natural.
In the case of Angie and Debbie, there was no specific injury or illness. Forensic experts from all across the country couldn't pinpoint a single thing that would have caused two healthy children to just die suddenly.
Now, going back to the theory of foul play, the Suffolk County Medical Examiner has said for years that, yes, homicide is possible, but without any credible evidence, it's nearly impossible to say. It simply means that it can't be ruled out.
It's very important for me to mention here that no one, nobody in Angie or Debbie's family has ever been accused in this case. And no one in the family has ever been officially named a possible suspect or even a possible person of interest. What happened to the sisters as it relates to foul play remains a complete mystery.
If they did become victims to something other than poisons or toxins, only the person responsible knows the truth. The medical examiner who worked on the Logue sister case died in 1996. Sometime before his death, the New York Times quoted him as saying, quote, something killed these girls. I wish I knew what it was, end quote.
Whatever happened on that summer day in July 1974 that left 7-year-old Angie and 4-year-old Debbie dead remains a mystery. After spending the afternoon swimming at their aunt's and uncle's pool in Long Island, New York, they fell ill, lapsed into comas, and died. But what killed them?
No toxin or poison was ever identified despite hundreds of sophisticated forensic tests on the girl's DNA and tissue samples. And no injury was ever found on the girl's bodies to suggest foul play. Forensic science is a vital part of our entire criminal justice system.
It helps the police figure out exactly how a crime occurred, reveal possible suspects, make arrests, and ultimately, forensic science helps our system get justice. But like any science, forensic science isn't always perfect. It doesn't always tell a complete story. Sometimes there are errors or mistakes in the process.
And sometimes, forensic science can't explain one of its most essential functions, how someone died. The unexpected and unexplained deaths of Angie and Debbie Logue remain unsolved. To this day, their mysterious deaths have stumped even the best experts in the field of forensic science.
To share your thoughts on the mysterious deaths of Angelina and Deborah Logue, be sure to follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at Forensic Tales. Let me know what you think. What do you think killed the sisters? And do you think we'll ever find out? To check out photos from the case, be sure to head to our website, ForensicTales.com.
Don't forget to subscribe to Forensic Tales so you don't miss an episode. We release a new episode every Monday. If you love the show, consider leaving us a positive review or tell friends and family about us. You can also help support the show through Patreon at patreon.com slash Forensic Tales.
Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please join me next week. We'll have a brand new case and a brand new story to talk about. Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings.
Forensic Tales is a Rockefeller Audio production. The show is written and produced by me, Courtney Fretwell. For a small monthly contribution, you can gain access to bonus content and be one of the first to listen to new episodes.
or if you simply want to support my show, head over to our Patreon page at patreon.com slash forensic tales. You can also help support the show by leaving us a positive review and telling friends and family about us. Forensic Tales is a podcast made possible by our Patreon producers.
For a complete list of sources used in this episode...
please visit ForensicTales.com. Please join me next week. We release a new episode every Monday. Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings.