Authorities say that an Indiana woman and her mother poisoned her mother’s husband to get his retirement money and savings, and then they killed him with a tainted root beer float.
A probable cause affidavit that PEOPLE obtained says that police found texts between Marsha Allen, 52, and her daughter Ashley Jones, 30, that could be used against her.
On December 19, 2022, a gallon of a chemical used in antifreeze showed up at their house. Jones texted her mother, “The mail is here:)” the document says. It says Marsha “loved” the picture and replied with a heart emoji.
A supplemental probable cause affidavit made on August 16, 2024, says Marsha seemed to have complained about how slow things were going a few weeks earlier.
The extra affidavit says that on November 28, 2022, Marsha texted Jones, “I am irritated and can’t sleep peacefully.” “I want this to end…” “I wish it would reach its peak and end lol.”
Marsha killed herself on October 16, 2023, the same day that police were questioning her about the death of her husband.
As seen in court papers seen by PEOPLE, Jones was arrested on Oct. 18, 2023, and charged with several crimes, including two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. According to court records obtained by PEOPLE, on August 16, officials also charged her with two counts of attempted murder.
His death notice said that Marsha’s husband, Herb “Peanut” L. Allen, Jr., 52, “passed away suddenly” at the Freetown home they shared in December 2022.
There were no signs of wrongdoing until the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department started looking into a break-in at the same house on September 19, 2023, while Marsha was still living there.
One of the two men caught in connection with the break-in told police that Jones had told him that Marsha had poisoned her late husband to death and killed him.
According to the affidavit, the man told the officer that Jones had also asked him to break into Marsha’s house.
Marsha said she didn’t kill her husband, but she did agree to let the police get details from her phone.
According to the affidavit, police found a lot of supposedly incriminating text messages between Marsha and Jones on the phone. The messages began on November 27, 2022, and showed that the two talked about poisoning Harold.
The document says that Jones wrote back to Marsha saying that she needed foxglove seeds, which are poisonous if eaten. Jones also said that the seeds could be found.
Harold went to the hospital the same day because the side of his face hurt. The statement says he went back to the hospital on November 30, 2022, because he had vomiting, fever, and chills, which are all signs of foxglove poisoning.
After that, they “decided to use ethylene glycol to poison and kill Harold Allen,” and on December 13, 2022, Marsha bought a gallon of it for $31.99, the statement says.
The statement says that ethylene glycol is a sweet-tasting compound that has no color or smell and is used in consumer goods like antifreeze. It can be dangerous to eat.
After work that day, Marsha texted Jones and said, “He’s all in for root beer floats,” according to the statement.
The affidavit says Harold died the next day, “before the emergency call was placed.”
This document says that Marsha and Jones bought the foxglove seeds and water hemlock, which is also deadly, on Etsy. The statement says that in the middle of December, they put the hemlock in Harold’s chili and a margarita.
The affidavit says Jones told cops that she only bought the ethylene glycol.
The document says that in text messages she sent to White on July 27, 2023, she wrote, “I planned it all.”
“She couldn’t get into a dead man’s phone without me, so she stole all of his hidden retirement and savings. She even got $4,500 from his PayPal…”
People asked Jones’s lawyer for a reaction, but they didn’t answer right away.
The trial for her is set to start in January 2025.
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