Haven’t covered a true crime story in a while. This story about how electronic evidence and greed uncovered a murder plot is a good one!

The story was covered on 48 Hours and the transcript and link to a video of the episode is here. I should note that – while this episode isn’t exactly a “whodunnit” (it’s evident pretty early who was responsible) – this post does include some spoilers. So, if you don’t want the plot spoiled, stop reading now. It’s a great episode!

The Death

A man named Harold Allen died suddenly in his home in Freetown, Indiana, just a few days before Christmas 2022. No one suspected anything out of the ordinary because he’d been dealing with some health issues: he’d gained weight, was diabetic, had diverticulitis, etc.

On December 20, Harold’s wife Marsha called 911 and said she discovered him and “He was just laying on the floor, like he was trying to get up and go to the bathroom or something. And he’s not breathing.” Harold was pronounced dead by the paramedics after they arrived.

Harold’s autopsy concluded his death was caused by multiple, serious cardiac issues including pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac around the heart.

Harold and Marsha had only been married less than two years. They married in July 2021, nearly two years after attending their 30th high school reunion.

Earlier that year, Marsha’s daughter, Ashley Jones, and her 5-year-old daughter moved in with Harold and Marsha. Ashley had experienced her own loss: Her 33-year-old husband, Ty Jones, had died suddenly three years earlier. “Heart complications” is what the autopsy said.

As for Marsha, supposedly heartbroken, she turned to writing about her grief and self-published a book – an “intimate glimpse” of what she went through when her husband died.

Sound familiar? This isn’t the case we’ve all been hearing about, but a different case.

The Burglary

Nine months after Harold’s death, investigators were dispatched to a break-in at Marsha’s. While Marsha was vacationing in Tennessee, recently installed security cameras had captured two men breaking into her home. Marsha recognized one of the men as Steven White — her daughter Ashley’s best friend.

Why would her own daughter’s best friend burglarize Marsha’s home? Ashley had moved to Missouri in the months following Harold’s death, so Marsha had been living alone. Reviewing the images, investigators noticed the burglars had come prepared – they even knew the code to Marsha’s safe.

When confronted by the cops, White initially denied his role in the robbery, but the video evidence was too obvious for him to deny for long. But then White told them something they didn’t expect: that Marsha Allen had killed her husband, Harold, by poisoning a root beer float. He also claimed Ashley was the mastermind for the robbery.

The Investigation

When everything White told the investigators about the robbery turned out to be true – the location of the stolen guns, who the other suspect was, etc. – the detective felt he needed to ask Marsha about Harold’s death.

So, he called her in to the police station. At first, they discussed the robbery, including Ashley’s probable involvement. As Marsha said: “She’s the only one, other than me, who knew — knew the combination, and I would never give it out to anybody. Ever.”

Then, they asked her about White’s claims about murdering Harold, which Marsha denied and stated: “That would show up in the toxicology report if that happened.”

White had given other details to police, things he said he’d heard from Ashley, telling investigators that Marsha’s text messages would contain incriminating evidence.

So, the detective asked Marsha if she would be willing to consent to a download of her cell phone, to which she replied: “Yeah.”

The detective left Marsha alone to get the paperwork for the download – Marsha proceeded to delete items off her phone.

Oops.

Marsha didn’t realize that what she deleted could easily be recovered — and those text messages revealed a sinister plot: multiple attempts to poison Harold, with Marsha and Ashley discussing it and even joking about it. Right up to the planning to give Harold the root beer float.

It turns out that Harold had a $120,000 life insurance policy through his job. He also had those guns and several guitars.

There’s your motive.

After Harold survived all the previous attempts to poison him, Marsha and Ashley ordered a chemical online called ethylene glycol, which is used in antifreeze. It has a slight sweet taste – easily disguised in something as sweet as a root beer float. The ethylene glycol showed up at the house on December 19, and Harold passed away on December 20.

The Final Undoing

Detectives confronted Marsha about the text messages and the fact that ethylene glycol was ordered and sent to Marsha’s house. Marsha continued to deny having anything to do with Harold’s death.

When Harold died, his autopsy cited cardiac issues. But the coroner did not screen Harold’s blood for poisons at the time because his death was not suspicious. However, as the detective informed Marsha: “Luckily for us, they keep that blood for a year…So, we…had put a hold on that blood, and it’s going to be retested for all kinds of other stuff… the way this is going, I have a bad feeling that when we get these results back that it’s gonna show ethylene glycol in his system.”

When the interview ended, Marsha wasn’t arrested. She was allowed to return home as the wait began for Harold’s blood test results.

In the meantime, Ashley, who’d been living in Missouri, was extradited to Indiana, under arrest for the burglary of her mother’s house. But when detectives interviewed her, they didn’t ask her about the robbery – they asked her about Harold’s death. Ashley quickly threw her mother under the bus, admitting she helped Marsha purchase ethylene glycol and other poisons online but claimed she was just being an obedient daughter.

However, unexpected news about her mother would punctuate the end of Ashley’s police interview when another officer entered the room. The night before, hours after Marsha’s own interview ended and she’d returned home, Marsha’s parents had been unable to reach her on the phone. A welfare check ultimately determined that Marsha was dead, having “ingested something” – eventually ruled a suicide.

Even in death, Marsha continued with the denials, leaving a note that said: “I did not kill my husband. You win Ashley!”

Ultimately, Ashley was charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder. In August 2025, she took a plea deal — pleading guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. She was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

The Electronic Evidence and How Greed Led to the Undoing

With a mountain of text messages, proof that Marsha and Ashley had ordered and received ethylene glycol the day before Harold died and more, it would have been very difficult to be acquitted of murder in this case. Oh, and toxicology results confirmed exactly what police suspected – a lethal dose of ethylene glycol in Harold’s system.

But the catalyst was the robbery. As detectives noted: “Marsha Allen paid Ashley about $1,000 a month from the time of Harold’s death in December of 2022, ’til like July of 2023.” The burglary occurred just two months after the payments stopped.

According to the prosecutor, Ashley “was going after money that she thought belonged to her … from the murder of Harold Allen. … Ashley Jones didn’t feel like she received her compensation for that.”

So, Marsha’s greed to cut her daughter off financially, and Ashley’s greed to orchestrate a burglary to “go…after money that she thought belonged to her” led to uncovering the murder plot via the video evidence of the burglary. Had either one not been so greedy, this investigation might never have happened.

One more note: Remember Ashley’s husband who died years before of “heart complications”? Ty’s body was not tested for poison in 2019, and he was cremated at Ashley’s request. But in the text messages, Ashley referenced Ty’s smaller weight compared to Harold’s larger weight when attempts to kill Harold weren’t succeeding. Indiana State Police have opened an investigation into Ty’s death too.

So, what do you think? Are you surprised how electronic evidence and greed uncovered this murder plot? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Image created using DALL-E-3, using the term “two demon robots sending text messages to each other”.

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