EP12 Just a Spoonful of Murder

This week we're heading to Northern Michigan to uncover the chilling story of Mary McKnight, the woman newspapers dubbed the "Michigan Borgia" and the "Strychnine Saint."

After the mysterious deaths of her brother, sister-in-law, and infant niece near Fife Lake in 1903, investigators uncovered a trail of suspicious deaths stretching across Michigan and spanning more than fifteen years.

Was Mary one of America's first female serial killers? And did she really kill just for the chance to attend another funeral?

Grab your favorite beverage and maybe politely decline any mystery capsules as we dive into one of Michigan's darkest true crime stories.

 Spoiler alert: accepting medicine from Aunt Mary is officially off the table. 

REASEARCH RABBIT HOLES...

Michigan's Strychnine Saint: The Curious Case of Mrs. Mary McKnight by Tobin T. Buhk

• Lost in Michigan — Michigan's Strychnine Serial Killer
https://lostinmichigan.net/michigans-strychnine-serial-killer/

• Medium — Mass Murder in Northern Michigan
https://valerie95017850.medium.com/mass-murder-in-northern-michigan-d131f61b12a9

• Petoskey News — Northern Michigan's Infamous Serial Killer
https://www.petoskeynews.com/story/news/local/gaylord/2014/03/25/orthern-michigans-infamous-serial-killer/45957501/

• Unknown Misandry Blog — Mary McKnight: Black Widow Serial Killer
https://unknownmisandry.blogspot.com/2011/09/mary-mcknight-black-widow-serial-killer.html?m=1

Outro Music shoutout to Geoff Harvey - Pixabay

Transcript

Jasmine 1:02

Is that the sound a gun makes,

Lacey 1:09

I'll protect you. Your dad's not pressed.

Jasmine 1:21

She was also like. Click, click, click, click, click. I don't know what you're talking about. He was very different, very depressed.

Lacey 1:33

He was very depressed,

Jasmine 1:37

impressed, very impressed.

Lacey 1:41

Yeah, so we had to call the cops. They were here a couple times. They broke the screen off the door bag, like, what? I love, are you guys okay? It just makes me think of that TikTok, where they're like. Someone tries to break in my house when I'm like mid skin routine and they've got like their red mask on, have used red light, and they're like, just like trying to climb back through the window.

Jasmine 2:15

It worked, didn't it?

Lacey 2:17

Your mom

Jasmine 2:18

needs one.

Lacey 2:18

So

2:19

they

Jasmine 2:19

come and she's like. I'm waiting for you. Then my cupcake just goes and then their ankles get bit kers like, will you please let me out? I'm tired of you guys. Crap. I'm so tired of your giggling today. Hi, buddy. What's haunting you today Lacey? What is haunting

Lacey 2:48

me? Um, so scientists have discovered that bull sharks have social circles and friends, and I'm kind of obsessed with this.

Jasmine 2:58

Oh my god. And I'm kind of terrified 'cause they're just hanging out in the Mississippi River together. Being all mean, eaten people.

Lacey 3:06

This I think was in Fiji though.

Jasmine 3:08

Oh, okay.

Lacey 3:09

Like over six years.

Jasmine 3:10

They can have friends in Fiji, stay out of the Mississippi and don't come towards Michigan.

Lacey 3:15

Well, they thought like bull sharks, bull sharks, bull sharks were lone hunters. But they have friends, they like, this is my BFF. They have social circles. They like meet in the same spots like they have hangouts, traumatizing. You're welcome. They just attack together as a friend group. So like my feed on stuff is like sharks. Shocker. Sea life also shocker, dinosaurs,

Jasmine 3:48

autistic, paranormal.

Lacey 3:52

No one can say I don't have special interests. Okay.

Jasmine 3:55

Mine is like paranormal witchy stuff. And then mundane tasks like laundry.

Lacey 4:00

Oh, like for sure witchy

Jasmine 4:01

stuff. But like lately it's been a lot of sharks and. A lot of dinosaurs. I accidentally ended up on like a pimple popping side of TikTok.

Lacey 4:12

Oh my God. And I'm like,

Jasmine 4:13

and that was hilarious. I was like, you don't have to watch this if it grosses you out, but read the comments.

Lacey 4:19

And I'm like, I don't even care about the comments right now. I'm so jealous of this person getting to pop this pimple. I like live for this.

Jasmine 4:28

Okay. I was like, gagging. 'cause she's like, it smells so bad. Well,

Lacey 4:34

she like popped it and she was like,

Jasmine 4:36

she's like, it got on my camera.

Lacey 4:39

First of all, that you like have the foresight to like record this.

Jasmine 4:44

At a good angle. Yeah. You like set up a tripod or something?

Lacey 4:47

Yeah. Why she wasn't wearing gloves.

Jasmine 4:51

Yeah. You can set up a tripod but not put gloves on her. Or, I mean,

Lacey 4:54

maybe

4:55

this

Lacey 4:55

a

Jasmine 4:55

sterile field.

Lacey 4:56

The cosmetologist in me that I'm like, why is she not gloves? I mean gloves and maybe like an alcohol wipe.

Jasmine 5:05

I think she did get alcohol at one point. 'cause she was wiping, she kept dunking a cotton pad in something. Ah, yeah.

Lacey 5:12

Um, oh, I love a good pimp pop. Like if you need a pimple popped. I got you.

Jasmine 5:19

Yeah, you turned to me and said, if you ever have a pimple that's big, please, lemme pop it.

Lacey 5:25

You're like the comments,

Jasmine 5:29

I didn't send you here to watch it. I sent you here for the comments.

Lacey 5:32

I'm like, don't watch this, just read the comments. I'm like, hold up. I get a lot of Pimple Popper videos on TikTok, and then I get mad that they don't show it. It's like an eight parts. I'm like, I don't care about the backstory.

Jasmine 5:49

I don't want your eight part series. Okay. And I don't wanna watch the show. I'm here for the nitty gritty.

Lacey 5:55

Just show me the little clip, like this is what it is. Show me the clip. Oh, in the video, she's just like. Yeah. What did she say? She's like, don't worry, I watch a lot of this on tv. Don't worry. I watch this on tv. I got you. Well, that's some background on me. Some Lacey lore. She loves sharks Pimples. See life. Can I say I do love a good history channel though? Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Josh Gates.

Jasmine 6:40

Okay. I do love Josh Gates. For the longest time I was trying to find what is it? What was his first show that he came out with?

Lacey 6:51

Um, he's doing Expedition Unknown. So it was like destination,

Jasmine 6:56

is it Destination Truth. Destination truth,

Lacey 6:58

yes.

Jasmine 6:59

I wanted to watch this for forever 'cause I never, never saw it. And it's finally on like Amazon Prime or something. Wow. So I've been watching it.

Lacey 7:10

Oh God. I love Josh Gates.

Jasmine 7:12

Yeah. I mean, I watched all his other stuff too.

Lacey 7:14

Yeah.

Jasmine 7:15

But like. Finally have been able to watch the og.

Lacey 7:21

So funny.

Jasmine 7:22

Yeah.

Lacey 7:24

Yeah. I have a mug that says, what would Josh Gates do?

Jasmine 7:28

You

Lacey 7:28

would, it was a gift. I also have his book, it's like called Destination Truth. I have stuff like that from podcasts that I listen to. And then I also have like a Zag Baggins book too, that I found in a thrift shop.

Jasmine 7:47

I'm I, I bought his like, how to Hunt, go Ghost Hunting for Dummies on Audible or something. And I, I can't remember if he reads it or not. Golden.

Lacey 8:01

That is not the one I have. But now every time I go to that thrifter, I'm like, I gotta look at the books. What if I find another treasure?

Jasmine 8:12

What if Zach has another book out?

Lacey 8:15

Maybe they decide to donate the whatever for dummies. You just said ghost hunting?

Jasmine 8:21

Yeah,

Lacey 8:21

like it's not haunting. He's not haunting anyone.

Jasmine 8:24

Maybe they'll have one of his albums. Albums.

Lacey 8:31

Please tell me you're joking.

Jasmine 8:32

I'm not. I am not joking. Look it up.

Lacey 8:35

He has an album.

Jasmine 8:37

Yeah.

Lacey 8:38

As in plural, albums

Jasmine 8:39

it. I think it's plural. Oh, what? Music,

Lacey 8:44

like real music.

Jasmine 8:47

Nothing I enjoy.

Lacey 8:49

I mean, I do think it'd really be funny if he had like an album of him like reading Latin or like, you wanna Go Ghost Hunting and like. Make the ghost mad, play this, just like, oh, that would

Jasmine 9:01

be hilarious.

Lacey 9:02

Come out and face me. And you're just like in the corner, like, is this working for you? Are you angry?

Jasmine 9:08

No, no, no. Music.

Lacey 9:11

I, I don't know if I wanna open that can of worms.

Jasmine 9:15

Ah, for some reason I feel like it's like. Techno metal or something like that. Something terrible like that.

Lacey 9:24

I dancing like in white chicks sticks, and he's shirtless, just like a whistle in his mouth. Directing traffic. Yeah. But he's like in an abandoned building. He started his own raves speaking in Latin

Jasmine 9:55

around

Lacey 9:56

the

Jasmine 9:56

whistle.

Lacey 10:04

As all this gets edited out,

Jasmine 10:06

I don't know about that.

Lacey 10:09

I have no control. I'm sorry guys.

Jasmine 10:13

I think you have to ask me a question. What's haunting you other than me right now? What's haunting me is that Lacey never asks me how I'm doing. Look how I'm haunting.

Lacey 10:25

I have the tm. Okay? And like it never occurs to me when someone's like, how are you? My first thought is not, oh, how are you? It's just like, I'm fine. And then that's like the end of it.

Jasmine 10:37

I'll say, good, how are you? Not mean that Good. Great. How are you?

Lacey 10:43

See, I think you might have a little bit of it too, like you've trained yourself.

Jasmine 10:47

I do train myself. I have, I have a DHD though, maybe a DHD. I don't know, but I, for sure, I landed in the high A DHD scale, getting towards autism scale.

Lacey 11:02

I, yeah, I'm 100% convinced I have a DHD, but I just like to say my chm just to encompass all,

Jasmine 11:10

all, every, all of it, all of it. Um, what's haunting me is. Yesterday on my way to work, I was trapped on the highway. I was trying to get to work and I, every exit was closed.

Lacey 11:32

Which they're not now.

Jasmine 11:33

Yeah, they're not today. But the exit I usually take, which is like the first one, um, it like the highway splits, so if you're taking exits, you go right. If you're not, you go left. And it was, it it, the signs were still there, but they had a barricade blocking it and work trucks all along that path.

Lacey 11:58

Oh.

Jasmine 11:59

And I'm like, oh, okay. I'm pretty sure the next exit is closed too. So I guess I'll get off on the third exit, which is way. Out of the way at this point. So I go to take the third exit and it's also closed, so I have to drive like way out of the way, get on a different highway and then backtrack to get to work.

Lacey 12:25

I did get a message. It's like, Hey, on your way to work. Just so you know, all the exits are closed.

Jasmine 12:31

Apparently, all the on-ramps were closed too that day.

Lacey 12:35

That's

12:35

wild.

Jasmine 12:36

Yeah. Like, hi, people do need to get into this town.

Lacey 12:40

Yeah. Not anymore. Not anymore. Not

Jasmine 12:43

by highway.

Lacey 12:45

This

Jasmine 12:45

town's,

Lacey 12:46

uh, now closed to tourists. You have to be local now to use

Jasmine 12:51

this. Well, technically if I work here, I feel like I'm a little local

Lacey 12:57

and I'd say like taking the Knot Highway way, just like. It's so much more inconvenient.

Jasmine 13:03

Well, I know it's a, it's longer. It's for sure. It's 15 to 20 minutes depending on the traffic, because since they're closing off everything on the highway, more people are taking the back roads. Yeah. So like people were running behind to work today. Yeah. Insane.

Lacey 13:21

So annoying.

Jasmine 13:22

Calm down your road construction.

Lacey 13:24

Yep.

Jasmine 13:25

Yep. Michigan Road Construction. And this is me complaining about road construction for 30 minutes.

Lacey 13:33

I bet you miss my shark facts. Now

Jasmine 13:35

I don't. Rude. Oh, and then my car wouldn't turn off.

Lacey 13:41

Oh, that's weird.

Jasmine 13:42

When I got to work, it's like, FOB not detected. And I was like, FOB is in my hand. What do you mean not detected? And if the fob is not detected, why would you stay on?

Lacey 13:55

Yeah, that's also

Jasmine 13:56

weird. Why would you stay turned on?

Lacey 13:58

It's your battery and your fob.

Jasmine 13:59

I think the key FOB battery's going bad, so I'll have to replace that. But still though, ridiculous.

Lacey 14:05

One tragedy after another

Jasmine 14:08

and it and the hits just kept on hitting. So, Lacey?

Lacey 14:14

Yeah.

Jasmine 14:15

You don't know what we're talking about today. I

Lacey 14:17

was like, please don't ask me. 'cause I honestly have no idea. You asked me poison or blood and I picked poison.

Jasmine 14:22

Poison.

Lacey 14:24

Poison.

Jasmine 14:27

Okay. Today we're heading into Northern Michigan at the turn of the 20th century. It's a place where towns were small gossip, traveled fast, and people trusted their neighbors because they had to and because they had to, because they had to,

Lacey 14:49

because they had to.

Jasmine 14:51

In these little communities, everyone knew who baked the best pies, who needed help with chores, who had a sick child, and everyone definitely knew who stepped up to nurse the sick, comfort, the grieving, and show up for funerals. One of those helpful neighbors was a woman named Mary McKnight. And that name still casts a shadow over the rural pockets of Michigan that once trusted her. She's remembered now as the Michigan Borgia, the strict nine saint, and depending on which account you believe, she may have been one of the earliest and most prolific female serial killers in America. This story isn't just about how Mary got caught, it's about the quiet trail of body she left behind long before anyone realized there was something very wrong with her and why her own family eventually whispered that. Mary did it all because she liked going to funerals. What the heck was that?

Lacey 15:58

I'm glad you heard that. 'cause I turned, I thought Frisker was gonna be right there.

Jasmine 16:03

No, he's not.

Lacey 16:06

He is like half under your bed.

Jasmine 16:07

Hey there, whatever's happening, stop it. To understand Mary as an adult, you have to go back to the environment she grew up in. She was born into a family where illness, sudden deaths and tragedy weren't rare. They were routine. Northern Michigan at the time was rugged logging towns, rough winters. No real medical system disease tore through families, especially poor ones. And death at home was normal. But with Mary, the pattern didn't just follow her. It intensified. By the time she was a young woman, she had already developed a reputation for being useful in sickness. She was always available to help, always willing to tend to the dying. Always the one who knew exactly what powders or tonics someone needed to settle the nerves. Sounds like my kinda lady.

Lacey 17:06

Cocaine.

Jasmine 17:08

Some women during this era leaned into caregiving because it gave them a little power in a world that didn't offer many opportunities for Mary, that role became her entire identity. Um, this area has a high, um. Water level, groundwater level.

Lacey 17:31

Oh.

Jasmine 17:31

So that's my sub pump going off to make sure the basement doesn't flood.

Lacey 17:35

Gotcha.

Jasmine 17:35

She said, what the heck is that?

Lacey 17:37

Well, I didn't know what the thump was and I

Jasmine 17:39

was like, that thump. I don't know what that was. That loud noise though was the sub pump.

Lacey 17:43

Oh, I heard a thump. Oh, I assume it's a cat.

Jasmine 17:46

No, that like. Oh, that loud noise was, um, the sub pump, the noise before. I don't know where that came from.

Lacey 17:56

I thought you were like telling me about the story. Like, this area has a high water level.

Jasmine 18:01

No, no, no, no,

Lacey 18:02

no. It feels like, did I miss something in the story?

Jasmine 18:04

No, I saw, I saw you look around after that noise went and it's my sub pump going off. Sorry. And then the deaths started a long trail of suspicion. Her first husband, James Ambrose, died in 1887. Quick illness, sudden decline. Mary was by his side within days. The first wife of her future, second husband also died. Mary was there too.

Lacey 18:34

The what?

Jasmine 18:36

The first wife of her second husband.

Lacey 18:39

Okay.

Jasmine 18:41

So the wife dies and then she marries them, and that's her second husband.

Lacey 18:46

Suspicious,

Jasmine 18:47

suspicious. Two days later, Mary's niece, baby Tipple, also died of convulsions.

Lacey 18:55

Baby. What?

Jasmine 18:56

Tipple. T-E-E-P-L-E.

Lacey 18:58

Tebel, like that was her name?

Jasmine 19:00

Yep.

Lacey 19:01

Okay. Not to keep interrupting you.

Jasmine 19:05

I'm like, you should interrupt. It's called banter.

Lacey 19:09

It's called I little be rude

Jasmine 19:11

banter. Lacey banter me constantly interrupting you the entire time you're talking. Uh, Mary had been the one nursing home as the years went on. More children connected to Mary died. Three Ambrose infants, 7-year-old Jane Ambrose, 5-year-old Mary Ambrose, a newborn, all gone after short illnesses all while Mary was helping care for them.

Lacey 19:43

That's like a double-edged sword though. Like if you're known as the person who's taking care of the sick, but then like. A bunch of 'em die. Like

Jasmine 19:53

they're like, oh, those darn sick kids, they just keep dying. We should bring more people over for her to nurse back to

Lacey 19:59

help. But

Jasmine 20:00

like, what if it just is not this one, but like what if it

Lacey 20:03

just is

Jasmine 20:04

coincidence

Lacey 20:05

because you are caring for the sick

Jasmine 20:07

you are, but were they sick to begin with?

Lacey 20:12

Another valid question just in my head. I'm like, what if they start accusing me? Like I'm just

Jasmine 20:18

trying to, she's like, I have a book of poisons from the library. I need to return. Oh no, that's on, that's on my records now. I took it outta the library at least two times.

Lacey 20:31

It was at least two times It has been returned, and it is in my Amazon cart because I'm like. Guys, I really want this book. It's very pretty. This poison book

Jasmine 20:44

in Grayling, another niece. Eliza Chalker died in 1892. Mary's sister, Sarah Murphy died the next year. Same pattern. Her second husband, Ernest McKnight, died in 1890 something. The records get fuzzy here, but the cause was sudden illness, and once again, Mary had been caring for him. In Saginaw, two women connected by marriage died after helpful visits from Mary. Then Dorothy Jensen, a young girl, and Grayling died on Good Friday of 1902. After suddenly convulsing from Alpena to Grayling to saana, suspicious deaths followed her like a shadow. But back then people didn't assume poisoning. They assumed heartbreak, pneumonia, bad luck. No one suspected the sweet religious woman who always volunteered to sit up with the sick,

Lacey 21:38

they're always religious.

Jasmine 21:39

Of course, they are. Over roughly 15 years, as many as 12 to 18 people died under Mary's watch. Wild. And not a single alarm was raised.

Lacey 21:51

I mean, that's also the times too. Yeah. That just like.

Jasmine 21:55

Bad communication.

Lacey 21:56

Yeah.

Jasmine 21:57

You write a letter and by the time you write a letter and it's delivered, another person has died.

Lacey 22:03

Yeah.

Jasmine 22:05

Because Mary played the part, well, the devoted caregiver, the grieving wife, the dutiful sister, the helper, the woman who always showed up. And according to her own family, she loved the funerals, loved the ritual, loved the pageantry, loved the attention that came from being the one who tried so hard to save the dying. Then I got paranoid and had to check to see if we're still recording. What's your hobby? I really love funerals. It's my favorite outing, honestly.

Lacey 22:39

I mean, I get a, a chance to wear black.

Jasmine 22:41

I can't do funerals though, 'cause it doesn't matter if I know the person or not. I will bust into tears because so many emotions in a room.

Lacey 22:51

Yeah. As an empath, it's definitely,

Jasmine 22:54

yeah. I do not enjoy funerals. Could not be me. Funerals were entertainment in rural towns. They were social events, they were gossip and food, and church bells and morning dresses, and Mary never missed one. Some people chased thrills. Mary McKnight chased the theater of a funeral. In the spring of 1903, Mary left Grayling to stay with her mother in Springfield Township near Fife Lake. Her brother, John Murphy and his young wife Gertrude, were living with them temporarily while they built a new house. This is where everything finally came to a head. On a Monday morning. Gertrude left her three month old daughter, Ruth with Mary while she and John worked on the new house. When they returned at lunch, Mary met with a calm, almost rehearsed explanation. The baby had died. She said, ruth must have smothered in her blankets. Gertrude fell apart. John went into town to buy a tiny casket

Lacey 24:05

o

Jasmine 24:06

while he was gone, Mary gave Gertrude a capsule to calm her nerves. Minutes later, Gertrude's body twisted into violent spasms. Her fists curled, her arms locked against her chest. Her teeth clenched so tight, her lips pulled back into a grimace that witnesses later called a death grim. She collapsed, foaming, and convulsing on the floor. By the time John came home with the casket, his wife was dead too. A doctor pronounced it, an epileptic attack brought on by grief. He saw nothing suspicious, and so the funeral parlor was set up right in the Murphy's home. They stopped the clock, they covered the mirrors, and two bodies lay in one coffin. Mary hovered over all of it. 12 days later, John came down with the exact same symptoms, the same body rigidity, the same terrifying grin, the same drawn up limbs, the same lightning, fast descent into death. A neighbor tried to help him with. Camper, but John could barely speak. It's no good Joe. He said, I'm dying. He died within minutes. Mary helped bathe and dress the body. His muscles were so stiff she could barely move him. Three deaths in two weeks. All in Mary's care, all with the same symptoms. This time, someone paid attention. A doctor who heard the description recognized it immediately. Strict nine poisoning and suddenly everything around Mary stopped making sense. That's crazy. 'cause in such a small community, how is there not gossip? Like, Hey, everyone keeps dying around this chick. Especially kids. Keep your kids away from her,

Lacey 26:07

right? Like

Jasmine 26:09

you

Lacey 26:09

would think the gossips would be all over that. Like, I'm not saying she did it, but isn't it a little weird? But no. They're like, oh, she just takes care of the sick. It's so sad that everyone dies. They were so sick. That terrifying grin she's got on her face right now.

Jasmine 26:29

She's like vibrating and like holding a vial of something. Yeah, she's like serving tea, just vibrating. Like why does this tea taste so bitter? She can't do everyone at once. She's gotta space it out. Once the local prosecutor got wind of the situation, he ordered John's bod. Bad, bad, bad body. Exhumed, then Gertrude, then baby Ruth's. Their stomachs were sent to the University of Michigan for toxic toxicology testing. The results came back fast and clear. Fatal levels of stricken nine. Mary didn't panic. Not at first. She stuck to her story. She deflected. She leaned on her religious identity, her caregiver reputation, her well practice grief. Then investigators started looking backward. The pattern emerges. Everywhere Mary had ever lived, people had died. Everywhere she went, she helped, and people ended up in coffins. The prosecutor didn't even need years of evidence. He just needed to follow her trail. When she was finally arrested at Walton Junction on May 31st, 1903, Mary still insisted she meant no harm. A week later, she gave her confession. The confession on June 10th, 1903, Mary admitting to poisoning baby Ruth Gertrude Murphy, John Murphy. She said it was all on accident. She said she only wanted to calm them down. She said she used strict nine casually, almost carelessly as if it were aspirin, but buried inside. Her confession were slips of the truth. Talking about John, she said. I thought it would be for the best if he were to go, which is not something an innocent person says about her own brother.

Lacey 28:25

No

Jasmine 28:27

investigators believed she killed many more, possibly a dozen, possibly more than 15 enough people that newspapers across the country nicknamed her the Michigan Borgia, linking her to Renaissance Poisoner Lure reia Lucrecia. That's a hard name there. Uh, Borgia, which supposedly she had a poisoners ring that she would keep poisoning to poison people,

Lacey 28:57

allegedly.

Jasmine 28:58

Allegedly. Also, I love a Poisoners ring.

Lacey 29:03

They're beautiful.

Jasmine 29:03

They're beautiful, and I have a few. Don't get me started about my lost poisoners ring that I love so much. Mary's trial in Cadillac began in December, 1903. People poured into town from all over the state. Hotels filled reporters, shoved each other for seats. Women in particular were fascinated. How could a caregiver, a mother, a sister, a religious woman, be a serial killer? Which the word serial killer did not exist right back then, guys, her calm demeanor only fueled the fire. She sat in court with folded hands, expression, neutral, almost serene. Witnesses described the convulsions. Doctors described strict nine in the stomachs. Family members hinted at her love for funerals and prosecutors painted her as someone who thrived on attention, grief, and the strange status that came with tragedy. Tra, why can I not say that? Came with tragedy. It took the jury less than two hours to convict her. She was sentenced to life at the Detroit House of Correction. Mary served 17 years. That might surprise listeners, a woman. A woman. Oh, not a woman. A woman. A woman tied to possibly 18 murders. She was released in 1920 for good behavior. No one ever proved the earlier killings. She kept her secrets after release, she faded into quiet obscurity. She told anyone who listened that she'd been wronged. That her confession was misunderstood, that she was simply a victim of grief and misunderstanding, but those who knew her didn't buy it. The families of her suspected victims definitely didn't buy it. Locals whispered her name for decades. Rural cemeteries across Northern Michigan. Hold clusters of stones that hint at something darker look lurking under the surface of a small town life. And Mary McKnight never once apologized, not for the baby she killed, not for the sister-in-law who can full at her feet, not for the brother who begged for help while she let pimp die, not for the long line of suspicious deaths behind her. Some killers leave signatures. Mary's signature was the quiet, trusting moment when she leaned in and offered you something to calm your nerves. Cases like Mary's remind us how easily trust can be weaponized, how a caregiver can become a predator, and how long it can take before a community realizes the danger living right in their own home.

Lacey 31:55

It was for the best.

Jasmine 31:58

You know his, his baby died. His wife died.

Lacey 32:01

I

Jasmine 32:01

killed him. It was for the best. I

Lacey 32:04

need to get rid of the witness.

Jasmine 32:06

A may or may not have wanted that life insurance policy.

Lacey 32:10

Allegedly,

Jasmine 32:14

allegedly, allegedly, allegedly.

Lacey 32:18

It's also crazy that like from my poison book. A lot of like the older drugs that were used as poisons weren't there. Like there wasn't toxicology.

Jasmine 32:31

Yeah.

Lacey 32:32

So a lot of it you couldn't prove.

Jasmine 32:34

Yeah. But they said gimme them stomachs for sending them to,

Lacey 32:37

yeah.

Jasmine 32:38

Michigan State University to get them tested.

Lacey 32:41

Yeah. It's kinda like Ana, though.

Jasmine 32:44

Ana. Ana Baileys. Love her,

Lacey 32:49

but like, I think they were only caught because one of the women chickened out.

Jasmine 32:54

Yeah.

Lacey 32:54

And didn't give her husband enough and she's like, oh, I'm so sorry. And like admitted what she was doing like amateur hour, right. I mean, and they were trying to get away from abuse. Like this is like their only option. But like if it wasn't for the squealing woman, like this could have gone on. Like there was no proof except for. This woman who, she's a rat. A rat.

Jasmine 33:23

Mm.

Lacey 33:23

Which like they killed her, her daughters, and anyone else that worked in that shop.

Jasmine 33:28

Ooh, look at that bruise.

Lacey 33:30

Ooh, just bumping into things. Who knows?

Jasmine 33:33

My ankle's broken.

Lacey 33:34

My limbs are bruised. I still say that little scooter thing would be just a, it's probably solid investment for you.

Jasmine 33:42

You're not wrong.

Lacey 33:43

I, you hurt your ankle really bad like once a year.

Jasmine 33:46

It is once a year. It's usually around fall.

Lacey 33:50

Because you fall. Yeah, usually the end of summer,

Jasmine 33:55

but yeah. Them darn ankles. But yeah, weak, weak ankles. I got weak ankles. Don't poison your family members kids. That's the moral of this story.

Lacey 34:13

Poison strangers that can't

Jasmine 34:14

connect. Yes, exactly. You to thank you and goodnight. Allegedly, allegedly, allegedly. Allegedly.