During the investigation into the mysterious illness of Janet Overton, investigators examined her relationships and discovered an extremely sinister plot.
The Mysterious Death
January 24, 1988, was a beautiful Sunday. On that day, Janet Overton, 46, had breakfast at her home in Dana Point, California, USA, before tidying up with her 18-year-old son, Eric. They had planned to go whale watching with some family friends that day.
But before Janet could get into the car, she collapsed right outside the door. Eric rushed inside to call his father, Richard Overton. Richard immediately called 911, and the father and son then went together by ambulance to the hospital. However, the doctors couldn’t do anything more. Janet was pronounced dead before she could reach the hospital.
Janet’s death was a big shock to her family, friends, and colleagues. Janet was an important member of the Capistrano Unified School District’s leadership team. She lived with her husband of 19 years, Richard Overton, and their son Eric. Janet was loved and quite famous in the community. Everyone was sympathetic and wanted to know what had happened to her.
The autopsy also failed to provide any explanation for Janet’s cause of death. As a result, Janet’s death certificate stated the cause of death as “undetermined.”
A friend told the police that Janet had been suffering from a rare illness for several years. Janet had complained to her friend about unexplained ulcers appearing on her body, causing pain when clothes rubbed against them. She also often felt nauseous and dehydrated. Moving became difficult, and at times Janet had to use a walker.
Janet had visited many different doctors, but none could identify the illness she was suffering from.
Although there was no satisfactory explanation for Janet’s death, authorities also found no evidence of foul play. Her sudden death remained a mystery.
Extramarital Affairs
Janet’s husband, Richard Overton, appeared to be grieving. He told the police that he loved his wife very much and would miss her greatly.
While investigating the unexplained illness, detectives also looked into Janet’s relationships as a member of the school board to see if she had any enemies.
The police noticed that Janet’s progressive ideas sometimes led to conflicts with conservative members of the community.
Furthermore, detectives also learned that Janet had been accused of having an affair with a married man. Everyone around knew this because someone had tried to smear her reputation by posting flyers accusing her of adultery on all the cars in the county office parking lot.
Investigators noticed that Janet’s health had started to decline coinciding with the time rumors of her affair began circulating.
Janet’s lover was believed to be Bill Dawson, an assistant director at her workplace.
When questioned by the police, Bill initially denied the affair, but a few days later, he called the police to confess to the extramarital affair with Janet. The reason William gave was that he initially feared the affair might cost him his family and job. He later agreed to tell the whole story.
Shocking Information
Bill revealed that he had an intimate relationship with Janet long before she was murdered. They began seeing each other in 1981 while on a business trip in San Francisco.
In 1985, their secret affair was exposed when flyers accusing Janet of adultery began circulating. The district superintendent spoke to Bill about the flyers and demanded that he end any romantic involvement with Janet. Despite this, the affair continued.
The relationship ended in 1987, around the time Janet started experiencing painful ulcers and rashes all over her body. Bill mentioned that despite ending the affair, they remained friends and met quite often.
While the investigative team was focusing on Janet’s death possibly being related to Bill, they received some shocking information from a friend of Janet.
According to the friend, Janet was extremely distressed because initially, she didn’t know who had posted the flyers accusing her of adultery. But later, she discovered that her husband, Richard Overton, was the one behind spreading the flyers to tarnish her reputation.
Unhappy Marriage
With this information, the police immediately looked into the victim’s marriage. They spoke to some of Janet’s friends, all of whom said that the couple was completely mismatched.
Richard was a university lecturer, a mathematician with a Ph.D. in psychology, and a business consulting expert. He was very concerned about his status.
Meanwhile, Janet was a cheerful, outgoing, independent woman who enjoyed life and helping others. She didn’t have the same level of education as her husband but was elected to the school board and was quite famous in the community.
An acquaintance of the couple said that Richard was resentful of his wife’s fame because he “felt smarter than his wife.” “He was very surprised when Janet received many votes and could potentially rise to a high leadership position,” the acquaintance said.
Initially, Richard and Janet bonded over their shared interest in computers, but after 19 years, the cracks in their marriage became apparent and difficult to mend. They were heading for divorce. Everyone around knew about Janet’s affair.
The couple had a son in his final year of high school. Janet loved her son dearly. The mother and son often went to watch soccer together on weekends or did small chores.
In July 1988, six months after Janet’s death, the police received an unexpected call from a woman named Dorothy Boyer. Dorothy was Richard’s ex-wife, and they had four children together. Speaking to the police, Dorothy revealed the dark history of this man’s marriage.
The Two-Faced Man
In July 1988, six months after Janet Overton’s death, the police received an unexpected call from a woman named Dorothy Boyer. Dorothy was Richard Overton’s ex-wife – Janet’s current husband.
According to Dorothy, she married Richard 20 years ago. Dorothy thought they had a happy marriage until she discovered that her husband was leading a double life.
While Richard was legally married to Dorothy and they had four children together, he also had a second home. There, Richard lived with another woman named Caroline Hutcheson. They even had a wedding and a child together.
When Dorothy found out about this, she immediately filed for divorce. The court ruled in Dorothy’s favor, allowing her to keep the couple’s home, and she continued to live there after officially divorcing in 1969.
Richard was already angry when Dorothy decided to divorce him, and now he was even more upset that she was still in the family home. Around the same time as the divorce proceedings, Dorothy noticed a decline in her health. She experienced nausea and developed ulcers on her body.
One day, while Richard was at home, Dorothy noticed a strange smell from her milk and believed Richard had put something in it.
Dorothy took the milk for testing and discovered a large amount of selenium, a substance that can be fatal if consumed in excess. Questioned by Dorothy, this man admitted to putting selenium in her food and drinks. He explained that he had psychological issues and agreed to seek counseling. Consequently, Dorothy forgave her ex-husband.
But upon learning of Janet’s death, Dorothy suspected that her ex-husband might have poisoned his wife, so she decided to tell the police everything she knew about this man.
Speaking to the police, Dorothy emphasized that investigators should take a closer look at Janet’s case because she knew Richard was capable of doing anything.
The Poisonous Eyeliner
Dorothy could also provide evidence to the police. It was after Janet’s death, she drove her daughter to meet her father. There, she saw a woman’s eyeliner pen, rubber gloves, and a syringe in Richard’s desk drawer.
Feeling suspicious, Dorothy took them and handed them over to the police later. Upon examination, experts confirmed that the eyeliner pen contained selenium.
Based on this new information, the police once again carefully reviewed the circumstances surrounding Janet’s death. They found that in the long period before her death, she was always in a weakened state with symptoms including nausea, difficulty walking, pain, ulcers all over her body, peeling and discolored feet. The police found these to be similar symptoms to those Dorothy experienced after filing for divorce from Richard.
Though trusting the information provided by Dorothy, investigators noted the different circumstances of the two women. Richard was accused of poisoning Dorothy after the divorce proceedings began, and he was very angry at that time.
However, according to Richard’s statement, his marriage to Janet was very happy. Therefore, investigators first needed to determine whether Janet had been poisoned or not.
Surprising Discovery
Upon receiving the information provided by Richard Overton’s ex-wife, authorities immediately launched an investigation to determine whether his current wife, Janet Overton, had been poisoned.
The police couldn’t exhume Janet’s body as she had been cremated. However, some organ samples were preserved to aid in the investigation.
Investigators then sought the assistance of Paul Sedgwick, an experienced toxicologist from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
When Paul examined Janet’s stomach, the expert immediately detected the smell of cyanide – an extremely toxic substance that should not be present in the human body in such strong concentrations. However, cyanide has a misleading odor, and not everyone can detect the poison. This meant that Janet ingested cyanide shortly before her death.
Now, the police knew what truly led to Janet’s death. The next step was to determine how the victim came into contact with this toxic substance.
Through investigation, they found that Richard had worked in the defense industry and had a partner involved in gold mining who could access cyanide and other metallurgical materials.
Toxic in Cosmetics
During questioning, Richard insisted that he and his wife had a happy marriage. However, the couple’s son, Eric, expressed concerns that his parents were on the verge of divorce and admitted that his father might have killed his mother.
At this point, the police obtained a search warrant for Richard’s home. There, they collected journals and recovered deleted notes from Richard’s computer.
Contrary to what he told the police, Richard and his wife’s marriage was far from happy. Despite living under the same roof, their lives were practically separate and unrelated. They didn’t sleep together, and they didn’t even eat together.
In the journal entries, Richard expressed anger and hatred towards his wife, hinting that he would “resolve the matter soon.” He meticulously documented his wife’s daily activities, including her affair. The journal entries were dated up to January 24, 1988, the day Janet passed away.
Slow Death
During the search of Richard’s home, the police collected various medications, vitamins, coffee cans, and Janet’s cosmetics for testing.
The final analysis of Janet’s cosmetics finally revealed how she was poisoned. It turned out, Richard had laced selenium into his wife’s cosmetics. The small doses of selenium Janet used daily would be absorbed into her skin and accumulate over time, causing a slow death. Cyanide, a much faster-acting poison, could have been added to Janet’s coffee on the day she died.
On October 1, 1991, Richard was arrested for the murder of his wife. At this time, Richard had just married his fourth wife. However, he vehemently denied any involvement in Janet’s death.
During police interrogation, Richard, realizing he couldn’t deny it, admitted to lacing Dorothy Boyer, his ex-wife’s, drinks with selenium. However, Richard claimed it was just a “harmless prank” intended to scare Dorothy. He explained that he thought she was mistreating their children at the time. Nevertheless, Richard insisted that he never did anything like that to Janet.
The prosecution argued otherwise. They believed that Richard had been poisoning his wife over a long period, and on the day she died, he added cyanide to her drink in the morning before she left home to watch whales with their son.
The Final Verdict
During the trial, the prosecution asserted that Richard had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Janet. Richard had access to the poison from his previous work in the defense industry, enabling him to obtain cyanide and other metallurgical materials.
In previous interviews, Richard always claimed to have a happy marriage. However, the contents of his diary revealed extreme hatred and anger towards Janet, indicating their marriage was far from happy. This hatred led to the poisoning of Janet with selenium and cyanide.
The man had tainted his wife’s cosmetics food and drinks, causing her to exhibit mysterious symptoms leading up to her death. The symptoms from selenium poisoning were similar to what his ex-wife Dorothy had experienced.
Some doctors testified that Janet had visited them, but they couldn’t explain why her health deteriorated so rapidly.
Considering the evidence presented, the jury found Richard guilty of first-degree murder in his wife’s death, despite his steadfast denial. The sentence for Richard was life imprisonment.
In the years that followed, Richard continued to maintain his innocence until his death in 2009. He passed away at the age of 81 from complications of diabetes and dementia.
