01x02 - Someone in the Circle

[bunniefuu]

[tense atmospheric music]

- No, I don't believe

I'm a monster.

[laughs]

I don't think anyone would

call me a monster.

- No, I think if the Yoders are

being honest with themselves,

they--they know that

there are monsters

in their family.

There are real monsters

in their family.

♪

[intense music]

♪

- It was a complete mind-f*ck.

I mean, I got the phone call,

and I was at my son's

Christmas concert.

And I spoke with

the investigator, Van Namee,

and he said, "Listen,

we didn't tell you everything,

but we have this letter

and we have your brother here."

♪

"We were not expecting this,

but we just found the vial."

"And it's wrapped in cardboard

and has the receipt with it."

- Well, when we were told

about the anonymous letter,

and we were told

that it was Adam,

I mean, I laughed.

I-I--I laughed.

I said, that's absurd.

- So everybody was kind of

like, okay, it's here.

So we're like, okay, okay,

th-the letter is accurate.

So whoever wrote this letter

was right on that--

that colchicine was

in Adam's car

and underneath the seat.

♪

So at this point,

we asked Adam, okay,

we need to go back

into our office now,

and we need to speak

to you some more.

KAITLYN: We had been broken up

for over a year.

When I found out that

the colchicine was found

in Adam's car,

I said, oh, my God.

How deep was he in this?

Because it felt like, okay,

something happened.

And he knows

more than he's saying.

It's in his car.

- We had to get a feel

for Adam.

We wanted to either say,

okay, Adam's our guy,

or Adam's not our guy.

MARK: So during the interview

of Adam Yoder,

the part of the letter that

we actually showed him

"The colchicine container

is under the front seat

until he figures out where

he can dispose of it next,"

he's definitely in shock

as I'm describing this to him.

♪

LIANA:

I spoke with some attorneys

who very clearly told me,

you know, if you want

to hire me for your brother,

you have to realize,

he could have done this.

And it hit me--like

You're right.

All of us could have d--

it's like, that was when

it really blew it open to me

that we really didn't know

who did this.

♪

- This typed letter

is interesting

for a number of reasons,

because it points out

colchicine.

This is someone in the circle,

all right?

None of this stuff

has been publicized yet.

- There was only a few people

that knew that Mary died

from colchicine--the family

and maybe some close people

to the family that--

I mean, this isn't something

that was out there.

♪

They had too much information.

And they had access

to Adam's vehicle.

Adam is a suspect,

but again, we can't just say,

okay, focus on Adam

and not look at anybody else.

My instinct tells me,

we need to start looking,

okay, at family members,

at Bill Yoder.

In a lot of poisoning cases,

it comes back

as being the spouse.

- You have to look at Bill

if you're a detective,

and that's what they do.

- My mom has talked to me

many times over the years,

is that she was so proud

that they did the work

through the hard times

in their marriage.

- We had the closest,

most magical family--

f-from our memories,

from my memories.

- There was some conversation

in our briefings about,

is it possible

that Bill is the one

who planted this evidence

and wrote the letter?

♪

And it was very quickly,

in our mind,

that would have to be

an absolute stone-cold person,

willing to k*ll your wife

and frame your only son

for a m*rder

they didn't commit.

- Yes, I--I do think that

Bill could have k*lled Mary.

I think he had it in him.

♪

It's a pretty sobering thought.

[intense music]

- I was Mary Yoder's

hairstylist for 20 years plus.

Mary did not talk

about any marital problems.

However, the last time

she visited the salon here,

which was just a few days

before she was m*rder*d,

her behavior

at that appointment was

so different from other times

that it just--

her behavior stuck with me

that day

because of her demeanor.

♪

Mary called her husband

and said on the phone,

"No, we are not going

to do that.

And no, that is not going

to happen."

And I do not know

what they were talking about,

but it was so out of character

for Mary to use

the type of language

that it--it caught me

completely off guard.

And I can't forget those words.

And then a few days later,

I find out she's dead.

TAMARYN: I know

the very first interview

I had with

the sheriff's department, um,

they--they did ask me a lot

of questions about my father.

♪

I did have to face the fact

that my father could have

done this.

And it was terrifying

and just horrifying.

- And I would stop by

the office from time to time

when Katie was working there

to either have lunch with her

or, you know,

drop off a milkshake.

And, um,

just very different vibes

between when it was Dr. Bill on

or Dr. Mary.

♪

Can't quite put my finger

on it, but I definitely--

I trust my gut, and I

was never really

fully comfortable around him.

[soft tense music]

KAITLYN: Bill would go

on these weekend retreats

to other cities in New York,

and he wouldn't

take Mary with him.

And he would leave and he would

do things without her.

He would do things alone.

And that was weird to me.

♪

ROBERT: We had subpoenas out

for phone records,

bank records, everything--

insurance policies.

We didn't want Bill to know

that we were looking at him

as a possible suspect.

♪

- We basically had to lie

to my father.

We had to pretend

we knew nothing.

We couldn't tell him

that we spoke to the sheriffs,

because they were thinking

that, you know,

he was potentially responsible,

and they didn't want

information getting back to him

about what they had

or what they were thinking.

- They asked me

about my father.

They asked me

about his whereabouts.

And about a week or two prior,

my father had sat down

with myself and my sister

and my brother

and had told us about a--

a relationship.

We have no idea

what's going on.

It was concerning to us.

When did this start?

So when I spoke

with the police,

I let them know

that information as well.

♪

TAMARYN: The police were

tracking my father's trips

out to Cazenovia.

He was going there more often

than he was staying home,

which me and my sister

and my brother

did not know about.

So that was alarming

to us too.

- So I first heard that

Bill was dating someone else

in November.

So his wife had died in July,

and I heard that he wanted

to spend Thanksgiving

with his new girlfriend

who happened to be

his sister-in-law.

So that was a shock.

- He told us that he was

in a relationship

with our Aunt Kathy.

[tense music]

♪

It was definitelyquick.

It--it happened very fast

and was shocking.

ROCCO: There are some

family members that believe

that this relationship

between Bill Yoder

and Mary's sister, Kathy,

had already been in play

when Mary died.

Doesn't it make more sense that

he would want to k*ll his wife?

We're speaking

with Janine Bakert King,

and she is the sister

of Mary Yoder.

If anyone had motive,

you feel that there was

one person that had motive,

and that was--

- Yes.

ROCCO: That was her husband.

- Right, he had financial

and romantic motive.

♪

LIANA: My mom's sisters were

very certain

that it had to be my dad,

or maybe my aunt was involved,

or some combination

of the two of them was guilty.

- Once the police learned

that my father was now dating

my Aunt Kathy, that,

you know, of course,

was a huge red flag

for a motive for them.

So then we had to face the--

if my father did this,

then did he also write

this letter

to the sheriff's office?

Is he now trying

to frame my brother?

Like, there was nothing

in the world

that was making sense

at that point.

♪

We made plans to get together

with my father for Christmas.

And all I could think was that,

if he was involved in this,

and I'm canceling

my Christmas plans with him,

is he then going to think,

well, if I suspect him,

then he needs to get rid of me?

LIANA: We hired security

simply for the fact

that we could not sleep

at night

not knowing

who might be coming.

♪

I would wake up

from sleep screaming.

All I kept thinking is,

I'm gonna get

another phone call

and someone else is gonna die.

[slow ambient music]

♪

[indistinct chatter]

- I can never see

Adam doing it.

I can never see Katie doing it.

So I really--honestly,

it's a little mind-blowing.

- I believe that the husband is

now with a sister,

so it's, like, a little bit of

conspiracy type of stuff there.

- Well, there was

this poor young girl

who had a psy--

[splutters]

Wait, was he a chiropractor?

Hold on.

- Never heard

of a case like this.

Maybe in a thriller,

maybe in a--a spy magazine.

- And the woman paid her

to k*ll the husband.

However, this poor,

innocent girl, you know, it--

it was actually the wife that

did more than the poor girl.

- Mary and Bill were

the salt of the earth.

They were sweet, loving,

successful couple.

They were like a power couple

in my eyes.

[tense music]

WENDY:

There was some gossip about

when that affair

could have started.

But I had heard

that the affair had started

prior to Mary's death,

and I think that's a--

a terrible thing to do

to your sister.

In my opinion,

Bill could have done this

because he is

a very smart man.

When you have that opinion

that you are smarter than

everybody else in the room,

it leads to being able to try

to pull things off that,

you know, you think that nobody

will ever find out about.

TAMARYN:

My father had

horrible things

said about him,

horrible accusations

made against him,

flat-out completely

made-up things.

It's absurd.

♪

- Once the investigation

really got going,

we were introduced

to three of Mary's sisters.

They approached

the Oneida County sheriffs

and said, I think you need

to look into Bill.

They truly believed that

Bill had everything to gain

and nothing to lose

from Mary's death.

He had the means

and the opportunity.

♪

- Investigator Mark Van Namee

received a phone call

one night from one of Mary's

sisters down in Florida.

She's a nurse.

Once she heard that colchicine

caused Mary's death,

she had some concerns

about how Mary would get this.

They didn't put anything

on the death certificate

as to the cause of death

other than,

they knew it was colchicine.

- Who would have ordered

colchicine?

Who would have had the ability

to order colchicine?

Who would have known that it

could be used to k*ll somebody?

♪

So in Mary Yoder's

sisters' minds,

they believed that

Bill Yoder was the suspect.

Talk of the Town,

TALK 100.7 FM, Rocco LaDuca.

- So when Bill Yoder says he

had never heard of colchicine,

he had no clue that it was used

to grow marijuana,

the family members

who know Bill

and know what colchicine is

don't believe him.

They don't buy that.

♪

M. WILLIAM:

When we talk about colchicine,

for one, I had a tough time

pronouncing it,

looking at the word, 'cause

I had never seen it before

when I first did this case.

This is a rare,

rare toxic substance.

- Is it possible

that Bill k*lled her

so that he could be with Kathy,

and he could retire,

and he could keep

all the money to himself?

That makes a lot

of sense to me.

- Um, they--

[whispers]

How am I gonna word this?

Adam's relationship

with his dad

is definitely,

you know, unique.

[intense music]

KAITLYN: Adam and his father

had a strange relationship.

♪

It wasn't

the kind of relationship

that I had with my own father.

My father is very supportive,

and I know he loves me.

And he's always going

out of his way to help.

And Bill and Adam didn't have

that kind of relationship.

M. WILLIAM: There were times

when they fought

and they argued because

Adam dropped out of school,

drinking too much.

So his dad is upset with him.

Bill was very cold,

and he almost treated Adam

like a stranger.

Like, he didn't seem to care

what Adam did,

or if Adam was suffering,

he was okay with that.

♪

- Adam and Bill both

are persons of interest,

one because they're the spouse

of the deceased,

and the other

because they're mentioned

in the anonymous letter,

and as investigators,

our thought process is,

you know,

which one of these guys

could this possibly be?

ROBERT: Yes, and we were

looking at Bill.

Is there some hidden thing

we don't know about?

Is--is there an affair?

Is there something else

going on

that we don't know about?

♪

But we knew that Bill was

definitely gonna be

one of the last people

we speak to,

'cause we wanted to talk

to everyone else

to gather information,

and when we bring Bill in,

confront him with anything that

we find in the investigation.

So let's talk

to Kaitlyn Conley.

So we decide,

she works in the office,

she may have information

on Bill

What the relationship

between Bill and Mary was

and what goes on

in the office.

♪

So investigator Van Namee

calls in Kaitlyn Conley.

[soft tense music]

♪

KAITLYN: The police asked

if I could come in

and answer some questions

about the office.

So of course,

I dropped everything

and I went right up there

and I started

answering questions.

♪

- Katie seemed like a--

I don't know

if I would say shy,

but just very meek, mild.

She worked in the office.

She knew the family.

She had a relationship

with Adam.

So we were raised

that the police are there

to help you.

And I felt, again,

if I was in a position to help,

why wouldn't I?

[intense music]

- During the interview,

she keeps talking

about how suspicious

Adam was acting.

You know, in my mind,

all of a sudden,

she's pointing a finger

at Adam,

similar to the letter.

♪

And that's when I came out

and I asked her,

Katie, did you write us

a letter?

She didn't answer it

with a yes or no.

So I asked it a second time,

and her answer was,

you know, you can't protect me.

♪

So I again said, Katie,

if you wrote the letter,

we need to know that.

And it was at that point

she admitted

to writing

the anonymous letter.

I stepped out of the room.

♪

This is the moment

that she goes from being,

you know, just another witness

to the person responsible

for writing

the anonymous letter.

We'd always said, you know,

the person that wrote

this letter has definitely got

to be considered

a suspect in our case.

♪

So we--we started recording

about halfway through

that interview.

- I can't talk about that.

I'm sorry.

[sniffling]

Sorry.

[hyperventilating]

INTERVIEWER:

Are you all right?

[sobbing]

INTERVIEWER:

Are you all right?

KAITLYN:

[sobbing]

Sorry.

[hyperventilating]

[tense music]

[whimpering]

INTERVIEWER:

Take a deep breath and hold it

and then blow out.

Go

[inhales sharply]

And

[exhales deeply]

[continues breathing deeply]

♪

Ah. Okay, sorry.

INTERVIEWER:

Shake it out?

Thank you.

[sighing] Oh, man.

INTERVIEWER:

Okay?

[laughs]

Okay.

- It's--it's just--

it's a lot.

It's a lot

to live with every day.

I'm under a lot of pressure.

♪

- So now the decision was made

to treat her like a suspect

at that point forward.

Every interview would be

taped, recorded.

♪

When I went back in the room,

we started

a conversation again.

- So he had told me

that he had the bottle.

And without knowing

that he did,

I thought it was another ploy

for attention,

because that seems like

something that he would say

for that attention,

for that wow factor.

- He didn't come out and say

that he k*lled his mother,

but he framed it as a question.

"What do you want me to say,

that I k*lled her?"

♪

And I remember

getting goosebumps

and thinking, no.

Nope, nope.

No, I do not want to hear that.

I do not want to hear that.

I do not want you to say that.

I don't want that to be true.

She definitely tried to paint

the picture of Adam as being,

you know, as bad as possible.

- You know, I told Katie that,

you know, statistically,

little boys don't k*ll

their moms.

They'll ignore 'em

all day long,

but they don't k*ll 'em.

And she came back

with the response

that kind of caught me

off guard.

MARK:

Hm.

As I'm talking to Katie,

and she comes back

with the response about, "Yeah,

and they don't use poison.

That's a lady's weapon,"

with a smirk,

that was, like,

maybe the light bulb moment.

We were convinced that,

you know,

we had the right person.

♪

[door closes]

This is a girl who thought

she was smarter

than everybody else.

And Katie Conley believed

that when we read that letter

and it said, Adam--

Adam did it

and here's why he did it,

she thought that was it.

We're gonna slap the cuffs

on Adam,

and we're gonna arrest

Adam Yoder for the m*rder

of his mother,

and case closed and that's it.

That didn't happen.

♪

KAITLYN:

I felt like I couldn't leave

until I told them

what they wanted to hear,

and they knew

what they wanted to hear.

They knew

what they wanted me to say.

And I was really stuck there

until I cooperated.

She--she moved up the radar

very quickly.

You know, all these things,

you know, from,

you know, admitting to writing

the anonymous letter

to, you know,

the statement about,

poison is a lady's weapon.

You can't help

but be like, this--

the person that is sitting

across from me

is the m*rder*r of Mary Yoder.

♪

KAITLYN: They were asking

just very general questions,

and then they started

asking questions

that made me sit back

and say, whoa.

They think I was involved.

They think I did this.

And I felt like, no, no, no.

If I can only explain

what happened,

then you'll see.

[intense music]

CATHY: Katie came down

one night in December.

She came down to the kitchen

with her friend and said,

"I've just come

from the sheriff's office."

And we were taken aback

at that.

Her friend said

that she was being questioned

about the death of her boss,

Mary Yoder,

who was a friend.

♪

We just couldn't believe.

Like, why--

why are you being questioned?

What's going on?

- Katie approached us

and said, you know,

"Oh, my goodness, you guys

will never believe it."

You know,

"They think I did this."

And I just remember

being dumbfounded.

Like, how could you get it

so wrong?

♪

- One of my friends

told my father

that he thought

I should have an attorney

because of the police presence.

And my father said, "No,

"because she didn't

do anything wrong.

"And if she didn't

do anything wrong,

she wouldn't need an attorney."

CATHY: And then they asked

if Kaitlyn would go down

to the sheriff's office

to sign a deposition.

And Katie said, you know,

"Mom and Dad,

would you go with me?"

I said, yes, of course.

MARK: The hope is,

every interrogation

or every interview,

is to obtain--obtain the truth,

and that's what we hope for.

- We picked up Katie

here at the house,

brought her up

to the Sheriff's Office,

and they said,

"It will probably be an hour."

- I felt that

I need to go in there,

and I'm gonna start

pushing things more.

♪

[door opens]

CATHY: So Katie was brought

into a back room,

and Vin and I were kept

in a small little room waiting.

Well, after an hour,

she wasn't coming out.

KAITLYN:

I got this feeling,

the police were

playing a game with me,

and that they knew the rules

and I didn't.

I really didn't know

what was going on.

And I didn't like

where they started to go.

- I realized that

she was being interrogated.

That's when I said,

wow, this is--this is serious.

CATHY:

They're doing more than just

having her sign a deposition.

♪

VIN:

I beat on the door.

CATHY:

Yeah.

- I beat on the door,

like, after six hours.

They knew I was there

to bring my daughter home

or to get an attorney for her,

and they were

still questioning.

- They wouldn't

let her come out.

They said, "Well,

she didn't ask for a lawyer,

so, you know, she's not

going to have a lawyer."

- You know, Katie never asked

for an attorney,

never asked for a lawyer.

You know, she--

she never invoked

her right to--right to counsel.

- Katie was put in a room

with two middle-aged white men

who are bullying her.

♪

This was never even

in the realm

of what we would anticipate

would happen

to any of our daughters.

KATIE:

[sobbing]

MARK: She was trying

to work herself up

to a fake emotion

and that kind of thing.

I think Nelson saw it

clearer than I did.

He just kind of slides

the garbage can over

and is like, whatever.

KATIE:

[gagging and coughing]

KATIE:

[hyperventilating]

- When they finally

let me leave,

and I had to walk

into the waiting room,

and my parents were there,

and they said,

"The police told us that you--

you k*lled somebody."

And I looked at them

[choking up]

And they said,

"We know you didn't,

but why would they say that?"

And I said, I don't know.

I don't know.

- The fact that

Mary's sisters support me,

and that they know Bill

and they know Adam,

they know I didn't do this,

and that they support me,

that means something.

That means a lot to me.

I was absolutely blown away.

I just could not believe

that this young,

23-year-old girl

could have anything

to do with this.

I mean, she just seemed

like this sweet, quiet,

meek little thing.

[laughs]

And I couldn't imagine

how they could

be looking at her.

♪

SARAH: Oneida County sheriffs

had railroaded

their investigation

and locked eyes on who,

in their mind,

it had to have been.

And they created a narrative

in which Katie fit their story.

MARK:

Katie is very calculating.

You could just tell that in--

in speaking with her.

What she tells you,

when she tells you,

how she's gonna tell you.

And it doesn't come

as any surprise that

when you look into her phone,

her phone is the same.

KATIE:

Okay, can I--

- Yeah, if I knew anybody

that could go in

and find the information

that was in these computers,

these phones, Tony would be

the person for that.

- I'm the guy who tears apart

someone's entire digital life

and learns way more about them

than they thought

anyone would ever know.

- Kaitlyn Conley's cell phone

is a treasure trove

of interesting artifacts

for this case.

♪

To me, I immediately knew,

Kaitlyn Conley is

a very different person

internally than the persona

that people were seeing

externally.

[laughing]

[clears throat] Sorry.

Um, no,

I did not k*ll Mary Yoder.

♪