Shocking Poisoning Cases | Stepdaughter Marriage, Forced Abortion Attempt, Drinking Eye Drops

True Crime Society

Murder by poison is a rare method used by criminals. It is used in just under one-half of one percent of cases.

In this episode of the True Crime Society Podcast, we discuss three very different cases where people were intentionally poisoned, in an attempt to kill.

• Indiana man Alfred Ruf has just been jailed for drugging his wife Lisa multiple times. When Lisa was unconscious, Alfred would sleep with her daughter. Alfred told police that the end goal had been for Lisa to die.
• Texas attorney Mason Herring and his wife Catherine had been having marital issues. They had decided to separate when Catherine found out she was pregnant with their third child, so the couple decided to try to make things work. Mason then decided to put abortion drugs into Catherine’s beverages, on repeated occasions. Catherine installed cameras when she became suspicious. Mason was eventually sentenced to a measly 180 days in jail after pleading guilty to charges of injury to a child and assault of a pregnant person. The couple’s daughter was born 10 weeks premature and now attends therapy 8 times per week and she has developmental delays.
• Lana Clayton was millionaire Steven Clayton’s 7th wife. The couple lived in a palatial home on the water in South Carolina, and seemed to be enjoying spending time together. In 2018, Lana apparently found Steven laying at the bottom of a staircase and she ran outside and flagged down a motorist to ask for help. Lana initially refused an autopsy for Steven and she also told his family that he had no will, which not surprisingly, made them suspicious. An autopsy was eventually carried out and it was discovered that Lana had poisoned Steven by putting eyedrops into his coffee. She is also said to have thrown his phone into a lake so that he could not call for help following the poisoning. Lana pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and tampering with a food or a drug causing death. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole.

Read our blog for these cases
A judge has granted the request for alleged murderer Bryan Kohberger to have his trial moved. We discuss those updates in this episode.

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