An Indiana mother and daughter are facing murder charges after allegedly poisoning the mother’s husband four times before his death in an alleged plot to steal his life savings.
Marsha Allen and her 30-year-old daughter, Ashley Jones, allegedly spiked 52-year-old Harold Allen’s food and drink with different substances they purchased online, including an antifreeze ingredient, a toxic plant from Etsy and poisonous seeds from eBay.
Harold Allen was found dead in Freetown, Indiana, in December 2022, after drinking a root beer ice cream laced with the deadly ethylene glycol.
On Friday, both mother and daughter were charged with two counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of tampering with consumer products and two counts of attempted murder, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.
Less than a year ago, in October, Marsha Allen was found dead in her Freetown home from suspected suicide. Fox59 News reported.
Mother: Marsha Allen
Daughter: Ashey Jones, 20 years old
Victim: Harold Allen, 52 years old
At the time of Harold’s death, no foul play was suspected.
But, nine months after Marsha Allen’s sudden death, more events began to happen.
Marsha’s daughter was arrested for robbery.
That’s when she told officials everything, saying her mother had put toxic ethylene glycol in her stepfather’s root beer ice cream.
Once investigators reviewed the documents, they discovered that there were four additional attempts in which mother and daughter tried to poison Harold.
Late last month, investigators found two email accounts linked to Jones — ‘topazmoonchild1793’ and ‘mouths-sloop.0o’ — used in the ‘hide my email’ feature, incriminating her in the crime, the outlet said.
The emails exposed more damning evidence about the numerous attempts to poison Harold, including an incident in November 2022, after the couple spiked his chili and brownies that sent him to the emergency room.
During the investigation, detectives discovered, after reviewing emails, that two months earlier, in September 2022, the couple had purchased pong pong seeds, a toxic seed containing C. odollam seeds, from an eBay seller, which are poisonous if ingested.
Evidence revealed they baked a batch of brownies containing the seeds, using a coffee grinder to grind them into their smallest form, and waited for Harold to react, court documents revealed.
In one of the chilling messages from November 28, 2022, Marsha allegedly told her daughter: “I’m irritated and can’t sleep peacefully. I need this to end… I hope it reaches its climax and is over lol,” according to Fox News 59.
Jones reportedly replied: “Same here.”
Harold felt unwell and went to the emergency room on November 28. Two days later, he returned to the hospital. A doctor told him that his intestines were inflamed.
Apparently frustrated that Harold was still alive, the couple purchased a water hemlock plant on Etsy (reportedly the most toxic plant in North America) on December 1, 2022.
A small amount may reportedly be left behind.
Over the course of three days in 2022 (December 9, 10, and 12, 2022), the couple placed the poisonous plant leaves into Harold’s chili, soda, and a margarita.
However, he survived.
It was on December 13 that the couple reportedly purchased ethylene glycol, the poison that would eventually kill him.
Harold and Marsha photographed together
Jackson County District Attorney Jeffrey Chalfant said they were asking for Jones to receive life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors claimed that she allegedly killed Harold and tortured him while he was alive, court documents revealed.
The jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 7, 2025, according to court documents.
