Death And Gardening

In July 2004, Jarrod Davidson — 27, chemistry student, devoted father — was shot and killed outside his Santa Barbara apartment after answering a knock at the door. Left on his doorstep: a potted Persian Violet and a gift card with his name misspelled. What followed was one of the more methodical investigations in recent California true crime history: five months of surveillance, DNA lifted from a...

Nannie Doss killed eleven people between 1927 and 1954 — four husbands, two daughters, her mother, a sister, two grandchildren, and a mother-in-law — across Alabama, North Carolina, Kansas, and Oklahoma. She was arrested in October 1954 after her fifth husband died unusually fast after being discharged from the hospital. An autopsy found massive amounts of arsenic. She confessed cheerfully, laughe...

One of the most prolific unsolved cases in American history — and somehow, you've probably barely heard of it.  In this episode, we're covering one of the most chilling cold cases still unfolding today — a sprawling Tudor estate in Indiana, a killer who vanished before he could be brought to justice, and thousands of human remains that have never been identified. We dig into the disappea...

A baby goes missing. A ransom is paid. A man is executed. And a piece of wood — just a piece of wood — becomes the most important evidence in the entire case. The Lindbergh kidnapping was already one of the most sensationalized crimes in American history before forensic botany entered the picture. Arthur Koehler, a wood scientist with the U.S. Forest Service, spent years tracing a single ladder ra...

In 2017, a convicted war criminal stood in a courtroom in The Hague, heard his appeal denied, declared "I am not a war criminal" — and drank poison. Live. In front of the judges. This week, Chelsea covers the case of Slobodan Praljak (yes, we're going to try to say it): a Bosnian Croat general convicted of war crimes during the brutal Croat-Bosniak War of the 1990s — a man who was,...

Britain's deadliest secret lived in a quiet pit village in County Durham — and for nearly two decades, she was hiding in plain sight. In this episode, we're diving into the chilling true story of Mary Ann Cotton: Victorian nurse, four-time widow, and the woman believed to have poisoned up to 21 people — including three husbands, a lover, her own mother, and eleven of her thirteen childre...

A boy genius with a chemistry set and absolutely no boundaries. At just 14 years old, Graham Frederick Young began slipping poison into his family's tea — methodically, patiently, and with detailed notes. He was caught, committed to Broadmoor Hospital, and eventually released as reformed. He was not reformed. In this episode, Chelsea covers the deeply unsettling case of Graham Frederick Young...

A gift-wrapped package. A note that read "With love, Happy Easter." A family who had no idea what was inside. In this special Easter episode, Chelsea covers the case of Jordélia Barbosa — a Brazilian woman who allegedly traveled hundreds of miles in disguise, spiked a box of chocolate eggs, and had them couriered to her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. What followed was one of the mos...

A cup of coffee. A sudden illness. A body buried in Arctic ice. Charles Francis Hall was an obsessive, self-taught explorer who made not one but three expeditions to the Arctic in the late 1800s — a man so consumed by the North Pole that he left his family behind and bet everything on a dream. But it's how he died that still haunts historians today. In this episode of the Death & Gardenin...

A missing couple. A quiet English neighborhood. A garden hiding a deadly secret. When William and Patricia Wycherley vanished from their home in Mansfield, investigators uncovered a chilling truth buried just steps away. In this episode, we examine the shocking murders of William and Patricia Wycherley, the investigation that exposed the truth, and the disturbing role a backyard garden played in o...

What does an infamous Victorian-era murder have to do with Sir David Attenborough? More than you’d expect. In this episode of the Death & Gardening Podcast, Jenny and Chelsea dive into the Richmond Murder of 1879 and the disturbing case of Kate Webster — a habitual liar, impersonator, and killer whose story resurfaces more than a century later in an unexpected connection to a modern broadcasti...

This week we take a dive deep back into Egyptian history and revisit the incestuous and often violent familial line of the seven Cleopatras, culminating with the most famous (and poison obsessed) Cleopatra VII. Socials: Chelsea - Insta: https://www.instagram.com/ch3llx Jenny - Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jensteriffic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@deathandgardening

This week we take a minor departure from our normal topics to cover the life and poisonous death of the Father of Philosophy, Socrates. Unliked by his peers and beloved by his students, Socrates challenged the status quo in ways that eventually led to his untimely demise with a hemlock tea. We cover a bit of Greek history, explore some uncomfortable parallels between ancient tyrants and the modern...

A pretty yet deadly plant, Chelsea and Jenny dive into the world of Nightshade. Is it all bad? Can this deadly weed be redeemed? Socials: Chelsea - Insta: https://www.instagram.com/ch3llx Jenny - Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jensteriffic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@deathandgardening

In Victorian England, one poisoning case shocked the public and reshaped how murder was prosecuted. Dr. George Henry Lamson—later known as The Wimbledon Poisoner —was a trained physician whose knowledge of toxicology placed him at the center of a mysterious and deadly crime. When a young man died after a sudden illness, investigators uncovered a chilling trail involving aconitine, medical expertis...

They’re small, brightly colored, and often used as jewelry, but inside lies one of the most lethal toxins known to mankind. From ornamental beads to instruments of assassination, Abrus precatorius has quietly crossed the line between beauty and death. In this episode, we explore how rosary peas have been weaponized, the science behind their deadly reputation, and the thin margin between harmless d...

When a young woman’s body was found in the Arizona desert in 1992, the trail seemed cold, until investigators noticed something an ordinary suspect couldn’t deny: plants. In a case that would rewrite forensic history, tiny seeds found in a pickup truck told a story no witness could. This is the chilling true account of how Mark Bogan became the first person convicted using plant DNA, where a crime...

A family lunch. A classic dish. A meal meant to bring people together, until it didn’t. When several guests fell violently ill after eating a homemade Beef Wellington, investigators were forced to confront a chilling possibility: the danger wasn’t accidental. This episode traces the unsettling events surrounding Erin Patterson, the lethal power of Death cap mushrooms, and how an ordinary gathering...

A charming insurance man, a string of suspicious deaths, and a secret recipe that turned dinners into deadly traps. When investigators finally pulled at the thread behind Henri Girard’s polished life, they uncovered a ruthless scheme that blurred science and malice. This episode peels back the veneer of civility to reveal how one man weaponized trust and escaped the guillotine on his own terms.  S...

Socials: Chelsea - Insta: https://www.instagram.com/ch3llx Jenny - Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jensteriffic Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@deathandgardening

A respected Indiana man turns up dead in a ditch — and the truth behind what happened is stranger, darker, and more calculated than anyone expected. Poisonous mushrooms, a shifting story, and a trail of contradictions pull investigators into a case where every answer sparks a new question. This is the chilling unraveling of the death of David Fouts… and the secret someone hoped would stay buried....