The Poisoned Heiress Mystery: Who Killed Patsy Wright? | Signal 51 Chronicles Case 4 Pt. 2

This is the Signal 51 Chronicles, the case of the Poison Eris. I'm John Henry, sitting next to my compadre here, Jake White. We come to you from an undisclosed location in Fort Worth, Texas as part of the, as part of a, we're a proud member of the Sunset Lounge, DFW.

Welcome to episode 12 of the Signal 51 Chronicles. It's here, Jake, that we examine the worst examples of broken humanity. We can understand how pride, greed, fear, vengeance, and extraordinary, oftentimes extraordinary stupidity, twist ordinary lives into the cautionary tales that we share with our audience.

How's that foot coming along? Is it healed? It's healed 100% man.

Last time we talked to you, you were just still kind of gimpin' along with, uh, it is for bad. Yeah, I'm good now. Too tight.

Shoes were too tight. I got, I got away from my loafers because it's too cold for them. Yeah.

If you notice, I pretty much just wear these every day, and I can't wear them when it's, you know, sub 32 degrees outside. Yeah. I cut off on these.

And I will note that you're not wearing socks. You're not a sock wearer. Very seldom that I have socks on here.

Uh, I gotta have socks, I gotta wear socks, I don't know. I mean, I will, like for more tennis shoes or something, yes. But again, these, the real Mars are the brand, and I buy it, I love them, and they're perfect without socks.

What, what, what, what, what, rear Mars? Cullmar. Real mars, oh, is that Italian Brazilian?

What, I don't know. Boat shoe? Ha, ha, I have no idea.

Comfortable? Yes, alright. Was, was, was a non sock, but why, I mean, it's a comfortable thing.

No, sometimes I wear the sock. You just can't see them. It's more of like a, uh, oh you're wearing one of those short.

Malirina slipper, is what it looks like. Oh, alright. Interesting.

Yeah. short because they have this little glue strip on the back that wears out pretty quick so then have the sock on the sock because it again this is just a and I can't remember what they call I think they call them loafers socks to mine yeah they're not they're even smaller than the no-show because you know back in the day it was quite cool to wear your loafers without socks yeah I mean when I was just a mere sprout on the come you know it that's what that's the way we did it we didn't wear socks with with our loafers were you a loafer wear yeah yeah come on I'm a I grew up I grew up in the air of prep yeah that's true look at you now look at me now look at me now all right let's go to our favorite segment the last meal the last meal what do we got here today Jake White well today we have the last meal of a one Theresa Lewis looks like she's got good appetite she had a decent appetite no we got some fried chicken peas and an apple pie we didn't open the peas because frankly we're not eating them no no my last meal is the peas are not gonna be they're not gonna be on there I'm gonna be on there plus we had to find a can opener it was just been ahead the squeeze wasn't worth the juice on the peas but nonetheless you know on the surface not bad not bad yeah well tell us about this Lewis is that I mean Theresa Lewis she was convicted for orchestrating the 2002 murders of her husband Julian Lewis and her steps on CJ Lewis and Pitz Pitzelvania County Virginia prosecutor said Lewis persuaded two younger men Matthew Schallenberger and Rodney Fuller to carry out the shooting at the family's rule home so she could collect life insurance proceeds I believe those 250k the men the men entered the house late at night on October 30th 2002 and fatally shot both victims while they slept Lewis later pled guilty to capital murder and conspiracy charges the case drew intense scrutiny because Lewis did not pull the trigger but was deemed the mastermind yeah evidence showed that she had discussed insurance policies and financial benefits in advance and investigators concluded she helped plan the killings Schallenberger and Fuller were convicted as the Triggerman echoes this echoes the Coslow case it certainly does Schallenberger later died by suicide in prison in 2006 and Fuller received life life imprisonment after cooperating with authorities this is a lot of the cause of a lot of suicide Lewis's role as the planner and beneficiary of the insurance money was central to the prosecution's argument for the death penalty her case became nationally controversial due to the due to questions about her intellectual functioning defense attorneys argued she had a significant cognitive limitations citing IQ testing in the low 70s and asked that her sentence be commuted to life in prison advocacy groups and international officials appealed for clemency but starting she was manipulated by men or by the men she recruited that her and that her execution would be disproportionate Virginia courts rejected those claims and then governor Bob Mcdonald denied clemency in September of 2010 on September 23rd 2010 Lewis was executed by lethal injection at Greensville correctional facility our correctional center she was 41 years old Lewis became the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912 and one of the few women executed in the US in modern times her execution re-ignited debate over capital punishment intellectual disability standards and the proportionality of death sentences for non-gun men so she didn't get on that gurney and take that needle until she had her last meal correct she was offered a last meal like said we have fried chicken peas apple pie and a doctor pepper oh she doctor pepper yeah I mean not bad you know I'm one to 10 scale I'm probably going to try to go a solid six now we got here here's the tank is hers you know we we got this fried chicken from what some would call one of the best fried chicken places if not the best in Fort Worth Texas it's awfully good right can we say the name sure Gus's Gus's fried chicken I think it's Gus's world's famous oh yeah you might be right about that so ours we know ours is good I often wonder though on the last meal if it comes all soggy and like even that one the Taco Bell one we did yeah you imagine like a four-hour old taco from Taco Bell pass me a well in a Fort Fort please thank you yeah I mean you know it's coming out of the coming out of the what do you call it a commissary or something that the prison kitchen yeah that can't be great I wouldn't think so I mean we're not talking we're not talking the country club no eating by any stretch no well Bon Appetit let's try this out let's do this now I think you'll have to go fried chicken in them big bite of apple pie I can't mix food now Miss Lewis did not order fried pickles with her with her with her yeah that little extra one like through in I look good were they good so we also do as part of this we we add on menu items that they should have ordered as well correct let's find pickles are good do you yeah I'm giving this I'm giving this a seven yeah actually what you think over there it's a little hot for my taste but it's not bad this is the first time I've eaten fried chicken in yours by the way gosh it's got a little kick to it I mean I think it depends on like some of these would depend kind of on like how you were raised like if you were raised and fried chicken was a big treat more like grandma cooked fried chicken and it's just like fantastic then like you would probably be more likely to pick fried chicken as your last meal because I'm gonna tell you right now this is not gonna be my last meal on earth not gonna happen but it's better than Taco Bell yeah yeah and I would imagine in Virginia fried chicken probably was a big player in her life yeah was I mean she's gone now like what was something that your grandmother made that you knew you were it was a treat whenever you went home I think our mind makes killer it's a lot of us well yeah and I have another one that makes amazing banana pudding my grandmother left us when I was about 10 years old I was about 10 years old so not much much recollection oh my yeah King Ranch casserole that's a good one would you want that for your last meal maybe maybe Jake or is the fried chicken really hitting home I'm sitting home I don't know I think the last meal I'm going pizza probably without question I'll let pizza I think I'll go with a hamburger I don't know it cheeseburger I'm going with a steak y'all steak and potatoes now of course in Texas they don't do last meals anymore no gone one guy ruined the whole thing I did go to all novellas last night you've been there on Canberu good pizza I've not that one not that location with the previous one did I blew through a half a large or any problem so far out of all the last meals this one from the bus oh yeah yeah this one's easily been and then it's Timothy McVeigh yeah let's talk about one that one I mean I don't know I just I mean I almost feel sorry for the guy like that that's what he wanted as last meal it makes you wonder like what happened to him growing up I mean you already wonder that but then like if that's your last meal either that's what you've got as a lot of meals growing up or you were denied like certain privileges I would like to know the psychology psychology of last meals like a what you did at what do you mean this like the like what why you would eat what you would eat yeah like what's the sentimental value or like what's the sentiment behind that particular piece now the come to Jesus thing on the Texas Department of Corrections website they would catalog the final statements and many of them have come to Jesus who do we have a final statement for this lady I don't know on her some number not here I guess humorous it's like you know some of them are like I found God and then others are like aren't real warden let's roll you know just like let's get it over with so the you mentioned that Teresa Lewis was the first woman executed in Virginia is 1912 I looked it up and the one executed 1912 was a young gal 17 year old African American girl Virginia Christian executed by electrocution in Virginia in August 1912 for the murder of her employer in a town called Hampton executed just one day after 17 perfect God got really yeah how brutal was the murder oh look they need all the electric chair back in 1912 was sketch it best dude so it says here that in March 1912 16 year old washerwoman Virginia Christian got into a confrontation with her employer over a stolen skirt and a $5 debt during the altercation miss Christian allegedly struck her employer with a broomstick stuff to towel her mouth two day trial not a lot of witnesses or evidence I suspect I would guess that a 16 year old black woman in Virginia 1912 probably didn't get real fair shake no probably not I don't think that's safe to say we even had it had to do it yet but we will oh we will yeah well we've got recording to do we got work we can't set up here and eat Gus's fried chicken all day y'all get tired yeah we'll get tired all right good job miss miss Lewis yes indeed all right well let's continue on with uh the case of the poison deris and episode 11 we discovered we were introduced to a lady by the name of Patsy Wright who inherited uh in addition to uh other things I'm sure the Palace of Wax Museum in Grand Prairie right there off of interstate 35 interstate 30 uh also known as the Tom Landry Freeway yes are we the only place that names freeways that I don't know Dallas has got no well no I know it it's got to be could be uh Walton Walker's and Dallas uh who I'm sure you know the history on him Walton Walker yeah I do actually yeah I don't even want to hear it I'm just impressed that you know generally got killed in Korea I'm glad I'm glad you cleared that up for me because I was about to ask you it was anyway in episode 11 we uh we met Patsy Wright who inherited the uh Palace of Wax Museum in Grand Prairie and she made this very mysterious call to her sister one night in 1987 telling her that she had uh taken a ingested some Nike wool uh before she went to bed and something terribly wrong was was going on um when law first responders and the sister and her her husband got over there she had was unresponsive and was later pronounced dead at only to Memorial Hospital right there off of Cooper Street in Randall Mill um the autopsy report done uh in the office of the Terrent County Medical Examiner found that she died of strict nine poisoning which shocked all the authorities uh including detectives um including the medical examiner who in his 20 or 25 years at that point had never seen a death by strict nine so this right uh was married twice was involved with another gentleman uh and had other boyfriends uh three of them uh to the husband's uh right Bob Cox were brought in yep for questioning uh her first husband uh passed a lie detector test the second husband declined yep a lie detector test and then the third boyfriend gentleman by the name of Leo Fikes who Quis coincidentally or not owned a chemical company and had done business with the only place in Dallas-Footworth maybe Texas I don't know where you could buy strict nine yeah he had done business with that company though he had never uh purchased made a purchase of strict nine uh he came in for questioning and the fact was quite receptive to it he embraced the opportunity to tell detectives everything he knew uh and he uh he uh he took a lie detector test and he passed it as well so that's where we are where we go from here Jake dare I say we saved the best for last yeah we got one more dad to talk about here last up Steve Horning Steve Horning so you remember Steve uh that's Patsy's brother-in-law we never went over his last name hmm it was her brother-in-law he's the one discovered her um dead he tried to resuscitate her yeah so Steve Steve comes into this palace of waxing some years ago because he owned a landscaping company and he kept the grounds there over time Steve and his uh and Patsy sister Sally began to date eventually they married Patsy's opinion at first didn't seem it seemed rather indifferent she was happy that her sister seemed happy um but Patsy's opinion on started to change she described him as phony Patsy was also mad that according to demagasing an article Steve in just a few years had spent Sally's inheritance and had gone into debt for that much more playing the commodities market and big game hunting uh to further highlight Patsy's um feelings about Steve it was reported the day before she died she's told a friend quote I don't want Steve Horning anywhere around me so what I'm going to read next is from that Dallas Morning News article we'll we'll provide a link to it uh they did a phenomenal job on the whole story uh but I think digging into this side of the story we wouldn't have done it any justice rewriting it so to quote the article in June of 1987 Patsy determined to keep Steve from ever owning any portion of her assets had discussed making a major change in a bicell agreement she had with Sally each sister had a $500,000 dollar life insurance policy on the other if one died the survivor had to use the money to buy out the other share of stock leaving one sister as the sole owner of the palace wax of the palace wax the other sisters would the other sisters heirs would split the 500,000 it seemed like a good plan when they signed it in June of 1985 but several things had happened since that and that made Patsy uneasy the museum stock had escalated in value but more to the point Sally was diagnosed as having cancer in the fall of 1985 Sally and Steve had been having marital problems prior to the diagnosis but even Patsy told friends that Steve had been extremely supportive of Sally during that difficult period still their parents and two of their grandparents had died of cancer and Sally's prognosis was poor if she died with the bicell agreement in place Steve would receive a half a million dollars Sally underwent chemotherapy and her cancer was declared in remission that summer both sisters agreed that the bicell agreement needed to be changed they scheduled a board meeting for early November to discuss the changes but Patsy died two weeks before that meeting thus the bicell agreement went into effect despite Leslie and Wayne's plating those were Patsy's kids that she give them their mother stock instead of the money Sally refused telling them that they were too young and the stock was worth more than it had been when the agreement was signed meanwhile Steve under community property laws has to claim 25% of the stock quoting Steve were setting up an ironclad will that will give them the museums upon our death but if Sally dies before Steve he will own a controlling share of the stock in the museum exactly what Patsy was trying to prevent and like the rest going away from the demagazine article shortly so the detective wants to interview Steve he was a vital part right he's the one who found her he's the one that went into the house he had made some statements about moving some things around he had highlighted a few things that were suspicious so the detective gets his story and says oh hey we take a polygraph Steve doesn't take one he takes two the reason he takes two is because the first one was in conclusive the second one he passes going back to the article still there are puzzling discrepancies Steve says that he gave Patsy mouth-mouth resuscitation taking green liquid into his mouth and spitting it out the author of this article asks would he have done that if he knew she had been poisoned fair question a question yeah and if he was guilty why didn't he just dump out the bottle of the night well or hide it under his coat remember he's the first one there okay the detective Gustavson but Gustavson remembers hearing the tape of the emergency phone call Sally talking to the dispatcher can be heard saying quote you have to blow into her mouth as if instructing Steve as he apparently performed CPR and the paramedics told him that Patsy regurgitated quote large amounts of clear liquid the instant they began CPR nobody successfully performed CPR on this woman one paramedic told Gustavson the detective had Steve pretended to perform CPR or had his long unused skills simply been effective ineffective and this is one thing we haven't talked about and there was the matter of the plates Steve insisted that he moved a table with two plates away from Patsy's bed as if Patsy had been entertaining a visitor neither the fireman nor the paramedics remembered the table and the plates so the author asked was Steve setting up the idea that the murderer had been in Patsy's room that night when he could prove he was at home with Sally or did he simply have a better memory than the others in the ensuing pandemonium so basically was it so insignificant that the first responders didn't see the plates was Steve trying to say hey look at you know look at what I did or look at what I found you know trying to deter the investigators who knows and was Steve capable of murdering his wife's sister murdering his wife's sister one of her only remaining relatives sources say that in 1970 Steve had been arrested and charged with assaulting a woman those charges were dropped had Patsy known about the record at one point she had a friend run a background check on horning she told one friend the report quote wasn't good and she destroyed it Steve and other family members feel they know where the investigators should look Steve points to Bob Cox the plaintiff in that Civil War somehow so in regards to people Steve is the last person of interest suspect that they discussed but he's the one that is most involved I think yeah right he's involved with the palace of wax he's involved with the family he's the one that found her right there's a few more strange issues that pop up though the magazine calls it the twisting trail of on coincidences doesn't end with Patsy's death 11 months after Patsy died the wax museum of the southwest burned to the ground arson investigators ruled that the fire had started at an electrical box the insurance paid four million not nearly enough to replace the museum which would cost about 5.5 million to rebuild almost immediately Sally Horning began rebuilding the facility replacing the old western motif with an Aladdin's palace yeah one that we see the one that we see today yeah she hired a wax figure maker to create an initial collection of 135 new wax characters and added a Ripley's believe they're not collection of curiosity's which opened in June after the fire Gustavuson received a call from a jailer at the Dallas County jail a female prison a female prisoner had seen the news reports of the fire and wanted to talk to an investigator about the death of a woman at the museum thinking she was referring to Patsy Gustavus Gustavuson interviewed the woman after she was released from prison it didn't take long for him to realize she was talking about another woman a tall blonde named Lori Williams who worked as a receptionist at the museum in the early 80s interesting Williams who was 26 went home sick one day in 1984 doubled over in pain and was taken to the hospital 11 days later she was dead the cause of death was never determined the jailed woman who had gone to prison for possession for possession of a controlled substance wondered if Williams had been poisoned she invited to Gustavuson that she believed her own husband was poisoning her as well had Lori Williams been killed with strict nine years before Patsy's death Gustavuson asked Krauss to review her medical records the medical examiner concluded that Williams death didn't seem consistent with strict nine poisoning her body though was not exhumed for examination so we're going back to Bob Cox Cox won the arson trial and the adjury awarded him 1.3 million that's the arson trial on his museum in Galveston yep the one that never even opened he had a wax muse are a prospective wax museum in Galveston so he won that yeah even though remember he had to leave early because he's going to get to write 500 at the recorder his card game the insurance company was then unable to establish that Cox had set the fire but the Highland Park gossip mill began heating up oh yeah after the unsolved mysteries episode you remember unsolved mystery sure I can just was on there this case of this has you right yeah friends say Cox is rarely seen at the country club these days he was a regular right he was up there gambling card game card player yeah his acquaintances knew little about the arson trial and even less about Patsy's death now it's the talk of the Dallas Country Club people they remember what they called a quote murder mystery party given by Cox after Patsy's death boy Bob was the only one who guessed the murderer had hired a hitman says one friend so there's one other person that gets involved in this as described in the article DeSoda Detective Bill Deer began investigating the death of Patsy right in early June Deer who prides himself on solving cases that stumped the police told the family that his fee would be between 15 and 60 thousand dollars to be shared by the Hornines her children and Bill Wright but that if it was obvious that there were too few clues to solve the murder he would cut it short one of Leslie Dauder said it's worth it if we can find out what happened to my mother but Deer says he thinks the case can be solved the detective says that he has written himself a letter describing his hunch about who murdered about who the murderer is and how it can be proved he'll go back to it after the case is over and see if he was right closes by saying things are too obvious Bill Deer says I think this is something besides what it looks like hmm but we have no idea what Bill Deer's letter says what his hunch is and he and he did what was what was the time frame of when he when he picked up this case I would look a couple years a couple years later so the 1990 or something like that 1999 or 1990 Steve Horning he's still around is he from what I hear yeah yeah yeah what they're still married I believe she passed away I'd have to look it up and verify that yeah I'd have to look that up but I don't believe she's alive any any longer all right so what do we make of this uh what do you make of it I'm curious about this table yeah that's something that you would think a detective would would notices in the room first responders might not yeah yeah they may not have I mean because again you're not they weren't going in there with you know there's blood everywhere there's yeah right cartridge casings none of that I mean if this is this is honestly a 40 something year old lane and her bed dead yeah no signs of trauma no forced entry no anything some weird things but they were only weird to the family right you know I don't know I guess people don't really have the old school home security systems anymore because they all have the yeah the ring cameras yeah so you don't really need to set your alarm kind of the old person say um you know the the the night quill have it have it um the the unlock bedroom window one thing we didn't discuss I mean she was very concerned about her safety because she had found windows at her house broken several months earlier oh she had Bob Cox that was Bob Cox the stalker I mean so the unlock bedroom window sure maybe maybe it was accidentally left unlocked who knows but again there's no signs of forced entry yeah you know could somebody in theory have put strict nine in the night pool bottle days or weeks probably not even weeks before she would drink it days before yeah I guess they they were they would have been able to trace a strict nine purchase specifically at that Dallas company they knew they would have known who bought strict nine so it was probably obtained illegally or under the table or something like that I think so I mean that you know again I don't know maybe maybe strict nine or whiz or was commonly purchased to them maybe it was a laundry list of people I have no idea all right I mean I think the from what I hear um like everyone I think the family has some thoughts and opinions you know I would be curious to see the bill dear letter yeah to see what his thoughts on it were yeah I mean but you know the truth is there's there's a lot of people involved in this or there's a lot of people that have motive for this I mean it's kind of a you know I mean I mean look I'm not passing jobs and replacing blame but I mean you know the I think maybe her some of the things some of the decisions you made in life cause sort of cross paths with some yeah bad people I'm watching a irreputable folk you know looking back on it is it are we dealing with that if this if this happened in 2026 no probably not right I mean I mean I say that we have that old Nancy Guthrie thing going on yeah but I mean the reality is is I think I would have I statistically it would seem like more murders get solved now than before there's more evidence there's more tools or better techniques available cameras everywhere cameras everywhere there are cell phones paying off of towers and everything right so are we dealing with is this a is this a who done it if it happened in 2026 probably not probably not right I mean they did you know it seems like they did a decent job from the investigation I mean you know and they got what I'll call lucky I mean you have that patrol officer grabbing the night will you know the down to the medical examiner is doing the the toxicology report finding that I mean I think that that they kind of ran down every rabbit hole they could I think in looking at this they certainly of the four or five people they interviewed they in my opinion they definitely interviewed one of them one of them did it one of those guys one of those guys did it almost certainly did it right yeah so and it's always somebody you know these things aren't random you know it's particularly a strict nine death it's we talked about it's a painful death very so it seemed very personal yeah here we do this now I think I and I don't know if the evidence supports it but you know they and you may have read about this but just recently UTA University of Texas Arlington for those not around here yeah had a I guess they have some kind of partnership with Arlington police yeah and they just able to solve a cold case from around the same time yeah it was in it was a 1980s case so you know maybe something comes of this right maybe maybe it's looked at again I mean but you know for the five or dead right I think Steve warnings the only one that's alive and you know here we are 40 years later yeah still a mystery well that'll conclude episode 12 that's the conclusion of 12 before you leave make sure you hit that subscribe button yeah subscribe button it's a very important button button makes you one of us don't you want to be closer to us at all times closer and you can find us on Ashley's got a better run down than I do you can find us on anywhere that there's the sunset lunge dfw as well as signal 51 chronicles on Facebook Facebook TikTok Instagram YouTube actually knows all thank you Ashley you're very welcome indeed thank you all right until next time see you guys later say it we're out this is a stolen water media production