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[This story originally aired on March 22, 2022.]
Lana Clayton stated she discovered her husband Steve Clayton lifeless on the backside of a staircase of their South Carolina house. The businessman, who created bodily remedy clinics, had been married to his spouse for 5 years when he died.
Initially, the coroner’s workplace dominated Clayton died from a doable coronary heart assault. Nevertheless, Clayton’s nephew, Nick French, a police officer in a close-by city, seen one thing was odd about Lana’s conduct when he rushed to the mansion to console her.
“She made no point out of trying to revive him,” French tells “48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant. “And Steve at all times had his telephone with him. We weren’t capable of finding Steve’s telephone wherever.”
Involved in regards to the nature of his dying, the household requested for an post-mortem and a toxicology check. The blood check revealed an uncommon chemical – tetrahydrozoline – in Steve Clayton’s blood that may shift the investigation into an entire new course.
What occurred within the Clayton family? And will that case have led to a copycat crime?
A STRANGE ACCIDENT?
James Blackledge: I am a Vietnam veteran. So, I’ve seen issues, performed issues.
However James Blackledge wasn’t prepared for what was about to occur as he rode by the house of Steve and Lana Clayton on the morning of July 21, 2018.
James Blackledge: I used to be out driving my bike…coming down this street… … And unexpectedly, I see a girl working throughout this yard…and she or he was waving me down.
It was Lana Clayton who apparently had simply run out of her home.
James Blackledge: She flagged me down, stopped me. And very first thing she stated was “name 911.”
JAMES BLACKLEDGE: Is that this 911?
911 DISPATCHER: It’s.
JAMES BLACKLEDGE: I used to be simply ridin’ by and a girl got here working out and stated her husband fell down the steps and she or he thinks he is lifeless.
As Blackledge stayed on the telephone with the dispatcher, he watched Lana run throughout the road to a neighbor’s home.
Terry Floyd: Impulsively, I heard this loud knock on the display. … It nearly sound like any person, you understand, was gonna bust the glass out. … It was Lana.
Terry Floyd is a detailed pal of Lana and Steve.
Terry Floyd: And I requested her, after all, what was fallacious. And he or she simply saved saying, “It is Steve. It is Steve.”
The 2 jumped into Terry’s golf cart and dashed over to the Clayton’s entrance door.
Terry Floyd: And I stated, “Properly, the place is he?” And he or she stated, “He is on the base of the steps there within the lobby.”
Peter Van Sant: And what had been you considering as all of that is unfolding?
James Blackledge: I simply thought it was an accident, an odd accident. Then, what I actually thought was unusual, was she sat on the entrance steps. The person went inside the home.
Terry Floyd: I attempted to get a pulse. … I could not get a pulse. And I simply, I knew he was lifeless.
In keeping with Lana, Steve had come down with a bout of vertigo three days prior. Information reporter Kristi O’Connor of CBS affiliate WBTV lined the story.
Kristi O’Connor: He was nauseated and dizzy and bedridden.
Peter Van Sant: Their bed room was on the second flooring of this home, proper?
Kristi O’Connor: That is precisely appropriate.
Lana stated she checked on him round 11 that morning and located him napping, so she went exterior to mow the garden.
Kristi O’Connor: She made certain he had his water. She had his medicines and issues subsequent to his mattress, made certain he had the whole lot he wanted.
Lana was a nurse – a calling that made Steve’s sister, Rosie, very glad.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: I felt, wow, she’ll be there for him. God forbid one thing ought to occur, he ought to fall ailing.
The couple met on-line in 2010. Three years later, they married in close by Charlotte, North Carolina.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: I sensed that my brother beloved her very a lot, that she beloved him very a lot.
It was Lana’s second marriage. Steve’s household had misplaced rely on the variety of instances he’d been down the aisle.
Kris Phagan: I believe the quantity’s someplace round six or seven. … Steve beloved being in love. … It did not at all times work out properly for him.
Steve’s nephew, Kris Phagan, says his uncle was an accountant by commerce who, within the Nineteen Eighties, created a extremely profitable bodily remedy enterprise, focusing on sports activities accidents.
Peter Van Sant: And he made thousands and thousands off of this, appropriate?
Kris Phagan: He did. … He, then, absolutely retired on the age of 40.
Peter Van Sant: From all exterior appearances, what was their life like right here?
Kristi O’Connor: I’d say, dare to say that they’d all of it.
However on July 21, 2018, when Lana got here in after a pair hours of yard work, she found her 64-year-old husband was lifeless.
Terry Floyd: Myself and some of the opposite neighbors, we consoled in her. … All of the neighbors had been behind her 110 p.c.
When York County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived, they discovered Lana in misery over her husband’s obvious fall down the steps.
TERRY FLOYD [BODY CAM VIDEO]: She’s sort of on a guilt journey about not checking on him.
OFFICER: Oh, no.
TERRY FLOYD: Simply have a look to see if you happen to see any indicators of him falling or something …
OFFICER: OK. OK.
TERRY FLOYD: All the things look OK?
OFFICER: Just about, just about.
The officer on the scene and a pal comforted her.
LANA’S FRIEND [BODY CAM VIDEO]: You’ll be able to’t blame your self for any of this.
SGT. DAY: Oh, no, under no circumstances.
As phrase unfold about Steve’s sudden dying, his nephew, Nick French, a police officer in a close-by city, rushed to the mansion.
Nick French: She … gave me an enormous hug, began crying. … Proper after that, I walked in the place Steve was and noticed him. … It was very a lot a shock. I beloved Steve and to see him in a susceptible place like that was very tough for me.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Coroner Sabrina Gast obtained a name that Steve had died.
Sabrina Gast: I’ve a deputy coroner and she or he responded to the house.
Gast says her deputy noticed nothing suspicious and believed the reason for dying was probably because of a coronary heart assault.
Sabrina Gast: She concluded at that cut-off date that it gave the impression to be a pure dying.
However being an skilled cop and investigator, Nick French could not assist noticing some pink flags about Lana’s actions instantly after she discovered Steve.
Nick French: There have been a minimum of two telephones in that home and she or he’s a nurse. Why would not she have known as from a type of telephones? And in addition, why wasn’t she doing CPR once they arrived on scene?
That is when he started to make psychological notes.
Nick French: Steve at all times had his telephone on him. At all times. It was his lifeline. … we weren’t capable of finding Steve’s telephone wherever.
Nick additionally famous Lana’s response when the deputy coroner requested about funeral preparations.
Nick French: Lana stated, “it is simply an excessive amount of proper now.” She had her head in her palms, and she or he stated, “I do not know.”
So, the deputy coroner provided to take Steve’s physique to the morgue and run some assessments.
NICK FRENCH [BODY CAM VIDEO]: I’d try this Aunt Lana.
Nick French: And he or she regarded up from her palms and stated “that funeral house … the one which’s proper down the road … Let’s take him there and have him cremated.” … and it was simply that fast … She went from “I do not know what I’ll do” … to … let’s “have him cremated.”
Nick needed to name Kris and let him know their beloved uncle had died. He says Lana insisted she did not need Kris to see his uncle in that state.
Nick French: Kris is an grownup, he is an enormous boy. That needs to be Kris’s alternative. … I began considering one thing’s occurring. So, when she instructed me no the third time and yelled at me, I walked upstairs and known as Kris.
Peter Van Sant: Why would you be excluded?
Kris Phagan: That I could not inform you. It nonetheless puzzles me to today.
Kris then known as Steve’s sister, Rosie in Florida.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: I nonetheless hear him crying. … I could not communicate. … It wasn’t actual. It did not appear actual.
For 3 days previous to his dying, Rosie had been frightened she could not attain her brother on the telephone.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: Abruptly, there have been no replies. … And that was not like him to simply utterly lower off … I believed it was very odd.
Additionally odd was what Nick would later uncover in Steve’s upstairs bed room.
Nick French: The state of the bed room … indicated to me that Steve had been in that mattress a number of days and he wasn’t capable of get out of the mattress. … Only a fruits of the whole lot we noticed on the market was extremely suspicious.
A FAMILY’S SUSPICIONS MOUNT
Kris Phagan: I strive not to enter the home an entire lot. That is the place the unhealthy recollections are actually.
For Steve’s nephew, Kris Phagan, visiting his uncle’s house, brings again combined feelings.
Kris Phagan: However out right here is the place we loved events.
Peter Van Sant: In the most effective of instances at this home what was it like?
Kris Phagan: Plenty of enjoyable. The canine working round, the children chasing them, Steve telling jokes, music going.
One favourite reminiscence — the July Fourth social gathering Lana and Steve threw simply weeks earlier than his dying.
Kris Phagan: Steve was at all times huge on July 4th. He had enormous celebrations out right here … We would have a dance flooring proper right here. … fireworks on the market.
To most outsiders, the couple appeared glad and in love.
Terry Floyd: I believed it was an excellent relationship. … She at all times kissed Steve on the brow there and stated, “I really like you.”
However Dr. Nan Saye, a veterinarian who took care of their canine on the Clayton mansion, claims it was all a façade.
Peter Van Sant: Whenever you noticed the 2 of them collectively, had been they a loving couple?
Dr. Nan Saye: No. No. I questioned why they obtained married. … It was unusual … The best factor was that she didn’t communicate when he was within the room.
Then there was a weird incident within the bed room simply two years earlier than Steve’s dying. Lana stated she by accident shot her husband within the head with a crossbow whereas he slept.
Kristi O’Connor: Steven himself … stated it was an accident. Lana stated it was an accident.
Miraculously, Steve’s damage was minor, and police by no means filed prices.
Peter Van Sant: I do not know what number of crossbows you could have in your bed room … However that appeared sort of unusual, proper?
Dr. Nan Saye: Sure.
Lana and Steve moved on from that incident. However two months earlier than his dying, Steve confided to Kris that their marriage of 5 years was in bother.
Kris Phagan: He had talked about … that he wasn’t as glad as he thought he was going to be.
When Kris obtained to the home that day, he comforted Lana. She instructed him she wanted his assist in organizing Steve’s affairs.
Kris Phagan: And I stated, “Properly, the very first thing we have to do is use the desire … and that’ll inform us what Steve’s needs had been by way of whether or not he needs to be buried or cremated.”
Kris was startled by Lana’s response.
Kris Phagan: She stated, “properly, there isn’t any will.” And I stated, “no, there is a will, I do know that there’s, I’ve seen it.” … Steve had requested me to be his executor. … And at that time she stood up and stated, “I stated there isn’t any will.” And … she went into the home.
Nick French: My aha second happened the identical time.
Nick was gobsmacked when he heard Lana bad-mouthing Steve.
Nick French: “She was within the kitchen and she or he was telling these lurid tales of all Steve’s illicit drug abuse. … She used the phrases he was a hardcore drug abuser. … And he or she’s telling these tales and she or he’s laughing.
Peter Van Sant: And also you guys had recognized him without end. Did you ever see him excessive on illicit medicine?
Kris Phagan: By no means.
Nick French: By no means. … She principally stated that she did not need an post-mortem performed as a result of she was frightened about what the toxicology would present … And, you understand, for me, it was jarring after I heard it.
Nick would quickly be jarred once more. He went upstairs, the place Lana had stated Steve was bedridden for 3 days.
Nick French: The mattress was the worst a part of the upstairs. … Simply drenched with urine. … I requested Lana … And he or she stated, “Oh, Steve does that when he has vertigo — that occurs.”
Kris Phagan: Actually made me assume he was there struggling and will attain nobody for assist.
A short while later, Kris says Lana demanded that everybody go away.
Kris Phagan: Once we obtained within the automobile — my spouse and I — I stated, “one thing is fallacious.”
Nick was having an analogous dialog along with his spouse.
Nick French: We had been each of the opinion … that she had a hand in his dying. … We did not understand how.
In the meantime, Rosie was making an attempt to reconcile how Steve’s vertigo might have led to a coronary heart assault.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: It appeared too bizarre to attribute what was occurring to him, to what we already knew had been his very benign, mild signs.
On Sunday, the day after Steve’s dying, Kris and his Spouse had deliberate to assist Lana discover his will.
Nick French: Lana … stated, “don’t come right here. That is my home. … He was my husband. I’ll deal with the whole lot” … And he or she hung up.
That is when Nick and his spouse drove to Kris’s home.
Nick French: We checked out one another, and we went via the small speak … And I stated, “one thing’s fallacious.”
Kris Phagan: I stated, “thank God,” as a result of we really feel the very same means.
Nick French: And we went to work. … and we knew one of many first issues that we needed to do was get in contact with the coroner’s workplace.
It was a race towards the clock. Lana had scheduled a cremation for the very subsequent day.
Nick French: Steve … was on the funeral house. …And so they can transfer ahead.
Peter Van Sant: With no matter Lana says.
Nick French: Precisely.
Nick and Kris demanded the coroner order an post-mortem and a toxicology check. She agreed.
Nick French: We had been relieved at that time … however we additionally knew that Lana did not know.
When the post-mortem was performed, the household’s suspicions had been confirmed. Steve had not succumbed to a coronary heart assault.
Sabrina Gast | Coroner: They regarded on the chest. They regarded on the coronary heart, the lungs Nothing actually suspicious with the post-mortem.
However the toxicology outcomes revealed one thing sinister. Not hardcore drug use, however the presence of poison — a chemical present in eye drops. And immediately, Steve’s dying turned extremely suspicious.
Peter Van Sant: So immediately … this may very well be a poisoning?
Demi Garvin | Forensic Toxicologist: Sure … it was with out query the reason for dying.
Sabrina Gast: Was it an unintentional overdose? We did not know that. … Was it a homicidal overdose?
Demi Garvin: His mobility is restricted … He is incapacitated. … it can trigger respiratory despair, which then causes dying.
AN UNUSUAL DISCOVERY
When Coroner Sabrina Gast first reviewed Steve Clayton’s toxicology report, there was a chemical present in his blood that she had by no means heard of earlier than.
Sabrina Gast: Hmm, what’s tetrahydrozoline? I do not know what that’s … So, I needed to lookup what tetrahydrozoline was. … I used to be like, “whoa, wait.”
Peter Van Sant: And what’s it? What is that this drug?
Sabrina Gast: Tetrahydrozoline is the frequent ingredient in Visine.
Peter Van Sant: The attention drop.
Sabrina Gast: The attention drop.
Peter Van Sant: Get the pink out.
Sabrina Gast: Precisely.
And Steve’s outcomes revealed a considerable amount of the chemical, which is present in a variety of manufacturers of eye drops.
Demi Garvin: Actually, at a focus of 68 nanograms per mil within the blood pattern.
Peter Van Sant: And in English meaning?
Demi Garvin: In English meaning I am very frightened.
Peter Van Sant: It is quite a bit.
Demi Garvin: It is quite a bit.
Forensic toxicologist Demi Garvin was conscious of the various methods tetrahydrozoline, also called THZ, may very well be abused.
Demi Garvin: We seek advice from this drug as a modern-day Mickey Finn. … The place a substance is launched right into a beverage with out the consent of the person who’s going to eat it for functions of incapacitating them. That may very well be for theft. It may very well be for sexual assault. It may very well be for each.
Within the film “Marriage ceremony Crashers,” a personality squirts eye drops into the drink of his rival, inflicting bother.
Demi Garvin: Nausea, vomiting, decreased coronary heart charge … dizziness, confusion.
But when a poisoner empties a complete bottle in somebody’s drink, it might probably assault the respiratory system.
Demi Garvin: And if respiratory slows sufficiently, it can trigger respiratory despair which then causes dying.
Poisoning with eyedrops can be the plot line of an episode of the CBS drama “CSI”:
There’s tetrahydrozoline within the sufferer’s drink.
She killed him with eye drops.
Properly it isn’t that far-fetched.
Demi Garvin: It is colorless, odorless and tasteless.
Peter Van Sant: So, like I’ve a water bottle right here. If it was in there, I would not realize it.
Demi Garvin: Appropriate.
The outcomes of Steve Clayton’s toxicology had been a possible recreation changer.
Peter Van Sant: The preliminary evaluation on the scene is that this gave the impression to be a pure dying. … What are you considering now?
Sabrina Gast: I am considering, “Wow, we have some work to do” … the following telephone name was to the sheriff’s workplace.
Kevin Brackett: Properly, now, after all, there are an entire sequence of questions which were raised.”
Solicitor Kevin Brackett acts because the prosecutor in York and Union Counties in South Carolina.
Kevin Brackett: The initially, how did the Visine get in his system?
Sabrina Gast: We did not know if he had deliberately taken the tetrahydrozoline with the intent of harming himself.
To seek out out, the coroner known as Lana in for an interview.
Peter Van Sant: Describe the girl that was sitting throughout from you.
Sabrina Gast: I’d describe her as assured.
By now, Lana knew that an post-mortem had been carried out on Steve. What she did not know was that investigators from the sheriff’s workplace and the FBI had been within the subsequent room listening in.
Sabrina Gast: We had arrange microphones within the workplace in order that they might hear the questions … and her responses.
DEPUTY CORONER [interrogation]: We have got a pair questions. Let’s go over some issues, like I stated we obtained a number of the studies again.
Sabrina Gast: We had been making an attempt to get data from her about how he used the product, how usually did he use the product?
LANA CLAYTON: Anyone, any person one time instructed him Visine would assist him go to the lavatory … He put like two drops in his espresso and um, make him go to the lavatory.
DEPUTY CORONER: And the way lengthy had he been doing that for?
LANA CLAYTON: For years.
Sabrina Gast: He would put it in his espresso each morning in order that he would have a bowel motion.
Demi Garvin It could not be one thing that you’d ever need to do.
Kevin Brackett: What that remark did inform us is that she was conscious … that we had been going to search out Visine in his system as a result of she put it there.
SABRINA GAST: Um, let’s go over the toxicology … there is a drug known as tetrahydrozoline.
LANA CLAYTON: That’s his Visine.
Sabrina Gast: Instantly she knew precisely what tetrahydrozoline was.
Peter Van Sant: You noticed it on her face?
Sabrina Gast: She stated, “Oh, sure, that is Visine” … that was the place it clicked for me of, oh, OK. That is sort of, that is actually odd.
That is when these investigators close by entered the room, shocking Lana.
OFFICER 1: I am a detective with the York County Sheriff’s Workplace.
LANA CLAYTON: I am simply …
OFFICER 2: Overwhelmed, I am certain. Sure, ma’am. Now hear you might be on no account in any bother, we do wanna ask you some questions.
OFFICER 2: … you’re a witness on this case for us … we’ve to learn our Miranda rights to all people, OK … you could have the correct to stay silent …
Lana Clayton started turning on her husband:
LANA CLAYTON: I am questioning if he tried to commit suicide. … He had a temper dysfunction. … I at all times walked on eggshells. I did not know what Steven I used to be gonna come house to … or if he was offended. he may very well be actually nasty, you understand.
OFFICER 2: What was nasty Steve like?
LANA CLAYTON: He was actually verbally abusive, you understand, name me names, silly, bitch.
Kris Phagan: We by no means noticed any proof of that.
Peter Van Sant: By no means? [to Nick] Did you ever see it?
Nick French: I by no means noticed it. And never solely did we by no means see it, however there was no document of something like that.
LANA CLAYTON: I really feel I am portray a foul image of him. He wasn’t, you understand, a monster.
The 2 investigators pressed her:
OFFICER 1: Proper now, the dying is suspicious in nature.
OFFICER 2: Did you make his espresso for him?
LANA CLAYTON: No, he made his espresso. … all people retains asking me, you understand, in regards to the espresso and I do know they needed to know in regards to the Visine.
OFFICER 2: There was solely two folks in the home, Miss Clayton.
LANA CLAYTON: I do know, I do know.
OFFICER 1: It was you, and him.
LANA CLAYTON: I do know.
OFFICER 1: Did he have any —
LANA CLAYTON: He at all times had the Visine on him.
OFFICER 1: Did he have any that day?
LANA CLAYTON: That is what I do not know.
OFFICER 1: You’re within the nursing enterprise although … would not you understand the consequences of it?
LANA CLAYTON: Positive. I did not assume Visine was something that may be critical to your, to your well being.
With the robust questioning, Brackett says Lana obtained defensive.
LANA CLAYTON: I really feel such as you guys are, you understand, doing all your job and also you’re, you understand, questioning if I killed my husband and I didn’t kill my husband.
Lana then stopped the interview and returned to the mansion. Investigators adopted her house the place she continued speaking. They recorded the dialog:
Kevin Brackett: After that dialog, the state of affairs adjustments considerably.
What Lana Clayton instructed investigators was nothing in need of a confession.
LANA CLAYTON: , I had this little desk arrange subsequent to the mattress along with his tissues, his urinal, his, you understand, medicines, his Visine … And I simply noticed it and simply, I used to be simply so offended. … I simply took and squirted it. … I believe I put the entire thing in.
That quantity of THZ would have brought on Steve to cease respiratory.
DETECTIVE: So, you — the entire bottle?
LANA CLAYTON: I believe I did.
DETECTIVE: OK.
LANA CLAYTON: I squeezed it laborious.
DETECTIVE: OK. So, the place was he while you did this?
LANA CLAYTON: He was sleeping. … I do not know — I simply noticed it there and I simply I simply did it. I haven’t got an excuse, I haven’t got — I simply did it.
When Nick realized of Lana’s confession, he known as Kris.
Kris Phagan: And he stated, “She did it.” And I knew instantly what he was speaking about. And I had just a few alternative phrases and screamed. I began crying as properly.
Peter Van Sant: This was homicide.
Kris Phagan: Appropriate.
WAS THIS LANA’S FIRST ATTEMPT?
After admitting she emptied a bottle of eye drops into her husband’s water, Lana saved speaking to the investigators again on the mansion.
LANA CLAYTON: Simply — what if I did kill him? What if I brought on his dying with the Visine?
She shortly remodeled from a grieving widow into an embittered spouse.
LANA CLAYTON: I simply needed him to simply — I simply needed him to undergo.
Undergo, as a result of Lana claimed she was fed up with Steve’s fixed calls for.
LANA CLAYTON: I used to be simply, I used to be simply offended. … He was simply continually, “Lana, come right here, Lana, come right here” you understand “assist me to the lavatory,” “do that,” “try this” and the whole lot …
DETECTIVE: And all of it simply constructed up?
LANA CLAYTON: It simply all, all, all simply constructed up and I simply …
Lana tried to persuade investigators that she by no means needed to kill Steve.
LANA CLAYTON: I simply needed him to have diarrhea.
DETECTIVE: To only undergo?
LANA CLAYTON: I needed him to simply be, depressing.
Kevin Brackett: She’s admitted that she’s poisoned him.
Solicitor Kevin Brackett.
Kevin Brackett: She’s making an attempt to think about her story that retains her out of you understand the trick bag.
As Lana’s story advanced – it now included allegations of bodily abuse.
LANA CLAYTON: He was verbally and bodily abusive. He had hit me a number of instances.
Peter Van Sant: Is there any proof that he was bodily abusing her?
Kevin Brackett: No, no.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: The way in which she portrayed him — I do not know that particular person. No person that is aware of Steve is aware of that particular person.
The unflattering portrait of Steve doesn’t ring true for individuals who beloved him. Iliana Ivanova was Steve’s girlfriend for nearly three years earlier than assembly Lana.
Peter Van Sant: Was he ever abusive towards you verbally or bodily?
Iliana Ivanova: By no means, by no means. He was nothing near being abusive. … That is utterly made up … all people who knew him knew how beneficiant and loving and type he’s.
His former companions shared comparable sentiments in regards to the abuse claims.
Kevin Brackett: They didn’t consider them. … A few of them nonetheless thought-about him to be the love of their life.
And what about that weird crossbow taking pictures incident again in 2016? Lana modified her story, admitting it was no accident.
LANA CLAYTON: I used to be making an attempt to guard myself from him ‘trigger he was, you understand, coming at me. … And I had picked up the crossbow and turned and I simply shot it at him.
Nick French and Kris Phagan did not study of the crossbow story till after Steve’s dying. They do not consider Lana was defending herself.
Peter Van Sant: Nick, what do you consider that story?
Nick French: Unofficially, horses—.
Peter Van Sant: Do you assume that was an tried homicide?
Nick French: Completely. I believe it was, yeah.
Kris Phagan: 100%. … We expect that was her first try at doing this.
After Lana’s devastating interrogation, investigators left her on the mansion to arrange an arrest warrant. That is when she tried suicide.
Kevin Brackett: She took some tablets and turned the gasoline on. … She left notes … indicating …. that she felt unhealthy about poisoning her husband … and that she could not reside with herself.
A neighbor went to the home that morning and known as for assist.
Kevin Brackett: She was handled briefly on the hospital and brought into custody at that time.
Brackett had developed a drip-by-drip idea of this eye drop crime.
Kevin Brackett: She incapacitated him with a smaller quantity after which regularly ramped it up till the deadly dose.
That might clarify why Steve was bedridden for 3 days previous to his dying. Brackett theorizes that Steve might have in some way tried an escape.
Kevin Brackett: He might need gotten a surge of adrenaline, realizing … that he was very, very sick — and he wanted assist and he tried to go for assist and made it so far as the underside of the steps, the place he died. … he could not name for assist. His telephone couldn’t be discovered after he died.
On August 31, 2018, greater than a month after Steve’s dying, Lana Clayton was formally charged with homicide.
Kevin Brackett: I believe Lana Clayton had a number of million the explanation why she needed her husband lifeless.
Peter Van Sant: And also you’re speaking about thousands and thousands of {dollars}?
Kevin Brackett: Sure, precisely proper.
Steve’s household speculates Lana began planning Steve’s dying again in 2016, when Lana satisfied him to maneuver from North Carolina to the mansion in South Carolina.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: It was essential for her to be in South Carolina. And I believe I used to be capable of put some puzzle items collectively after the actual fact.
Kevin Brackett: She was married to a really rich man. And if that man had been to die within the absence of a will … then he would die intestate which, beneath South Carolina regulation, leaves her inheriting your complete property.
And keep in mind, Lana insisted there was no will. Kris recollects she turned agitated when he requested her about it the day Steve died.
Kris Phagan: She stands up. She turns, appears to be like me proper within the eye and says, “There isn’t any will,” identical to that.
Kris is definite Lana destroyed the desire in a fireplace the neighbors noticed her begin the day after Steve’s dying.
Kris Phagan: My private opinion is that is the very first thing that she burned.
Kris Phagan: That is the firepit Peter. … his complete life in paper was burned proper right here.
About three weeks after Lana’s arrest, there was one other suspicious dying simply 12 miles away in Mount Holly, North Carolina.
Kevin Brackett: The strategy of killing in that case was the identical as ours, a poisoning with THZ.
Peter Van Sant: With eye drops?
Kevin Brackett: With eye drops, sure.
For investigators, it appeared like déjà vu.
Kevin Brackett: Our workplace was consulted on that as a result of it occurred in such shut proximity … It is very doable that the suspect in that case heard about our case down right here, noticed it on the information.
Stacy Hunsucker, a 32-year-old mom of two younger kids, was discovered lifeless by her husband Joshua Hunsucker. Similar to within the Clayton case, her explanation for dying was initially dominated a coronary heart assault.
Kristi O’Connor: Shortly after Stacy died, he collected nearly $250,000 from two life insurance coverage insurance policies taken out on her behalf. And that apparently did not sit proper with Stacy’s mom.
Mike Causey: We obtained concerned as a result of Stacy’s mom contacted us with the doable insurance coverage fraud. … who would ever guess that an insurance coverage fraud investigation might result in a full-blown homicide investigation?
A COPYCAT CASE?
Stacy and Josh Hunsucker had been married for eight years earlier than her tragic dying from an obvious coronary heart assault. Stacy had suffered from coronary heart issues and had a pacemaker.
Kristi O’Connor: They had been highschool sweethearts. That they had two kids collectively.
Stacy was a paralegal at one time after which was a preschool instructor. … He was a paramedic, a flight medic truly, at Atrium Well being, the foremost hospital system within the Charlotte space.”
Reporter Kristi O’Connor says Josh’s actions after Stacy’s passing raised eyebrows.
Actually, babysitter Kailyn MacDonald, who taken care of the couple’s kids after Stacy’s dying, says Josh was relationship a coworker, Jennifer Elkins.
Kailyn MacDonald: I by no means noticed him unhappy, ever.
Kailyn MacDonald: … he was glad along with his new girlfriend, very glad. … It was at all times about Jen.
For Stacy’s mom, Suzie Robinson, that was a pink flag. One other one was when she realized, simply 48 hours after Stacy’s dying, Josh began the method of accumulating $250,000 in two life insurance coverage insurance policies. Suzie known as the North Carolina Division of Insurance coverage to research.
Mike Causey: Had it not been for Suzie …we might not have any of … this homicide investigation.
Mike Causey is the commissioner of the North Carolina Division of Insurance coverage — his brokers obtained concerned in Stacy’s case in Might 2019.
Mike Causey: It was referred to our legal investigations’ division. … preliminary studies from the native police division had it a pure dying, coronary heart assault.
However Stacy’s physique had been cremated on the request of her husband.
Peter Van Sant: No post-mortem.
Kristi O’Connor: No post-mortem. Joshua truly didn’t need an post-mortem performed as a result of he did not need her lower up.
However the brokers obtained an enormous break once they found Stacy was an organ donor and a vial of blood had been collected and saved earlier than she was cremated. That blood was despatched out for a toxicology screening.
Mike Causey: There was traces of some poison … particularly THZ … a standard chemical that is utilized in eye drops to get the pink out.
Peter Van Sant: Within the Hunsucker case, have you ever given authorities there some recommendation primarily based in your expertise right here?
Demi Garvin: Sure … that the presence of the tetrahydrozoline within the focus that was reported warranted additional investigation.
Kristi O’Connor: They ended up … accusing him of poisoning her with tetrahydrozoline.
On December 19, 2019, 15 months after Stacy’s dying, Hunsucker was charged together with her homicide. His legal professional says his shopper is harmless, and the allegations shall be strenuously opposed. He’s free on bail.
Consultants worry homicidal poisonings have been going undetected as a result of their signs can mimic pure sickness and labs do not routinely display for them.
Peter Van Sant: Do you assume that this drug needs to be a part of a fundamental display in toxicology check?
Demi Garvin: Sure.
Peter Van Sant: Do you’re feeling the identical means?
Sabrina Gast: Sure.
Sabrina Gast: As a result of it’s so innocuous. It is odorless, it is tasteless. …Anyone should purchase it.
In an announcement, Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Visine, stated they’re “devastated that anybody would use our product for such an abhorrent act” and “Visine is clearly labeled for exterior use solely and may by no means be swallowed.”
In Lana Clayton’s case — she determined to plead responsible to tampering with meals and medicines and voluntary manslaughter.
She continued to insist she by no means meant to kill him.
LANA CLAYTON: I wish to apologize to Steven’s household.
LANA CLAYTON: I did impulsively put the Visine in Steven’s drink and I did it with the intent to make him sick and uncomfortable.
Her protection crew painted Lana as a sufferer who suffered from PTSD, stemming from sexual abuse in her previous.
Kristi O’Connor: So, their claims had been that she was sexually assaulted all through her youth … and that went unreported to authorities … Then when she went into the U.S. Air Power … her protection crew says that she was raped by three servicemen.
However that alleged assault additionally wasn’t reported. Lana instructed the court docket it was Steve’s therapy of her that made her snap.
LANA CLAYTON: I used to be upset in regards to the abuse and simply needed him to depart me alone. I by no means thought it might kill him. I had by no means heard of Visine being lethal.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: I instructed the decide … I knew it needed to be very tough to see somebody who appears to be like so frail, so light, so quiet and meek … and assume that that particular person may very well be a cold-blooded assassin.
JUDGE BURCH: What a tangled internet we weave, Miss Clayton you certain have tangled this one up.
On January 16, 2020, Choose Burch sentenced Lana Clayton to 25 years in jail.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: I did not assume it was sufficient. … my brother was my world. He was the middle of my world.
Kris Phagan: She … stole a tremendous man … from lots of people that beloved him.
Nick French: … there’s an enormous gap in everybody that knew Steve. And I believe that that gap shall be there for the remainder of our lives.
Lana Clayton declined “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview, writing in an electronic mail, “it has been an extended journey for me, and it hasn’t been straightforward coming to phrases with Steven’s dying. … I am now at peace.”
And as for Steve’s family members, they’re fighting their loss.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: None of us can ever be made complete as a result of Steven is gone.
Rosie prays the mom of Stacy Hunsucker might discover peace.
Rosie Clayton-Leslie: Now we have a saying in Spanish … which implies “the blood cries out for justice.” … I wish to sooner or later meet the mom of that treasured lady that was killed utilizing the identical technique … ‘trigger I do consider her daughter’s blood was crying out for justice, too.
Lana Clayton has not been awarded any cash from Steve’s property.
Josh Hunsucker has not but entered a plea and awaits trial. Stacy’s mother and father say they’ve full religion within the judicial course of.
Produced by Asena Basak. Ryan Smith and Michelle Sigona are the event producers. Hannah Vair is the affiliate producer. Mike Baluzy, Marlon Disla and James Taylor are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcaster producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.
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