Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Lethal Vows" in English language version.
Based on the true story of Richard K. Overton, convicted of poisoning his ex-wife Dorothy Boyer, and the murder of his third wife, Janet Overton.
The bizarre case centered heavily on diary entries by Richard K. Overton that revealed the couple's mutual hatred and the defendant's bitter suspicion that his wife had numerous sexual affairs. A first trial ended in a mistrial in 1992, when Overton's former defense attorney suffered a severe depression and could not continue. ... Authorities said Overton had access to cyanide because he was part-owner in a mining operation.
Boyer, the prosecution's star witness, told the jury in a steady voice that the 64-year-old defendant began surreptitiously spiking her beverages with poison shortly after the breakup of their marriage in 1969. They had been married 17 years and had raised four children, she said. The marriage ended, Boyer said, after she discovered that Overton, using a co-worker's name, had married another woman and fathered a child. ... According to a written report by Miller, which has not yet been introduced as evidence in the trial, Overton confessed to putting Drano and prescription drugs in Boyer's coffee and shampoo. Boyer told jurors that she decided not to press charges against Overton because Miller had told her that her ex-husband agreed never to do it again and to seek counseling.
Richard K. Overton, the subject of one of Orange County's most riveting trials who was convicted of murdering his wife, a popular school board member, by slipping her poisons in 1988, has died, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has confirmed. He was 81.
