Off Leash | Criminal Podcast | Forensic Files

Hi, my name is Toby. I am better known in the media as the dog lady of Lancing Prison. You know, people get themselves
in predicaments in life, but you really got yourself in one. >> I did. I did. And you know, I was a
perfectionist. I never did anything wrong. I never had a speeding ticket. I never didn't stop and count for 3
seconds at a stop sign. And I So, I think I just saved all my stuff up for just one thing. I mean, if you're going
to go big, go big, >> I guess. So, >> Toby Door was born in 1957. She got married when she was 20 and raised two
boys. In 2004, she was working at a veterinarian's office in Kansas City. She answered the phones and scheduled
appointments, helped get the animals ready for procedures. She says she's always loved animals.
One day she noticed a lump on the side of her neck. She asked the veterinarian at the office to have a look at it and
she said, "You need to go to a doctor right now." And so I did. I made an appointment and they did a biopsy and
discovered that it was thyroid cancer. And you know, even though thyroid cancer is a very treatable cancer, still
hearing your name after the word cancer is devastating and it and it kind of causes
you to stop and take stock of your life. And I realized that I could go at any minute and I had not done anything that
made my time here worthwhile. And so I realized I didn't want to, you know, leave this earth and not have
done anything to have made it a better place because I was here. During her treatment, Toby didn't have much energy
at all. She says she could barely pick up a book. >> I mean, you were just like in this fog,
like you were moving through 50 ft of water just to do anything. And so I spent most of my time in the recliner
watching Cell Dogs on Animal Planet. >> What What is Cell Dogs? I don't know. The cell
>> Cell Dogs was a program that ran on Animal Planets for a few years. And it was um inside of a prison and they had
dogs in there and the inmates were training them and then they were taking them out for adoptions. And you like
dogs. >> I love dogs. That's kind of an understatement. Yeah. And I thought that
would be my dream. I could make a difference if I could do something like that. If I could start a prison dog
program, I know I could change the world. And my husband said, "That's just a ridiculous idea. That's only a TV
show. They don't do that in real life." So Toby did the closest thing she thought she could. She started taking
home the stray dogs that were brought into the vet clinic where she worked. After training them, she'd find them a
new home. And then she got a call. >> I mean, I had just started when someone from the Lancing Correctional Facility
approached me and said, "Toby, would you consider doing a prison dog program?" And I was like, "Oh my gosh,
>> I thought you'd never ask." >> Yes, that's right. I've been dreaming about that for months. And I had no idea
how to build a prison dog program, but I just figured I knew dogs. I knew how to
train dogs. I would just create it as I go. So I scrambled running around to animal shelters trying to find some
dogs. And so on that Friday, which was actually Friday the 13th in August of 2004, I took seven dogs into the Lancing
Correctional Facility and the Safe Harbor Prison Dog Program was born. So, the idea here would be that the
inmates at the Lancing Correctional Facility, you'd leave the dogs with the inmates and they would do the training.
How would it work? Well, it was really important to me that my dogs live in the same cell with their handlers because to
me that was more of a home environment and I didn't want them to get used to this artificial kennel environment when
I was trying to adopt them into homes and I wanted them to fit into the homes. So, we put the dogs right in the cells
with the inmates. They slept in the beds with the inmates and anybody who was an
inmate at the prison was free to pet a dog. Toby quit her job at the vet clinic because she didn't have time for
anything but the prison dog program. She had a barn on her property that she filled with dog kennels. She got up at 5
each morning and spent 15 hours a day shuttling the dogs to the vet and the animal shelter and the prison, teaching
the inmates to train the dogs. So, you interacted a lot with these inmates. This wasn't just dropping the
dog off and then I'll I'll pick it back up in a few months. >> That's right. I spent a lot of time I
probably spent maybe as much time inside the prison as an officer that was on duty. It became
my entire life. What did your family and friends think about this program? Your husband? Well, my husband never was much
on board with the program and and and he didn't like as much time as I spent with
it and he didn't like the the notoriety that it brought. Um, so my husband resented it, but you know, we didn't
have a good marriage and um, it was just one more way that I did my own thing and
he did his own thing, which I I never did come home and talk to him about anything that was going on because he
wasn't interested in it. >> How long had you been married? >> We've been married for 28 years. So, we
met when I was 15 and he was 16 and we started dating in high school and I never really dated anyone else. So, we
got married when we were 20. We got along. We didn't fight and you know, so we might as well get married kind of a
thing. And there were several times in our marriage that I realized this wasn't this had not been a good choice, but I
didn't know how to get out. I didn't know how to make a change. So, I mean, one of the instances is we had just been
married 2 or 3 months, and my husband was gone every weekend to play golf with his friends, and he'd be gone for eight
or nine hours a day. And I was really lonely because I was the oldest of seven kids and I was used to a house that was
just bubbling full of things and conversations and, you know, so many activities going on. And now I was
sitting at home alone on Saturday for most of the day while my husband went and played golf. And I felt so lonely.
So I made some phone calls and found out where I could take some golf lessons. And when my husband got home this
particular Saturday, I said, "Guess what? I found a place that I can take golf lessons." and he said, "Well, Toby,
if you want to take golf lessons, the first thing you should do so that you don't waste your money is to find
someone to golf with because it's no fun golfing by yourself." And I said, "Well, I thought I would
golf with you." And he said, "No, I golf with my friends." >> So, you were lonely and you figured out
a way to >> And these dogs certainly seem like >> Oh, man. And those dogs loved me, you
know, and those dog handlers loved me. How did you meet John Maynard? Well, so I was walking into the prison and I was
walking across the prison yard when John Maynard walked up to me, you know, and he just approached me so directly. And
most inmates didn't do that, but he just kind of swaggered up and stopped right in front of me and he stuck out his hand
and he said, "Hi, I'm John Maynard and I want to be your next dog handler. You need me in your program cuz I'm probably
the best dog trainer you've ever met." And I was like, "Oh, okay." Toby told him that he would first have to get
approval from the warden like all the other dog handlers. Two weeks later, John Maynard was
standing at the gate waiting for her. And I started taking dogs out of the truck and I would hand them off to dog
handlers. And usually I would just hand a dog to the closest person, say, "Here's your dog. Here's your dog.
Here's your dog." And everybody was thrilled to get whatever I gave them. But John Maynard took every single dog
out of the truck and he evaluated them and he petted them and he looked at them and he ran his hands over their coat and
he walked them around on a leash and then he said, "I'll take this one." And that was the first time anybody had ever
been that direct. And so I was amused by that, I suppose, is a good word. What did he look like? John Maynard was about
6'4 and he was had a really lanky build and he had red hair, bright red hair and he
kind of swaggered everywhere he went in the prison like he was owned the place or he was in charge and he just didn't
conform like most of the inmates do. You knew that there was just something different about him.
John Maynard was serving a life sentence at Lancing for his involvement in a carjacking when he was 17. A man was
shot and killed. John Maynard claimed that it was his accomplice who had fired the gun, not him. A witness supported
Jon's version of events, but because he had been involved in committing the felony, he was convicted of first-degree
murder. He'd been in prison for about 10 years when he met Toby. He was 27. She was 48.
So there came a time uh when I was inside the prison when I heard some in I mean I
would just walk around in the prison by myself, not accompanied by an officer at
all. And I heard some inmates make some sexual comments, you know, kind of under
their breath as I walked by. And it made me a little bit nervous. I mean, I looked around. I realized, you know,
this is a huge prison. There's a million, well, not a million, but it seemed like a million inmates in there.
And I was vulnerable. So I I shared with the warden's office that I wasn't comfortable just, you know, walking
around inside there without an officer, without some protection. So they told me to always be sure I was
in the accompaniment of one of my dog handlers because the dog handlers wouldn't let anyone say anything to me
or, you know, cost me in any way. So just don't walk through the prison alone. just make sure when you come to
the gate you meet up with one of your dog handlers and ask someone to walk with you the whole time. And so I did
that for about a year and it worked fine until one day I was walking with two of
my dog handlers and I came upon another dog handler who wanted his girlfriend to
adopt his dog. And I ran into this inmate in the yard and it had been about eight weeks since he'd asked me if he
could adopt his dog. And I said to him, "Hey, when's your girlfriend going to pick up your dog because I've got a lot
of dogs lined up waiting to come in here and I need that space." And he got mad at me and he started screaming at me and
he put his fists up and he was in my face and he was yelling at me and cussing at me and saying, "You know, you
let everybody else wait for their dogs. I don't know why you're being this way to me." And so I looked over at my two
dog handlers for help and they were looking down at their feet because they didn't want to
confront this guy and I I just knew I was going to get hit. And this guy outweighed me by 150 lbs. And
I didn't know what to do. And so then I looked o past this guy who was confronting me and I saw John Maynard
kind of swaggering across the yard and he walked up and I I just heaved this sigh of relief because I knew now I was
safe cuz nobody was going to mess with John Maynard and and Maynard just said to him, you know, go on back to your
cell. Toby, let me walk you to the gate. And when I got outside the prison, I just fell apart. And I called my contact
at the warden's office and said, "I am never going back in that prison again. There is no way I will do this. This
isn't safe. And I'm I'll run the prison dog program, but I'm not going inside the prison. I'll run it from outside."
And so on Monday morning, this person, my contact in the warden's office called me back and said, "Now, when you come up
to the prison, you just page Maynard." And so I just when I got to the prison, I'd call and say, you know, "Paige
Maynard to the gate." and he'd come to the gate and meet me and he'd walk me to every dog I needed to visit and, you
know, stay there through my training sessions and um that was too much time to be spending
together with John Maynard. The warden of the prison has said that Toby didn't actually have an assigned
escort, let alone an inmate, but she was allowed to wander around the prison alone. He later told the reporter that
she'd been around so long and done so much. We just said, "When you get here, you've got your ID, you can go do what
you need to do." Toby says that each day, she and John would meet at the gate. One morning, Toby arrived at the
prison exhausted. She'd been at the hospital all night. Her father had had emergency surgery.
>> And Maynard met me at the gate and he said, "Toby, what's wrong with you?" I mean, something's going on in your life.
I can see it. Which, you know, for one thing, that was really refreshing to me because nobody else noticed that I was
upset. And he said, "Wasn't your husband there with you?" And I said, "Well, no."
He said, "You know, there's no sense in both of us not getting a good night's sleep, so I'm just going to stay here
and you go on to the hospital." And you know, Mayor just looked at me and he shook his head and he said,"Wh
do you stay married to him?" And that question, you know, you can't ever unhear that question. And so I
started thinking, I don't have an answer for that question. I don't know. Why am
I still married to him? And so, you know, it just kind of opened another door. >> Were you attracted to him?
>> I was. I thought about him all the time. You thought, "Well, if John Maynard was my
husband, someone would have been sitting with me in the hospital that night." >> That's exactly right. And you know, it
was just kind of like pouring water on a dying plant to hear somebody notice that I was
there and I had needs and I was important enough to notice when I wasn't feeling right.
Um, if I had met someone while I was pumping gas who flirted with me, I would have
immediately shut them down because I didn't want to get caught up in having an affair or something like that. But
when John flirted with me, I didn't see the danger because he was behind bars. This could never grow into an affair.
this was a harmless thing, which seems kind of strange, but it felt like because he was in prison, it was so
impossible that anything would develop that it was a little bit safer to let something get started.
And then it just then it just became bigger than anything you could contain. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is criminal.
He said to me once, "If I wasn't in here, would you be with me?" And I said, "Yes, I think I might." And that's when
he told me that he loved me and he wanted to escape and and be with me. And at first I said, "I can't do that." And
over time, you know, he just kept bringing it up. And then I thought, okay, maybe I could do that.
>> What did he say? >> He just said, um, you know, I just love the color of your eyes. It matches your hair so
perfectly. And and you deserve someone who wants to make you the center of their world, and that's what I would do.
And those kinds of things. >> I bet you hadn't heard that for a while. No, I don't know if I ever heard it. And
then what did he say? And he said, "Oh, you know," he had some ideas. He said, "I could put myself in a box and ship me
out through UPS to somewhere and you could just go pick up the box." And then he said, "You know, when you
come to do a dog adoption, I could hide in a dog crate." I just I'm not trying to laugh, but I'm
just trying >> Well, it is kind of funny, actually. They started putting together a plan.
Toby says she took $40,000 out of her 401k to cover expenses. They needed a vehicle, but they couldn't use Toby's
car or the prison dog van. So, she bought an old truck for $5,000. And so, I started thinking about where
could I keep that truck? I obviously couldn't keep it at my house. And there was a new storage unit that
opened kind of between my house and the prison. And I went one day to look at it and the guy
said, "Well, we're just opening. So, you know, we don't have our security cameras
set up yet. That won't be for a month or two, but you know, once we get them up,
this is how it's going to work." And so, I thought, well, this could be the perfect place cuz there's no security
cameras to see me come and go. Meanwhile, John was working on his part of the escape, figuring out how to fit
himself into a dog crate. They decided that he would have to get himself into a cardboard box inside the dog crate so no
one would spot him. The box couldn't be any taller than 3 ft or it wouldn't fit.
John was 6'4. He tried a dozen different ways to try to fit in this box. And every time he'd try, the box would bust.
So, nothing worked. And so, he said one night he dreamed about how to fit in this box.
And so, he got up and he tried it and it worked. And somehow he pulled one leg over his head and one leg behind him and
fit in this box. And he told me that while he was in that box, he was hyperventilating cuz he couldn't
breathe. There wasn't room enough to breathe very well. And and so, you know, it was it was scary for him to be folded
up into that box. Well, but so so he put this box inside of the dog crate and he
got inside the box, which was already inside the crate, and then closed the box and closed the door. I think he
would have had to tell someone to close the door if it wasn't closed because I don't know how you could have closed the
door yourself while you were in a box. >> I think he probably had a little help.
Don't you? >> Well, it wouldn't surprise me. And then, you know, the next time I'd come up, he
said, you know, I figured out we do it this way and and finally I said, you know, I think that could work. I think
that might work. I think we could pull this off. And so to me, when I was talking to him about it,
in some ways it was kind of like a game, you know, to figure out what would work
and what wouldn't. But then all of a sudden, we had come up with a plan that was real enough that it
was doable. And and then, you know, all of a sudden we were setting a date and it just seemed like overnight, okay, all
of a sudden we have a plan. I mean, I guess when the first option is shipping yourself out in a UPS box, actually, the
dog crate seems like pretty pretty practical. >> Yes, it did. >> Toby says that John told her that he
lost 25 lb so he could fit in the box. They picked a day Toby was scheduled to be there to pick up dogs for adoption,
February 12th, 2006. It was a Sunday and it would be cold. They figured most people would just want to stay inside.
Fewer people to see Toby load the van. Toby had told prison officials that she needed to pick up some equipment she'd
stored in a box in a spare dog crate. She and John arranged for the crate to be loaded onto a wagon and rolled out to
the van. So, the plan was I would get there and he would be down in the wagon at the adoption gate by 10:30. I would
pick up all the dogs for the adoption. I would pick up John Maynard and then we would leave and I would take the dogs
back to my house and leave them in the barn and then we would head to the storage unit and get the truck.
>> What was the night before the escape like? Well, the night before the escape was so tense. There was so
much writing on every single thing were falling into place the next morning. And
I did a prison dog newsletter every week for the prison dog program. And I emailed it out and it went to thousands
of people all across the country. And I felt so compelled to finish that task. You know, the escape was on a Sunday and
Sunday is the day I sent out the newsletter. So, I stayed up late on Saturday night writing the newsletter
for that week. And I sent that newsletter out. So, I didn't finish that job till after midnight that night. And
my husband went up to bed. He said, "Well, I'm going to go to bed." And he walked up the stairs to go to bed. And I
looked up at him and I said, "Goodbye." And I thought, "Oh crap, I said goodbye.
He's going to pick up on that. He's going to ask me why would I say goodbye? He's just going to bed. I should have
said good night, but I said goodbye." And he never said anything and he just went up and went to bed. And then I
thought, "Okay, I'm doing the right thing then." You know, I can't believe he didn't notice that slip of tongue.
>> That was all you said to him. Goodbye. >> That's all I said. Goodbye. Yep. Then I got up the next morning
and it was snowing and the van was, you know, sliding on the snow and and on any other normal day, I
would have cancelled the adoption event because it wasn't worth getting out in that weather, but I couldn't cancel this
adoption. So, I got there early because I was nervous and I, you know, I didn't know what else
to do. So, I got there early and my dog handlers were all lined up behind the fence with their dogs and it was a cold
day. The wind was blowing. Nobody wanted to be outside and they were standing behind the fence with their dogs and
they were kind of stomping their feet and you know looking at the gate and waving at me to like hurry up open the
gate and get these dogs and let us go back to our rooms and be warm. But I couldn't open the gate until I saw the
farm wagon there because if I loaded all the dogs and then we just brought the farm wagon,
you know, it would be under more scrutiny because it would be the only thing happening. And we kind of needed
to have the chaos of all the dogs getting loaded in crates and jumping around and barking and and then this
crate getting loaded in at the same time. Well, I'm waiting there and I'm thinking, where is that farm wagon? you
know, why isn't it here? Why is he late? He knew how important this timing was. And and I had just about decided that I
was just going to open the gate and load the dogs and I was going to leave and go
to this dog adoption and and and he was on his own. Whatever was going to happen, you know, he was going to deal
with it because I couldn't wait anymore. And just as I thought that, I looked up
and that farm wagon came around the corner. And when I saw it, I gasped out loud
because the weight on it was so heavy that the tires were nearly flat. And I thought, how does no one not notice
that? I mean, a couple of dog dishes and some leashes aren't going to make enough
weight to make those tires flat like that. But nobody noticed. Nobody said anything.
So, I opened the gate, told the inmates to start putting their dogs in their crates, and I went around and opened the
side door of the van, and two or three guys had pulled the wagon down, and they picked up the crate and slid it in. And
I shut the side door. I walked around to the back of the van, and made sure that
all the dogs were in their crates, and the crate doors were shut, and I closed the back doors to the van, and I took
the adoption papers from the handlers, and I got in the truck and I left. Was there any point that you thought, I
don't want to do this. I'm not going to I'm not doing this. >> Well, I was thinking that when I had
decided I was just going to go ahead and go without picking up John, you know, and tell him to open the gate and I'm
just going to go. But then I saw the farm wagon and and realized that it was too late to not go. So,
you drove away and how long was it before John got out of the box? >> Well, I drove off the prison grounds and
then I turned onto the city street and I said, you know, I hollered back. I said,
"John, are you here?" And he didn't answer. And I thought, "Oh, good. This didn't work after all. You know, I can
just still go to an adoption and I can just be a normal person." And so I started driving and then when I
got on the city street, all of a sudden I an arm popped out of that box and and I heard him laughing
and John Mayor. popped out of that box and he said, "Drive, drive." >> First, they took the dogs to Toby's
barn, which she turned into a kennel. She says she knew a volunteer was scheduled to be there later that day.
And then Toby drove to the storage unit. John took the keys to the truck and he drove the truck out of the storage unit.
And I backed the van into the storage unit and we closed the storage unit door and I got in the truck and we left.
They drove all night to get to a lakeside cabin in Tennessee that Toby had reserved under a madeup name. John
hadn't been outside prison since he was 19. You know, John was really interested
in eating fried chicken and and a lot of foods that he wasn't able to get inside
prison. And you know, he played the guitar and I brought my mandolin with me. And so we he'd play music and we
just talked a lot. And that lasted for a day or two. And then, you know, John said, you know, I don't want to just
stay in this cabin. I want to go out and see things. Let's go do some stuff. And
I thought I told him, well, you told me we had to stay hidden. We couldn't be out doing things. And he said, well,
nobody's going to find us. They aren't going to have any idea where we are. I want to go to Nashville. Let's go to
Nashville and look at some guitars. And so after that first day, almost every day, we went somewhere and did something
kind of like we were on vacation. Were you happy? >> No, I can't say I was happy. I was
scared. I was uh scared and uh maybe regretful is a word. You know, the first day in the truck,
John took all the cash from me and there was only one key to the truck and he to
had the key to the truck and then somewhere along the way after we left the prison, he took my cell phone and
threw it into a lake. So, I didn't have a phone, I didn't have any cash, I didn't have a key, I didn't have any way
to get anywhere on my own. And so, I kind of felt like I there was no escape from my escape.
I felt like I was having to be careful of what I said or um what I did and I just felt like it
was a lot more volatile than I expected. Sometimes I have these dreams at night where I've done something terrible, uh
something really bad has happened and and I think, "Oh no, oh no, if only this could not be true." And then I wake up
and I'm so happy. the happiest I ever in my life. It's like the difference for you though. Was it Were you
>> Did you think >> when you went to bed sleeping, oh, everything's okay? And then you'd wake
up and you'd realize, oh, no, this I actually went through with this. >> Yes, I did. And then I would think,
Toby, it can't be as bad as you think. You know, there's some good things. You know, John bought you candy for
Valentine's Day. That's a good thing. Think about those things. Don't think about these times when he got mad. you
know, just just try to focus on the good things because this is where you are and
you need to make it be a good thing because you don't have a way out. One day, Toby and John put on some wigs
and went to the mall in Chattanooga. They wanted to see a documentary about lions.
John bought Toby a book at Barnes & Noble where the red fern grows. As they were walking out of the store, they
walked past two police officers. They didn't draw attention to us, but they followed us. We got on the interstate to
head back to the cabin. And as we drove up over this hill, I looked over to the right and I saw all these cars stopped
on the entrance ramp. And there were police cars there blocking the entrance ramp and not letting anyone come on the
highway. And I was looking over there at it and thinking that is an unusual site.
I have never seen anything like that before. And I said I was still looking over at the ramp and I said to John,
"There must be a big accident up ahead and they need to keep the highway cleared to take care of this accident."
And John said, "Oh no, Toby. This is for us." And I said, "What's for us?" And I
turned around and looked at out the front window and the whole highway was filled with police cars. There was black
and white cars, blue sheriff's cars, green cars, black SUVs, every kind of police car you've ever seen. There was
just this mish mash of everything on the interstate in front of us. And they were
all lined up in every lane and they were driving really slow. And there had to have been maybe
30 or 40 or 50 police cars. >> What did you think? >> I thought, who do they think we are that
they need all this? You know, all they had to do is turn on their lights and we would have pulled over. And so John said
to me, he said, "Toby, you're in this too. You should have a say. What do you want me to do?" And I said, "Well, John,
if they turn on the lights and ask you to pull over, you have to pull over because that's the law." And he said,
"Okay, then if that's what you want to do, that's what I'll do." And just then, a police car went around us really fast
and pulled in front of us and slammed on their brakes. And John got mad and he said, "They're trying to kill us. I'm
not stopping. I'm going to run until we run out of gas." And I looked over at the speedometer and I saw that we had
3/4 of a tank of gas. And I thought to myself, I can't make it through 3/4 of a tank of gas. And so John took off and he
was driving like crazy and he was squeezing between these police cars and squeezing around these semitrs. And uh
when John realized he couldn't move forward, he drove across the median and back into
the southbound lanes. And the funny thing is we had all these sirens going and all this noise and John was talking
the whole time and I couldn't hear one thing and it was like it was slow motion and there was no sound.
And then John pulled off the shoulder of the road onto the shoulder to pass the semitr. And then another car cut in
front of him. So he pulled off into the grass. And when he pulled back up on the
highway, he lost control of the car. And we sped across the interstate and hit a
tree at 100 miles an hour head on. And I was praying that God would just let me die in that wreck because I knew
I couldn't deal with what was to come. and I just wanted to be done. And I didn't die. I didn't even get hurt other
than bruised. So, we crashed into this tree and the the steam's coming off the hood of the truck and and all these
police cars are coming at us and men are running through the woods with machine guns and screaming at us and John got
out of the truck and they arrested him right away. Toby had a hard time getting out because her door was smashed. Once
she did, she fell on the ground and when she looked up, she remembers John trying
to run around the truck to see her. He was handcuffed and dragging officers behind him. He said, "Toby, Toby, Toby,
are you okay? Are you okay?" And I said, "Yes, I'm okay, I think." And that's the last
thing I said to him. John Maynard was already in prison with a life sentence. A judge added 10 more
years for the escape. Toby was sentenced to 27 months in prison. I was charged with aiding and abetting a felon, taking
contraband into the prison, and then I was also charged with a federal charge of providing handguns to a felon.
>> Did you? Well, yes, there were handguns in our house and I made them available
to John and I plead guilty for, you know, John told me that um we'd be carrying a lot of cash and somebody'd
want to take it from us and if we just had a gun with us that all he'd have to do is show the gun and
people would leave us alone. She told us it was a dumb move in the middle of a bunch of other dumb moves. She found out
later that the reason the police knew they were in Tennessee was because she'd had the registration for the truck
mailed to the cabin. She says she quote wasn't a great criminal. How did your family react?
Well, my family, you know, my mom, it was awesome. My mom loved me unconditionally. She came to
visit me in prison every week, every chance she could get. Um, my dad died about three or four weeks after we were
arrested. So, he came to the jail and saw me a couple of times, but he passed away. And um
my sisters and I have not been able to reestablish our relationship. And my sons and I never did reconnect and have
a relationship either. How old were your sons? >> My sons were 25 and 21. That's horrible.
>> It's terrible. It was hard. Toby and her husband hardly spoke at all. He filed
for divorce the day before she went to prison. What was it like to be in prison?
>> You know, I was terrified of going to prison. Uh I had spent a lot of time inside the men's prison and I knew how
violent it could be. But I discovered that a women's prison is a lot different than the men's prison and it isn't
nearly as violent. It's more like a high school drama on steroids. But there were
times inside prison where I found relationships with some of the other women inmates to be the strongest
relationships I've ever had in my life. You know, people that really cared about
what happened to you and wanted to help you in any way they could. And I think it was inside prison when I
where I learned that what a true friendship could look like. >> You weren't lonely when you were in
prison. I wasn't. No, I wasn't. >> After she was released from prison, Toby went to live with her mother back in
Kansas City, but everyone in town knew what she'd done. She said that other people pointed at her in restaurants.
So, she found a job in Boston and moved there. And it was there that she met her
future husband, Chris. They'd only known each other a week when Chris found out that a friend of his was in jail. and he
said he was going to write a letter to him in the in the jail. And I said to him, "Well, you need to know his inmate
number or the letter won't get to him." And he looked at me and he said, "How would you know you need to know the
inmate number?" And I said, "Well, I just do." And so he went home that night and Googled me. And he came in the next
day and he said, "We need to talk. I want to hear your whole story." And and so, you know, almost from the start, he
knew my story. Three years after Toby got out of prison, she says she started talking to
John Maynard again. She and Chris even sent him Christmas baskets and visited him once. She says she wanted closure
and that she felt sorry for him. Eventually, they talked less and less. They haven't spoken in 4 years.
Did he apologize? >> No, I don't believe that he did. I I've thought about that and I don't think he
did. You know, I think what he said was, "You knew what you were getting into," which I don't really think I did know,
but um no, he didn't apologize. I mean, this is the question. Did this guy care for you or was he just
using you? What do you think? >> You know, honestly, I think it's probably a little bit of both. I do
think he cared for me, but I've since come to appreciate that if you love someone, you don't ask them to do
something that puts their life in danger. After his arrest, John Maynard wrote a
letter to the Kansas City Star. He said, "I love Toby and was 100% committed to her. Why did I stay with her once I was
out if I was just manipulating? I love Toby with all that I was. In her last few months in prison, Toby
wrote an apology letter to the former warden of Lancing Prison. She didn't expect a reply, but he wrote back just a
few weeks later. He said, "I felt a lot of different emotions, but anger and resentment were not among them.
Initially, it was fear for your safety, then more a sense of frustration, and to
be completely honest, some feelings of betrayal. I do, however, still believe you to be a decent, kind, and caring
person who made some bad decisions for reasons that are beyond my knowledge. You know,
sometimes we hear about people fantasizing about blowing up their lives or thinking about blowing up their
lives. >> You really did it. >> I did it. You're right. I certainly did. There is no doubt of that. It's It's the
craziest story I've ever heard. And to think that I lived it is kind of hard to grasp sometimes,
but it happened. You know it's real. >> The dog lady of Lancing Prison. >> Mhm. >> Is you.
>> That's me. That's right. >> The program Toby started, the Safe Harbor Prison Dog Program, is still
operating at Lancing Prison today. Criminal is created by Lauren Spore and me. Nadia Wilson is our senior producer.
Susanna Robertson is our assistant producer. Audio mix by Rob Buyers. Special thanks to Courtney Rigdon.
Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You can see them at
thisiscriminal.com or on Facebook and Twitter @criminal show. Criminal is recorded in the
studios of North Carolina Public Radio WUNC. We're a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collection of the best
podcasts around. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is criminal. Radiotopia from PRX.

“I never did anything wrong. I never had a speeding ticket. I think I just saved all my stuff up for just one thing.” This week, we speak with Toby Dorr — better known as the Dog Lady of Lansing Prison. She started the Safe Harbor Prison Dogs program in 2004, and that’s how she met John Manard.

Criminal is a show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Phoebe Judge. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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Episode 121 originally published August 30, 2019. https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-121-off-leash/

Music in this episode: “Coulis Coulis” by Blue Dot Sessions “Ferus Cut” by Blue Dot Sessions “Ticky Tack” by Blue Dot Sessions “Cinema Pathetic” by Blue Dot Sessions “Sandymush (Original Music for Criminal)” by Blue Dot Sessions “Lakkalia” by Blue Dot Sessions “Messy Inkwell” by Blue Dot Sessions “Li Fonte” by Blue Dot Sessions “Cranberry Mountain (Original Music for Criminal)” by Blue Dot Sessions “Vernon my Love (Original Music for Criminal)” by Blue Dot Sessions “Ghost Byzantine” by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” by Blue Dot Sessions

Brief Summary

Toby Door shares her story of starting a prison dog program and her relationship with inmate John Maynard, leading to their escape attempt.

Key points

Toby's Life-Changing Diagnosis. Toby discovers she has thyroid cancer, prompting a reevaluation of her life.
The Birth of a Dream. Inspired by a TV show, Toby dreams of starting a prison dog program.
A Dangerous Encounter. Toby faces a threatening inmate but finds safety in John Maynard's presence.
A Question That Changes Everything. John Maynard asks Toby why she stays married to her husband, sparking self-reflection.
Planning the Escape. Toby and John devise a plan for his escape from prison, leading to tension.
The Tense Escape. Toby's escape plan unfolds under intense pressure and emotional turmoil.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

That's just a ridiculous idea.

Toby's husband dismisses her dream.

2:40WatchJul 8, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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