Sneak peek: The Eye Drop Homicide | Forensic Files

[Music] we are floating along lake wiley south carolina which is a roughly 20 mile long lake
as we've been cruising along here it has looked like an episode of lifestyles of the rich and
famous a lot of wealth it certainly is there are million dollar homes if you look at this one here this is the
clayton estate steven and lana moved into it in 2015 and it's actually modeled after president george
washington's mount vernon estate stephen clayton was a very well-liked person had lots of friends very sociable
lana worked as a nurse in several different veterans affairs hospitals [Music] stephen clayton was found dead at the
bottom of a staircase at the outset this appeared to be a natural death it looked like a man who had fallen down
a flight of stairs yes who had been ill according to his wife and then she found him unresponsive
she was crying and she was upset is it allowable to have somebody pray over oh yes ma'am
so if there's someone you i pulled in the driveway right over here my main goal at that point was to try
and help land to console her when did you start to see things that troubled you right away he didn't show any signs
of any sort of medical issues she made no mention of attempting to revive him we decided to call the coroner and see
if we could get either an autopsy or a toxicology report i am the coroner for york county south
carolina luckily family started picking up on some red flags my name is demi garvin i am a forensic
toxicologist when demi's toxicology report came across my fax machine i was like hmm what is tetrahydrosaline
and then immediately demi and i were on the phone together i was like whoa wait tetrahydrosaline is the common
ingredient in visine the eye drop the eye drop when it is given orally via the mouth it is very toxic
and can render someone into a coma within 15 to 30 minutes can it create a heart
attack it can't it has a devastating effect on your body somebody one time told them well rising
without them close bathroom and you put like two drops in his coffee can imagine him doing that i can't
imagine anyone doing that so who then becomes the suspect lana clayton she reported on her own that stephen
clayton liked to place a few drops of visine in his coffee each morning and i did not kill my husband
there was another death that appeared to be of natural causes related to a cardiac arrest of stacy hunsucker
they found the high levels of tetrahydrosaline in her system it's very possible that it was a copycat
situation the suspect in that case heard about our case down here uh saw it on the news
so what you're saying is that this little bottle could be a murder weapon absolutely
[Music] you

Did an item found in many medicine cabinets play a role in the death of a millionaire? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports Saturday, March 12 at 9/8c on CBS.

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode investigates Stephen Clayton's suspicious death linked to toxic eye drops and the role of forensic toxicology.

Key points

The Mysterious Death of Stephen Clayton. Stephen Clayton's death initially appeared natural, but toxicology reveals a darker truth.
Tetrahydrosaline: A Deadly Ingredient. Tetrahydrosaline, found in Visine, can be lethal when ingested, raising suspicions.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I did not kill my husband.

Lana Clayton's denial of involvement in her husband's death.

3:05WatchMar 11, 2021

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