Sneak peek: The Root Beer Float Murder | Forensic Files

911 Yeah, uh This is No, state road 135. My husband's in the our bedroom floor. He's non-responsive
and I need an ambulance urgently. Marsha Allen called 911. Do you want to start CPR if I help you?
Uh, yeah, I could I could do that. Go ahead. She appears to be crying on the call.
She appears to start getting a little panicked. He's laying here with his mouth open. Go
ahead. And he's white. Is he cold to the touch? First responders get there, what do they
find? They found Harold Allen unresponsive. He was dead. Yes. Harold and Marsha Allen had only been
married for a year, year and a half when this happened. Harold had had some health problems, so
it wasn't initially a huge surprise that he would have died. And what was the cause of death determined to be at that
time? It was um heart problems. About 6 months after Harold's death, Marsha wrote a self-help book about grief and
losing someone that you loved. About Harold, she says, "He was my world. The grief I was experiencing
after my husband passed away was unbearable and still is." Well, this is just a grieving woman
missing her husband. A burglary call come the radio. Our detectives were going to Marsha's
house. We started investigating the burglary and in the process we're told there's a
murder involved here. This one is murder. Okay. I know that. I have not gone to nobody
and said anything because I don't have no proof on it. Stephen White told me that Marsha Allen
had killed her husband Harold by poisoning her root beer float. Marsha went into the kitchen
and made a root beer float with whipped cream and sprinkles on top of it. And she poured something out of a bottle
into there. Poison is unique. I think you see it in movies because it makes a good show, but it's not normally how
homicide or death is carried out. The toxicology report came back ethylene glycol was in Harold's system.
It's the main component in antifreeze. If you're consuming ethylene glycol, you're not going to know. You're not
going to smell it. You're not going to taste it. If you put it in a root beer float with ice cream and root beer,
you're not going to know until it's too late. I think if the burglary wouldn't have
happened, there would be no way that we would know about it at all.

ALL NEW: A burglar caught red-handed leads police to a killer and a poisoned root beer float. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports Saturday, April 4 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

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

Marsha Allen poisoned her husband Harold with antifreeze in a root beer float, discovered during a burglary investigation.

Key points

A Tragic Call to 911. Marsha Allen calls 911, revealing her husband Harold is unresponsive on the floor.
A Shocking Discovery. The toxicology report reveals ethylene glycol in Harold's system, leading to suspicions of foul play.

Episode highlights

A Tragic Call to 911Marsha Allen calls 911, revealing her husband Harold is unresponsive on the floor.“He's non-responsive and I need an ambulance urgently.”0:19Apr 2, 2026

Episode quotes

The grief I was experiencing after my husband passed away was unbearable and still is.

Marsha's reflection on her husband's death.

1:38WatchApr 2, 2026

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