The Root Beer Float Murder | Full Episode | Forensic Files

♪♪ ♪♪ - 911. -Marsha Allen called 911. -She appears to be crying on the call. She appears to start getting a little panicked.
-First responders get there. What did they find? -They found Harold Allen unresponsive.
-He was dead? -Yes. ♪♪ Harold and Marsha Allen had only been married for a year,
a 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, uh, heart problems. -About six 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 over the radio. Our detectives were going to Marsha's house.
We start investigating the burglary, and in the process, we're told there's a murder involved here.
-Steven White told me that Marsha Allen had killed her husband, Harold, by poisoning a root beer float.
-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. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Right now, we're probably about a half mile north of
where Marsha Allen and Harold Allen lived. -When Harold Allen died suddenly in his home
in Freetown, Indiana, just a few days before Christmas 2022... -The driveway going up to the Allen residence
would have been right there. -...Lieutenant Adam Nicholson, an investigator with the Jackson County Sheriff's Department,
says no one suspected anything out of the ordinary. -20 years on the job, I never thought I would see a case like this.
[ Bell tolls ] -Harold's younger brother, Matthew, and his wife, Samantha, knew he had been dealing with some serious health issues.
-He was bigger. He was diabetic. -Including painful gastrointestinal problems, which had sent him to the emergency room
on multiple occasions late that year. -I think one time they thought it was, what was it, like...
-Diverticulitis, they said. -Yeah, diverticulitis. -On Thanksgiving 2022, as the family was enjoying their holiday feast,
Matthew noticed that Harold all of a sudden looked distressed. -We were eating dessert. And, uh,
he looked up at me like his eyes got wide, like he was kind of scared. And I was like, "What's wrong?"
He goes, "The left side of my face just went numb." I said, "I'm either calling an ambulance
or I'm taking you to the hospital right now." And he's like, "Well, just give me a second."
-Despite the family's urging to get medical help, Harold refused. -Marsha was just like standing there.
And I was like, "Well, he needs to go to the hospital." And she was like, "I've been telling him that he needs to get there."
-Harold's mystifying health condition worsened in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Doctors struggled to diagnose exactly what was ailing him. Then came December 20th, 2022,
when Marsha made a disturbing discovery and placed that 911 call. [ Soft music plays ]
-52-year-old Harold, the oldest of three brothers, had spent his life in this quiet,
rural part of southern Indiana where everyone knew this imposing man as Peanut. -I thought his name was Peanut
until I was about 6 or 7 years old. That's a true story. My brother was born premature,
and my grandma said he's no bigger than a peanut. -I had a close family, but it was nothing like the Allens.
When they were together, all the pieces of the puzzle were there. [ Guitar plays ]
-He self-taught himself, like, the guitar and mandolin, and he played harmonicas.
-You really looked up to your brother, right? -Oh, yeah. Like, he became a controls engineer.
Super smart. I wish I was as smart as him. -Jackson County Sheriff's Department Detective Clint Burcham says Harold worked for
a global automotive supply company. -A local factory in Seymour, Indiana, Aisin Manufacturing.
-He liked riding his motorcycle. He had a Harley motorcycle that he rode for years.
He went deer hunting and fishing. We did fish a lot. -Enjoying a full life, Harold became nostalgic about his high school days.
In 2019, he decided to attend his 30th reunion. -The Austin Indiana High School reunion.
-It was there that the twice-divorced Harold spotted former classmate Marsha Buxton.
-They didn't even really speak in high school. But at this reunion is when they started a conversation
and just blossomed from there. -Divorced herself with an adult daughter, Marsha and Harold began dating.
About two years later, the couple married in July of 2021. What kind of life did they lead together as a married couple?
-They liked to travel. They liked, uh, the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Pigeon Forge area.
Branson, Missouri. -The following year, Marsha's daughter, Ashley Jones, and her five-year-old daughter moved in with Harold and Marsha.
Samantha says Harold, who had no children of his own, welcomed them with open arms.
-Peanut always wanted children. He always wanted a family, and he enjoyed being called grandpa.
-Ashley was a young widow. Her 33-year-old husband, Ty Jones, had died suddenly three years earlier.
What were the circumstances of his death? -Ty Jones died of some heart complications,
is what the autopsy said. -Describe the relationship between Ashley and her mother, Marsha. Were they close?
-They were very close. Every day, Marsha Allen would send Ashley Jones a message saying,
"Good morning, baby girl." Every single morning. -The house was now full with three generations,
and Harold seemed to enjoy his instant extended family. -He cared about what everybody else was feeling,
um, and just wanted everyone to be happy. -At the time, Harold's autopsy concluded his death was caused
by multiple serious cardiac issues, including pericarditis, ad inflammation of the sac
around the heart. Practically still a newlywed, Marsha was now a widow. Heartbroken, she turned to writing about her grief.
-After Harold Allen died, his wife, Marsha Allen, publishes a book. -Self-published, it was intended to be a guide
for others going through what she was. She says that this is an intimate glimpse
of what I went through when my husband died. She writes about survivor's guilt, that she was suffering with that.
She says that her book is a beacon of hope, finding the strength and courage to move forward and learning a new way to live.
-How to grieve a loss of a significant other. -Marsha would soon face another challenge.
Nine months after Harold's death, Lieutenant Nicholson was monitoring a call where
investigators were dispatched to that break-in at Marsha's. -The case, to me, started like any other case,
a burglary call come over the radio. Our detectives were going to Marsha's house.
-Security cameras had captured two men breaking into her home. -We started investigating the burglary in the process,
we're told, you know, "Well, there's a murder involved here." ♪♪ -In September of 2023,
Marsha Allen was vacationing in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, known for its beautiful fall colors and hiking trails.
Little did she know that about 350 miles away, two burglars were exploring the inside of her home.
-The burglary happened I want to say, like, 4:30 in the morning. She had recently put a home security system in her house.
-The app for the system notified Marsha that there had been movement on her home's cameras while she slept.
When she reviewed the video, she could see two men opening her home safe and rifling through her bedroom and jewelry.
-She could watch him go through the house. There was a lot of stuff taken. Pretty major burglary.
-One of the burglars caught Marsha's eye. Incredibly, he was someone she recognized.
His name was Steven White. Marsha immediately called local police in Indiana to report the break-in.
-Marsha Allen described Steven White as her daughter Ashley Jones' best friend. Really close friend.
-Why would her own daughter's best friend burglarize Marsha's home? Ashley had moved to Missouri in the months
following Harold's death, so Marsha had been living alone. Reviewing the images,
investigators noticed the burglars had come prepared. -It seemed like they knew right where to go.
And the other thing was, is that they knew the code to the safe. -Within hours, police found Steven White living at his mother's home nearby.
Investigators quickly made a house call. -But the wonders of technology did not allow White to lie for long.
-Nicholson had a security camera screenshot of White committing the burglary on his phone.
-Unable to deny it, Nicholson says White admitted to burglarizing Marsha's home.
-Then, stunningly, White said something else based on information he claimed Ashley had told him
that Marsha was responsible for her husband's death. -White then revealed how Marsha allegedly cashed in on the policy.
-Steven White told me that Marsha Allen had killed her husband, Harold, by poisoning a root beer float.
-White even knew the details of how the float was made. -Police placed White under arrest.
-Put your hands on your back. -But as they did, he had one more surprise about the burglary.
He claimed Marsha's daughter was the mastermind. -White told police Ashley had mailed him a key
to Marsha's house and given him the combination to the safe, unaware her mother had installed those home security cameras.
He also told investigators where they could recover everything stolen the night before, including guns and jewelry.
-We found the guns where he told us they were. He told me who the other suspect was
and found that suspect wearing Harold Allen's jewelry. And I told Detective Bertram, I said, "You know,
everything that Stevens told us up to this point has been true." I said, "I feel like we at least have to ask her
about Harold and Harold's death." -After notifying police, Marsha had driven home from her vacation. The next morning,
she arrived at the sheriff's department to discuss the burglary. -Investigators at first made no mention
of Steven White's murder allegation, instead treating the interview as part of the burglary investigation,
asking Marsha what was missing. -They also discussed Ashley's potential involvement.
-Marsha said the proof was that White knew her safe's combination. -Did you already have a plan to ask her
about this murder allegation? -Yes. Then after talking about the burglary, basically I end up telling her, you know,
this has been brought to our attention. I can tell you, we... -Detective Burcham told Marsha what Steven had claimed.
-Marsha was defiant and seemed to have an answer for everything. -No emotion, no anything.
Didn't even catch her off guard. -Marsha denied any involvement, but Steven White had given other details to police.
Things he said he'd heard from Ashley, telling investigators that Marsha's text messages would contain
incriminating evidence. -We wanted to see if she would have any text messages that possibly said anything about a murder of her husband.
-Burcham left Marsha alone to get the paperwork for the download. -And while I'm gone from the interview room,
Marsha ends up deleting items off of her phone. -Marsha didn't realize that what she deleted could easily be recovered,
and those texts revealed a sinister plot. -There are numerous text messages between her and Ashley,
and it starts to become evident that there's something going on that they were indeed trying to poison Harold Allen.
-I'm seeing the same thing he's seeing. You know, he's calling me. I'm calling him like, "Did you read page 10,578?"
And he's like, "No, I haven't got that far yet." -For mother and daughter, it seemed Harold's death couldn't come soon enough.
With Marsha texting Ashley, "He just needs to let go." -Ultimately, we all agreed that,
yes, we've got a murder here. -She gave him a root beer float with poison in it.
-With Steven White's accusation that Marsha Allen poisoned her husband with a root beer float...
-...and her devious behavior deleting texts with her daughter Ashley, investigators zeroed in on those messages.
Some disparaged Harold. Ashley complained, "He's a waste of space." Others celebrated the delivery of poisons.
Ashley wrote, smiley face, "I'm ready for that to arrive." Marsha replied, "Me too."
-They texted about everything. -Jackson County Prosecutor Lynsey Fleetwood. -There were thousands upon thousands.
-Did you just say thousands of messages? -There were thousands of messages. -Investigators would spend weeks building their case,
combing through nearly 7,000 texts exchanged over the three months before Harold died.
-Yeah, this is going to be very helpful. -The more they read, the more they learned of a diabolical plot to kill Harold.
Why would they want him dead? -Greed. It was all for financial gain. -Police learned Harold had a $120,000
life insurance policy through his job. He also had those guns and several guitars.
-I think money was a very big motive in this case. -Investigators say those thousands of texts
revealed Marsha and Ashley tried to kill Harold over and over again with a variety of exotic poisons.
Police found an order Ashley made on eBay for pong pong seeds, a powerful toxin.
-Pong pong is a seed from a tree that grows in Southeast Asia. They actually refer to.
This tree, it's called "the suicide tree." It's not a native plant to the United States,
so it'd have to be ordered online somewhere. [ Soft music plays ] -As Thanksgiving approached,
police believe mother and daughter put a new dessert on the menu -- poison brownies.
They texted about grinding up the pong pong seeds, adding walnuts to hide the poison's bitter taste.
What wasn't hidden was their apparent glee. Ashley writes, "How's it going, laugh out loud." And Marsha sends back a picture
of a half-eaten brownie. Ashley, "Ooh, let me know when it's gone, laugh out loud."
-They're basically making a joke out of the fact that they're going to try to murder him.
-The smiley faces, the L-O-L's when someone's in excruciating pain. I mean, it just shows you
how evil that these people actually are. -As Harold made repeated trips to the E.R.,
suffering all those GI symptoms, police say a new level of depravity emerged in a text from Marsha to Ashley.
"I am irritated and can't sleep peacefully. I need this to be over." -He's not dying fast enough. -In another instance,
after Marsha texted Ashley that Harold was attending a family funeral. -Ashley Jones messages Marsha and says, "He just needs to go
and drop the hole, too." -After the pong pong seeds failed to kill Harold, police learned they ordered another
lethal plant -- water hemlock. Investigators say on several days in December, they served him tainted chili, Sprite, and a margarita.
-He surrounded himself with people he thought loved him and to be poisoned on a nightly basis, basically, infuriates me.
They poisoned him and they waited for him to die. -But somehow Harold survived all those attempts.
Police believe Marsha and Ashley then shifted from plants to a chemical called ethylene glycol,
which is used in antifreeze. They ordered it online. -If you're consuming ethylene glycol,
you're not going to know. You're not going to smell it. It doesn't have any color to it.
It's described as maybe a slight sweet taste. -Investigators believe because of its sweet taste,
Marsha and Ashley came up with the plan of a poisoned root beer float. -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. -Marsha texted Ashley.
"He's all in for root beer floats." Ashley replied, "Okie dokie. I'll tell the kids
that's what we are doing tonight for dessert -- smiley face -- root beer floats."
-They probably had this so well planned out that they knew exactly what he would eat and what he wouldn't.
-Marsha purchased the ingredients for this poisonous beverage at a local store. She texted Ashley this photo of small soda cans.
Ashley encouraged her to buy large bottles. Investigators believe Marsha served Harold the fatal potion
on the night of December 19th, 2022. -I think they knew that this was 100% going to be successful.
-This ethylene glycol, when it gets into your body, what does it attack? -It starts attacking, like, some of the organs,
you know, like heart, liver, kidneys, your stomach. You know, you're sick, nauseated.
I believe it even starts to affect the brain some. -They not only wanted to kill him,
but it seems like they wanted to profoundly make him suffer. What's the source of that kind of hatred?
-I don't know where a hatred that deep can even stem from. -The next afternoon, just five days before Christmas 2022,
an ambulance rushed to the Allen home. Harold could not be saved. ♪♪ After reading the blow-by-blow account
spelled out in those texts, on October 16th, 2023, investigators took action. -Officers served a pre-dawn warrant at Marsha's home.
♪♪ ♪♪ -After serving the warrant to search her house, Marsha was asked if she'd voluntarily come
to the Jackson County Sheriff's Department for questioning. -What followed was a 4.5-hour interview
in which Marsha said largely nothing. -Marsha was moved to a different room to show her some of those recovered text messages
on a computer screen. Undaunted, she continued her claims of ignorance. -When Harold died, his autopsy cited cardiac issues,
but the coroner did not screen Harald's blood for poisons at the time because his death was not suspicious.
-When the interview ended, Marsha wasn't arrested. She was allowed to return home
as the wait began for Harald's blood test results. That same day, her daughter Ashley,
who'd been living in Missouri, was extradited to Indiana under arrest for the burglary of her mother's house.
The next morning at the station, Ashley was about to be surprised. -Investigators got right to the point.
-They told Ashley they'd already talked to her mother. -But that wasn't all. Just ten minutes later, Ashley,
in a complete change of direction, named her own mother as Harold's killer. -Ashley continued, giving her mother hell,
admitting she helped Marsha purchase ethylene glycol and other poisons online, but claimed she was just being an obedient daughter.
-Remember, Ashley was in the house as Harold was in agony during his final hours of life.
She was asked why she didn't do more for Harold when he still might have been saved.
-Unexpected news about her mother would punctuate the end of Ashley's police interview,
when another officer entered the room. -The night before, hours after Marsha's own interview ended
and she'd returned home, Marsha's parents had been unable to reach her on the phone.
-They had also been to the house, knocking on the door, and her car was home, but she wasn't answering the door.
-They notified police. -Then it was dispatched for our officers to go for a welfare check.
-Marsha Allen was discovered deceased, and it was ruled a suicide. -Why do you think she took her life at that moment?
-I think she didn't want to have to spend the rest of her life in prison, you know?
I told her that we were going to send the blood off. I think she didn't want to stick around and wait
and find out what those results were. -48 Hours obtained this photograph of the note Marsha left behind.
And she wrote, "I did not kill my husband. You win, Ashley." With an exclamation point.
How do you interpret that? -I interpret that -- I don't really give it much weight.
I think it's her way of trying to leave some message and trying to get out of the fact
that she killed her husband. -Now, investigators would start building their case
against the last survivor in this peculiar crime. Ashley for her role in Harold's death.
_ ♪♪ -Just one day after her police interview and learning her mother had taken her own life...
-...Ashley Jones received more startling news. -Ashley responded with just five words.
-Still on the table was that burglary charge against Ashley. Police were certain they knew exactly
how it was connected to Harold's death. -Marsha Allen paid Ashley about $1,000 a month
from the time of Harold's death in December of 2022 'til, like, July of 2023. -The burglary occurred just two months
after the payments stopped. -She was going after money that she thought belonged to her
from the murder of Harold Allen. Ashley Jones didn't feel like she received her compensation for that.
-The prosecution said it had a strong case against Ashley, especially when toxicology results confirmed
exactly what police suspected. Harold had been given a root beer float poisoned with ethylene glycol purchased by Ashley.
As those damning text messages showed. -What Ashley said in those texts hurt her.
I mean, there's just no way around it. -Ashley's attorney, public defender Joseph Robertson,
knew it was going to be a difficult case. There was a legal freight train headed toward your client.
I mean, this was an impossible case. -Yes. By the time that all this evidence came out,
we just told her, said, you know, "We're in the tunnel, and the white light at the other end
is the legal system coming after you." -But Ashley would never have to defend her texts
or murderous actions in court. In August 2025, she took a plea deal, pleading guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy
to commit murder. ♪♪ -I don't think I can ever say that I saw remorse on Ashley Jones's face.
-Harold's brother Matthew, and his wife, Samantha, were in the courtroom for the sentencing.
-The judge said there's no other word but evil. There's no forgiveness from this court.
And I have no choice but to give you the full time. -Ashley was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
-It was just the sigh of relief. We finally felt like we got a little bit of justice
that my brother deserved. -In the end, these two women who would chuckle over their plans
with one another, they didn't get away with this. One took her own life when confronted with her deeds,
and the other one is gone for decades. -Absolutely. I truly think they thought they were smarter than the system.
-But Ashley's legal woes may not be over. There is another death in her past. Her late husband, Ty Jones, who died when he was just 33.
His autopsy said the cause of death was heart issues, but two of his family members
suspected foul play from the beginning. You believe that Ty Jones, your nephew, was murdered?
-Yes, I do. -William Jones and Arretta Stivers are Ty's uncle and cousin. What do you believe happened to him?
-I believe that he was poisoned. -Ty's body was not tested for poison in 2019, and he was cremated at Ashley's request.
But his family says Ty was perfectly healthy before suddenly dying. And after his death,
they say Ashley's strange behavior raised red flags. -During Ty's funeral service,
Ashley Jones did not shed any tears. The next day, she showed up at Ty's place of employment
to inquire about his insurance policy. She expected a check that very next day. All of it to me said, there is something going on here
that needs to be investigated. -After William and Arretta heard how Harold died on the news,
they contacted police, sharing their suspicions that Ashley murdered Ty, her eye on an inheritance
he had just received from his great-grandfather. -I do believe that there was a large enough sum of money
and a property that Ashley likely thought she would inherit, and that that could have been a motivator for her.
-And in Ashley and Marsha's texts about murdering Harold, there was a reference to Ty after Marsha complained
that deadly pong pong seeds were failing to kill Harold. Ashley, out of the blue,
said Ty had weighed much less than Harold, writing. "And previously, Ty was only 120, lol."
During their 48 Hours interview, William and Arretta heard about that text for the first time.
They reference Ashley's late husband, Ty. -There it is. There it is right there.
-It's painful to hear. -Yeah, it is. -Because it's one thing to suspect and to feel like, you know.
But to have that kind of evidence presented verbally for the first time is gut-wrenching.
-It means what you have suspected all along is true. -All the time. All the time.
-Ashley maintains that Ty died of a heart attack, but Indiana State Police opened an investigation into his death.
Nicholson says he was struck by the similarities between Harold and Ty's deaths.
-I believe it's way more than a coincidence. Personally, I think that she probably killed him,
but that's my opinion. There's very few, probably as evil as Marsha Allen and Ashley Jones.
-They're the same person. I mean, just carbon-copy evil. -Looking back, Harold's family doesn't think Marsha ever really loved him.
-I think she chose the person that she could manipulate. -Their memories are all
that remain to fill the void left by the man they called Peanut, who had a big personality and an even greater heart.
-I'll see something, and I'll be like, "Oh, man, that's something Peanut would love to know about."
And I, like, I go to, like, actually call him, and I'm like, "Oh, I can't." So it is something that I would give anything to get back,
honestly. -My goodness, how much you miss him, huh? -Yeah, yes. It's crazy. -Every day.
-Every day. ♪♪

A burglar caught red-handed leads police to a killer and a poisoned root beer float. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. This episode aired on April 4, 2026. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "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 and Ashley Allen plotted to poison Harold Allen for insurance money, leading to murder charges and a tragic suicide.

Key points

The Disturbing 911 Call. Marsha called 911 in a panic, leading to the discovery of Harold's death.
Marsha's Grief and Writing. After Harold's death, Marsha wrote a self-help book about grief.
The Poisoning Allegation. Steven White claimed Marsha poisoned Harold with a root beer float.
A Sinister Plot Uncovered. Investigators discovered thousands of texts revealing a plan to kill Harold.
Ashley Turns on Marsha. Ashley named her mother as Harold's killer during police questioning.
Marsha Allen's Death. Marsha Allen was discovered deceased, ruled a suicide. A tragic turn in the case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He was my world.

Marsha's reflection on Harold after his death.

1:39WatchApr 10, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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