Lethal Vows Real Story

This story is based on the poisoning death of his wife Janet Overton. The movie was advertised as based on a true story.

Lethal Vows True Story Based on Richard Overton and Janet Overton

The Story

Timeline and Facts in the Case of Richard Overton
by Traciy Curry-Reyes

 1970's: Dorothy Boyer is having some strange symptoms. She notices that every time she drinks a cup of coffee in the morning before work, she starts to feel really sick. She suspects that someone is putting something in her coffee so she makes sure she notices just how she leaves the can on one particular morning. She finally realizes that someone is definitely tampering with her drink so she calls the police. The police discover the fingerprints of her ex husband, Richard Overton on the can. He admits that he was angry about her divorcing him and taking the house. She does not press charges against him, and he is not charged.


January 1988: Janet Overton, Richard Overton's third wife, dies slowly and painfully from Selenium poisoning. She collapses in the drive way of their home. Richard Overton had been poisoning her gradually by lacing her eyeliner with Selenium. Dorothy Boyer become suspicious of her death and decides to tell the police that her husband had tried to poison her years earlier. Though Jan's body was cremated, they were still able to find traces of cyanide in her ashes. Overton is then arrested and the police began to gather evidence against him for the trial. In his home the police find a disk which contained parts of a diary that he kept detailing the problems that they were having in the marriage. 


October 1988: Richard Overton pleads not guilty in the murder of his wife. He is indicted by a grand jury. During this first trial Overton claims to have pains in his chest. The judge declares a mistrial.


March 1995: The second trial begins and Overton is then convicted of the murder of his wife and sent to prison for life without parole.

Tidbits

The movie did not confirm this, but according to court transcripts, Janet L. Overton was indeed having an affair with a fellow school official.  She worked for the Capistrano Unified School District.Richard Overton was working as a professor at the University of Southern California at the time of his arrest. Jan Overton really died at age 46 instead of 38 as depicted in the movie. Richard Overton's first wife died in 1999 due to cancer...a direct result of the poisoning she endured in the seventies. The Overton case is often referred to as the coffee can murder.


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Richard Overton Lethal Vows Dies

Richard Overton died in 2009 of problems due to diabetes and dementia according to his daughter Valerie Overton. He had been transferred from Folsom State Prison to hospice in Northern California. He was 81 years old. Dorothy Boyer finally died of cancer most likely related to the poisons that she was given by Richard. She died in 1999.

Photos of Janet Overton and Richard Overton

Murder by Poison (other cases)

Murder by Poison cases are not uncommon. Here are a few other cases that you can research that involved killing someone with poison. These cases are not related to the Overton case nor the movie that is based on it.

June 28 1987 Odessa, Texas (Man Poisons Three Friends)

Leza Kay Chandler had been very depressed and her friends were worried about her. A friend went to check on her and found her dead in her bedroom. She initially suspected that it was murder. However the police could not find anything that indicated a homicide. It seemed that she died a natural death in her sleep. The Chief of Police, on the other hand,  was suspicious since she was such a young woman. Her friend Carrie Middleton insisted that she was murdered.  Carrie Middleton told officers said that Leza was having an affair with a man named David Dowler, and that her husband was divorcing her. Dowler, the boyfriend, was interviewed. During the police interview with David Dowler, he indicated that her husband had killed her. When the police interviewed her husband, he named Dowler as the killer. Dowler was was a strange guy. He told people that he was a government insider and that he worked for the CIA. However when he was interviewed by the police, he denied this. A background check on Dowler uncovered the deaths of two other associates of David Dowler. In 1983, Lisa Kreig was found dead in her home. Kreig was David Dowler's ex girlfriend and the best friend of Leza Chandler. The body was positioned as if she had died in her sleep as well. The police found some scribbled notes that Lisa had written. The notes indicated that she thought that someone wanted to kill her. Medical examiners found that she died of anorexia, but her tissue samples were saved. Dowler's business partner Juan Antonio Casillas also died mysteriously. In 1986 he was found dead on his kitchen floor. No cause of death was listed. His tissues were also saved. Coincidentally, Casillas used to be  to Leza. Carrie Middleton agreed to go undercover in order to see if David would admit that he was a CIA agent. In the meeting with Dowler, police heard David explain how to murder someone. He also talked about possible ways that all of his friends were murdered. He  told Carrie she could be the next victim. Fearing for Carrie's life, the police wired Carrie's home in order to secure more information from Dowler. On another visit, Dowler talked about murder, and he warned her again that she could be in danger. He then tells Carrie that he needs to get something out of his car.  Police arrested him as he removed an item from the vehicle. A car inspection uncovered a gun and a ski mask along with other questionable items. When the police searched his home, they found a make shift lab where Dowler was mixing his poisons. Forensic toxicology results indicated that Leza Chandler died of Chloroform poisoning. Cyanide was found in the tissues of Casillas and Kreig. Serial Killer Dowler was convicted of murder in January 1988. He was sentenced to life in prison for Leza's murder.