Cold Case Files - The Perfect Murder

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

Nine years after the wife of a medical examiner dies under suspicious circumstances, the hard work of forensic toxicologists pays off when they are able to identify the poison used in her murder. Apartments.com: To find whatever you’re searching for and more visit apartments.com the place to find a place. Progressive: Progressive.com  

Hi, Cold Case listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson. And before we get into this week's episode, I just wanted to remind you that episodes of Cold Case Files, as well as the A&E Classic Podcast, I Survived, American Justice, and City Confidential are all available ad-free on the new A&E Crime and Investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple Plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now on to the show. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files, the podcast. It's May 30th, 1991 in Panama City Beach, Florida. Just a few steps from the Gulf of Mexico sits a string of beachfront homes. Inside one of them, a phone is ringing.

Jennifer Cybers waits for her mom Kay to pick up, but the phone goes unanswered. Jennifer makes her way down the hall to her mother's bedroom. There she finds Kay Cybers still in bed, not breathing. Jennifer telephones her father, Bill Cybers, a doctor, who doubles as the city coroner. Cybers can't break away from work and sends two of his assistants to check on his wife. An hour later, they call back with the bad news. CPR has failed. At 10.18 a.m., Kay Cybers is pronounced dead.

One hour later, in St. Augustine, Florida, Dr. Terrence Steiner is a medical examiner and a former partner of Bill Cybers. He is one of the first that morning to learn that Kay has passed. Steiner calls Bill Cybers' office for confirmation. I called the medical examiner's office, and yes, she had died. And no autopsy was being done. Kay cybers at that time was 52 years old and everyone knew her to be in good health that's an automatic autopsy anywhere in this state as county coroner bill cybers has concluded his wife died of a heart attack without an autopsy or any type of exam in the eyes of a fellow doctor, Cyber's decision seems strange.

Professionally, it was absurd. It's defined by Florida statutes, and basically anybody who dies unattended by a physician and apparently in good health should go to the medical examiner. Steiner calls local authorities urging an autopsy. Then he calls the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and suggests they might want to investigate. Scotty Sanderson is an agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, or FDLE. The next day, his first job is to determine if Kay Cybers died of natural causes. The best way to do that? Get a look at the body. We had to get an autopsy done. We had to get a medical examiner to view the body and to see if there was any physical evidence to determine one way or the other, you know, how she died. Sanderson finds Bill Cybers at home.

He sits down with the doctor and asks what the couple did the night before Kay died. Cybers said he and his wife went out to dinner, split a bottle of wine, then went to bed. Cybers said that his wife woke up at around 4 30 complaining of chest pains and pains radiating down her left arm. Me as a lay person, not as a doctor, would think that he needs to call 911 and get his wife to a hospital for a possible heart attack. But he obtained a syringe and tried to draw blood from her. Cybers tells Sanderson he feared Kay was diabetic and wanted to check her blood sugar. So he inserted a needle into Kay's right arm, but botched the job and was unable to draw blood.

Me as an investigator immediately asked him, where's the syringe? And he said he had thrown it in the household garbage in the kitchen. So I got up from the table. It was headed toward the kitchen because I really wanted to get that syringe. He said, oh, we've taken the garbage out. The garbage, Cybers says, was taken to a dumpster across the street. After the interview, Agent Sanderson jumps in the dumpster up to his knees but can find no trace of the needle. Bottom line was the syringe was not available

for us to have as evidence to send to laboratories to check for chemicals or not within the syringe. As he drives away, Sanderson's suspicions crystallize. Dr. Bill Cyber's story is not adding up and a heart attack is looking more and more like murder. A day later, Sanderson schedules Kay Cyber's body for autopsy with the medical examiner's office in nearby Pensacola, Florida, an autopsy that may prove

to be too little, too late. Dr. Gary Cumberland begins the Cybers autopsy like any other. He examines the outside of the body, looking for any signs of trauma. She had what appeared to be a needle injection in her right arm, which was suspicious. We made sure that we retrieved that. We actually cut that side away and took it for toxicology examination so that they could look at it and analyze it for any substances. When he opens the body up, Cumberland sees normal lungs, a healthy brain, and most significantly, a healthy heart.

Well, the conclusion basically was that we had a woman who was in her early 50s who died suddenly and unexpectedly with an autopsy that showed really no anatomic reason for her to have died at that particular point. And when that happens, we automatically start thinking in terms of toxicology because that's the one thing we can't see at the autopsy examination. In this case, however, a reliable toxicology examination proves to be difficult. After deciding an autopsy was unnecessary, Bill Cybers had released his wife's body to a funeral home where it was immediately embalmed,

making it almost impossible to detect any hint of poison in the body's tissues. My gut was telling me that there's something going on here that I just couldn't find. In fact, my wife reminds me that when I came home from the autopsy, my comment to her was, I just did an autopsy on a woman who died suddenly, and I said, there's something going on here. I just can't find out what it is. If Kay Cybers was murdered, it was done with great skill.

The heart attack induced by poison and then the evidence of poison drained out of her body when she was embalmed. It is an elegant theory of murder, one that points to her husband as the culprit. Without any other evidence, it might also be the perfect crime. While Dr. Cumberland works over Kay Cyber's body, Agent Sanderson works the netherworld of office gossip. He wants to learn more about Bill Cybers and a female technician at Cyber's lab. Rumor places the two of them in the midst of an affair. When asked directly about the alleged affair, the doctor is adamant.

We asked him that specifically, and he denied that. Totally denied that. Cybers' cell phone records tell a different story. Hundreds of calls placed over a period of a few weeks, all to the technician in question. The last logged in at 6.36 a.m. on the day Kay Cypress died. Personally, I believe he called her and said he's finished.

I have nothing to base it on other than through the course of the investigation. But I believe he let her know then what had happened. Sanderson believes he has credible evidence establishing why Kay Cybers was killed. It is the how that remains a problem. Without some evidence tying Bill Cybers to his wife's mysterious heart attack,

state prosecutors refuse to issue a warrant for the doctor's arrest, and the case goes cold. It stays that way for one year until tragedy strikes again and another member of the Cypress family dies. Apartments.com believes a dishwasher does more than just clean plates. It turns your whole place into a time machine by turning the time you would have spent washing dishes into extra time for you. That could

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Less than six hours after she died, Kay Cybers' body is drained of blood and embalmed. At about the same time, police are beginning to take an interest, wondering how an apparently healthy woman could die so suddenly. An examination reveals Kay Cyber's heart to be healthy and two mysterious needle marks on her right arm. Because Kay Cyber's was embalmed, any traces of poison have been flushed from her system. The events have the look and feel of murder. With no hard evidence, however, the case stalls. A year later, Dennis Norred picks up the file. The thing you've got to focus on is, I've got a body. I know that this person shouldn't be dead because the medical examiner that did the autopsy is telling me

she shouldn't be dead. And then why is she dead? Norad believes the answer to that question rests with Bill Cybers. As a doctor, Cybers would know how to induce a heart attack, and as a medical examiner, he had the opportunity to cover his tracks. Norad is not alone in suspecting Cybers of killing his wife. As Norad discovers, some of those closest to the doctor feel the same way. In 1993, Kim Shiro is a graduate student at Harvard University. On a Sunday morning, she gets a call from one of her closest friends. Tim Cybers is the son of Bill and Kay Cybers. He just kept saying how he couldn't live with the information he had. He couldn't ever face his dad again.

This was really too much on his head, on his heart. Out of respect for his mom, he just felt like he couldn't continue on. From the time of his mother's sudden death more than a year earlier, Tim Cybers has struggled with depression. Increasingly, he has become convinced that his mother was murdered and that his father was her killer. Although half a continent away, Kim Shiro hangs onto Tim's voice at the other end of the line. At one point in the rambling conversation, Kim hears a strange noise.

I heard him blowing into something and not knowing what it was. I'd say, Tim, what's that noise? And he would say, oh, it's the wind. To me, it sounded like a Coke bottle. I said, Tim, what is that noise? And he would just laugh. And he just said, you know, you're a wonderful friend to me.

I care about you. And he said, but I just can't take it anymore. And with that I heard a noise. I literally thought that they were, and I always described it the same way, that they were dishes and they just fell. And I didn't know what that noise was and I kept saying Tim, you know, over and over, Tim, Tim, and no response. The wind that Kim Shiro hears is Tim Cybers blowing into the barrel of a gun he holds close to the phone.

The sound of dishes falling is actually the discharge of the gun, a self-inflicted wound that kills 27-year-old Tim Cybers almost immediately. It's something that never goes away. It's something that never goes away. It's something that is truly haunting. And for me, he was a dear friend. But putting myself in his position now, I can see that, you know, the ghosts that were following him for those two and a half years were much more frightening to deal with.

As Tim Cybers lies dead on the floor of his family's home in Wisconsin, Detective Dennis Norred is paged with the news. And I said, can you hold the crime scene for me? I'll get on the next plane that I can get on. Norred arrives in Door County and heads for the Cybers' home, hoping to discover why Tim Cybers suspected his dad, but finds no such clue in the details of Cybers' suicide. Meanwhile, Kim Shiro attempts to get in touch with Dr. Cybers

to tell him what has occurred. She is unable to do so, and in the days subsequent, never gets a return call from the doctor. I never ever heard from him. I was just advised, I guess it was like on Tuesday. I had a call from a lawyer on behalf of the family just saying, you know, it's a private funeral and that I shouldn't go. I was told not to go.

Tim Cybers' suicide and Dr. Cybers' reaction to it convinces Norit he's on the right track. Bill Cybers is directly responsible for the death of his wife and now indirectly responsible for the suicide death of his son. Searching for a case to support those suspicions, Norad returns to the only piece of evidence he has, K-Cyber's body. In the spring of 1993, in order to discover exactly how K-Cyber's died,

Norad convenes a brainstorming session with some of the brightest minds in forensic science. They begin by reviewing the details of the autopsy. Then they draft an unusual top 10 list. We created a list of poisons that would be the best type poisons to be used and if you wanted to kill somebody. One of the first things that we were told in one of these meetings was that the ocular fluid showed elevated levels of potassium. Potassium. A small amount keeps the body healthy. Too much stops the heart dead. In K-Cyber's case, the ME's report shows elevated levels in fluid drawn from the eyes. Norad wants to learn more,

so he takes the only part of K-Cyber's body that's still above ground, organ samples taken from the body at autopsy, and sends them to a lab that blazes the trail for others in the field of forensic toxicology. Dr. Frederick Readers is the founder of the National Medical Services in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, a leader in the field of toxicology analysis. Before reviewing K-Cyber's case, Readers gives Norit a primer on potassium chloride. He explains that it is a particularly fine choice for murder,

that in fact, it is the third and final drug used in executions by lethal injection. Now, if you inject potassium, death can be very quick. And so that it doesn't have a chance to go all the way throughout the body. But it goes from the injection to the heart and stops the heart. Readers attempts to measure the potassium levels in K-Cyber's autopsy samples. Unfortunately, the samples are a mixture of blood and embalming fluid, making an accurate reading all but impossible. In this sea of ambiguity, however, making an accurate reading all but impossible. In this sea of

ambiguity, however, Readers finds an anchor, iron. In normal human blood, iron exists in a ratio of one to one with potassium. That ratio, Readers believes, should remain unaffected by the introduction of embalming fluid, which contains neither potassium nor iron. That's the assumption. And then, from there, it follows that if potassium is administered in addition to that which is present, the ratio of potassium will go up, that of iron will remain the same. Readers compares the levels of iron in Kay Cyber's organ samples to her potassium levels. What he uncovers is perhaps the first misstep made by K-Cyber's killer.

I know in one of the specimens, the ratio was eight parts of potassium to one part of iron in the blood. So that's way, it's not a percentage, but it's way high. In my opinion, this indicated that potassium had been brought in to that fluid by injection. Investigators take Reeder's findings to a judge and ask that the rest of K-Cyber's body be exhumed. The court, however, rejects Reeder's science as too new. His conclusion is nothing more than speculation. K-Cyber's body remains in its grave,

and the case against Dr. Bill Cybers goes cold. Cold Case Files is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you can be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy, and you could save money by doing it right from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average.

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to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company & Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. Six years after his wife's death and five years after his son's suicide, Bill Cypress enjoys the gentle breeze of good fortune with a busy medical practice, extensive real estate holdings,

and a net worth of $6.5 million. The county medical examiner is living the good life in Florida's panhandle until a district attorney named Harry Shorstein decides to pull the plug. What I thought was very clear was the defendant's explanation of what had occurred. It just didn't make sense. In 1991, Dr. Cybers told detectives his wife died of a heart attack, despite the fact that an autopsy revealed her heart to be healthy and normal. When mysterious needle marks turned up on Kay Cybers' arm, Dr. Cybers explained that his wife had suffered heart problems the night before. Fearing she was a diabetic, Cybers claimed he drew

blood from her arm to check her blood sugar, then went back to bed. Shorstein doesn't believe a word of it. It's really just a matter of common sense. If you believed that your wife was having an acute heart episode, that you believed was actually a potentially fatal heart attack. There are really only two things you can do, and that's call 911 and have an ambulance come or rush your wife to the emergency room. There are no other alternatives. Four prior DAs had reviewed the case against Cybers,

but declined to press charges due to lack of evidence. Harry Shorstein is not deterred. In February 1997, a grand jury returns an indictment for murder. Dr. Cybers is arrested. Less than 24 hours later, he makes bail. Harry Shorstein's case is based almost entirely on circumstance and speculation. The trial will be a short one, most likely ending in an acquittal, unless the state can develop some concrete proof that K-cybers died not from a heart attack, but from poison. Five years earlier, a group of toxicologists drew up a top 10 list of poisons K-cybers could have been injected with. At the top of the list, potassium chloride. High

levels of it were found in organs preserved from K-cybers' body, but the science underlying those findings was thrown out of court. Next on the list of possible poisons is succinylcholine. As a paralyzing agent, the drug is commonly used in open-heart surgery. As a murder weapon, it is thought to be practically perfect because it breaks down quickly in the body. Forensic toxicologist Kevin Ballard is asked to screen for the drug. What he discovers is a profile for succinyl monocholine, a byproduct of succinylcholine, and a clear footprint of the poison's presence in Kay Cypress' body. These were pretty high levels. These were unquestionably toxicologically significant levels.

It's not just a little residue. This is enough to affect somebody. After seven years, Kevin Ballard appears to provide investigators with the hard evidence they need to turn a simple heart attack into murder and a county coroner into a killer. Harry Shorstein, however, is not satisfied and decides to seek a second opinion. In 1999, the FBI has the only lab in the United States that can duplicate Ballard's tests. Forensic toxicologist Mark LeBeau uses a machine similar to Ballard's and inputs the same samples. Not only did our lab independently verify its existence from the results of National Medical Service, but within this lab, I myself did the analysis and I had two other technicians perform the same analysis independent of me. And we all ultimately identified succinyl monocoline in that tissue specimen, the kidney.

The FBI's confirmation comes not a moment too soon. The capital murder trial of Dr. Cybers is set to begin. If there's a crack in the prosecution's case, it's that their theory appears to have changed. First, they said potassium chloride killed K-Cybers, now succinylcholine, a drug often used in surgery as the poison. Ballard and LeBeau come to court ready to explain the apparent inconsistency. It's in pharmacology textbooks that succinylcholine and related drugs causes an increased release

in potassium. In fact, it's a common side effect of the drugs. LeBeau then provides the jury with a blow-by-blow of death by succinylcholine poisoning. The drug paralyzes all the muscles, including the diaphragm, the muscle that opens the rib cage to suck in air. It would be a very traumatic death to the individual because they would be conscious and realize that they were not able to move or breathe. When Kevin Ballard takes the stand, the defense asks a particularly cutting question. If succinylcholine is so unstable, how did Ballard find it after the body was embalmed

and the organ sample sat on a shelf for eight years? Ballard's answer goes back to the decision that was made right after Kay died, the decision to immediately embalm the body. Embalming actually, it can work both ways. Depending upon the compound, it can result in preservation or it can result in destruction. Our experience has been that the embalming process actually helps preserve succinyl monocholine and makes it a little easier to detect. According to Ballard, the fluid used to embalm Kay Cybers helped to preserve the poison that killed her and to make the state's case for murder. According to prosecutors, the decision to embalm also went directly to premeditation and transformed this murder into a death penalty case.

This was a brilliant murder. I thought it was much more aggravated than many, many murders I've prosecuted where the death penalty was given. On the issue of Cyber's guilt, the jury agrees with Shorstein. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder as charged in the indictment. But for the punishment, the jury opts for a life sentence. Dr. Bill Cybers is spared the needle, the needle that delivers three drugs, two of which Dr. Bill Cybers is all too familiar with. One is succinylcholine that stops the condemned man's breathing. The other is potassium chloride that stops the heart.

Cold Case Files is hosted by Marissa Pinson, produced by Jeff DeRay, and distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and hosted by Bill Curtis. Check out more Cold Case Files at anetv.com. It's summertime and with Pluto TV's Summer of Cinema, the streaming is easy. Stream hundreds of free movies on all your favorite devices all summer long. Chill out poolside with Mission

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