Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - She Killed Him With a Root Beer Float // The Marsha Allen Murder Story

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

Mother-and-daughter duo Marsha Allen and Ashley Jones orchestrated the "Root Beer Float Murder" in Freetown, Indiana, poisoning Marsha’s 52-year-old husband, Harold "Peanut" Allen, with an antifreeze-laced treat to collect his life insurance policy. Although Harold's death was initially misclassified as a natural heart condition, the plot imploded nine months later when Marsha stopped paying Ashley her monthly allowance. In retaliation, Ashley masterminded a burglary of her mother's home using her best friend, Steven White, who was quickly caught on security footage and defected by exposing the murder plot to police.

Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor,

free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. When Westcham first took flight in 1996, The vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion. Inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96.

Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. What the hell is wrong with people? Why did this woman kill her husband with a root beer float? Now, the woman's name is Marcia, and Marcia is about, 51 when our story begins and she's living in Freetown, Indiana, and Marcia has a problem. Her marriage isn't working out and she just doesn't want to be with her husband anymore. And she doesn't want to just divorce the guy. I guess he has money and assets and he takes her on nice trips and stuff and she doesn't want to give all that up. So instead of doing anything to get

out of the marriage, Marcia just texts her daughter all day complaining about him. Now her daughter is this woman, Ashley. And Ashley is around 29. and she's kind of a turd. Like she can't keep a steady job, her husband died a few years before, from heart complications, and she's just living off the life insurance money. Now, at some point,

Ashley gets fed up with her mom just complaining all the time and not taking action. So she comes up with a way to fix this problem. She suggests that they poison Marcia's husband. That way, she can get all his money, assets, and the life insurance payment, which that alone is worth. $120,000. And Ashley will certainly help her pull this off. All she wants in return is a portion of the life

insurance money. So they get to work on this plan. Ashley goes online and she orders Pong Pong seeds, which are toxic. They're actually used in types of rat poison. And when the seeds arrive, Marcia grinds them up and bakes them into a batch of brownies and she serves them to her poor husband. Now her husband is this guy, Peanut. Peanut is his nickname. And by all, all counts he's a very nice, hardworking man. He's actually Ashley's stepdad, not her biological dad. Anyway, Peanut grabs a poisoned brownie and he takes it to bed with him and there he eats it. Here's the thing, though. He gets sick after he eats it, but he doesn't die. Marcia and Ashley texts back and forth waiting for him to pass, but it just doesn't happen. And Marcia, she's all pissed

off, but see, Ashley isn't stressed about it. And she figures it's not working because Peanut is such a big guy that he may need more of the poison in his system for it to be effective. So Ashley goes online again, this time on Etsy, and she orders Water Himlock, which is a very toxic plant. And when the Water Himlock arrives, Marcia puts that shit on everything. She puts it in Peanuts chili and in his soda, even in his margarita. And Peanut ingests all of this. But I guess his body is stubborn and somehow he survives again. Now at this point, he's, Ashley must be frustrated. I mean, how do you poison someone twice and they don't die? So she's like, screw these organic plant poisons, and she goes online again and she orders

some ethylene glycol, which is the ingredient found in antifreeze, and it's very poisonous and it actually has kind of a sweet taste to it. So the ethylene glycol arrives, and Marcia knows exactly how to get peanut to drink it. A root beer float. I mean, Peanut loves root beer floats. So Marcia makes him up a nice one, and she puts the ethylene glycol in there, and she tops it off with whipped cream and sprinkles, the whole bit. And she serves it to him, and of course, peanut drinks all of it. And soon after, he stops breathing, and he, unfortunately, dies. So Marcia calls 911, and she pretends to be all shocked, and she says that she just found peanut on the floor, and she makes sure to tell the 911 operator that he's been sick late.

And so police come out and they start investigating, and to them, nothing about this looks suspicious. They have an autopsy done on Peanut and the results come back and they show that he died of heart complications. But they don't test for poison because there's no reason for them to suspect that he was poisoned. I mean, Peanut did have a history of bad health. However, if they had checked, the results would have shown that Peanut's heart complications were caused by ingesting Ethling glycol. Now, here's where all of this gets really complicated for Marcia and Ashley.

After Peanut's death, Marcia starts paying Ashley her cut of the life insurance payout. But instead of giving it to her all at once, she pays her a little up front and then $1,000 a month. And at some point, Ashley realizes that Peanut left Marcia way more money and assets than she had originally thought. And in Ashley's view, Marcia could never have pulled off the murder without her. So Ashley feels like she should be getting a bigger cut of the money. So she asks her for a bigger cut. But apparently, Marcia's like, nah. Then seven months after Peanuts death, for some reason,

I don't know if they got into a fight or what, but Marcia stops paying Ashley the $1,000 a month. And this pisses Ashley off. I mean, she feels like she deserves that money. So now she's going to get revenge on her own. mom. So Ashley hits up this guy, White. And White is actually Ashley's best friend and he's kind of a shady dude. So Ashley gives White a key to Marcia's house and the code to Marcia's gun safe and she tells him to break in and rob the place and get whatever he can. I guess so that she can maybe sell some of the

stuff and get some of the money that she feels like she's owed. So one night, White goes and he enters the house, and he gets into Marcia's gun safe, and he steals some firearms and some rings and some other expensive jewelry. Here's the thing, though, Marcia has brand new security cameras set up in her house, and she's away on vacation, but suddenly her phone alerts her that there's been movement back at her place. So she checks her app, and there she sees White robbing her house. So she goes and she calls the police, and within a few hours of the break-in, bam, police arrest White. Here's his mugshot. And it turns out that White isn't the most loyal friend in the world because pretty quickly he flips on Ashley and he tells police it was her who planned out

the whole robbery. But he also tells them that he had heard that Marcia had poisoned her own husband Peanut with a root beer float. And so police call Marcia down to the station and they question her. And she thinks she's there to talk about her house getting robbed. But But surprise, surprise, police start grilling her about Peanuts death. Then they ask her if they can search her phone and download her text messages. And Marcia doesn't want to look guilty, so she's like, sure, go ahead. And when the detective steps out of the interrogation room, she gets her phone and she starts aggressively deleting messages.

The thing is, even when you delete text messages, police can still retrieve them. So police end up recovering nearly 7,000 messages between the same. Marcia and Ashley, where they are talking about and planning out Peanuts' murder. They also order another toxicology report on some blood that they had saved from Peanuts' autopsy, because now they're looking to see if there was ethylene glycol in his blood. And if his blood tests positive for that, Marcia will certainly be arrested and she'll be tried for his murder. However, while police are waiting on the test results, Marcia faces no punishment because she on a lives herself.

At Volvo, safety is not a feature. It's our purpose. Rigorous crash testing. Decades of learning from real accidents. Innovations that help prevent accidents before they happen and help protect you when they occur. Going above and beyond industry standards. A vision of zero collisions.

Volvo's legacy revolves around you because safety is about helping to keep you and everyone around you safe for life. Learn more at VolvoCars. When WestJet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get

when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. Also, at some point, bam, Ashley gets arrested for being involved. in the robbery, and she's charged with theft, but later she's charged for her role in Peanuts' death. And ultimately, she takes a plea deal and she gets sentenced to 50 years in prison. Also, remember how I said Ashley's husband had died a few years before from heart complications, and she's just living off the life insurance money?

Well, it hasn't actually been proven in court yet, but it is now suspected that she killed her husband too, likely by poisoning him.