Snapped: Women Who Murder - Blanche Taylor Moore

Episode Date: July 25, 2021

When a small-town preacher is hospitalized with a mysterious illness, North Carolina police uncover a string of suspicious deaths centered around a Burlington woman who has a hidden dark side.Season 27, Episode 11Originally aired: May 17, 2020Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WsLCJWqmIebSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. When a God-fearing woman and a charismatic preacher fall in love, it's a match made in heaven. He's got this awesome voice,

and he's singing these hymns, and she felt that connection. She was a great pastor's wife, very comforting, and she was very knowledgeable of scripture. But the honeymoon is cut short for these North Carolina newlyweds. He's very ill. He was on the threshold of death. The mysterious illness will lift the veil on a black widow who spent decades covering their deadly poison

with good old-fashioned southern sweetness. It was surreal. It was truly so far out of the realm of illness. covering their deadly poison with good old-fashioned southern sweetness. It was surreal. It was truly so far out of the realm of anything this town had ever seen. And when the truth comes to light, investigators will expose a string of deaths left in the killer's wake.

There was a steady succession of exhumations that were coming out of the ground in Alam's wake. There was a steady succession of exhumations that were coming out of the ground in Alamance County. You don't know how evil somebody is. If they put on this holier than now, or the ligious southern hospitality. We have our own picture in our mind of what a serial killer looks like. It turns out that they never look like that. Burlington, North Carolina. A lot of folks here know each other,

and it's a very friendly town. Around these parts, churches outnumber bars, and people like it that way. So Burlington, I think, is just sort of your typical North Carolina town. It's a small town, it's a rural community. But in the sticky summer heat of this June day,

something other than Sunday's sermon is about to set the town of Burlington above us. Reverend Dwight Moore was well known and well-liked in the community. And he had left North Carolina for a long weekend honeymoon in New Jersey. While being in New Jersey, he became deathless sick, and they decided to come home. His wife, 56-year-old Blanche Taylor Moore, does her best to rush him back to their home in North Carolina.

He called up into a ball in the back seat of the car. It's a blanche, like, take the shortest route back to Burlington. She told me he is just vomiting. He has projectile vomiting. It was that bad. And I said, Mom, he needs to go to the doctor. Blanche drives straight to the hospital in Burlington, where doctors are immediately concerned

over 55-year-old Dwight Moore's condition. The symptoms that he had was numbness and neuropathy in his hands, in his feet, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath, excruciating pain all over the body, and his health continued to decline. Why was very ill? He was on the threshold of death. [♪ Music playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, Dwight Moore never thought twice about what he wanted to do with his life. Dwight Moore was a beloved minister, and he took it very seriously.

He put a lot of thought into his preaching and into the message. While Dwight had great success as a minister, his first marriage failed. In the wake of divorce, Dwight moved to North Carolina for a fresh start. Dwight Moore was a pastor with the Carolina United Church of Christ in Hopedale, North Carolina. The Allamance County Church was a good fit for charismatic Dwight, but the handsome 51-year-old preacher was lonely.

Then, one faithful Easter Sunday in 1985, Dwight found himself caught off guard by a fresh face among his flock, 52-year-old Blanch Taylor. It was for all intention purposes probably love it first sight. Born in 1933, Blanche Kaiser grew up watching her father at the pulpit. He was an evangelical type preacher who had no papers to be a preacher. He was just a preacher. He just go and start preaching.

He had a bit of a sketchy background. He was a drinking man and was hard on his family. And he was particularly hard on Blanche. My grandfather, he was a pastor and what on the outside looked like a really nice good family. But there were some other dynamics. I think that we're going on there that people just were never aware of.

Blanche couldn't wait to leave home. As soon as she was old enough, she secured a job at a local grocery store. Blanche was a cashier for major food store. There's stories that people would stand in line when other checkers were available just to talk to Blanche. She went to college, got her business degrees and stuff, and then she moved on up to where she was more in a management level.

When Blanche wasn't working long hours at the store, she could be found at church. She was very spiritual. You probably wouldn't talk to anyone that's, uh, same-gear more spiritual. She was very active in her church. She visited the sick and took them food. As if her steady job and godly works weren't enough, Blanche was also blessed with good looks. She was quite attractive. And so she wore clothes that showed that off.

She made sure that they were stylish. Her hair was always done. In 1952, Blanche married a man named James Taylor and had two daughters. But after 21 years of marriage, she was left widowed and alone. After the head was down, she was just always very strong in handling, you know, situations.

It was that strength and charisma that caught the eye of Dwight Moore, as he delivered the Easter sermon that faithful Sunday in 1985. There was a breakfast after the service, and he went over and introduced himself with great enthusiasm. Mom would have been one of those women that he had made the comment before that mom being on any man's arm would make them look better because she was very comfortable and she was very knowledgeable of scripture. To Blanche, Dwight was a gift from God and the feeling was definitely mutual. I think he was very smitten with my mom.

I think that I had heard that he had made the comment before that mom being on any man's arm would make them look better because she was very beautiful. Another thing that had warmed Dwight's heart to Blanche was her divine southern cooking. Blanche fit the stereotype of a wonderful wife who would look after her man by fixing him his favorite foods. Ice tea is like the most southern of southern drinks, and she knew how to make sweet tea with the best of them. Blanche was very fond of making banana pudding.

Apparently, she did quite a nice job with it. After a nearly three-year courtship in 1987, the couple got engaged and quietly married on April 19, 1989. I did not know that they were going to get married. We were actually finally told, I think, the day before. They were getting married that next morning. Dwight and Blanche took a honeymoon trip to New Jersey.

They'd enjoyed this time together there, and they had planned to take the scenic route back from New Jersey. But on the way back to North Carolina, Dwight came down with a mysterious illness and was rushed to the hospital. They start to try to figure out what the heck is wrong with this guy. They had actually had a doctor with a group of students coming around. There was actually a student that said I would do a heavy metals test on him, and they did.

After almost a week with no diagnosis, doctors get the results from the heavy metals test and a shocking answer to their questions. So they do this toxicology test, and it comes back that this guy is loaded with arsenic. Coming up, a new discovery leaves doctors stunned. He's got more arsenic in his system than they have ever seen on record. A new discovery leaves doctors stunned. He's got more arsenic in his system than they have ever seen on record.

He actually got worse, and he probably wasn't going to live through the night. An investigator's spring into action. But please immediately put Dwight on a lockdown. They wouldn't allow anybody into his room. MUSIC By the spring of 1989, Pastor Dwight Moore and his newly appointed First Lady Blanche should have been enjoying the love. They both had waited decades to find.

Dwight and Blanche married, and they did go up to New Jersey. And he got sick. He asked Blanche to take him to the hospital, take him to the emergency room, and then she did. They admitted him, he was in terrible shape. Now Dwight's life hangs in the balance. He was hospitalized and where it was determined that he had heavy metals in his body,

which turned out to be arstic. Dwight was pretty much on death's door. He's got more arstic in his system than they have ever seen on record. The word was that Dwight Moore had survived the largest dosing of arsenic ever recorded in medical history, at least that they knew of. It was stunning to the doctors. One of the reasons that arsenic often isn't diagnosed is that so many of these symptoms

sound like a viral illness or the flu, so you feel lousy, you develop nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, you get muscle weakness. These are symptoms that fit perfectly well with a variety of viral illnesses. One of the worst ways to be poisoned is with arsenic, because it gets into your system, and it goes into your stomach, and it starts to cause these blisters. And the blisters sort of eat their way

through the lining of your stomach, because it's unbelievable pain. Not only is arsenic poisoning commonly misdiagnosed, it is easy to miss for those who are poisoned. Arsenic, again, being tasteless odorless, is not that difficult to conceal in things. Arsenic could be purchased at your grocery store, a hardware store, in a form used to kill ants.

Dwight's doctors immediately begin treating him for the poison, and his condition begins to stabilize. But a certain point of the hospital, you know, when you're faced with a situation like this, the doctors eventually had to call in the police to start an investigation. The first thing detectives do is impose strict rules on all of Dwight's visitors, including Blanche.

She could visit Reverend Moore, but it had to be supervised by nurse or nursing staff. by nurse or nurse in staff. As doctors work to reverse the effects of the poison, detectives speak to Blanche. Blanche was interviewed, and she denied being the person that poisoned her husband, Reverend Moore. Such a sweet little Christian lady she couldn't have done. If Blanche didn't poison Dwight, then who did?

There was a lot of speculation about who did it. He was a nice guy. There was no reason to poison Dwight Moore. Blanche said Dwight was having a very hard time. She suggested that he was depressed and that he probably poisoned himself. Did Dwight really ingest the arsenic on purpose or was someone else trying to take his life.

For detectives, suicide by arsenic seems unlikely. In my experience, I have never known or read about or heard of anyone committing suicide by arsenic. Arsenic poisoning is a very painful death. When investigators pay a visit to 55-year-old Dwight's hospital room, it's clear that this is a man who is still fighting for his life. He could not get up by himself. He couldn't walk by himself.

He was constantly complaining about his hands being numb and his feet being numb. He had problems still eating and keeping stuff on his stomach. Dwight denies trying to take his own life and tells police he has no idea who would want to kill him. Dwight was absolutely dumbfounded to learn that this illness was actually possibly intentional. Like he had to get his head around that. Dwight was really well-liked. Dwight didn't have enemies

and he was a genuinely good guy. and he was a genuinely good guy. With no prime suspects, police pay a visit to Dwight's home, looking for anything that could have contributed to his poisoning. They went to the house and checked out all the herbicides, yard chemicals there were, and didn't find anything that would do to him what was in his body. With no other scenarios fitting the evidence, investigators come to a grim conclusion. That's when authorities realize

they haven't attempted murder on their hands. As detectives hit the ground running, they received disturbing news from Dwight's doctors. His arsenic level had went up some while he had been hospitalized. If they're in the hospital, their levels are going up, then you would be concerned that they're getting more arsenic. The police immediately conferred with the nurses and the doctors and put Dwight on a lock down. They wouldn't allow anybody into his room except for hospital personnel and detectives.

So, that includes Blanche. They would not allow her into the room. It's got to a level where the local police was really sort of beyond their expertise. And so, the SBI, the state bureau police, got involved to try to figure out who exactly was doing this. It's only after police ban all visitors that Dwight's health finally begins to stabilize.

He was lucky to be alive. He certainly had been given a significant amount of arsenic. It could well have killed him, in this case, of course it didn't. With Dwight in the clear, detectives worked at pinpoint his nearby assassin. It could be anyone that has access to that patient. We did follow ups with family members, friends, people in the community. Desperate for a lead, detectives continue to push Dwight for answers.

They started asking him if anybody related to him and had any problems all that, and he died mysteriously, and he said, well, my wife's previous boyfriend died. MUSIC Dwight explains that before he and Blanche got together, she had been in a relationship with a man named Raymond Reed. He had died not too long after they had met.

Blanche would just say, well, the doctors could never figure it out. Blanche said he died of really mysterious circumstances. Coming up, a small town secret comes to light. My reaction was we've got a serious problem on our hand. And a chilling discovery will leave the good people of Burlington sweating more than a sinner in church. It was possible we had a serial killer on our hands. We needed to escalate things quickly.

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready and buckle up. We've got the one and only Conan O'Brien making a legendary appearance on Smartless. Picture this, the iconic Conan O'Brien, Puffy Red Hair and all, joining forces with me and Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes. It is just, it's a recipe for podcast perfection exclusively on One Re plus. We're taking you on an unforgettable journey behind the curtain. We're pulling back the veil on the world of late night

and giving you an inside look into the mind of a true legend. Our episode, Rukonen, is the second of 10 special episodes exclusive to One Re plus. These episodes are the full recorded interviews from our smartless tour that was filmed in front of thousands of our biggest fans from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. You're not going to want to miss this conversation with Conan.

You can listen to these episodes exclusively and add free with Wondry Plus. Find Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. After interviewing 55-year-old Dwight Moore, detectives in Burlington, North Carolina, now fear his wife Blanche may be responsible for his poisoning, and he may not be her only victim. When the Alamette County Sheriff's Department interviewed Dwight, Dwight said that Blanche's previous boyfriend Raymond Reed died suspiciously in 1986. It was a shocking thing, but she had to be considered a suspect. With no other leads, detectives obtain Raymond Reed's medical records.

What a detail sends chills down their spines. The symptoms between Dwight and Raymond were eerily the same. The sickness, the vomiting. As with Dwight, Raymond's doctors struggled to pin down a diagnosis. Raymond Reed's health continued to decline, and then he died October the 7th, 1986. In the case of Mr. Reed, the death had been attributed to complications of Guillain-Barré disease. Detectives learned the symptoms of Guillain-Barré could mimic something else.

Arsenec pointed to be mistaken for Guillain-Barré disease, which is an autoimmune type phenomenon that often shows up after a viral infection. Was arsenic the true culprit in Raymond's death? On June 13, 1989, detectives arrive at Pine Hill Cemetery with a backhoe. After receiving the cord order, which was signed by Spiracourt Judge, we exhumed Raymond Reed's body. They dig them up, they pull them out, and they ship him to Chapel Hill where the medical examiner is located.

I conducted an examination. The most important part of that examination was the obtaining of samples of various tissues and hair for a toxicology testing that is to look for arsenic itself. When my mom told me that they think Blanche may have poisoned your dad, my initial reaction was,

damn, I'm thinking, I think I'll find out. It's been a ground for, you know, three or four years. While detectives await the test results, they interview Raymond's family about his 15-year relationship with Blanche. They met at the grocery store, and she was a cashier, he was an assistant manager. Blanche was very likable. She was more than welcoming to, you know, anybody.

Raymond's family says the Reverend's wife definitely had a sweet side and a salty side. She had this way of making you feel comfortable, but at the same time she could turn that off on a heartbeat. She was very good at manipulating to get her way, and she could snap. The Reed family is surprising portrayal of Blanche. Heighten's investigators suspicions, so they press for more details surrounding Raymond's health crisis in 1986. Raymond Reed starts to get these gastrointestinal attacks

where he is just sick as a dog, and they take him to the hospital. It seemed like it was close to six months, five or six months. That was a roller coaster. I mean, I think he coded three or four times. Through it all, Blanche was right by his side. She would do a nice thing and bring his favorite dish or milkshake. And nurses and everybody thought that was nice.

I thought it was nice. Investigators learn that upon Raymond's death, Blanche's behavior changed, while his doctors and family were eager for answers as to what killed Raymond. Blanche was not. She said your dad's been cut up enough, he wouldn't want this. The convincing way that she told us it made a hundred percent sense. And they didn't do one.

And that moment it all made sense because you had six months of poking prod and cotton and you couldn't figure it out. And the reason I really think, why would it matter at this point to go in and do an autopsy? He would have been the perfect candidate for an autopsy, but Blanch wouldn't have it. Blanch said absolutely not. The odd behavior didn't end there. Raymond Reed didn't have a lot. He had some savings.

He had a small pension, and he had an insurance policy. It amounted to, I think, about $125,000. The sons, Stephen, and Ray Jr. were supposed to get that, and expected to get that. But she impressed upon both of them that she should get half of theirs and that it essentially would be split three ways. That was Lanches think to us that your dad wanted everything to split in thirds.

And she had a piece of paper that said that. And I'm like, okay, I got it. That's what he wanted. It's his stuff. As detectives dig deeper into Blanche's past, more secrets emerge. Before Dwight, she was married for a number of years to James Taylor. Mom, dad only dated a few months before they got married, which was maybe like in 50.

James Taylor was Blanche Taylor's husband, that died in 1973 of an apparent heart attack. Detectives are now concerned they may have a black widow in their crosshairs. Before they can dig into their theory, they receive news from the medical examiner. The examination of Mr. Reed's tissues reveal elevated levels

of arsenic, not just a little more than normal, but concentrations associated with fatalities. The cause of death was arsenic poisoning. With confirmation that two of Blanche's lovers suffered arsenic poisoning, detectives anticipate a third victim is already buried. We obtained James Tyler's medical records and found his medical records was consistent

with the calls of death of Raymond Reed. I went ahead and recommended to the district attorney that we get a petition to exume of Raymond Reed. I went ahead and recommended to the district attorney that we get a petition to exume in the district attorney. Did so, and the judge granted it, and we went ahead and then had Mr. Taylor exume. My reaction was we've got to see his problem on our hand. We were convinced that Blanche was the number one suspect

and that it was possible we had a serial killer on our hands and that we needed to escalate things quickly. Coming up, detectives returned to Pine Hill Cemetery. Is everybody buried in this Alamance County cemetery uploaded with arsenic? And new evidence threatens to turn the investigation upside down. He had just received some mail for somebody else had confessed to poisoning Dwight Moore?

Is she guilty or is she not guilty? While detectives are zeroing in on 56-year-old Blanch Taylor Moore for the attempted murder of her husband Dwight Moore, members of the community have second thoughts about the bell of Burlington. It was an absolute buzz, almost like, from a science fiction story. That what is this? We don't believe this at all. She's a very nice Christian lady, she wouldn't do this. Despite the buzz around town, detectives stay focused.

This was becoming suspicious to them because Raymond Reed had died of arsenic poisoning and Dwight Moore was showing high signs of being poisoned so they decided to go look at her first husband. We exhumed James Taylor's body in pine hill cemetery, same cemetery that Raymond Reed was buried in. While detectives wait for the results of the autopsy, they dig into Blanche's relationship with James.

Blanche was probably around 19, which she married James Taylor, and they had a good marriage. Growing up as a child, I actually thought I was very lucky. We were well taken care of, and I appeared to live enough in a happy household. According to their daughter, Cindy Chapman, everything seemed fine until their lives took a sudden turn on October 2nd, 1973. I was 14 at the time, and my dad had been sick the whole week.

He actually was feeling better or appeared to feel better that night. He went to bed, and we did too. And the next morning, the alarm clock's going off and dad's not turning it off. And I think I immediately knew something was wrong. So she got up and I heard her say, oh no. And then I got up and she told me to stay back. But she didn't get the door closed. And so when I looked, he was just lying there.

On his side, it looked very peaceful and just had a trinkle of blood that was coming from his mouth. 45-year-old James laid dead in his bed, having passed away in his sleep. For dad to have a heart attack, so young was very surprising because the longevity of his family is like 84, 85, 90, 90 years of age.

He was actually the only one that passed away as young as he did. But maybe there was another reason why James was struck down in his prime. Dr. Butts completed the autopsy and the results was that he had a high level of arsenic in his body and that that was the cause of his death. I was just blown away. I never, never in my lot of streams thought that he died from anything other than a heart attack.

With three confirmed cases of arsenic poisoning tied to the men of Blanche's life, on July 18, 1989, detectives placed Blanche more under arrest. They arrested her at her home and they informed me that she went peacefully and then she went to the Alamance County jail. She was charged in all three of those cases. Two charges for murder and one for attempted murder. It was like a punch in the gut that makes sense now. When she said what she did or you know, makes sense why she didn't want all the tops to it.

What idiot's your way for not figuring this out early? It's kind of how you feel. It was all a very confusing time and a very emotional time for my sister and myself. My dad's family was very angry. Blanche is booked at the Burlington Police Department and held without bond. She never confessed.

She always come up with the reason why she was not responsible. Now detectives face a daunting question. If Blanche poisoned Dwight, Raymond, and James are there other victims? It was surreal. It was truly so far out of the realm of anything this small southern town had ever seen. We were looking at any and all people

that A had an association with Blanche, and B. their medical records somewhat indicated that they don't have a little unusual circumstances. We had a list at that time of 22 people that we had obtained corridors on to obtain their medical records. After the medical records of the 22 people was reviewed by Dr. Butz, a determination was made by him to obtain corridors on PD Kaiser Senior Blanch Taylor Moore's father, Isla Taylor, which was Blanch Taylor Moore's father is Latailer,

which was Blanch Taylor's mother-in-law, and James Taylor's mother. These were all people that Blanch had had close contact with, according to witnesses. We exhumed the bodies, and they were transported to the Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to Dr. Buds, and all the cops who was done on all the bodies. By August 1989, the results of the autopsy on Blanche's father and mother-in-law are in. and mother-in-law are in. There was a high level of arsenic in PD Tizer senior

and Isla Taylors al-Topsie, however not enough to cause death. Some of the levels were a little bit higher than we would have expected in a normal individual, but again not in the toxic range. You can obtain levels of arsenic from certain fruits, certain vegetables that you eat or consume, but it would not be enough to cause your death or even to make you deathless sick.

Detectives theorize that blanche may have poisoned them, but age and illness finished the job before she could. They did have significant medical problems, so it may well be that an episode of poisoning pushed him over the edge, so to speak. The evidence is not enough to charge Blanche with the murders of Isla Taylor and Parker Kaiser. With no other tests coming back positive,

investigators focus on helping prosecutors bring blanch to justice for her other crimes. Raymond Reade was the best of the homicide cases. It was the freshest. It was the one where the evidence was clear, cogent, and convinced, and could be done with scientific evidence. There would be nurses that could testify. There would be family friends. There would be nurses that could testify.

There would be family friends. There would be Raymond Reads' sons and his ex-wife. They also hope Raymond's case will land Blanche on death row. Raymond Reads died a horrifying death. Lance Taylor Moore did this with premeditation and a fourth thought. It means like the textbook language for premeditated murder that rises to the level of a countable offense and the death penalty. Then in May 1990, investigators get a phone call from Blanche's attorney

that threatens to turn the case upside down. He stated that he had just received get a phone call from Blanche's attorney that threatens to turn the case upside down. He stated that he had just received a hand-written letter signed by Garvin Thomas. A brief summary of the letter was that he was in love with Blanche Tyler Moore and that he had committed these murders that in Raymond's Reads case, he dressed up like a chaplain. He went in and poured it in his water picture.

He would go into Dwight Moore's room and poison him. Coming up, investigators scramble for answers. That made a really strange and weird case all the stranger. And a small town braces for big city exposure. It was just a spectacle, an absolute spectacle. 57-year-old Blanche Moore on death row for poisoning three men with arsenic over the course of 16 years, leaving two of them dead and one seriously ill. I was confused the whole time.

This all was happening. I think I was heartbroken when she was arrested. Then, a surprise letter to Blanche's attorney claims Blanche's admirer, Garvin Thomas, is responsible. There was explicit detail about how much he loved her and how much he pined for her, how jealousy was of all these relationships. He didn't believe that any of these men were worthy

of the lovely, beautiful Blancs Teller Moore. If the letter was legitimate, it would have meant that she would have probably been released. But when investigators tried to track Garvin down, they immediately find a problem with this scenario. He had died a week prior to the letter being supposedly mailed. Did Blanche pen the letter herself in a desperate attempt to regain freedom?

Investigators bring in a handwriting expert to answer that question. The conclusion is clear. It was pretty obvious that the letter was wrote by a Lanch Moore. Lanch had sent letters to a friend of hers while she was in jail. The lady kept all those letters. It was a treasure trove of letters to compare and some of the phrasing and the abbreviation.

That was just astounding and made of really strange and weird case, all the stranger and all the weirder. By now, the case has caught the attention of the national media, who seemed to be captivated by Blanche's southern charm. Heraldo Rivera, Phil Donahue, Sally Jessie Rapierre, it just became a force into itself. Blanche Moore, there was a song about her, the ballet of Blanche Moore.

There was a recipes. Blanche Moore's banana pudding was arsenic in it. It was just a spectacle, an absolute spectacle. In October 1990, Blanche's day in court finally arrives. As she enters the Forsyte County courtroom, 57-year-old Blanche, hardly looks capable of murdering her longtime lover, 50-year-old Raymond Rean. This is a woman, again, who does not look like a serial killer.

This was a, you know, a Southern church-going woman. She was a mackerel address. She would remind you of your third grade school teacher, or your Sunday school teacher. She was remind you of your third grade school teacher or your Sunday school teacher. She was just a sweet little old Southern lady. Prosecutors are prepared to show that Blanche is anything but a moral church going Southern lady and lineup 54 witnesses in their corner, starting with Raymond's nurses. The nurses would come in and testify

that Blanche had brought him banana pudding or some kind of milkshake, see like, and then he would crash again. And they didn't know what's wrong with him. Sometimes she would feed it to him, sometimes he would eat himself, and it wasn't too long before he got sick again. The nurse's testimony is powerful,

but nothing commands the court room's attention, like the moment Dwight Moore takes the stand. You could tell he was somewhat uncomfortable to say the least. He didn't really have full control over his limbs, his hands shook when he was on the stand. I remember that. And you could tell he was in great discomfort. He was devastated.

He just couldn't believe that the woman he loved and married had done that. He was really sad. As for Blanche's motive, experts in the courtroom believe it went beyond money. I don't think she did it for that reason. It probably turned out that she gained financially from them, but I don't think that was her motivation. Really, what the lead prosecutor came down to is that sometimes people is just evil.

Like sometimes, like, bad is bad. And people do bad things. And maybe there's no greater explanation than just that. But she was evil. When a perfectly put together blanche takes the stand in her own defense, she maintains her innocence. She had nothing to do with any of these murders.

And she said, I know. And I believe that there was arsenic in these people, as you've said, but I didn't put it there. The defense strategy was one that Garvin Thomas did it. And two, that this woman is wrongly accused. But their thinly veiled attempt to convince the jury falls on deaf ears. The only people in that courtroom that was divided

was Blanche's family, who was convinced she was innocent. And everybody else who was convinced she was guilty. It's a five week trial. You know, they had heard enough to be convinced beyond any doubt that she committed this crime and that her punishment should be the death penalty. I pronounce the sentence, and it's always the last part of it to make God have mercy on your soul.

And I can tell you, it kind of turns in your stomach when you send somebody to the death. And God may have mercy on your soul. For her to get the death penalty was scary. It just seems so morbid. It's just hard for me to wrap my head around. She was very calm. She did not let anyone see a lot of her emotion.

She did have a couple of tears run down her face. How this preacher's wife went from her Sunday best to prison scrubs is a question that may go forever unanswered. How does this make sense? How could this woman be so ruthless, so diabolical that she could not only poison these men in her life, but watch them suffer? Like, who does that?

She was a classic Southern lady. Everybody liked her. We couldn't believe she did it. She's evil in a mask. You don't know how evil somebody is. If they carry themselves around and put on this holy or the now or religious Southern woman, and then to go out and murder somebody

is almost a step further than evil. Two weeks after Blanche's conviction, Dwightmore filed for divorce. Blanche has appealed her conviction three times. All three have been denied. Currently, there is an unofficial moratorium on executions in the state of North Carolina. Blanche continues to serve her sentence on death row. For more information on snapped, go to oxygen.com.