True Crime Campfire - And You're To Blame: The Murder of Miriam Illes

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

The heart has been the subject of mythology for humanity for centuries. Egyptians believed that in the afterlife, your heart was weighed against a feather and if all your life’s sins didn’t outweigh the feather, you could join Osiris in the afterlife. If it was heavier, your heart was consumed by Amuut, a demon, and your soul disappeared forever. Ancient Greeks believed that the heart was the anchor of the soul and instinctively thought it was the source of heat for the body. Cultures all over the world recognized the importance of the heart, before even realizing how crucial it was to survival. Today’s case is about matters of the heart, both literally and figuratively. A heart surgeon’s wife is murdered in her locked house, shot through her heart in the middle of their nasty divorce and when the police find mounds of evidence, it all seems to lead them nowhere.Join Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on the Left, Sinisterhood, and Scared to Death, on the very first CRIMEWAVE true crime cruise! Get your fan code now--tickets go on sale February 7: CrimeWaveatSea.com/CAMPFIRESources:https://www.bestplaces.net/city/pennsylvania/williamsport https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/01/heart_surgeon_convicted_of_kil.htmlInvestigation Discovery's "A Perfect Murder," episode "Heart Shot"CBS's 48 Hours, episode "A Shot in the Dark"Follow us, campers!Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfirehttps://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/Facebook: True Crime CampfireInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimecampfire/?hl=enTwitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfireEmail: [e-mail]! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.

Hello, campers. Grab your marshmallows and gather around the true crime campfire. We're your camp counselors. I'm Katie. And I'm Whitney. And we're here to tell you a true story that is way stranger than fiction. We're roasting murderers and marshmallows around the true crime campfire. The heart has been the subject of mythology for humanity for centuries. Egyptians believed that in the afterlife, your heart was weighed against a feather. and if all your life's sins didn't outweigh the feather, you could join Osiris in the afterlife. If it was heavier, your heart was consumed by Amat, the demon, and your soul disappeared forever.

Ancient Greeks believed that the heart was the anchor for the soul and instinctively thought it was the source of heat for the body. Cultures all over the world recognized the importance of the heart, before even realizing how crucial it was to survival. Today's case is about matters of the heart, both literally and figuratively. A heart surgeon's wife is murdered in her locked house, shot through her heart in the middle of their nasty divorce, and when the police find mounds of evidence, it all seems to lead them to nowhere. This is, and you're to blame, the murder of Miriam Illis. So, campers, for this one, we're in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, a teeny tiny town that's most famous for hosting the Little League World Series. It's the kind of place you see on postcards with lush woods and picturesque little buildings.

But on Sunday, January 15th, 1999, something sinister was brewing. Paula and Dean Peters had just gotten home from church, and they were worried about their friend, Miriam Illis. 47-year-old Miriam served as their church's Sunday school teacher, and she'd missed that day's classes without telling anyone, which was hugely out of character. She took a ton of pride in her work, and it wasn't like her to not let anyone know that she'd be absent from church. Paula and Dean lived nearby and stopped by Miriam's home to check on her.

Nobody answered the door bill, so they walked her on the side of the house, and when they looked through the kitchen window, they were horrified at what they saw. Miriam lying unmoving on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. Police arrived on the scene shortly after. All the doors were locked and they had to kick the door in to get into the house. Inside they found Miriam's body next to a cordless phone. The kitchen window, which had its blinds open, was broken, glass shattered all over the kitchen.

It was apparent that Miriam had been killed by one gunshot to the heart and that the killer had fired the shot through the window from a distance. Oh, that's creepy. Imagine just going about your business in your home, not knowing that there's a killer watching you from outside. It's just, ugh. So the CSIs went to check the wooded area that surrounded the backyard. And there they found a gold mine of evidence.

Next to a tree about 70 feet from the house, the police found a cigarette butt and some footprints from a size 14 basketball shoe, left behind in the snow and mud. About 100 feet away, toward the back of the property on a locked tennis court, was a homemade silencer, made of wire, PVC pipe, and end caps, crushed acoustical tile, and spray foam. Strange, strange findings, but great evidence.

The footprints appeared to have come along a drainage ditch to enter the Illis' property, and the killer used the tree to steady his aim as he waited, watching through the only over. open window until Miriam came into view, and then he took his shot. In the midst of all this investigative chaos, a man rolled up on the scene. He identified himself as Miriam's estranged husband, Dr. Richard Illis. He'd arrived at the house to drop off their five-year-old son, Ritchie Jr. He and his son had been out of town for the weekend, and he was supposed to drop his son back off with Miriam. The two had reached an uneasy truce of co-parenting in recent months,

and Richard seemed genuinely shaken by the news that his soon-to-be ex-wife was dead. Investigators noted that when he was told that Miriam had been killed, he asked how it happened, and then strangely said, what evidence did you find? Okay, that's a weird question, but when asked about an alibi, Dr. Illis told the investigators that he'd been on the road with Richie when the fatal shot was fired. But we'll get back to that in a moment. When exactly had Miriam died? The phone next to her provided the best clue.

Phone records indicated that Miriam had been on the phone with a friend in Montana when she'd been killed. Her horrified friend said she thought it was weird when the call just cut off abruptly at 1037. That happened when you and I were talking once, like my cell phone died and you threatened to call my mom and the cops and the FBI. Yeah, we have a true crime podcast, bitch. we've seen some shit. I was very worried. I know. You were. Especially, I think you had said something about, like, seeing a creepy guy earlier that day. And I just put the two together in my head. Oh, man, I was freaking out.

Yeah. It was not my, it was, like, I was like, because, like, I charged my phone and, like, like, I got, like, 12 texts when it turned on. And I was like, what the fuck? And I was like, what is going on? You better call me right now or I'm calling your mom. I was like, oh, shit. Sorry. I've done that to my husband for you, by the way. So, anyway, that gave police something they didn't usually have, a precise time of death. As usual, the first thing the investigators had to do was figure out who their victim was and who on earth would want her dead.

Miriam Zambi was working as a surgical assistant at a hospital in St. Louis when she met Dr. Richard Illis, one of the best cardiac surgeons in the state. Miriam was a warm, friendly person who never really met a stranger, just a friend she hadn't met yet. She was always volunteering her time and making sure to stay active in her community. She and Richard hit it off quickly and began dating and eventually married in 1991. They moved to Williamsport that same year and bought a lavish mansion up on a hill. But despite all their wealth, Miriam stayed grounded and practical. She still drove a sensible van and shopped at the dollar tree. One of their friends told 48 hours, you wouldn't think, wow, that's a doctor's wife.

All that really battered to Miriam was her son and being a mom. When the couple's son was two, Miriam quit her job and decided to stay home with him. According to Richard, this was the dream come true for everyone. He said, she was a wonderful mother. I couldn't have hoped for anyone better than her to take care of my son. During the mid-90s, things were wonderful for the Ellis family. Miriam was active in the PTA and at the local Catholic church. Their son was active in school and in sports, and Dr. Illis' career was taking off.

In fact, doctors were coming to Williamsport to work with him, like Dr. Chezama, his partner. By all accounts, everyone loved the Illyces. Miriam was kind and giving. Richard was a great provider and a brilliant surgeon in the doctor. their son was a happy little boy. Well, mostly. Miriam's friends said that Richard was controlling and cruel. One said, he wanted his dinner at a certain time.

He wanted the house perfect. If she didn't please him, she paid a price. And he would punish her by pulling away from her and the family. Of course, he'd use his job as an excuse because, as we all know, surgeons have a demanding job. but at this point, Merriam rarely saw her husband. Probably didn't want to see him if he's acting like that. Sure. In 1998, Miriam, a devout Catholic, hired a divorce attorney.

It didn't really seem like she wanted a divorce. She seemed to go back and forth on whether she actually wanted the good doctor out of the house. The problem was she was pretty sure he was having an affair. Eventually, she and her lawyer were able to confirm it, and the news shocked her into action. When she was still working, Miriam hired an assistant for Richard named Catherine Sawyer. Catherine paid her back by sleeping with her husband. Owee. Skank.

Yeah, rude. Miriam moved out when she learned about the affair, and the couple began to move forward in settling the divorce. Now, I'm not exactly sure how much Richard Illis was making at the hospital. He acknowledged in his interview with 48 hours that he, quote, was, compensated probably more than he was worth. Whatever it was, the family court required him to pay Miriam $13,000 in child support a month. A month.

Adjusted for inflation, that's about $25,000 today. Who, baby. Do any heart surgeons want to have a baby and then go through a contentious divorce? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Mostly. Unless. Just don't sign that pre-nup.

I mean, I don't think pre-ups account for child support. True. Come on, baby. Richard tried protesting the payment, obviously, but when you're making buckets and buckets of money in a town where the median income is 53% lower than the national average, I don't think you're going to have a leg to stand on. Anyway, despite the money,

Miriam still held out hope that she and Richard might reconcile, but according to his colleagues, Richard wasn't interested. Despite the awkward and sometimes heated nature of their broken relationship, they agreed that they wanted the best for their son. So they had called, you know, a somewhat uneasy truce when it came to their co-parenting relationship. Miriam had primary custody, and Richard got little five-year-old Richie on the weekends. Dr. Illis looks back fondly on this time. He says, I had a pretty perfect life there for a little while. I had a girlfriend who I loved, and we had a great time.

I had a beautiful son who was being taken care of by his mother, who was the best mother in the world. There's no doubt about that. Everyone will tell you that. My dude. Gross. Like, who says that stuff out loud? She was an excellent caretaker. I mean, obviously, I didn't want to bang her anymore.

So, fuck off. Oh, my Lord. And he clearly does not get how awful that sounds. No. Which is fascinating. to me. During this time, Merriam leaned on her friends. It seemed like she was on the cusp of turning a corner of getting that twinkle in her eye back. Stella's going to get her groove back, you know. But strangely, something seemed to be holding her back. One friend, Leslie Smith, was with her one evening

and Mariam got a worried look on her face and suggested they should step away from the windows, just in case. Wow. How many times have we seen this, folks? So many people who end up murdered since that they're in danger before the danger actually happens. Listen to those instincts and you'll talk yourself out of it. Oh, you're just being crazy. No, you're not. If you get that persistent feeling, listen to it. And then, of course, all that hope was gone in the blink of an eye. Williamsport was, of course, appalled and shaken by this awful crime. Not only had they lost a prominent, wonderful woman, but they had no idea if it was a random or targeted attack. Suddenly, it felt like no one was safe, and that's an alien feeling in such a small town.

Naturally, the police wanted to speak to Richard first, especially because Richard was an avid hunter and a pretty good marksman. He easily agreed to an interview and gave every impression of the fully cooperative and grieving widower. He told investigators that he'd picked Richie up and started driving toward the Honeybrook area to visit his family. He said that he'd been driving for about an hour when Richie told him that Miriam hadn't fed him dinner, and he was hungry. So he and Richie stopped about 35 miles away from Miriam's house at McDonald's. And then, tired from a day of surgeries and realizing that it probably wasn't safe to continue driving, he decided to check into a hotel and continue the trip in the morning. Now, this was all true, mostly. Employees at the restaurant did remember seeing Dr. Illis, but didn't

remember exactly when, some saying that they saw him and his son as late as 11 p.m. He and and Richie did stay at a hotel that night, and they did continue their trip the next morning. Police tried the drive in both good and bad weather conditions, observing the speed limit and not, but couldn't seem to make the timing work, as Richard said it had. Something wasn't quite right with the story, but they didn't have much to go on for now. They wanted to interview little five-year-old Richie to get his perspective on this, but they needed Richard's permission because he was a minor. Richard refused, because, one, the kid just lost his mom, and two, allegedly, he was scared of cops.

Hmm. All of Miriam's family and friends seemed absolutely shaken by the news of her murder. Miriam had no enemies. Surely no one would want to hurt her. No one in the world hated her like that. Her friends, of course, side-eyed Richard, but other than that, they had no idea. Investigators were at a loss. This wasn't a ton to go on in terms of victimology.

What they did have, though, was the evidence at the scene, and, oh, baby, was that going to be a gold mine? I mean, size 14 footprints and cigarette butts and homemade silencers, Sherlock Holmes is rubbing his little cocaine-stained hands together with glee. Woo-hoo! There's got to be something good there, right? Well, unfortunately, our good doctor was a size nine. But the cigarette and three little hairs found on the homemade silencer went off

DNA testing and came back as no match. To Illis or anyone else they ran it against. God dang it. Another sweet piece of evidence that came up during their search of Miriam's house was a video inventory of the couple's marital home. A lot of people take those for divorce proceedings before they start splitting up the assets. Something that drew their attention was Dr. Illis's workshop. One investigator told 48 hours he had all the types of woodworking equipment that would have been necessary to construct this particular silencer. In response to that, Richard says, oh, yeah, I could have made it, but I would have made a silencer that was good.

That silencer that they found is very amateurish. Richard, honey, bless your heart. I feel like bragging about whether you could make a better silencer than the killer is maybe not the frickin point, but okay, good. You know, do you want a cookie or what? Anyway, this and the driving reenactments was enough to get the investing. a search warrant and inside the workshop they found traces that seemed similar to the amateurish silencer founded the scene. And this was very interesting. On the doctor's nightstand was a book

titled they wrote their own sentences, the FBI handwriting analysis book, as well as a book called How to Hide Your Assets and Disappear. Great job leaving that out in plain view, man. You're you're killing it yeah and uh 48 hours goes the handwriting book was a strange book for the doctor to have okay let those without sin cast the first stone like i know what they're getting at but like we're right here you know with shelves and shelves to weird books who do you think is your target audience 48 hours i know right and it's strange It was strange, perhaps, because shortly after Illis found out what was found at his house, a mysterious letter showed up at his attorney's office. Ooh, spooky. Man, y'all know I love me an anonymous letter.

Anytime one of these shows up, you know you're about to see the desperate shenanigans of a dipshit killer who thinks they're a lot smarter than they are. And somehow it all just makes the arrest so much more satisfying. Mm-hmm. The letter writer claimed to be the killer. and said he knew what evidence was found at Miriam's home. The letter was written in block letters and pencil. It read in part, I shot Miriam.

The Lord ordered me to harvest the wicked racist ones of this town. It was signed, Soldier of God, Soldier of equality, soldier of death. Now, was Miriam racist? No. but they still had to check it out. They interviewed all of Miriam's friends,

former co-workers and acquaintances again, who all vehemently denied that she was racist. What was more likely, and something we see a lot in our world, is that the letter writer was trying to mislead the investigators. I wonder who would want to do that, huh? I don't know, maybe someone whose house was just raided by cops, Somebody who might be feeling a little bit of pressure. Yeah, or maybe it was some loony tune unrelated to the crime at all.

Who knows? They were able to recover hair from the flap of the envelope, but again, DNA testing didn't show any matches. In fact, none of the DNA matched any of the other DNA. The cigarette butt didn't match the hairs from the silencer, which didn't match each other, which didn't match the hair from the envelope. So, what the hell? Were five different people involved in this crime? Or was someone planting evidence?

was passing, and unfortunately the case was growing cold. Investigators knew that their best lead was Richard. He was by far their best suspect. He was losing the divorce. A $13,000 monthly child support payment is a pretty convincing motive for just about anyone, and that damn drive from Williamsport to Harrisburg was stuck in the investigator's craw, but it just wasn't enough yet. It was to this point all circumstantial evidence and not quite enough to tip the scales of justice. Yet. And then four months after the murder and three months after the first, a second letter was delivered. In this one, the letter writer described himself. He revealed knowledge of the investigation and that Dr. Illis was not the correct suspect. Definitely not Dr. Illis. Definitely not Dr.

Dr. Illis, okay? These just freaking kill me at me. It wasn't Dr. Illis. They got the wrong man. The letter writer said he spoke several languages, had many fancy, schmancy degrees, and that he had a higher IQ than any police officer. No menza. No menza. Dang it, I almost had a bingo.

I mean, the menza is in his heart, even if he didn't have the membership card. Absolutely. He also wrote that he had access to the Illis' home and used Richard's supplies to make the homemade silencer while they are on vacation, which is convenient. Bonkers. This letter, which I really wish we had access to, clearly draws an arrow to Dr. Illis' partner, Dr. Chezama. He was fluent in several languages, had many advanced degrees, was good friends with the Illises, and had access to their home. There was a rumor that Dr. Zama and Miriam had an affair, but that wasn't based in reality at all. They were just friends. Close, certainly, but not that close. But when investigators looked

into Dr. Zama's whereabouts on the night of the murder, he'd been out with friends all night. He had an airtight alibi and no real motive to hurt Miriam. Good try, Mr. Letter Writer, but no. The letters were good evidence by themselves as well. As we mentioned before, the first one was sent four days after the warrant was served on Illis's house, which is a pretty big coincidence, to say the least. Then there's the pencil. Now, any good true crime buff knows that pen ink can be traced. Even the ballpoint itself can be linked to a specific pen, but pencil is untraceable. The block writing made it impossible to do any kind of analysis to link to any suspect, so basically the letter writer was a ghost. Except this was exactly the type of letter that the

book found on Richard's nightstand outline as being the hardest to trace. Crazy quinky dink, huh? It's also a good indication of the mentality of the actual murderer, right? It seems like whoever did the crime was anxious that the police were getting close and was just throwing everything at the wall

to see what's stuck, you know? Like, maybe they'll buy that Miriam was a bigot. Maybe they'll buy that Dr. Zama did it for no reason. Maybe they'll stop looking in this direction. Jingly keys, jingly keys. Don't look at that. Look at this. So by the summer of 1999, it felt like nothing was going right for the investigators until a fisherman was walking home from the river one day, about 40 feet off the highway,

when he nearly tripped over what he thought was a piece of driftwood. On closer inspection, though, he realized that it was a rifle. He immediately called the authorities who identified it as a rare, Savage 23D rifle that had its serial number drilled off. The thing about the serial number being drilled off, rather than filed off, is that sometimes when it's filed off, you can use acid to recover some or all of the numbers, but a drill will obliterate the numbers completely. This particular make and model of gun was last sold in 1949, which is before records were even kept, so they had no way of even linking it to Richard Illis. Perfect choice, damn.

The gun had some specific modifications that helped the police confirm that it was their murder weapon. It had a set screw at the top that was a perfect fit for the homemade silencer. Ballistics later confirmed that it was the gun that killed Miriam Illis. The gun was discarded right along the route that Richard claimed to have taken the night of the murder. Then, less than a quarter mile away, a pair of basketball shoes, size 14, were found with the same tread as those found at the crime scene. on the tongue of the shoes was a hair, and when they ran the DNA, no match again. What the fuck? A year later, investigators uncovered a little bit of an illus family secret.

Stick with us for a second, because this is juicy. Richard's godfather's name was Joe Kowalski. Now, part of the reason that Richard wanted to move back to Williamsport is that he and his Uncle Joe used to hunt and hike and fish in the woods around William. Port when Richard was a kid. He and Uncle Joe were super close while Richard was growing up, and when Joe passed away, he left Richard a bunch of his guns. Now, it turns out that Uncle Joe was actually Richard's biological father. Right? So juicy. Anyway, investigators found a photo of Joe holding a rifle that looked disturbingly similar to the murder weapon. So there's our connection between Illis and the gun that potentially killed Miriam.

A bit of a winding road, but it's there. Unfortunately, the DA didn't think that was enough for an arrest, wussy, so Dr. Illis remained a free man. Richard married Catherine, his girlfriend, and retained full custody of Richie for whom he obtained a passport. Yikes. At this point, Richard finally let the police interview Richie Jr., but his memories of that night were hazy,

and full of holes, even beyond what would be normal for a night two years in the past, especially a night where a kid lost his mother. Yeah, yeah. The police had a bit of a horrifying suspicion that Dr. Ellis had drugged Richie the night of the murder. It would be easy enough. He was a doctor and he'd have access and the knowledge of drugs to ensure that his son stayed asleep long enough to murder his estranged wife and get back on the road. But alas, too much time had passed.

That was mere conjecture. Ugh. In 2000, Tricky Dickie, Catherine and his son moved to Laredo, Texas, right on the border to Mexico, where Richard had gotten a new job as a heart surgeon. His proximity to the border and the fact that he got Ritchie a passport made the cops awfully nervous. But it was fine because he was let go from that job. And he and his new family moved to Spokane, Washington, where he was preliminarily hired as a heart surgeon. but that didn't pan out either.

It seemed like somebody was sending anonymous letters of their own. Anywhere he went, hospitals were being sent anonymous packages filled with newspaper clippings about Miriam's death, along with a warning about hiring Richard. No one knows for sure who was behind it, but some people suspected that it was Miriam's family, just letting Richard know that they were keeping text. on him. Apparently, some local journalists received some packages as well anywhere Richard moved,

which is just, huh, I just love it. I just love it. I mean, imagine how angry you would be years are going by without justice. It's a, oh, that's the least you'd want to do, you know? And it worked because he kept getting fired. It's hilarious. It's pretty good. Richard, for the record, believed that it was a jealous competitor, which is insane. But also sounds very much like something a heart surgeon would say. The ego on you, you little dweeb. But you can't keep a good man down or a bad man down or a good doctor down or whatever. You know what I'm saying.

Dr. Illis needed some of that cold, hard cash, and you know by now what surgeons do when they can't do anything else and don't want or need to get any certifications, right? Say it with me, folks. Plastic surgery. Plastic surgery. Remember head snap, toupee guy? Oh, God, head snap, toupee guy. Like, we've done like 18 cases where it's been like, and they did plastic surgery without any certifications. Like it's just, oh, it's tail as old as time.

You know, they're just, anyway, I know there are fantastic plastic surgeons who do great work and are passionate and have fantastic certifications. Right. Board certified plastic surgeons who actually have the training and knowledge to do it. Just remember to, like, Google them before you let them slice you up, okay? I got a story about this. I have a friend who got some work done, and after the fact, she found out that her plastic surgeon had actually been, like, arrested a bunch of times for, like, operating under the info. Excuse me?

Yes. Is that awful? It was years ago, but still, like, how are you still practicing? Wild stuff. I just, yeah, just Google. Just Google them before. Yes, absolutely. So, anyway, he was, he, you know, it's just, it just sucks when people, would bad people come out on top, even for a little bit, you know? Yes.

So, remember the shoes, okay, and the mystery hair, the size 14 shoes and the mystery here. Well, one of the investigators got a wild hair. and decided, you know what, let's test the hair against Richie Jr. And you want to know what? It was a match. Finally. It was habeas. Grab his time. Now, it's not clear why it wasn't like a match initially.

Like, court documents talk about mitochondrial tests and the sample not being big enough. So it's possible that either the tech wasn't there, like it wasn't its infinite. or it was just a really small sample, but either way, they got a match and they were going to put the cuffs on the doctor, finally. The Spokane Sheriff's Department who'd been keeping tabs on Illis for the Williamsport PD tried to grab Illis at his office

while the Williamsport guys waited like expectant fathers at the precinct. Unfortunately, Illis didn't show at his office. The thing that all of Richard's friends told the police when they were gathering evidence was that he always carried a gun. Dr. Zama told investigators to be careful that, quote, should they gather enough evidence to arrest him, Richard would kill everyone, including his son, to ensure that no one lives to testify.

Hoo, if that didn't make your blood run cold. Illis seems to have been tipped off and was trying to shake his tail. He was driving towards downtown Spokane. They didn't think he had anyone in his car. His son was at school. What on earth was he doing? But then randomly, he pulled. over, and they were able to arrest him without further incident.

Phew. During a search of the doctor's computer, the investigators found a laptop, and during a forensic analysis, they found an unfinished manuscript titled, I swear to God, heart shot, murder of the doctor's wife. It's written from the perspective of the killer in excruciating detail. The character's names aren't even changed. Like, oh, hello again, Mark Twitchell, idiot. Apparently, he wrote that, quote, the killer felt an orgasmic catharsis at the moment

Miriam was killed. Ew. Oh, my God. I don't even know what to say about it. It's disguised. He is the creepiest motherfucker. Like, just look up a picture of him right now. Like, yeah.

He has a terrible mustache, which is a choice. He's just, he's the fucking worst. I hate him so much. Catarsis. Don't worry, though. Richard has an explanation for this. He told 48 hours, I thought it would generate more interest and more widespread knowledge of the actual facts of the case, which were not being disseminated by the police. That was my motive. Oh, yeah. Makes perfect sense. So you had to write orgasmic catharsis to get that info out to the public, did you? Really? Come on, man. At trial, the prosecution's theory of the case was pretty

clear-cut. In order to avoid a $13,000 a month child support payment and any further bleeding from the divorce, Richard Illis drugged his son shortly after picking him up for the weekend trip. Then he doubled back to Miriam's home where he took out his tools, the shoes several sizes too big, the homemade silencer, and the used cigarette butt he'd carefully procured earlier. He found the tree that he could lean against and he waited and watched for her through the kitchen window with his father's antique gun. When she finally came into view, he lined up his shot, took a breath, and squeezed the trigger. And then he planted all the evidence. The jury found Dr. Richard Illis guilty

of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison. A week later, he attempted to take his own life by gouging his wrist with a paper clip. He was stabilized by prison medical staff. In a strange update, Richard Illis brought a lawsuit. against Camp Hill Correctional Institution, claiming that he was deprived of adequate food while being temporarily housed there. He said he was denied 46 meals and lost 8% of his body weight

between August 5th and 31st, 2010. According to him, his preferred pain medication was eliminated from the prison pharmacy and it prevented him from standing at his cell door to receive meals, which is required on that block. He accused 11 correctional staff members

of cruel and unusual punishment. Now, that would be horrible. Except, as the defense pointed out, he was able to walk to the library, the visitor's room, the yard, the showers, and the telephones. The library and visitors' room are both in other buildings. Now, we are not saying our prison system is perfect.

Good God, is it not. But I am saying that Richard Illis is a liar and should be shot out of a cannon. That's pretty much it. Anyway, his case was thrown out. According to court records, Illis was offered an alternative medication, and could have requested a disability accommodation.

I do think it's weird to make inmates have to stand for food, though. Like, maybe cut that out. That's kind of strange. This isn't a military school. What probably happened is that Richard didn't like being told what to do. Anyway, I think this one is really about the power of friendship campers. Merriam's absence left a hole. For all of Dr. Illis's careful planning, he didn't account for one thing.

He had no way of knowing Miriam. was on the phone that night, narrowing his alibi down to just a few crucial minutes. So all that clever villainous planning had a wrench thrown in because his wife was so well-loved. How's that for justice, huh? So that was a wild one, right, campers? You know, we'll have another one for you next week. But for now, lock your doors, light your lights, and stay safe until we get together again around the true crime campfire. If you haven't booked your spot yet on the Crime Wave True Crime Claims,

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