Indiana woman helped mom poison stepdad before his death: Authorities

JACKSON COUNTY, Ind. (WXIN) – An Indiana mother and daughter allegedly made four attempts to kill the mother’s husband by poisoning his food and drink before they ultimately succeeded in December 2022, according to court documents.

The recently filed documents reveal that prosecutors added two attempted murder charges against 30-year-old Ashley Jones after emails uncovered further attempts by Jones and her mother Marsha Allen to kill 52-year-old Harold Allen, Marsha Allen’s husband.

As of Friday, Jones is facing the following charges:

Two counts of murder
One count of conspiracy to commit murder, a Level 1 felony
One count of consumer product tampering, a Level 4 felony
Two counts of attempted murder, a Level 1 felony

According to previous reports, Marsha Allen and Jones ordered ethylene glycol off the internet and placed the substance into Harold Allen’s root beer float.

On Dec. 20, 2022, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department received a call of an unconscious person in Freetown. Officials said they believed that Harold Allen was dead before the emergency call was placed. At the time of his death, no foul play was suspected.

On Oct. 16, 2023, Marsha Allen was found dead at her home in Freetown because of a suspected suicide. The next day, Jones — who was in police custody after a burglary — told officers about her step dad’s poisoning. She allegedly said that her mother put the ethylene glycol into his root beer float after Jones purchased the substance.

What do the new court documents say?

As detectives investigated Harold Allen’s death, they uncovered emails from an account linked to Ashley Jones and other communications between Marsha Allen and Jones. These revealed four additional attempts by the pair to poison him.

In late July 2024, detectives obtained the contents of two email accounts connected to Jones. According to officials, ethylene glycol was ordered through one email account named “topazmoonchild1793.” However, the order was reportedly masked by another email address, “mouths-sloop.0o,” using Apple’s “Hide My Email” feature.

Ashley Jones is pictured here. (Photo credit: Jackson County Jail)

After reviewing both email accounts, detectives said that more evidence was located.

On Sept. 14, 2022, Jones reportedly ordered pong pong seeds from an eBay seller. Pong pong seeds are brown, oval-shaped seeds that produce Cerberin, a substance that disrupts cardiac electrical activity. The seeds are often used for “suicidal ingestion” in regions like southeast Asia, according to research published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.

The court documents state that the bitter taste of the seeds can be masked with spices and may be added to food. Ingesting the seeds causes nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea, followed by heart-related symptoms.

The seeds arrived at Marsha Allen’s Freetown home in October 2022. The documents said that the two waited to use the seeds until they put them in a batch of brownies on Nov. 26, 2022. Authorities said the seeds were then ground up and placed into the dessert.

“It should be noted that Marsha (Allen) sends (Jones) a photo message of what appears to be Harold (Allen) on November 26th. In the photo, there is a half-eaten brownie on a paper plate sitting on Harold’s stomach,” the documents read. “Harold became sick after eating the brownie and ended up in the emergency room the next day.”

After Harold Allen ate the brownie, conversations between Marsha Allen and Jones that evening and into the next day show that they spoke about how he was reacting to the seeds in the brownie. The two spoke on how long the process was taking.

“I am irritated and can’t sleep peacefully,” Marsha Allen reportedly said to Jones in a message on Nov. 28, 2022. “I need this to be over… I wish it would reach its climax and be done lol.”

“Agreed,” Jones reportedly responded to Marsha Allen.

Harold Allen reportedly continued to show symptoms and had to return to the emergency room on Nov. 30. Harold Allen was eventually dismissed from the hospital after doctors said it was an inflammatory intestines-related condition.

After this unsuccessful attempt, Jones reportedly placed an order on Etsy for water hemlock on Dec. 1, 2022. According to the documents, water hemlock is “the most violently toxic plant that grows in North America and only a small amount of the toxic substance in the plant is needed to produce poisoning in livestock or humans.

Symptoms in water hemlock poisoning can include nausea, abdominal pain, epigastric distress, flushing, dizziness and death.

On Dec. 8, 2022, the substance was delivered to the Freetown home. Texts over the next few days show that Jones and Marsha Allen attempted to poison Harold Allen by placing water hemlock poison into a bowl of chili on Dec. 9, 2022, a glass of soda on Dec. 10, 2022, and a margarita on Dec. 12, 2022.

After the unsuccessful attempts, Jones reportedly ordered the ethylene glycol on Dec. 13, 2022, the substance which ultimately killed Harold Allen on Dec. 20, 2022.

What’s next?

Jeffrey Chalfant, Jackson County’s prosecuting attorney, said in court documents that they are requesting a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. This is based on two aggravating circumstances: Jones allegedly killing Harold Allen and torturing him while he was alive.

Jones’ jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 7, 2025, according to court documents.