Harold “Peanut” Allen, 52, was found unresponsive in his Freetown, Indiana, home on Dec. 20, 2022. An initial autopsy attributed his death to cardiac problems, including pericarditis. Harold’s family had watched his health decline for months—diabetes, persistent gastrointestinal pain, emergency-room visits and recent facial numbness. He was buried, and his widow, Marsha Allen, publicly grieved and later self-published a book about loss.
Nine months later, a routine police response to a burglary at Marsha’s house unraveled that account. Home-security video showed two men ransacking the home and opening a safe. One burglar, Steven White, was recognized by Marsha as a longtime friend of her daughter, Ashley Jones. White was arrested; during questioning he told investigators that Marsha had poisoned Harold by adding a chemical to a root beer float. He said Ashley had shared details and had mailed him a key and given him the safe combination.
White’s statements prompted a deeper probe. Officers recovered stolen property and identified the other intruder, but more critical evidence emerged when detectives sought to download Marsha’s phone. According to investigators, Marsha left the room and deleted messages; forensic recovery later produced those deleted texts, which investigators say revealed a months-long conspiracy between Marsha and Ashley to poison Harold.
Detectives recovered nearly 7,000 text messages between mother and daughter in the three months before Harold’s death. The exchanges ranged from disparaging remarks about Harold and calls for him to “let go,” to detailed discussions about sourcing and testing poisons. The messages mentioned exotic toxic plants—Pong Pong seeds from the so-called “suicide tree” and water hemlock—and referred to poisoned brownies, chili and drinks as possible delivery methods. When plant-based attempts appeared unsuccessful, the texts show the pair considered ethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting, colorless chemical commonly found in antifreeze.
Because ethylene glycol can be concealed in sweet beverages, investigators say Marsha and Ashley planned to use a root beer float to hide the chemical. Recovered texts include messages about Marsha shopping for soda and ice cream and references to root beer floats as the intended vehicle. Prosecutors allege ethylene glycol arrived at Marsha’s house on Dec. 19, 2022; Harold was discovered the next day and could not be revived.
Harold’s initial autopsy did not include toxicology screening for the substances discussed because his death had not been treated as suspicious, though blood samples were routinely preserved. After the burglary and recovery of the texts, detectives placed a hold on those samples and ordered expanded testing. Lab results later detected ethylene glycol in Harold’s blood, a finding prosecutors say supports the conclusion that he was poisoned.
Marsha repeatedly denied wrongdoing when interviewed. Detectives say she told them Harold’s death was due to a cardiac condition and that any toxicology would show that; they also say she deleted messages from her phone during an interview, a deletion captured on video. That recovered, detailed message traffic, together with White’s account and the toxicology results, led investigators to pursue homicide charges.
The day after officers served a search warrant on Marsha’s home and interviewed her, police responded to a welfare check. Marsha was found dead of an apparent suicide and left a note that read in part, “I did not kill my husband. You win Ashley!” Prosecutors and detectives said they believed she took her own life after learning Harold’s blood had been retained for testing and after the text messages were exposed. Because Marsha died, she was never tried.
With Marsha deceased, prosecutors concentrated on Ashley Jones. Ashley had been arrested on burglary charges after the security footage surfaced. In interviews she initially denied knowledge, then, within minutes, told detectives her mother wanted Harold dead and that she had assisted in obtaining chemicals and other supplies. She admitted ordering ethylene glycol and other substances but said she did not ask many questions. Prosecutors also say Ashley received roughly $1,000 a month from Marsha after Harold’s death through mid-2023, payments they contend could be regarded as compensation for participation in the scheme.
Prosecutors described greed as a likely motive, pointing to Harold’s $120,000 employer-provided life insurance policy and valuables taken during the burglary, including guitars and guns. Investigators continued to execute warrants through October 2023, collecting digital and physical evidence linking Ashley to the purchase and delivery of ethylene glycol and to the texts that described multiple poisoning attempts. The recovered messages, combined with the toxicology confirmation, became the backbone of the prosecution’s case.
In August 2025, Ashley Jones accepted a plea agreement, admitting to attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder; other charges were dismissed. She was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Steven White, whose statements helped expose the plot, received a three-and-a-half-year sentence for his role in the burglary.
The case also prompted renewed scrutiny of other sudden deaths in people connected to Ashley. Her late husband, Ty Jones, died unexpectedly in 2019 at age 33; his autopsy cited heart complications, his body was cremated at Ashley’s request, and no toxicology consistent with poisoning was performed then. Ty’s family, long suspicious, urged authorities to reexamine his death after the revelations in Harold’s case. Indiana State Police opened an investigation into Ty’s death; officials say those inquiries are ongoing and that no charges have been filed.
For Harold’s relatives, the revelations were crushing. They remember him as an outgoing man who loved motorcycles, music, fishing and his community, who welcomed Ashley and her child into his home as family. His brother described the deep betrayal of learning Harold was, investigators say, gradually poisoned by people he trusted.
Investigators characterized the plot as methodical and callous: repeated experiments to find a lethal agent, testing and planning, and a casual tone in messages that sometimes included “lol” and emojis while describing ways to kill. The legal outcomes closed some chapters—Ashley’s conviction and long sentence, White’s shorter term, and Marsha’s death without trial—but left other questions unresolved.
For Harold’s family, the conviction brought a measure of closure but not peace. They continue to mourn the man known as Peanut and to grapple with the betrayal and loss inflicted by relatives who, prosecutors say, repeatedly plotted to kill him for money. The case underscores how a routine burglary, recovered deleted texts and preserved blood samples can overturn an everyday explanation for a death and expose a hidden, lethal scheme.