Ellen Farris death: In Lethal Vows true story, the real Dr David Farris murderer, Richard K Overton died in 2009 after killing his wife Janet Overton, who he believed was having numerous affairs.
Richard K. Overton was convicted of murdering his wife, Janet Overton, a popular school board member, by slipping her poisons in 1988.
Janet Overton, the real Ellen Farris died January 24, 1988, as she and her teenage son with Richard, Eric, were about to set off on a whale-watching outing.
Richard Overton died June 2009 at the age of 81, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed.
Overton died from advanced dementia and complications of diabetes while serving a life sentence for his wife’s murder.
Ellen Farris death: Lethal Vows Dr David Farris murderer true story
Each morning, before she left for work, Dorothy Boyer made herself a fresh cup of hot coffee. She’d pull the coffee can from the shelf, measure its contents into a filter, and wait for the water to seep through.
But one day she began to feel ill. The following day, she was so sick she couldn’t get out of bed. Her entire body ached, she had intense stomach pain and was vomiting.
The next morning, Boyer felt much better and returned to her normal routine. She got up early, prepared for her day, made her coffee and went to work. But by noon she was once again doubled over with stomach pain.
When she returned home that afternoon she noticed something strange — the coffee can was not where she left it that morning. The next day she felt better again, and once more returned to her daily routine. But this time, before she left, she noted the exact position of the coffee can. Sure enough, when she returned from work, it had moved.
Boyer called the police, who confiscated the can and checked it for fingerprints. They found some — her ex-husband’s — all over the can. Police arrested Richard K. Overton, who confessed he had been poisoning her coffee with a heavy metal called selenium to get revenge after she was awarded the house in their divorce settlement.
Overton would have gone to jail, but Boyer refused to testify against him and, consequently, he went free.
Overton’s first wife, Dorothy Boyer, raised four children with him.
They divorced in 1969 after Boyer learned that while they were married, Overton had secretly married another woman, Caroline Draper, with whom he had a child. That marriage was annulled.
How Ellen Farris death happened:
But as it turned out, the poisoning was just one step in a trail of lies and deceit that would eventually lead to the murder of Overton’s third wife, a crime from which he again almost walked away free.
In January 1988, Overton’s third wife, Janet, suddenly collapsed and died in the driveway of the couple’s home. Investigators were unable to determine a cause of death.
Two years after Janet Overton’s death, Richard Overrton married a fourth time.
Boyer read the obituary in the newspaper and decided it was time she spoke up. She called the police and told them Overton had tried to poison her 15 years earlier.
By that time the remains of Janet Overton had been cremated. But police ordered an analysis of her ashes, which confirmed the first wife’s hunch — traces of cyanide.
Overton, who was by this time a professor at the University of Southern California, was arrested and charged with murdering his third wife, a trustee of the Capistrano School District.
Overton had suspected Janet was cheating on him, and gave her cyanide to make her sick. But this time, instead of just becoming ill, she died.
Overton’s own obsessively detailed diaries helped convince jurors he was guilty.
Coded in Spanish and Russian, the diaries recounted his wife’s whereabouts, listed the 17 men with whom he believed she was having affairs, and alluded repeatedly to a slow poisoning campaign using selenium.
Richard Kenneth Overton was born May 15, 1928, in Texas and studied math and Spanish at Abilene Christian College.
He later earned a master’s and doctorate in psychology at the University of Texas. Over the years, he taught at various colleges and worked in the defense industry.
Up until his death, Overton maintained his innocence.
Lethal Vows is a 1999 American made-for-television thriller drama film based on a true story of Richard K Overton, his ex-wife Dorothy Boyer, and Overton’s third and late wife Janet Overton.
Starring John Ritter, Marg Helgenberger and Megan Gallagher, the movie premiered October 13, 1999, on CBS.