In this eye-opening episode of Pushing Up Lilies, as a forensic death investigator, I delve into the often-overlooked risks lurking in our homes. We'll explore real cases of accidental deaths caused by common household poisons, shedding light on the hidden dangers that can turn everyday items into lethal weapons. From cleaning products to expired foods, you'll learn how easily these substances can become deadly. But it’s not all grim—toward the end of the episode, I’ll also share some vital tips on maintaining your health and the importance of regular check-ups. Prevention is key, and understanding both the dangers and the steps you can take to stay safe can make all the difference. Join me for an informative journey through the risks and remedies in our domestic lives.
CONNECT WITH JULIE MATTSON:
• Website: https://pushinguplilies.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pushinguplilies
0:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies.
0:08 I'm your host, Julie Mattson.
0:10 Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly True Crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
0:24 Do I have some stories for you?
0:26 Are you ready?
0:31 Hey, guys, I am really hoping y'all are having better weather than we are in Texas after being hit by those tornadoes.
0:40 Last week, we have had some crazy wind and so much rain.
0:46 I think we're all over it, but I don't think it's over yet.
0:50 It rained a little bit today because it will rain again tomorrow.
0:54 I feel so bad for all the people who have lost their homes.
0:58 I mean, I keep hearing stories about people that lost everything, and I wish there was more that I could do.
1:05 And if anyone's interested in helping out, let me know I can get you in touch with somebody that can help you with donations.
1:12 Well, seven people lost their lives and a lot of people lost their homes.
1:17 There is a couple that, she had a head bleed and he, I think broke his back and she was finally discharged from the hospital.
1:29 He's doing better.
1:30 He's had surgery.
1:32 They're both, you know, in good spirits, considering they did completely lose their home.
1:38 Anybody who's interested in helping, I can give you some resources as far as ways to help out.
1:46 Again, very small community, very tightly knit.
1:50 And it's my hometown.
1:52 It has a very special place in my heart.
1:56 I know I went to a restaurant there on Sunday and the owner who is a, a very dear friend of mine said that three of her employees lost everything.
2:06 It's devastating.
2:08 And I know that storms like this happen all across the US all the time.
2:13 And this is the first time it's ever hit home.
2:16 Appreciate all the prayers.
2:18 And again, just hoping that this weather gives us a little bit of a break on our subject of poisonings.
2:27 I thought that, I mean, I know that I learned a lot last week about peaches.
2:32 I know we were talking about it.
2:33 I was like, I could have sworn my mom was just lying to me about eating the peach seed thinking that I would break my teeth.
2:39 But yeah, I learned a lot.
2:42 There are other kinds of strange poisonings that happen.
2:46 Things that you really don't expect are accidental.
2:52 I know in January of 2017; an Amarillo family fell extremely sick, and one child died at home and instantly because when an entire family is sick at the same residence.
3:08 We automatically think carbon monoxide.
3:11 We get this at the medical examiner's office.
3:13 We've had people who, you know, entire families are sleeping in the middle of the night, and they just don't wake up and sometimes the pets are deceased as well.
3:23 And so that's a good indication that it's probably carbon monoxide in this particular instance.
3:29 Three more Children later died at the hospital.
3:33 They were transported to the hospital and died later.
3:36 And the mother was in critical condition.
3:40 They had a lot of kids; four more Children and the husband were all in stable condition.
3:47 Even though they suspected carbon monoxide.
3:51 In the beginning, investigators found pesticide pellets under the home.
3:57 Someone had tried to spray them off with water which caused a chemical reaction, and it released phosphate gas into the home which poisoned the entire family.
4:10 Who would have thought, I mean, that's kind of interesting.
4:13 I don't know very many people that put pellets under their home, but who knows, you know, I don't know what kind of rodents or whatnot that they were dealing with.
4:22 So the water mixed with them made this chemical reaction and you wouldn't think, I mean, you would think water would dilute things but not always in January of 2015, in Italy, a woman was making hot chocolate with powdered milk.
4:41 How many times have we done this?
4:43 I mean, it's a completely innocent chore.
4:45 We do it all the time.
4:47 We've probably done it for our Children numerous times over the years, as well as our grandchildren.
4:53 But after her husband drank this hot chocolate, he became very ill, and he started vomiting and then everyone in the family proceeded to get sick.
5:04 And Rosetta, the woman that made the hot chocolate forgot to check the dates on the package of the powdered milk that she used.
5:15 The package was purchased in the late eighties and the milk had gone bad with an expiration date in 1990.
5:24 We're talking about 2015.
5:27 This powdered milk had been in her pantry for 25 years y'all.
5:34 But even then, I mean, who would have thought that it would be poisonous?
5:37 Who would have thought that if you used it?
5:39 It would have made everyone sick.
5:42 I mean, in my mind like when I opened the package, I would think it's going to smell bad.
5:48 I mean, something to indicate to me that it was not good, but evidently that wasn't the case growing up.
5:54 I mean, my mom used to mix cocoa, you know, Nestle’s powdered cocoa with powdered milk all the time and we would give it to our teachers for holidays or whatnot.
6:06 It was delicious.
6:08 I mean, we loved hot chocolate.
6:09 We mixed marshmallows with it.
6:10 We did all the things.
6:12 But this is crazy to think that powdered milk because I mean, again, it was 25 years old.
6:19 I don't know about y'all, but my husband is anal about throwing stuff away when it's expired.
6:25 He's gone through all of the condiments in our refrigerator, the mayonnaise, the mustard, the ketchup.
6:33 Like all those things are literally thrown away on or before the date that they expire.
6:40 Growing up, my parents used to always say milk was good for at least 10 days after the due date.
6:45 I don't know what y'all said, but mine always said at least 10 days and whenever you were going to use it, you would actually take the lid off and pour it into a cup and smell it and not just smell the lid of the container that it was in because that was always going to smell bad because it had remnants of the milk that had been poured out of a container on it.
7:11 It was always going to smell bad.
7:13 You know, my parents were like, pour it in a cup, smell it.
7:16 If it smells OK?
7:17 And it's less than 10 days expired, then you're good to go.
7:21 I mean, we're not going to have a problem.
7:23 That was our general rule.
7:26 And I mean, I never got sick, but I can't say that, I mean, literally my husband would never, I mean, there would not be anything in our refrigerator or our pantry that was more than 10 days old before it was thrown out spices especially.
7:42 And now I personally never thought that spices expired, but apparently, they do he's going to throw them out before the expiration date.
7:52 Nothing in our home is used after the expiration date.
7:56 25-year-old powdered milk can cause you to get extremely ill.
8:04 You know, that's one thing I guess, note to self-check the expiration dates on some of the things that are in your pantry and your refrigerator in New Jersey in 2008, 6 people accidentally took a sip of oil that's used in a tiki torch like tiki torch fuel after mistaking it for apple juice.
8:27 I don't know if y'all ever seen it, but it is the same color.
8:31 Four people were hospitalized, and an 84-year-old woman actually died and an eight-year-old suffered permanent lung damage.
8:41 Now, a lot of these containers that a lot of these chemicals come in, look a lot like juice containers.
8:50 And I think a lot of times they might be mistaken for juice containers by kids or even adults.
8:57 I mean, who knows?
8:58 But the Tiki torch fuel is a petroleum-based fluid.
9:03 It has been refined from crude oil, which is made up of hydrocarbons which contain a lot of energy.
9:10 Many of the chemicals from crude oil, like gasoline, diesel fuel and the Tiki torch fuels actually use the same source of energy.
9:20 So it's basically kerosene.
9:22 Yeah.
9:23 I mean, if you can only imagine drinking what you think is kerosene and mistaking it for apple juice.
9:29 I mean, it's the same color.
9:31 Again, four people hospitalized and then an elderly woman lost her life because of that.
9:38 There was another case where a kiddo named Benjamin.
9:42 Ok, he was four months old.
9:44 He would take a drink from a glass that would make him and his two-year-old sister extremely sick, assuming his sister gave this to him because he obviously did not pour himself a glass of whatever this was, but they both became extremely ill.
10:02 A dentist in town had invited their family over for a cookout and this was in August of 2003 and poured a jug of water into glasses.
10:14 Benjamin had some, he vomited and he actually had blood in his emesis and was rushed to the, and they also took the jug of fluid to the, not knowing, you know what was in it, which is smart, you know, many times when we have somebody transported to the, they'll say they ate something or they drank something and we never know what it is and sometimes family gets there and cleans the scene and starts throwing stuff away and it's really hard for us to get the evidence that we need to actually find out exactly what happened.
10:50 Doctors were able to look at the jug and saw a warning on the label that revealed that there was arsenic in it and it was actually weed killer Benjamin died and his sister was hospitalized for weeks again, so many things that you combine, that mimic things that we can drink and you know, someone doesn't know the difference, not paying attention, whatever it is they're doing.
11:19 I think it's just very important to know your surroundings.
11:23 Make sure everything is labeled appropriately, make sure everything is stored appropriately so that it's not mistaken for food or for drink.
11:34 I think that this is very important.
11:37Constantine Pitsas was charged with involuntary manslaughter, and he was ultimately acquitted.
11:45 But this is a dentist y'all.
11:47 And I mean, he did not purposefully give this to these Children.
11:51 He poured them a glass of what he thought was water and, you know, here he is giving them weed killer.
11:58 I mean, I don't understand how this could happen.
12:00 Personally, I think I pay a little more attention to my surroundings than this, but I mean, they say it was obvious that he didn't do it on purpose, but he was ultimately acquitted originally charged with involuntary manslaughter.
12:14 I think that just shows us that we're willing to pay attention y'all.
12:18 You know, our little kids can crawl around and get into things because we leave them out.
12:24 But if we're purposefully pouring something into their bottle or their glass and serving it to them because we've stored it incorrectly and labeled it incorrectly, we don't know what it is.
12:36 That's a huge problem.
12:38 I have a huge problem with that in 2014, a 67-year-old named Jan Harding was at Dicky's barbecue.
12:48 We have those all over Texas.
12:51 Dicky's barbecue, Salt Lake City, Utah.
12:53 She ordered sweet tea, that's a big thing in Texas.
12:57 I don't know if y'all drink sweet tea where you're at, but we definitely do.
13:02 I know that when I went to Africa for the first time, I ordered sweet tea and they gave me a bottle of Snapple and although it was delicious, it was just not Texas sweet tea.
13:11 Anyway, she ordered sweet tea.
13:13 I mean, who would think that there would be something in the tea that you order from a restaurant?
13:20 Her mouth and throat began to burn severely, and she was rushed to the hospital.
13:27 An employee had accidentally used lye in the sugar or instead of sugar.
13:34 I don't know which but lie y'all that is caustic.
13:38 That is like a cleanser.
13:40 It was put in the sweet tea in place of sugar because it probably looked the same.
13:47 Why was it near the food in the restaurant?
13:50 I mean, to me this does not make sense again, not labeled correctly, not stored correctly.
13:55 This is a problem.
13:57 I mean we know anything in excess amounts can kill you.
14:02 January 14th near New York City.
14:05 A five-year-old was poisoned by his mom who had given him so much salt that he was taken to the hospital with sodium poisoning and the increased sodium levels caused his brain to swell and I know our kids all love salt.
14:19 I mean, how many of us have not had a niece or nephew or grandchild or even a child of our own lick the saltshaker at a restaurant.
14:28 The dreaded.
14:29 Oh my God.
14:30 It's devastating to see because those are so gross.
14:33 I mean, people touch those, but our kids are like, oh, watch this, you know, lick the saltshaker so nasty.
14:41 You know, it's even more gross when you come along later and you're a customer and you're trying to use a saltshaker and the salt sticks to the little openings where it's supposed to come out because some kid before you has actually licked the shaker.
14:54 Yuck.
14:55 Anyway, this mom though had been blogging about health issues that her little boy had but the entire time she was causing them.
15:05 She had been giving him salt since he was an infant.
15:09 She definitely had an issue with Munchausen by proxy and she was guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.
15:20 In March of 2015.
15:22 She was sentenced to 20 years.
15:24 She knowingly was giving her child all this salt.
15:28 I know that my granddaughter likes to lick the salt off the rim of some of the glasses that I get if I'm drinking like an alcoholic beverage or whatnot.
15:37 I mean, it's one thing to just lick a little bit off, but this mom was giving her child large amounts of sodium from the time he was an infant.
15:47 I mean, obviously he didn't know what was going on, but he had a lot of swelling going on.
15:53 And every time he got sick, she would take him to the hospital to, you know, signs of Munchausen by proxy.
15:59 You know, eventually it killed him 20 years in prison.
16:03 In 2015.
16:05 In summer of 2014, there was a Georgia teen who suffered cramps after football practice and drank two gallons of water.
16:16 And then he went home and collapsed.
16:19 He was pronounced brain dead, and he was found to have water intoxication, there was swelling on his brain.
16:27 He drank too much water.
16:29 You wouldn't think that water could cause a problem.
16:32 We've been encouraged our entire life to drink plenty of water.
16:36 I mean, it can cause water intoxication, which can mess with all of the different electrolytes in your system and cause lethal heart arrhythmias that can cause you to die suddenly.
16:52 And sometimes, you know, when we do an autopsy on people who have suffered from water intoxication because we can't really capture that lethal arrhythmia after death.
17:05 Many times their death is rolled undetermined because we know we can't prove it was an accident.
17:10 We can't prove anything because we can't see anything.
17:14 Everything looks completely normal.
17:16 And many times people who die of water intoxication are really healthy.
17:22 I mean, these are people who work out on a regular basis, and they do force themselves to drink water like they know they're supposed to because we're told that that will help.
17:33 This can also be a problem.
17:35 Again, anything in large amounts or in excess can cause problems for us just thought that it would be interesting to kind of go over a few of those things because again, those are things that I really haven't come up against in my position as a death investigator over the last 21 years.
17:56 But, you know, they happen.
17:57 I mean, I have had a case where young people or several cases where young people who work out religiously and eat healthy, but they do drink a lot of water have died suddenly after complaints of heart palpitations.
18:13 And so there's a very good chance that they had some sort of potassium or sodium imbalance that caused them to have a lethal arrhythmia.
18:24 Now, I did have a coronary calcium scan this past week, which I thought was interesting.
18:30 I did find out that, you know, my dad had a history of heart disease, and he had a heart attack in his sixties.
18:39 You know, there's always, I think, that fear when you have a family history of something that you're going to develop it.
18:45 I don't want to have a heart Cath, I mean, that's very invasive and it just sounds super scary to me.
18:50 And I haven't really had any symptoms to make me a candidate for a heart cath.
18:55 My insurance company would probably laugh if the Cath lab asked them to pay for it.
19:00 My doctor told me about a cardiac calcium scan and basically it detects plaque in your coronary arteries and it's a simple CAT scan.
19:10 It is done.
19:11 Literally, it took me, I think five minutes.
19:14 It cost me $199 out of pocket.
19:17 Again, it's not covered by insurance, and I was a little bit nervous y'all to get these results back just because, I don't know, I guess it's a little scary to think that you could have a problem that you don't know about yet.
19:30And that if it's there, the doctors are going to want to talk to you about some sort of surgical intervention.
19:37 Now, that's not my idea of fun.
19:39 I'm busy, I've got two jobs and a podcast and I'm in grad school.
19:44 I really don't have time to have open heart surgery because I've had this random CT that showed calcium in my coronary artery.
19:51 I was a little bit nervous.
19:53 I'm not 100% sure that I was ready for the results of this test.
19:57 I mean, it was kind of scary.
19:59 But then again, you know, if it be having a heart attack, I mean, in my position at the office, how many young people, I mean, twenties thirties, forties, do we see that actually drop dead of a heart attack with no warning?
20:15 I mean, they basically have had no symptoms or anything.
20:19 It is scary to think that they could find something that required some sort of intervention.
20:24 But I'm happy to say I got my results back and my cardiac calcium score was zero.
20:31 I was kind of excited and a little bit better than I expected.
20:35 It's good to know that I don't have any plaque in my coronary arteries.
20:39 It gave me a little bit of peace of mind.
20:41 I can honestly say that $199 was well spent because I feel so much better.
20:48 I guess there's always that fear when you have a family history of heart disease and stroke that there could be something there that you're not going to know about until it's too late.
21:00 That's something to think about.
21:01 I know that a lot of doctors will order that test again.
21:04 Insurance does not pay for it.
21:07 I think our biggest fear is that it would be so expensive that we wouldn't be able to afford it.
21:12 But I highly encourage you if you have a family history of heart disease.
21:18 If you have a parent who has died at a young age of heart disease and you've had symptoms or even if you haven't had symptoms, I highly encourage this test.
21:29 I mean, it is y'all, I mean $199 very well spent.
21:35 Ask your doctor to order it coronary calcium scan.
21:39 So worth it.
21:40 It can save your life.
21:42 It can detect the plaque that you don't know you have.
21:47 I just definitely recommend it.
21:49 I can't say enough about that someday.
21:51 Insurance will probably pay for it.
21:54 I know there are a lot of people who don't have insurance, but I feel like 100 and $99.
22:00 Although it may seem like a lot of money is well worth it, especially if you have a strong family history of heart disease.
22:07 I encourage you to check into that and see if that's an option for you, discuss it with your doctor because it's very important.
22:16 It's very important to take care of yourself and you want to be here for your family.
22:22 I mean, you don't want to die unexpectedly because you haven't taken care of yourself.
22:26 You know, I'm at the age where, you know, I have a grandchild and my kids are getting older and I really want to be there for them.
22:33 That's very, very important to me.
22:36 I want to do everything I can to take care of myself and mind you.
22:39 You know, I'm not at the gym all the time like I probably should be, but the little things that I can do to kind of keep a grip on my health and try to keep things under control as much as possible.
22:52 You know, I just had, I guess a wakeup call people that I know have been diagnosed with cancer recently and you know what?
23:01 I haven't had a colonoscopy yet.
23:02 We need to do that.
23:04 I mean, that's something that I'm going to go do because, I mean, no, I'm not looking forward to it, but I realize that I have waited too long.
23:12 I have put it off too long.
23:13 I have a family history of colon polyps which are many times pre-cancerous.
23:18 They have not been in the past with my family, but there is a history and so family history means something.
23:26 Genetics. There's a lot of things that are hereditary, just take care of yourself, just kind of a little reminder there.
23:33 And I need to hear it too because I am not the best about doing all the things that I can do to make sure that I'm the healthiest possible.
23:43 I can say I'm 56 years old and I literally feel like I'm in my twenties or thirties.
23:48 I do not feel old.
23:50 I mean, I have muscle aches here and there, but I don't feel old, and I don't want to feel old.
23:56 I don't want to look old, just do what you can to take care of yourself.
24:01 I know sometimes we need that push and I know my girlfriends from high school every once in a while, we'll discuss, you know… Well, have you had your colonoscopy?
24:09 Have you had your yearly mammogram?
24:11 You know, and those things are important as we get older.
24:14 Very important.
24:15 And I know sometimes that insurance and finances get in the way and keep people from being able to do the testing that they need to do.
24:24 But if you have the ability, I strongly encourage you to stay on top of your health anyway.
24:32 Just a little note there.
24:34 I hope that the week is amazing for everybody.
24:37 We were not busy, knock on wood today at the medical examiner's office and you never know what's going to happen.
24:43 And I think I talked to y'all about it last week with those recent tornadoes.
24:47 I mean, there was a good possibility that something could have happened in our county that caused mass casualties, although we're always prepared and we always kind of fear the worst God was on our side this time.
25:01 I mean, he watched out for us.
25:03 We are ever so grateful but not everybody was that lucky.
25:08 Again, if you want to consider any kind of donations, it would be greatly appreciated.
25:14 Please reach out to me Julie at pushing up lilies dot com.
25:19 I will soon be on an upcoming episode again of good nurse, bad nurse and we will be talking about a case that you'll find very interesting.
25:28 So be sure and tune in.
25:29 I don't know yet when it's going to air, but I will be sure and let you know as soon as I find out, I think it's usually a couple of weeks again, log on to my website pushing up Lilys dot com and look at the Murder Merch store.
25:42 We're adding new stuff every day and we would be very excited to talk to you.
25:47 I am amazed at the number of emails and private messages that I'm getting on Facebook from people that are asking to be interviewed and to be a part of the show.
25:58 It's nice finally being recognized by people who I guess appreciate my expertise, and want to hear what I have to offer regarding certain crimes and things that I have been exposed to in the past.
26:14 I do very much appreciate that y'all have an amazing week, try to stay out of trouble and try to stay dry and try not to blow away wherever you're at.
26:24 And I look very much forward to talking to you next week.
26:27 Y'all take care.
26:28 Bye.
26:29 Thank you so much for joining me today on Pushing Up Lilies.
26:33 If you like this podcast and would like to share with others, please do me a quick favor and leave a review on Apple podcast.
26:41 This helps to make the podcast more visible to the public.
26:44 Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at PushingUpLilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.