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Poisoned Blood

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This is the spellbinding true story of the life and crimes of Audrey Marie Hilley, a "typical" suburban Alabama housewife and mother whose life was an intertwined rope of secrets, lies, deceptions, and ultimately murder.

When her daughter Carol was stricken with an ailment that her doctors were unable to diagnose or even treat effectively, Marie Hilley seemed the epitome of a loving and concerned mother.

But nothing was further from the truth.

For she had been calculatingly, cold bloodedly, and systematically poisoning Carol with arsenic for almost a year. In a life filled with actions that are incomprehensible to the conscience driven person, this act of attempted murder was the most nefarious, heinous, inhumane, and demonic that any person, any woman, or any mother could have ever conceived or committed.

When the shocking truth of Carol's illness finally emerged, her relatives and law enforcement officials realised with dawning horror that this incident was likely not an isolated one. Four years earlier, Marie's husband Frank had died after a short illness. Doctors ruled that he died from natural causes.

Little did they know.

He too had been poisoned with arsenic.

This was not the end of the strange odyssey of Marie Hilley. Arrested for passing fraudulent cheques and attempted murder, she skipped bail for three years, remarried, forged a new identity for herself as Robbi Homan, and fled to New Hampshire. There, as "Robbi", she faked terminal illness, staged her own death in Texas in what can be termed as a symbolic act of self destruction, and returned to New Hampshire masquerading as Robbi's twin sister, Teri Martin! Due to the suspicions of "Robbi's" former friends and colleagues, this act led to her eventual capture.

In 1 of the best true crime books ever penned, author Ginsburg weaves a shocking and sordid expose of a creature, that fortunately, is the rarest kind - a pure, 100% sociopath, a woman for whom the truth was an elusive commodity. Like us, he seems puzzled as to the WHYS of Audrey Marie Hilley, and though this brilliant book is a painstakingly researched biography of her life and crimes, for the reader it evokes more questions than answers.

I have re-read this book so many times it fell apart. Great writing, can't put it down type book. If you are interested in sociopaths, this is one of the best studies of one - although Audrey Marie Hilley refused any psychiatric evaluation - she did show many of the characteristics: lying, greed, using people for her own ends, as well as doing things that just didn't make any sense at all. Probably a borderline personality disorder as well, as she liked to cheat on her husband, set fires for insurance money, job hop, tell tall tales for attention, kite checks, etc. Killing her husband, and trying to kill her own daughter, perhaps her mother, mother-in-law, son and daughter-in-law, there was something in her that wanted to control everyone around her, and benefit from it as well. I hope that Carol and Mike are doing well - Carol was one tough cookie. Just an amazingingly well-told story.

POISONED BLOOD by Philip E. Ginsburg is the strange and brutal story of Audrey Marie Hilley, a woman so cold that she poisoned her family because she was strapped for cash and felt that her lifestyle was more important than the lives of her husband and daughter. But there is more to the story than just that. In addition to being unfeelingly greedy, Marie Hilley was also a competent middle class lady who, having mastered well all the social graces of the 1970's South, played on the trust that her magnetic persona afforded her. She used the confidence she engendered in others to take advantage of them by weaving elaborate falsehoods and convincing them to help her with whatever it was she wanted at the moment.
But there's more. Marie Hilley over a three year period fabricated not only the stories of her life, but also her actual identities. She had at least two additional names in the space of three years, and these were not simply aliases, but deceptions so thorough, so bizarre, and so outrageous that you have never read anything like it.
Ginsburg writes exceptionally well, and, as is a hallmark of good true crime, there is extensive back story on Marie and many of the other players so the reader learns not only what happened, but why it happened; and he details the principal characters' lives from childhood on.
The single question hovering over the story is whether Marie Hilley was simply greedy and evil or insane. Ginsburg seems to conclude that she was a fluctuating mixture of both - devious calculation and madness. And you will not want to put the book down while you are forming your own opinion.
POISONED BLOOD is top echelon true crime and ranks with such greats as the books of Darcy O'Brien, Lowell Cauffiel, and Jack Olsen. I think it would appeal to a wide spectrum of readers, and it is a must read for true crime aficianados.

Audrey Marie Hilley 6/4/37 to 2/26/87

Marie is a fascinating character. At one time she was a wife (Frank m-1951) & mother of 2 (Michael b-1952 and Carol b-1960). Frank died 5/25/75. He left a very modest life insurance policy. She spent the $30,000 dollars in 3 years. It is possible she was gambling but its not proved.

She owed everyone in town money. Marie began buying and selling cars. Most of the time she sold them after she had stopped making payments on them. There were always strange unexplained fires around Marie. Nobody died but they could have.

She took out a life insurance policy on her daughter Carol in 1979. For many months after-- Carol got sicker and sicker and was near death. It was determined that she had ingested arsenic.

Neighbors & their kids, friends and police who visited with her always wondered why they felt ill after drinking her coffee and eating her home made cookies. Only one detective who disliked coffee was spared becoming sick.

It is believed that she tried to poison her mother, mother in law and daughter in law. She caused her daughter in-law to miscarry a baby. When Carol was younger a 7yrs old friend of hers died after spending the weekend at Marie's. The attempt poisonings went on for years. Everyone around her was always ill.

You must read this book and find out what she did in her years on the run. She lead a most interesting life.

After she was caught she never showed any remorse of any kind and NEVER explained. She would never sit for a psyc exam.

WHY do I think she did it? ... She was pure EVIL. She had a heart of ice.

When she dies 2/26/87 it is a relief. DING DONG.....THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD!

This is a very long book. Many good pictures. The author did a wonderful job. Please read it. You will not be sorry.