How to Make a Heart-Stopping Salad

by Deborah Blum

One evening, in the early summer of 2008, a Colorado sheriff's deputy named Jonathan Allen came home to find that his wife had made him a "special" dinner. Waiting on the table was his favorite spicy spaghetti dish and a big leafy bowl of salad.

As he told investigators later, some of those leaves in the salad were startling bitter. But his wife told him it was just a spring mix. He assumed it contained another of those trendy herbs that people use to liven things up. "Make sure you eat your greens," she added. "They're good for you."

So, he didn't worry when his toddler daughter tried to grab a bite and his wife, Lisa, reached out to stop the child. It was only a few hours later, when he was rushed to hospital suffering from severe stomach cramps and a wildly speeding heart, that he started to worry. And wonder.

After his stomach was pumped and the contents analyzed, Allen was no longer puzzled by his symptoms. The bitter taste was traced to leaves from a familiar and beautiful ornamental shrub, one growing in the family garden, in fact. Allen survived but he did not return to his home in the suburban Denver town of Golden, Colorado. He carefully stayed away while authorities launched an investigation into exactly how foxglove leaves got into the dinner salad.

And this year--about six months ago--42-year-old Lisa Leigh Allen pleaded guilty to felony assault, avoiding a trial for attempted murder with what The Denver Post called a "lethal plant." She was sentenced in mid-March to four-and-a-half years in prison.

A lethal plant is definitely one way to describe foxglove but--and, I have to admit, the description made me laugh--also definitely too simplistic. Yes, the foxglove plant is poisonous, but the very properties that make it poisonous also make it the source of some of our most important heart medications. I'll give that paradox away when I tell you that the common foxglove belongs to a family of plants with the Latin name of Digitalis. The plant that ended up in the Colorado deputy's summer salad is formally called Digitalis purpurea, but it also goes by some wonderfully evocative common names such as Witch's Glove, Bloody Fingers, and Dead Man's Bells.

Plants in the Digitalis family are packed with sugar-rich organic molecules called glycosides that can directly affect the rhythmic beat of the heart. The most important of these is called digoxin, or sometimes just digitalis, and is used to treat cardiac arrhythmias and to strengthen contractions of the heart. The knowledge that foxglove extracts affect the heart is nothing new--it was first reported in 1785 by a British physician named William Withering--but medical understanding of how it works is fairly recent.

For instance, digoxin (and a related compound digitoxin) are known to trigger a cascade of chemical reactions which increase the amount of calcium delivered to muscle cells. This increases the strength of the muscular contractions, thus giving new power to a weakened heart beat. Digitalis can also stimulate the nerves which regulate the internal pacing of the heart beat.

So, at the prescribed dose, digitalis is the opposite of lethal--a life-saving compound, in fact. But the proper dose is extremely small, and the body sounds warning bells if digitalis levels get too high. Early symptoms include nausea, stomach cramps, headaches and even hallucinations. It won't surprise you to know that the worst effect of digitalis poisoning is on the heart--its powerful effect on the heart muscle varies, depending on the individual, but an overdose can either slow the beat to a complete halt or speed it to a point of lethal over-taxation.

Thus, Jonathan Allen's early warning symptoms--the stomach cramps, the acute nausea, the racing heart beat--added a little more evidence to the case against his wife. The prosecution was also helped by searching her computer's hard drive, where investigators found a search history for foxglove, digitalis, and the homicidal possibilities. "I couldn't fathom that my wife was trying to kill me," Allen said during his wife's sentencing hearing. He was writhing with pain shortly before calling for an ambulance: "I went to bed and laid next to her. She said, 'It's probably just stress from your job.'"

Testimony in the sentencing hearing also detailed a very troubled marriage. Lisa Allen and her father testified that her husband was possessive and physically abusive and he had warned her that she would never be able to leave. Jonathan Allen said she and her family had been telling such lies about him for years. Even the judge finally wondered out loud why the couple hadn't separated, as both of their families had urged earlier.

It would have been, after all, a much better option than mixing up a heart-stopping salad.

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Who’s Afraid of Virginia Thomas? Not Anita Hill

by Cathy Scott

What is up with Virginia Thomas? On a recent weekend, Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, called Anita Hill’s voice mail and made a bizarre request.

In her message, Mrs. Thomas, seemingly out of the blue, asked for an apology from Hill for accusing the future Supreme Court associate justice of sexual harassment back in 1991 during his confirmation hearings--this, nearly two decades later. She won't get an apology.

Anita Hill has moved on--a long time ago, in fact--and perhaps Virginia Thomas should do the same. Now a professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, Hill, after receiving the message, first alerted campus security, because she thought the voice mail was a prank. She, unfortunately, has since learned that it was no joke. Yep, Mrs. Thomas had, indeed, left Ms. Hill the message, all these years later. Brandeis officials turned the matter over to the FBI.

According to a transcript of the call made available to the Boston Globe, the recorded voice said:

“Good morning, Anita Hill. It's Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something.

“I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. Okay, have a good day.”

Say what ? Lest anyone forget the sordid details from two decades ago, Anita Hill, after being called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said under oath that Thomas, who was married to Virginia at the time, had repeatedly made crude and inappropriate sexual comments in the workplace, boasting of his sexual prowess, and referencing pornographic novels. (I'll leave the exact details of the alleged comments to your imagination and not repeat them here).

Clarence Thomas adamantly has denied the allegations, calling them “a high-tech lynching.”

Hill recently told the Globe that she has nothing to apologize for and does not intend to retract her accusations that Thomas made sexually suggestive remarks to her when she was an aide and he was her boss at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“I certainly thought the call was inappropriate,” Hill said in a recent statement. “I have no intention of apologizing, and I stand by my testimony. No further explanation is needed. I testified truthfully about what my experience was back in the 1980s.”

For her part, Virginia Thomas, a Tea Party activist, confirmed to The New York Times that she was serious about wanting an apology. Here's Mrs. Thomas' official statement:

“I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get passed what happened so long ago.


“That offer still stands. I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended.”

The New York Times opined that the he said-she said confrontation between Ms. Hill and the future Justice Thomas “deeply divided the country during what became a national debate about the nature of sexual behavior in the workplace.”

In addition, the paper reported, “Ms. Hill’s descriptions of unseemly conduct and his adamant denials produced one of the most polarizing Supreme Court confirmation battles of modern times.” In the end, the U.S. Senate confirmed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court by a vote of 52 to 48. And he's been on the high court bench ever since.

Public interest in and debate over Hill's testimony has been said to be responsible in large part for modern-day public awareness of sexual harassment.

As for Mrs. Clarence Thomas, whatever it was--an agenda?--that prompted her, at this long-ago juncture, to reach out and touch Anita Hill is baffling. Virginia Thomas has not explained, other than to confirm making the call and leaving the message.

Perhaps the FBI, in its inquiry, will get to the bottom of the ordeal and provide answers. And maybe Anita Hill can be left alone.

Photos courtesy of The Associated Press.

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Bullying: A Product of Our Times?

by Katherine Scardino

Nowadays, we raise children in a New World. For most of us, we did not reach maturity after spending our days (and nights) playing video games, sending e-mails, texts and instant messages on our computers, iPads, PCs, smartphones. We picked up our telephone and talked to our friends for hours on end with a parent telling us to “Hang up the phone!” Or, we had actual one-on-one conversations with people. We actually took the time to speak to the person behind the counter at the dry cleaners, the grocery, or the bookstore. We did not get online to order food, books or other household and personal supplies and services.

Could the bullying problem in today’s society be somehow related to our acquiescence as parents in allowing our children to forget how to interact with other people? Could the problem be exacerbated by our lack of parenting in teaching our children how to be sensitive and kind to others?

Recently, some children have done the unthinkable. They have committed suicide. How could this happen in this free, open-to-all society we're supposed to have? How could other children treat their classmates with such cruelty, as if ... ? Some people think the world is a better place now that we are universally connected through technology and the Internet. But, do you really think it is better that young people today are asocial? For the most part, the today's youth have never had to “socialize” the way their parents did as part of their daily routines. I am willing to bet that kids today could go for days on end and never actually speak out loud to another person. We have raised a crop of desensitized zombies--people who have no sense of hurt feelings. That is the only logical explanation for bullying.

Asher Brown was a 13-year-old straight-A student in Houston, Texas. Tyler Clementi was 18, a college freshman who played violin in the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra. Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old from a small city in central California, loved French fries and Pokamon cards. Billy Lucas was a 15-year-old from Indiana who showed horses. Justin Asberg from Minnesota was 15 and posted his cello music on YouTube. Their common element is that these children are now dead. They all committed suicide because they were being harassed, tormented and bullied because their peers thought they were gay, or because they were, in fact, gay.

There are other events of bullying because of race, physical or intellectual disability, socioeconomic status, grade-point average, or any of a multitude of characteristics that may set these children apart from the other “normal” kids. But, it is more likely that a young person will be bullied because of their sexual preference than any other reason. Who are these rude, homophobic, arrogant, spoiled brats? Are they our children who have never had to talk openly with others? Are they our children whose parents were never around to teach them the “softer” side of being human? The side that allows us to look at another person and say, “I am sorry you have this problem. How can I help you?” What has happened to the Golden Rule? Whether you are religious or not, you will have to admit that the “do unto others” rule seems to make sense.

Some of our most respected television actors and actresses, Ellen DeGeneres for one, have stepped up and publicized the problem in various ways--statements in the press, videos on YouTube. But the solution is home-grown. It starts at home with the parents. Parents must realize that they can longer use a television, video game, computer, iPod, iPad, or smartphone as an in-house babysitter. As parents in a free society, we are afforded the opportunity to choose whether to have children. So, upon making the decision to become a parent, adults have to act responsibly and actually be parents.

Do we need a “cultural shift,” as some of the activist groups say, that includes anti-bullying legislation, suicide helplines, training for teachers and other school personnel? If this cultural shift includes getting parents to do their job at home, then that is good. None of us can continue to stand by while our children are subjected to the physical and emotional violence that occurs among peer groups in schools, extracurricular activities, or even in the streets of our own neighborhoods. Protecting young people from bullying is just as essential to their healthy development as making sure they have good teachers and access to health care.

When we hear that the Federal government wants to step in and make more legislation against bullying, we should tell the government, "This is not your job. This is our job." When all people in our society become aware that bullying is not just part of growing up, that it is a form of violence against another human being, then the bullies will get a clear message that their behavior is unacceptable.

But, who are these bullies? Are they just kids growing up tough? Are they truly just mean-spirited, spoiled kids? Are we supposed to teach our kids to be as tough as the bullies are to protect themselves? "Punch the little thug wannabees in the belly!" Is that the solution? It might be in some instances. But, we must not allow ourselves to be swathed in the horrors of indifference. Bullying leads to violence, and that violence can become lethal without responsible intervention. We have to teach our children, our teachers and our coworkers that bullying is not only unacceptable, but it bears consequences that are sometimes unthinkable and irreversible. The bottom line is these lessons start with the parents at home. I can only hope we are not too late.

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Oksana Needs Reputation Rehab!

by Robin Sax

Less than four months ago, Oksana Grigorieva was the “poster child” of the domestic violence victim. She garnered much support and even sympathy after the details of the January 6, 2010 domestic abuse detail surfaced. Mel Gibson’s taped rant and tirade sent chills down the spines of even the most hardened of people. No one thought Mel would survive this one. It seemed clear, to all, he was going down this time. To make sure I wasn't missing something, I called a few of my detective buddies at Lost Hills Sheriff's Station and found that they concluded as similarly as I---that Mel Gibson committed a crime against Oksana and if it were any other person, he or she would have been arrested on the spot.

The evidence (compared to the typical DV case) was overwhelming--a report from Oksana, taped calls corroborating Oksana’s words, a suspect clearly afflicted with anger, among other issues, medical records and statements consistent with the injuries, and another victim who says similar crimes have happened to her.

So how is that in four short months the tides have changed so much that Oksana is not only disbelieved, but she is loathed and Mel is coming out seemingly clean? Are the coming and goings of 39 lawyers, as reported by TMZ, a sign that Oksana’s case is weak or that no one can take control? Is the difficulty because of Oksana or because of the people around her? Are there just too many ego driven people who want a piece of celebrity, so much so that they cannot get a cohesive plan together? Whatever the reasons are, the state of the case is most telling.

Mel’s camp has succeeded in the court of public opinion because they have been rock solid in how and where they fight the battle. They have a strategy, and the team works together. You don’t see Stephen Kolodny or Blair Berke being quoted all over the place. You see a solid team with a solid division of labors with no credit or stardom needed. You don't see Mel's lawyers releasing evidence to TMZ before it gets to the sheriff and DA. And if you don’t think this matters, think again.

As the DA’ s office is deciding what to do about filing domestic violence charges against Mel and/or extortion charges against Oksana, be aware that the Los Angeles District Attorney has a written policy mandating the filing Deputy DA to consider the likelihood of successful prosecution. And what better way to tell what potential jurors are thinking than reading what the wing nuts are saying on TMZ? Twelve-hundred negative comments per post doesn't bode well for successful prosecution.

Please do not get me wrong here. I am not saying there is not a case for domestic violence against Mel, but what I am saying is the lack of laser focus by Team Oksana has made the chances for the DA’s office to engage less likely. Remember, the prosecutor has the sole discretion of whether or not to file a case, and, if they don’t feel that they can prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, they don’t need to file it.

The best piece of PR in this case would be a filing by the DA on Mel and a rejection of the extortion charged on Oksana. And instead of Team Oksana making that happen, they have been too busy giving quotes to TMZ, arranging Oprah, and booking People, all of which have backfired.

So, Team Oksana, take a lesson from the Fortune 500 companies when they are in crises. I am not saying the lame basics, like “be transparent.” You need to go further--choose a leader (a real leader, one who has Oksana’s best interest at heart), be honest, be available, be forthcoming, and, by all means, fight your battle in the courtroom. We are all watching your every single move, and you must think beyond today, as we will remember this case not for the details, but for how it was handled.

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(Frank) Murphy's Law

by Donna Pendergast

The Frank Murphy Hall of Justice is the home to the prosecutor's office and the Criminal Circuit Courts in Wayne County, Michigan. Named for a former Michigan governor and, later, a United State Supreme Court justice, "the Murph," as it is known for short, is a twelve-floor concrete structure surrounded on two sides by jails. It looms over Gratiot Avenue, a main artery leading into downtown Detroit.

A stark example of the appropriately named Brutalist style of architecture, the raw concrete high-rise is symbolic of the gritty nature of the business that takes place inside its walls. If those walls could only speak, the stories that they could tell. Having spent three years as a prosecutor at the Murph, I can tell you that it is a universe unto itself. I often used to say that a book a day could be written about what transpires within those walls. That is probably a conservative estimate. Things happen within the Murph on a daily basis that cause the uninitiated to drop their jaws in disbelief. A common saying for those desensitized to the drama is "only at the Murph" as they shake their heads over yet another bizarre story.

An introduction to the Murph begins at the multiple glass entry doors in the front, guarded by sheriff's deputies, through which all visitors (other than judges) must enter. Prosecutors, police officers and court staff wearing identification are waved through a lane on one side of the entrance. Defense attorneys, jurors, defendants and other visitors wait in lines often out the doors to pass through several lanes of metal detectors, much like those at an airport.

Once through the bottleneck, a bizarre parade of characters jumble together in a mob race to enter the bank of elevators just around the corner. People often stand two or three deep waiting for the privilege of packing themselves tightly into the elevator cars. There are no distinctions on the elevator; attorneys, defendants and court personnel pack together like sardines to travel to their intended destinations.

The characters who troll the Murph's hallways are often straight from central casting. Everyone knows "The Chief" a distinctively raspy voiced defense attorney named Robert Mitchell who often walks around cigar in mouth and takes no guff from his clients. And no one who has been initiated to the Murph bats an eye when Assistant Prosecutor Luke Skywalker announces his name on the record in court. Yes, there truly is an assistant prosecutor who legally changed his name to Luke Skywalker. Only at the Murph

The top four floors of the Murph house the prosecutors offices. Levels two through eight are taken up by courtrooms, four to a floor, two at each end of the hallway. Wooden benches line each side of the hallway between those courtrooms. Victims, families, lawyers and defendants camp out on those benches while awaiting court hearings and during breaks in the action. On any given day, TV crews from the local or even national news can be seen moving through those halls, equipment in hand, rushing to cover the the drama unfolding in one courtroom or another. Robbery, rape and murder are the standard fare for any courtroom at the Murph, and there is never a dull moment. Bomb threats requiring evacuation and building disasters like the overflowing toilet that recently flooded out two courtrooms are commonplace and barely cause comment as people scurry about their business.

The tension can often be felt in the air. Placing defendants, victims and their families in close proximity often makes for a volatile situation. Emotions are often raw and the drama can be intense. Fights and brawls can break out in a flash in the halls or even courtrooms. The sheriff's deputies assigned two or three to a courtroom are well trained to respond in a split second. They are so used to trouble and so attuned to the mood of their surroundings that a raised voice in the hallway brings them to their feet and out the door in a split second. When the all-too frequent fight or brawl breaks out, multiple deputies appear seemingly out of nowhere to squelch whatever situation is about to boil over or has boiled over already. Yet, despite the fights and drama, I've never felt threatened or unsafe while working at the Murph.

Despite my lack of fear, dangerous situations can and do occur in the Murph. Recently, a potential disaster was avoided when the chief judge received a note advising him that a defendant scheduled for trial in his courtroom the next day was armed with a knife and intended to go after the judge to kill him. A search of the prisoner's holding cell just a short distance from the judges bench revealed a homemade knife. As it turns out, the informant sending the note had been prosecuted by the judge years earlier when the judge was an assistant prosecutor and had felt he had been treated fairly. He wanted to make sure that the judge who had once put him in prison was warned about the potential danger to his life. Only at the Murph.

On another occasion, a defendant who was out on bond during trial did go after the judge. As soon as the jurors were taken out of the courtroom post-verdict, the defendant jumped over a table and lunged at the judge. The defendant had secreted a large razor blade in the cuff of his leather jacket and managed to make it through the metal detectors undetected. The courtroom deputies brought the defendant to the ground before he reached the judge, but, in the process, one deputy was badly cut in the arm. The hysterical jurors who heard the courtroom commotion from the sanctuary of their jury room had to be calmed down by another judge, while the first judge insisted on traveling to the hospital with his deputy. Only at the Murph.

Maybe that's why the movie "Presumed Innocent" and scenes from the new TV hit "Detroit 187" were filmed in the Murph. When it comes to drama, it doesn't get any better.

Just another day at the Murph.

Statements made in this post are my own and are not intended to reflect the views, thoughts or position of the Michigan Attorney General or the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

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No Justice in Oklahoma

by Susan Murphy Milano

For more than a decade, the Oklahoma Medical Justice For The Dead is the tip of the iceberg of what families have endured, going back to the year 2000 and the unsolved murder(s) of their family members. Autopsies are stamped "suicide" as if the medical examiner's office is branding justice for victims as if they were cattle.

One by one, the crime scene photos tell each victim's story. The blood-spattered walls, the entry and exist wounds of bullets, an appliance cord around a neck to burn patterns, and body position upon entry. The Examiner's Office has practiced a brand of cover up and corruption without regard for truth and justice.

Chanda Turner, just 23 years old, was shot to death at her home in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, on July 12, 2000. Her boyfriend claimed she shot herself while he slept through the sound of gunfire and later found her outside on the back steps after she was dead. Crime scene photos depict blood throughout the inside of the home, including on the mattress he claimed he was asleep on. The mattress had been stripped of sheets; no one asked where they went. There were more signs of cleanup in the bedroom, including a bottle of cleaning solution on the floor. The boyfriend had fresh scratches on his arms, and Chanda was covered in bruises. There were signs of a struggle in the living room, including broken furniture.

On January 6, 2004, Sheila Deviney's mobile home (fire photo, right), located about one mile east and one mile south of Maysville, Oklahoma, burned to the ground. Deviney, 30, was murdered. It should be no surprise that Sheila Deviney had been married to an abusive, controlling man. They had a court date about past-due child support scheduled for the next day. According to eye witnesses, her ex-husband was at the home, although, by law, he was not allowed on the premises. He and another friend destroyed evidence and took items from the home. And, as of last week, the medical examiner's office has set a deadline in 2012 regarding the destruction of Sheila's tissue samples. And there is a $50,000 reward being offered by Oklahoma business people in this case.

Tom Horton (left) had been a beloved and respected teacher for twenty five years in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, before he was killed by a shotgun blast in his home on December 10, 2008.

Many family members sounded the alarm of foul play, they pointed out obvious evidence of a homicide to local authorities which fell on deaf ears.

Medical Investigator John Miller, who is not a physician and who also obstructed the performance of an autopsy in Chanda Turner's case, classified the death a suicide. No autopsy was perfomed, despite Tom Horton dying of an unattended, violent death by firearm. The family's repeated requests for an autopsy were denied. Without benefit of an autopsy or other direct scrutiny by any pathologist, Horton’s death remains incorrectly classified as a suicide. The family called attention to physical evidence in other areas of the dwelling corroborating homicide, all of which the ME's Office met with hostility.

Faced with an overwhelming number of inconsistencies and physical evidence, five individuals from Wynnewood, including two of Horton’s sons, two family friends and a former student, began the arduous task of seeking justice in Garvin County, up to and including the petitioning for a grand jury.

Landon Edwards, or "Hopper," (pictured, right) was just 26 years of age when he was found murdered in Guymon on August 30, 2008. The autopsy photos in this case tell a much different story than what the Oklahoma ME's office listed on his death certificate.

At the time, according to family accounts, "[Landons'] girlfriend claimed to have found him upon awaking at 8:38 a.m." Supposedly, Landon hung himself less than 10 feet from where she slept, in a room that had no door between her and the victim. The facts speak for themselves. The victim's position at the scene did not support that of a self-induced death, or suicide.

As you are reading this, I am in Oklahoma, under what many consider a hostile environment. Threats have been implied that I will not leave the state in anything other than a body bag. During my ten days in Oklahoma, I will be visiting crimes scenes with family members, participating in press conferences, legislation and meeting with various officials.

The Roth Show will be taking daily reports live from me as I make appearances in and around Oklahoma. Dr. Laurie Roth and her associates have committed themselves to helping keep me safe while I'm there.

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Is Tiffany Hartley Telling the Truth? Body Language, Voice, Speech Inconsistencies Speak Volumes

by Dr. Lillian Glass

Are U.S. federal and Texas law enforcement authorities paying close attention to Tiffany Hartley, who has gone on a media blitz sharing her story about alleged pirates who shot her husband while riding a jet ski on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake? Are they truly keeping their eyes and ears open, or are they turning a blind eye and deaf ear because the topic of border control is such a political hotbed?

As a body language and communications expert, I can never turn a blind eye when I see so many signals of deception which are consistent in Tiffany’s many interviews.

The lip licking, sudden and extraneous jaw excursions, pleading hand gestures with palms facing upwards, looking down, excessive eye blinking, tilting of the head, pulling her body away, and shoulder shrugs when asked about and discussing key issues are huge red flags to me.

Likewise, I can never turn a deaf ear when I hear so many “uh’s” and “um’s” peppered throughout speech, dying off at the end of sentences when crucial information is being revealed, a monotone voice devoid of emotion, too much detailed and tangential information, righteous indignation, and most crucial of all, too many inconsistencies in a story.

It does not matter how many sheriffs or governors of states bordering the U.S. and Mexico border, or even of her in-laws, believe her. It doesn’t matter how many suspects or persons of interest are rounded up, or how many eyewitnesses come forward and rally behind her. Tiffany Hartley is exhibiting multiple signals of deception, which make her story very questionable, in my view.

One of the first indicators of deception is whether a person is consistent in their story. Tiffany Hartley has not been consistent.

From first describing the shooters to what actually happened with her husband, her story has changed drastically. It changed from the first time she opened her mouth on air, where she was seen looking plain, with her hair in her eyes, to a more pulled together look complete with makeup and her hair pulled back.

The more she appeared on TV the more she appeared to enjoy the attention. At first she was star struck even telling Gretchen Carlson on Fox and Friends that she and her husband watched her show every day. Then she continued to get more and more verbal and more and more inconsistent in keeping her story straight.

From pirates who shot at her and her husband from a distance across the boarder, they suddenly became teenagers. Then they were pirates again, who killed her husband. Then they were people who had her husband’s body. If someone was shot in the head and sustained a head injury, wouldn’t they sink to the bottom of the lake and drown? Why would anyone dive into the lake and retrieve a dead body at the bottom of the lake?

First she said she abandoned her husband, who was shot in the head, because she was too small to get him put on her jet ski. Then she said someone had him. How did she know anyone had him if she abandoned him? First she said they used an assault weapon and later she said she was looking down a barrel of a gun. First she said she was far away and now she says she is up close enough to see a gun barrel.

First, no boat was mentioned, then on Anderson Copper she said that in the one boat near her, “I saw two people but there was a third or fourth person in that boat, I just didn't see them." How does she know there was a third or fourth person in the boat if she didn’t see them? Was she on the boat?

There are other inconsistencies which are equally disturbing. As Tiffany continues to come forward and speak, there is no doubt that the truth will eventually leak out.

When it does, her now supportive in laws will suddenly not be so supportive of her. They will have had more time to process everything she said to the media. Then they will immediately turn on her.

Instead of spending her time visiting media outlet after media outlet, in my view Tiffany needs to spend her time visiting a number of lawyers so she can find the right one for her if and when authorities finally open their eyes and ears and realize that she may not be the right poster girl for border control issues.

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