Les Jones

Raynella Leath Dossett Convicted of Murder

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | East Tennessee, True Crime |

Whipped Cream Difficulties reminds me that yesterday Raynella Leath Dossett was convicted of murdering her second husband, David Leath. A weekend NY Times piece mentions some of the bizarrely suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths of both of Dossett’s husbands.

Every quirk in her behavior has been parsed by Knoxville residents for motive, even the fact that she had Mr. Leath’s body cremated the day after he died. His body contained unprescribed sedatives and painkillers, according to an autopsy conducted hours earlier. Mr. Leath’s friends say he was opposed to cremation and owned a plot in the cemetery where his parents are buried.

Mr. Pedigo said that prosecutors in Mr. Dossett’s office resisted his performing an autopsy, that he felt pressured to rule the death an accident and that he had a “policy” of erring on the side of the family in cases where a judgment call was required. He persuaded Ms. Dossett that the insurance company would need an autopsy, and she consented. Mr. Pedigo said he found traumatic injuries consistent with trampling and a hoof print in the middle of the bib of Mr. Dossett’s overalls.

But when the current medical examiner, Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, reviewed the file as part of the Leath investigation, she found that those injuries were not life threatening. Instead, Dr. Mileusnic-Polchan said, Mr. Dossett’s morphine level was “so extraordinarily high it is unlikely that any human could function in an ambulatory manner or continue to live.” In 2006, Ms. Dossett Leath was indicted in his death, charged with administering an overdose of morphine.

Betty Bean has a good backgrounder on Dossett and her Barn of Doom.

Previously

• Raynella Dossett-Leath Indicted for a Second Husband’s Murder
• New Charges Against Raynella Dossett Leath
• Local Crime News: Raynella Dossett Leath Murder Indictment

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