On this episode of Pushing Up Lilies, we’re delving into the twisted tale of David Tronnes, a Florida man whose obsession with home renovations and dreams of reality TV stardom ended in murder.
The Tragic Deaths of Rob Reiner and Wife Michele Singer
In this episode, I’m digging into the unsettling story of Faye and Raymond Copeland—the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the United States.
Eye Drops and Lies: The Richard Young Story
Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, and in this week’s episode of Pushing Up Lilies, we’re diving into a heartbreaking case of betrayal that shocked the small town of Maquon, Illinois. This is the story of 71-year-old Police Chief Richard Young, a man who served his community with integrity and compassion. Even after retirement, he remained a mentor and protector to those around him. But behind closed doors, the person he trusted most, his longtime partner of 30 years, Marcy Oglesby, was slowly poisoning him. As Richard’s health began to fail in 2021, friends noticed the changes: dizziness, fatigue, erratic heart rhythms. But Richard dismissed it, leaning on the woman he loved, who was cooking his meals and preparing his drinks… with a hidden ingredient. It turns out, Marcy was slipping tetrahydrozoline, found in over-the-counter eye drops, into his food over a period of months. In today’s episode, I’ll walk you through the chilling details of this case, the toxicology behind the poison, and the shocking discovery made in a nearby storage unit that finally revealed the horrifying truth. * Listener discretion is advised. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:00:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I’m your host, Julie Matson. 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. 00:24 Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Pushing Up Lilies. I wanted to say hello to all my new followers that I picked up from the CrimeCon 2026 Facebook page. 00:44 It’s so welcoming to post something and to just kind of share your podcast with other people who are going down the same road that you are trying to get into CrimeCon 2026, and I’ve already submitted my application. 01:00 I’ve tried to get in before and wasn’t able to. I’m kind of just trying to promote myself a little bit more so any help that you can give me would be much appreciated if you’re able to share my podcast, tell your friends about it. 01:14 Sharing it on your Facebook page helps a lot. For them to actually download it on Apple, Google, Pandora, iHeart, Spotify, all the different platforms, that’s what gets me recognition. So, if you like my Facebook page, thank you so much, but I need you to actually go to the platform and download it. 01:38 I have over 175 episodes there and I would love for you to listen to them. Of course, not all of them at one time. I mean if you could that’d be great, but a lot of the stories are local stories that I’ve worked, cases that I’ve been a part of. 01:56 Many of them are cases from all over the world. This week has been pretty busy. On Tuesday we are off for Veterans Day and so actually get the luxury of working from home, which is awesome. Some of the bigger offices don’t get that advantage because they have to be in the office all the time because bodies are coming in and bodies are going out and our office is small enough that we don’t actually have to have someone there all the time. 02:23 So, we do get the luxury of working from home when there’s a county holiday. Now we don’t have admin to answer the phone so many times it’s still busy, but I think the general public knows that we’re closed and so unless it’s an emergency they probably should not expect an answer from our office. 02:45 Of course, everyone always has the ability to contact dispatch and page the investigator on call. But you know that’s part of signing up for this job and just like being a nurse you know we knew when we did this that there would not be any days off unless we requested them. 03:02 Today I want to talk to you a little bit about police chief Richard Young. Now imagine a killer who doesn’t use a gun or a knife, there’s no forced entry, there’s no struggle, there’s just a few drops of something from the medicine cabinet. 03:23 Today we’re diving into a case where love turned lethal. A respected Illinois police chief was slowly poisoned to death by the woman he trusted the most and the weapon was ordinary eye drops. And I’d heard of this before, not this particular story, but I guess back when I was dating and there was so much fear of GHB and Rohypnol and date rape drugs and kidnapping and it was scary when you’d go out because you always feared that and you never left your drink, 04:01 you never set it down, you didn’t trust anybody with it. I had heard of people actually putting eye drops in people’s drinks and if you don’t give them too much you know it can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, those types of things but of course if you give them too much you can actually kill them. 04:20 But I’ve heard of cases of people getting sick from people putting visine in their drinks at bars. This is a story of 71 year old police chief Richard Young. Now Richard was poisoned over a period of months by his long-time partner 53 year old Marcy Oglesby. 04:45 Maquon, Illinois is a small quiet community, and Richard Young was its heart. So as police chief he protected and served with honesty and compassion. described him as loyal, devoted, and kind. Now, after retiring, as many officers do, he still helped his neighbors and mentored younger, new police officers. 05:14 He shared his life with Marcy Oglesby, and the two had been together for about 30 years. They lived across from a small storage facility, one that would later hold a horrifying secret. By summer of 2021, Richard’s health began to fail. 05:34 He was fatigued,
When the Camera Stops Rolling: The Murder of Anita Avers
Hi y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, and this week on Pushing Up Lilies, we’re diving into a shocking and heartbreaking case that’s rocked both the media and the public – former news anchor Angie Mock, is accused of the unthinkable: the brutal murder of her own mother. This 80-year-old woman, once lovingly cared for by her daughter, was allegedly stabbed to death in what investigators are calling a horrific and violent crime. The suspect? Her own daughter, a familiar face once trusted to deliver our daily news. What pushes someone over the edge? Could this tragedy have been prevented? And what signs, if any, were missed? Join me as we peel back the layers of this devastating case and explore the complexities of family, mental health, and the pressures that sometimes build silently behind closed doors. * Listener discretion is advised. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:00:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I’m your host, Julie Mattson. 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. 00:24 Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Pushing Up Lilies. We just got back from North Dakota, so we were there for like three days and had so much fun. 00:41 We attended a wedding. My husband’s cousin, Brendan Matson and Adriana got married and so it’s a beautiful ceremony and we always love the opportunity to go back to North Dakota and visit friends and family. 00:58 So, it was a lot of fun. There were a lot of people we didn’t get to see because apparently the weather there has been bad and a lot of people are behind combining and I don’t understand the whole farming thing, but they’re evidently trying to get soybeans combined. 01:19 So anyway, we didn’t get to see everybody that we wanted to see, but we saw quite a few people and had a great time. We like to go up there a couple of times a year. We haven’t been as frequently since my mother-in-law passed, but we love to go to Minot to the state fair and we saw Jelly Roll a couple years ago and I think he was there again this past year and so they always have really good acts. 01:46 So if you ever get a chance to go up to Minot, North Dakota to the state fair, we also got engaged in Deadwood and so around state fair time we like to hit the fair in Minot and then head up to Deadwood and are over to Deadwood. 02:02 I don’t know what direction it is but do some gambling and it’s just a cute little town. I love it. It’s really adorable little town. There’s a lot of good food, a lot of casinos, so we love to do that. 02:16 But it was a great time and we’re looking forward to fair season so we can go back. This past week, our office suffered a loss. Our chief medical examiner in Johnson County, who is also kind of under the umbrella of Tarrant County, passed away. 02:37 He had been ill and had been in the hospital. So, Gary Morris, we are praying for his family, and I know it’s hard for everyone in their office. He was such a great mentor to so many people and just an overall nice guy. 02:56 But he will be greatly missed, and I did not get to go to the funeral. I felt terrible, but I had to work that day. I was supposed to work that day, but I was actually out sick last week. So, prayers out to Gary and to his family in Johnson County. 03:14 I know it’s going to be hard to adjust to him being gone. In other news, I mean, pretty much nothing going on here. I think we had a couple of homicides while I was out. I was off yesterday because we just got home yesterday, but I always look forward to going into the office and reading some reports because they’re very interesting, as you can imagine. 03:37 So, I will do that this morning and try to catch up on the news because I have no idea what’s going on in the county. And gosh, I can’t think that there’s anything else going on. I feel like it’s so rushed like October, November, December. 03:54 I don’t know if y’all do, but I mean, I don’t sleep great all the time. And so, I guess two nights ago, I was in a hotel in Fargo and I couldn’t sleep. So, in the middle of the night, I got online and I ordered pies for Thanksgiving, and I ordered a turkey and a ham from Honey baked Ham’s. 04:13 And so, it’s kind of funny how certain things cross your mind in the middle of the night. It’s like, oh, you know, if I can do this now, lying here and not busy and not preoccupied. Although, apparently, I was half asleep, wasn’t paying too close attention because I freaking ordered two hams and two turkeys. 04:32 So, I’m going to have to call them today and let them know that I only need one. There’s not that many of us. I don’t know how I did it. And I should have known when it was $200 that something was wrong. 04:43 But of course, it was three in the morning. And so, I just paid it and went about my merry way and went back to sleep. And then when I woke up, I realized that I ordered two turkeys and two hams. I did order some delicious 04:59 pies though. So, I’m always excited. I always forget I’m not really a baker. I wish I was. I just don’t have a lot of time to cook. And I
Blood Ties – The Murder of Carrie Zettel
Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, and this week on Pushing Up Lilies we’re peeling back the layers of a case that hit far too close to home, the tragic death of Carrie Zettel. On October 12, 2025 in Milwaukee, 64‑year‑old Carrie was brutally killed in her own backyard. Less than 12 hours earlier, she had called 911 and reported her daughter’s violent behavior. Join me as we navigate the heartbreaking story of domestic violence ignored for far too long, how restraining orders, mental‑health struggles, and warning signs blended into a deadly outcome. We’ll trace Carrie’s efforts to protect her family, the mounting threats she faced, and the night everything collapsed. This episode isn’t just about a murder, it’s about a mother’s final plea for help and the system’s failure to stop the carnage. * Listener discretion is advised. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:00:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I’m your host, Julie Mattson. 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. 00:24 Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hey guys, Julie here with Pushing Up Lilies and I’m happy to say that I am back after I’ve been sick for a couple of days. I missed work the last couple of days, I just felt crappy and literally laid around and did little to nothing. 00:49 I tried to do my homework, I just did not feel well at all, so I didn’t get a whole lot done, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just laying around and doing nothing every once in a while. 01:00 I honestly rarely get to do that, so it was kind of nice, kind of relaxing. You know, when you feel bad and you just don’t want to do anything, there’s always laundry and there’s always dishes. There’s always something to do, but when you feel bad and you just can’t or don’t want to, I don’t know, it’s just different. 01:21 I missed the days when I was younger and I was sick from school and I watched like Bewitched all day and my mom made me tomato soup and made me a grilled cheese sandwich and made me my favorite mustard potato salad and I just laid around and watched Laverne and Shirley, I Love Lucy and didn’t have a care in the world. 01:44 You remember those days when we didn’t have a bill? Our biggest worry was getting to school and turning in our homework so that we didn’t get in trouble when we got home. We thought that our lives sucked so bad and then we grew up, 02:00 it’s like man this sucks. Some days it really does. I feel better I’m gonna go to work tomorrow and then we are heading to North Dakota to a wedding and we’re super excited. We love going up north. We just don’t go as much now that my husband’s mom has passed away and it’s so blooming cold up there in the winter but I like it because we really don’t have winter in Texas so it’s not as everyone wants to get a little bit of snow and breathe in some fresh cool air. 02:34 I’m sure those of you that are there can vouch for me. It’s just a different but it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful up there and they have really nice summers too. If you can go in like September, it’s so pretty. 02:45 Everything’s green because it’s been snowing and raining all year long and it’s just things grow like crazy. And in Texas, we know that the ground is so dry. I can remember back when I was younger, I used to put bacon on the end of a string and actually run it down into holes in my front yard and catch little crawfish. 03:07 That’s so weird. I mean, times are just different. Times are different for sure. Last week, we were super busy at the medical examiner’s office here. We had a couple murder suicides. One homicide that I worked was in Carrollton, and the perpetrator actually went to another county and was surrounded by the SWAT team in his vehicle and ended up shooting himself. 03:34 One thing that I talked to her parents about is sometimes you don’t know that someone’s being abused. As someone who has been a victim of domestic violence, I can say that it’s embarrassing. It’s not something you want to talk about. 03:51 It’s definitely not something that you want to tell your friends about. You don’t want your parents to know because then they’re not going to lack your boyfriend or your husband, and that’s going to cause a whole new set of problems. 04:04 So not only do you have your husband or your boyfriend trying to keep you from your family, but you have your family trying to keep you from your husband or your boyfriend. And man, it’s exhausting. And it gets really old, and it’s hard. 04:20 It’s hard to keep that up. Another case that we had was a son who killed his mother, and that’s similar to a story that we’re going to talk about this week. But I want to mention first that Pushing Up Lilies actually placed 8th in our second Denton Day of the Dead coffin race. 04:41 And so, we did that this past Saturday, and I could not have done it without my pusher Coleman James and my mentor and coffin builder Lee Fitz. These guys were amazing and helped. me the whole way, this event is really hard to get into. 04:58 They only take 70 racers, 70 cars, and the day that this all starts is usually Cinco de Mayo. I set an alarm so that when it was time to register, my alarm went off, and I immediately got online and registered. 05:20 Now, I was
OnlyFans Model or Murderer? The Stabbing of Christian Obumseli
In this episode, we’re diving into the disturbing and heartbreaking case of Sarah Harris, a young woman whose life was tragically cut short by the actions of her much older boyfriend, oral surgeon James Ryan.
Incarcerated Killers: When Conjugal Visits Turn Deadly
In this episode, I’m digging into the unsettling story of Faye and Raymond Copeland—the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the United States.
Elderly Serial Killers: Ray and Faye Copeland
In this episode, I’m digging into the unsettling story of Faye and Raymond Copeland—the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the United States.
Cold Medicine Murder: The Case of Matthew and Lauren Phelps
In this episode, I’m diving into the chilling case of Matthew Phelps, who was charged with murder on September 1st after allegedly stabbing his wife, Lauren Ashley-Nicole Phelps, to death. The shocking twist? He claimed that cold medicine caused him to commit this unspeakable act.
Wife Murdered Over Zombie House Flipping Show
On this episode of Pushing Up Lilies, we’re delving into the twisted tale of David Tronnes, a Florida man whose obsession with home renovations and dreams of reality TV stardom ended in murder.
