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While some say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, a meal can occasionally carry a sinister undertone.
In Oxygen’s gripping series Killer Grannies, a chilling story unfolds about a Texas grandmother whose home-cooked dishes turned deadly. This intriguing episode, titled “Granny’s Killer Gravy,” premieres on December 21 at 8/7c p.m.
What happened to Mutt Wilson?
On April 21, 2002, a Sunday morning, 85-year-old Herman “Mutt” Wilson, a retired lieutenant from the Waco Police Department, fell gravely ill. The incident occurred after he shared a breakfast of biscuits and gravy with his girlfriend, Rowena Ledbetter.
When emergency medical services arrived, they found Rowena, who had started dating Mutt shortly after the passing of his wife, also feeling unwell. Both were rushed to a local hospital, with suspicions of poisoning arising quickly.
Mutt’s neighbor, Roxanne Stryker, came to check on him that morning. She recalled, “He looked up at me and said, ‘She tried to kill me.’” It was at that moment the police arrived on the scene.
Mutt informed the officers that Rowena had inadvertently poisoned both of them, according to Jeff Aguirre, an investigator with the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office. Mutt urged them, “Go search my house.”
Police collected evidence including leftover food and coffee and a pill bottle containing a milky white liquid found in Rowena’s purse.
At the hospital Rowena had no explanation about what happened to Mutt or what was in her purse. Despite doctors’ efforts, Mutt died at 9 p.m. that night. In his will, he left Rowena his house.
Police question Rowena Ledbetter
Investigators found out that over the past six weeks, Mutt had experienced a series of debilitating spells. These events coincided when he was with Rowena and they had a meal.
“Three weekdays before he died,” said former Waco Tribune-Herald reporter Tommy Witherspoon, “he was sent to the hospital with what appeared to be a stroke.”
Detectives were surprised to discover that she had a husband—Cecil Forson. He’d tied the knot with her just a couple months earlier. Officials later learned that he was Rowena’s seventh husband.
Investigators also learned that in 2000, Rowena had been indicted for theft, charges tied to her tenure as a nurse at a retirement center. She lost her certification to be a nurse as a result.
On April 23, police questioned Rowena. She said that Mutt had made breakfast and that she’d gone to the house to end their relationship because she was married.
She explained she’d kept silent about Cecil because they were having issues. She claimed that Mutt got mad. After sitting down to eat, she got sick—and along with Mutt. She claimed it was a murder-suicide attempt.
“I feel Herman decided he couldn’t have me,” she’s heard saying in a recorded interview, “and I feel like he poisoned me.”
Investigators had to sort through the claims by Rowena, who was a complex personality. “Who she presented publicly and who she was in private,” said psychologist Dr. Lee Carter, “there’s a lot of dissonance there.”
Detectives focus on Rowena Ledbetter’s marriages
Police interviewed members of Rowena’s family, including her granddaughters. “They sing Rowena’s praises,” said Witherspoon, “saying she was a great grandmother.”
But former stepson Kelly Mauk, whose father, Kenneth, married Rowena in 1984. They split two years later, after Kenneth learned his wife had a shady side.
“She was forging my dad’s name on credit card applications,” said Kelly. “He started divorce proceedings.”
The son of another one of Rowena’s husbands, Dick Ledbetter, told officials that his father may have also been poisoned. Like Mutt, Dick had experienced sick spells while around Rowena. Dick’s late wife had been a resident at a retirement facility where Rowena worked as a vocational nurse.
Cecil Forson told police that he was shocked to discover that Rowena was seeing another man. Investigators found no link between Cecil and Mutt’s death.
Poison found in Mutt Wilson’s system
The medical examiner found the presence of bendiocarb, an insecticide poison, in Mutt’s system. The examiner concluded that the cause of death was poisoning, and that the death was a homicide.
Rowena was arrested for Mutt’s murder. Investigators found evidence that Rowena had acquired the poison. Dick Ledbetter’s body was exhumed. A test for poison in his system was inconclusive.
In March 2003, Rowena stood trial for Mutt’s murder. Her defense team pushed Rowena’s version of the events—that Mutt had poisoned her and framed her.
“The information the defense gave the jury,” said McLennan County DA’s Office former senior prosecutor Mike Freeman, “was that she’s a good grandmother.”
The prosecution dubbed Rowena a “black widow,” per Waco news reports, in its argument.
The jury returned a guilty verdict, and Rowena, 70, was sentenced to life in prison. Less than a year later, she choked to death behind bars.
Killer Grannies airs Sundays at 8/7c p.m. on Oxygen.
