
Poisoning Daddy (1996) - samclemens
http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/poisoning-daddy/
======
vogt
Sorta OT, but Texas Monthly has so many great long reads like this.

Among my favorites are

Man on Fire [http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/man-on-
fire/](http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/man-on-fire/), the story of an
East Texas civil rights activist who self-immolated in a parking lot in a town
of just a couple thousand.

Sinners in the Hands, which deals with a controversial church also in a tiny
town in Eastern TX [http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/sinners-in-the-
hands/](http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/sinners-in-the-hands/)

and The Witness which is a pretty intimate look at one of the employees
involved hands-on with capital punishment in Huntsville TX (very high rate of
death penalties) [http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-
witness/](http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-witness/).

And really OT, but still interesting I think, Texas Monthly BBQ
[http://tmbbq.com](http://tmbbq.com) is one of the best food blogs IMO and
basically the only one I will read. It's very well done.

I'm not a big fan of many publications but TM is a winner in my book.

~~~
chiph
> Big city barbecue places are also a bigger time investment for patrons.
> Potential customers will need some freedom to take long lunch hours or maybe
> even take the whole morning off.

That's the #1 reason that I've never eaten at Franklin BBQ in downtown Austin.
I can't afford to take an entire morning off to stand in line (and risk their
running out of food before I can order).

But if I'm in the Lockhart area, I can stop in at Blacks and get some brisket
and sausage in only a few minutes.

~~~
vogt
My wife and I came down from Dallas specifically to go to Franklin on a
weekend, and in that context, it was so worth it. I got pretty ornery by the
time we were inside and had been in line for about 3 hours. When we finally
ate though, I don't want to say I would have done it all over again
realistically speaking, but I almost would have.

And yeah Black's is great. Louie Mueller is similar, though they do get a
little more hype than Black's, I think.

------
JacobAldridge
For those wondering what happened next: While her conviction was upheld on
appeal, ultimately the 28 year sentence became 7 years. Marie was paroled in
2003, and changed her name after release.

[http://usedview.com/marie-robards-dorothy-marie-robards-
paro...](http://usedview.com/marie-robards-dorothy-marie-robards-paroled-
in-2003/)

------
eBombzor
I'm probably in the minority here but I found the writing be borderline
sensationalist. Some parts of the story were clearly manufactured and twisted
to add more flare and "omg" moments. Leaves a bad taste after reading.

Onto the article: I can't help but sympathize with this girl. Obviously her
sentence is justified, but some people are completely oblivious to the types
of mental deterioration one goes through when raised under such dysfunctional
circumstances.

------
fisherjeff
Slight non sequitur, I know, but Texas Monthly apparently really knows how to
assemble a superb writing staff.

A handful of my favorite pieces of long-form journalism were published in TM
and now here's yet another great piece, but from 20 years ago.

------
eplanit
The show Forensic Files covered this story, and interviewed the article's
author Skip Hollandsworth. The most fascinating of the murder stories he's
covered (IMHO) is the the one involving the murderer who was obsessed with
eyeballs: [http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/see-no-
evil-3/](http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/see-no-evil-3/)

------
camperman
Claudius's confession of murder in Hamlet comes right after Hamlet has put on
a play to prick his conscience. This girl's confession comes right after her
friend reads Claudius's prayer.

Quite extraordinary that after centuries, Shakespeare's words could still
prick consciences in almost exactly the same way and for the same reasons.

~~~
emmelaich
I find few poets and writers as affecting as Shakespeare.

You find yourself transported into the minds of the characters.

~~~
mercer
Doestoevki comes to mind, although I always found him to be best at describing
a specific kind of mind (or at least it seems that way to me).

------
Kenji
_For weeks Stacey tried to keep Marie’s story a secret. “When you’re in high
school, it’s, like, so important not to betray your best friends,” Stacey
later told me. But tormented by guilt and bothered by the idea that Marie
might be a far different girl from the one she knew, Stacey eventually
contacted the police._

The morale of the story is that you should either choose your friends, or what
you say, wisely.

~~~
mcphage
I think maybe she did pick her friend wisely.

------
cnnsucks
Broken home, broken kids. I know that antagonizes a lot of people, some of
whom found their role as parents incompatible with their preferred
lifestyle... The truth is a bitch.

