Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Bitter Physician: Debora Green

Debora J. Green (née Jones) isan American physician who pleaded no contest to setting a 1995 firewhich burned down her family's home and killed two of her children,and to poisoning her husband with ricin with the intention of causinghis death. The case was sensational, and covered heavily by newsmedia, especially in the Kansas–Missouri area, where the crimesoccurred. Though Green has petitioned for a new trial twice in recentyears, her requests have not been successful.

Green married Michael Farrar in 1979while practicing as an emergency physician. The marriage wastumultuous, and Farrar filed for divorce in July 1995. Between Augustand September 1995, Farrar repeatedly fell violently ill, and despitenumerous hospitalizations his doctors could not pinpoint the sourceof his illness. Green's emotional stability deteriorated and shebegan to drink heavily, even while supervising her children. OnOctober 24, 1995, the Farrar family home, occupied by Green and thecouple's three children, caught fire. Kate Farrar and Debora Greenescaped without harm, but despite the efforts of firefighters,Timothy and Kelly Farrar died in the blaze. Investigation showed thattrails of accelerant in the house led back to Green's bedroom, andthat the source of Michael Farrar's intractable illness had beenricin, a poison served to him in his food by Green.

Upon her arrest on November 22, 1995,Green was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two countsof attempted first-degree murder, and one count of aggravated arson.She was held on $3,000,000 bail—the highest ever required byJohnson County, Kansas—and maintained her innocence throughoutpre-trial motions and a show cause hearing. However, when thedefense's own investigators verified the strength of forensicevidence against Green, she agreed to an Alford plea to all charges.On May 30, 1996, she was sentenced to two concurrent forty-yearprison sentences. Green has petitioned for a new trial twice sinceher conviction. Her first request, which she eventually withdrew, wasbased on a claim of having been rendered incompetent for pleabargaining by the psychiatric medications she was taking at the timeof her hearings; her second, which was denied by a judge, claimedthat the evidence used to convict her of arson had been renderedobsolete by scientific advances.

Early life and medical training

Green was the second of two daughtersof Joan and Bob Jones of Havana, Illinois. She showed earlyintellectual promise, and is reported to have taught herself to readand write before she was three years old. Green participated in anumber of school activities at the two high schools she attended andwas a National Merit Scholar and co-valedictorian of her high schoolclass. Those who knew her at the time later described her as"[fitting] right in" and someone who was "goingto be successful".

Green attended the University ofIllinois from the fall of 1969, where she took a major in chemistry. Though she had intended to pursue chemical engineering as a career,she opted to attend medical school after graduating in 1972,believing the market was flooded with engineers. She attended theUniversity of Kansas School of Medicine from 1972 to her graduationin 1975. Green chose emergency medicine as her initial specialty andundertook a residency in the Truman Medical Center Emergency Roomafter her graduation from medical school.

Throughout her undergraduate andmedical school attendance, she dated Duane M. J. Green, an engineer.The couple married while she was studying at the University ofKansas. The couple lived together in Independence, Missouri, whileDebora finished her residency, but by 1978 they had separated andthen divorced. Debora cited basic incompatibility as the reason forthe divorce—"[...W]e had absolutely no common interests",she was later quoted as saying—but the divorce was friendly.