The chilling saga of Caitlyn Connelly, once dismissed as a bitter ex-girlfriend, has exploded into one of the most baffling and controversial true crime stories in recent memory — a tale of love, betrayal, and possibly… a wrongful conviction.
It all began in July 2015, when Mary Yodar, a beloved chiropractor and pillar of her New York community, died suddenly under mysterious circumstances. The cause? Colchicine poisoning — a rare, deadly substance used to treat gout. But Mary had no prescription, no medical reason, and no warning. Within hours, her organs failed — and her family was shattered.
At first, suspicion fell on her husband, Bill Yodar, after strange behavior in the wake of Mary’s death raised red flags. But then came the letter — a chilling handwritten note sent to investigators, accusing their son Adam Yodar of the murder. The letter described in disturbing detail how Adam supposedly poisoned his own mother.
But when detectives traced the letter… the truth became murkier.
The writer wasn’t Adam. It was Caitlyn Connelly, Adam’s ex-girlfriend — a woman who, even after their breakup, stayed close to the Yodar family. What appeared to be concern soon looked like obsession. Investigators found that Caitlyn had access to the chiropractic clinic where Mary worked — and to the exact poison that killed her.
The prosecution painted her as a woman consumed by vengeance — heartbroken, humiliated, and determined to make Adam suffer by taking away the person he loved most. Her alleged weapon? A bottle of colchicine laced into Mary’s daily smoothie.
But Caitlyn’s defense told a different story — one of manipulation, jealousy, and betrayal. They claimed she was being framed, pointing fingers back at Adam and Bill, citing family tensions and secret insurance policies.
When her first trial in 2017 ended in a hung jury, the courtroom gasped. But prosecutors didn’t back down. On retrial, Caitlyn was convicted — not of murder, but manslaughter — and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
For a while, justice seemed served… until 2025, when an appellate court overturned her conviction, ruling that police had illegally searched her phone — the very device that contained incriminating searches about colchicine poisoning.
Now, as Caitlyn sits in legal limbo, awaiting the possibility of a retrial, the haunting question remains:
👉 Was she a calculating killer blinded by revenge?
Or a scapegoat caught in the tangled web of love, loss, and lies?
The death of Mary Yodar remains an enduring mystery — and as whispers grow of new evidence surfacing, one thing is certain: this case is far from over.
