Murderous Roots

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Episode 1: Death Surrounds Her

Photo shows Lyda with her fifth husband, Paul Southard as Lyda is being extradited from Hawaii to Idaho.

Source: Daily News (NY), 27 Oct 1996

A beautiful and popular young woman, Lyda Trueblood had the world at her feet when she married her husband Robert “Bud” Dooley on 17 March 1912. Then, tragedy struck and her world would never be the same. Listen as we discuss the life and deaths of Lyda Southard and the death that surrounded her family.

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Episode 1: Death Surrounds Her Murderous Roots with Denise & Zelda

It was the death of her husband Edward Meyers that brought police attention to Lyda’s crimes. Her defense that she was a typhoid carrier fell flat after arsenic was discovered after exhuming the bodies.

Source: The Butte Miner, 27 September 1921

Around the time of her arrest

Source: The San Francisco Examiner, 8 June 1921

Lyda in 1932, likely before she was returned to prison.

Source: Daily News (NY), 25 March 1951

Source: The Columbus Telegram, 1 Aug 1932

Death certificate of William J. Trueblood, Lyda’s father

Benjamin F. Trueblood

Lyda’s grandfather who married his first wife, and step-sister, Sarah Landers, when he was 21 years old and she was only 15, but more likely 14.