Ashley Jones: Indiana Woman Sentenced to 50 Years After Guilty Plea in Stepfather’s Antifreeze Poisoning Death

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In 2022, an Indiana man, Harold “Peanut” Allen, survived several poisoning attempts by his wife and stepdaughter. They eventually killed him with a root beer spiked with antifreeze, and the crime was only discovered after a botched burglary at his wife's home.

Ashley Jones, 30, was sentenced to 50 years in prison in August 2025 after pleading guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, while her mother, Marsha Allen, died by suicide in October 2023 before she could be punished for her crime. 

Harold Allen with his wife Marsha Allen 

Harold Allen 



On December 22, 2022, 52-year-old Harold “Peanut” Allen died, and doctors later blamed his death on cardiac complications after months of erratic illness. 

His obituary even stated that he simply “passed away suddenly,” but nearly a year later, the case took a dramatic turn after a failed robbery at the victims home. 

On September 19, 2023, the victim's wife, Marsha Allen called the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, and she reported that there had been a burglary at her residence in Freetown, Indiana. 

She also told deputies that she recognized one of the intruders from her home security footage. She that his name was Steven Andrew White, 29, and that he was a close friend of her daughter.

This report led to an investigation and within hours, Steven Andrew White, 29 and a second man, Nathaniel Kane Napier, 28, were located and arrested.

During his interrogation, White confessed to the break-in but then told detectives something far more serious: Marsha Allen had murdered her husband by putting poison into a root beer float. 

He also revealed that Ashley Jones was the one who had planned the burglary, and that she took part in the killing too as she was living with the couple at the time.

White detailed how Jones had provided the combination to a gun safe inside the home and had instructed the men to carry out the break-in. He also told investigators to check the text messages between Marsha Allen and her daughter, claiming that those conversations would show exactly how they planned the killing

When detectives confronted Marsha Allen, she initially denied any role in her husband’s death but she voluntarily handed her phone over to authorities. 

When the device was searched, detectives recovered chilling messages from the device which showed a succession of failed attempts on Harold Allen’s life stretching back to the autumn of 2022.

Ashley Jones 


According to police reports, on September 14, 2022, Ashley Jones ordered seeds from the pong pong tree—sometimes called the “suicide tree”—through eBay, as per CBS News 

A single kernel could contain a fatal dose of the toxin cerberin, yet, the seeds were ground in a coffee grinder, baked into a tray of brownies, and given to the victim on November 26, 2022. 

He became gravely ill and was rushed to the emergency room the next day but he slowly recovered, moving in and out of the hospital over the following week. 

That same day, after the victim ate the brownies, Marsha Allen sent her daughter a photograph of Harold Allen with a partially eaten brownie resting on a paper plate on his stomach.

Additionally, on November 28, Marsha texted Jones expressing her frustration that her husband survived. “I am irritated and can’t sleep peacefully. I need this to be over. I wish it would reach its climax and be done lol,” she wrote. Two days later, Harold Allen was back in the emergency room, where physicians attributed his ailments to intestinal inflammation.

When the pong pong seeds didn't work, the two bought hemlock on Etsy, then they slipped it into his food and drinks three times in December, but Harold Allen survived every attempt.

It was at this point that Ashley Jones then ordered ethylene glycol, a colorless, sweet-tasting chemical commonly found in antifreeze, on December 13. 

According to official reports, Marsha Allen later poured the substance into a root beer and served it to her husband on December 19, 2022. Tragically, he died three days later.

Marsha Allen was questioned again in October 2023, and on the same day a search warrant was executed at her home. However, she died that same day and authorities suspect she committed suicide.

Ashley Jones was taken into custody for her role in the burglary and later charged with two counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of consumer product tampering, and two counts of attempted murder. 

While locked up in the Jackson County Jail awaiting trial, Jones gave a cellmate a handwritten note that police called a 'kill list.' It named people who knew something about Harold Allen's death, and the first name on the list was Steven White, the man whose tip had sparked the murder investigation in the first place. 

Handwriting experts later said the list was likely written by Jones, but prosecutors never filed extra charges over it.

In August 2025, Ashley Jones accepted a plea agreement, admitting guilt to one count of attempted murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. She eventually received a 50-year prison sentence, while White was sentenced to three and a half years for his part in the burglary.

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