The night Patsy Wright died did not begin with a broken window, a visible attacker, or an obvious sign of danger. It began quietly. Patsy was home. At some point in the early morning hours, she took NyQuil — something people close to her reportedly knew she used.
Patsy was home, and nothing outwardly dramatic marked the night as dangerous.
Patsy took NyQuil, a familiar nighttime habit known to people around her.
Patsy called her sister Sally and said she had taken NyQuil and something was very wrong.
Sally and Steve Horning rushed to the house and found Patsy unconscious.
Testing later showed the NyQuil had been poisoned with strychnine.
Investigators concluded this was not broad product tampering. The poison had been added after the bottle left the store. That means the killer did not set a trap for the public. The poisoned bottle appears to have been meant for Patsy Wright specifically.
That changes the meaning of the timeline. A suspect does not need to be standing in the room at the moment of death. What matters more is who had earlier opportunity, earlier access, and private knowledge of Patsy’s behavior.
This is one of the most unsettling features of the case: the decisive act may have happened long before Patsy realized she was in danger.