within a 12-month period, scoggins two closest friends, leita and olgie nobles were both poisoned with arsenic, and his friends catherine and cordelia norton also died suspicious deaths within a day of one another. he was the last person alone with cordelia, and he was the last person alone with catherine. he wanted money, he wanted riches and he liked the lavish style of particularly the nortons. i mean they traveled all over the world. they had friends from all over the world come visit them, and he was included in that circle. if scoggin poisoned the norton sisters, no one could prove it. they had both been cremated. all that remained were their ashes. he believed he could burn up the evidence and he would be safe. in the average cremation, the body is subjected to temperatures of more than 2,000 degrees fahrenheit for up to three hours.
they needed someone to care for them. and that s what he did. and they trusted him just like a son. he was at their beck and call. he would drive them anywhere, take them to the doctors. they would often go to the university of texas football games. not surprisingly, the sisters appreciated scoggins help and apparently led him to believe his generosity would be rewarded. he knew the ladies had a lot of money, and he was going to befriend them. and he said that catherine and cordelia had told him that they were going to remember him in the will. so he was really thinking he was going to make a lot of money. he bragged that he was wealthy or that he was going to be an heir or already was an heir of a wealthy family that i believe he said he was related to the norton sisters rather than just a friend. then all of a sudden, the two sisters died within a day of one another. the doctor signed off and said death, heart attack, old
tim scoggin was the prime suspect in the murders of cordelia and catherine norton, olgie nobles and the attempted murder of leita nobles. mr. scoggin had no criminal record. he certainly didn t appear like any kind of tv crook. in fact, he was the proverbial wolf in sheep s clothing. he appeared to be completely nonthreatening and a loving friend to all his victims. investigators found arsenic in some antacids in leita s home but couldn t find out where it came from, until the owner of a local supermarket called to offer some information. he said when he saw scoggin s picture in the newspaper, he remembered selling him a large
scoggin. but leita refused to believe either one was responsible. she had an excellent relationship with her son, and tim scoggin was like a member of the family. i didn t know what to think because i just i just couldn t, you know, believe it. leita nobles will look you right into the eye and tell you exactly what she thinks, and that s what she did. she looked us right in the eye and told us tim scoggin wasn t doing that, that we were on the wrong track and he would never do that. she trusted him completely. tim scoggin was 33 years old, single and had a close personal relationship with the nobles, but a background check revealed an unusual past. before buying the nobles business, scoggin lived in llano, texas, about 130 miles away. while there, he met two elderly sisters, catherine and cordelia norton. the last surviving members of an old texas family that made
dissolve all of the organic material. what was left was primarily sulfuric acid. in a process called colorimetric testing, he added hydrochloric acid and zinc to the mix. as it bubbles through this device, the arsenic will react and form, if it s present, a purplish violet color. the more arsenic present, the stronger the more purple the color is. rod mccutcheon s chemical cocktail made forensic history. the solution turned a deep purple. conclusive proof of the presence of arsenic. the depth of color in the reaction showed that cordelia norton ingested a massive amount of arsenic. the test results on catherine s ashes were inconclusive. nevertheless, their deaths were ruled homicides.