"Till death do us part." Twice Raynella Leath took those marriage vows — and after each wedding, death came much sooner than expected for her husbands.
Police say she cleverly staged husband No. 1’s death to make it look like an accident — and then made husband No. 2’s death appear to be a suicide, investigators believe.
Officials have charged her with her second husband’s murder — and they’re seeking a court order to exhume husband No. 1 because they think she killed him as well.
"You could write a book about it or a TV movie," says Robert Jolley, a former prosecutor who was involved in the case.
Her first husband, Ed Dossett, was the district attorney for Knox County in Tennessee.
Raynella married him in 1970 when both were students. He was starting law school and she’d just finished nursing school.
On July 9, 1992, she called 911 to say she’d found Ed dead on their 165-acre farm.
She claimed she’d taken Ed — who was ill with colon cancer and taking morphine for the pain — to look at his cattle. When she returned, she says, she found him on the ground.
An autopsy showed a hoof print on his chest. His breast bone and several ribs were broken. The medical examiner ruled he’d been trampled to death by his cattle.
Her second husband, David Leath, was a retired Knoxville barber.
On March 13, 2003, Raynella called 911 to report she’d found him dead in bed at their home.
She said he’d committed suicide. But an autopsy showed he had high levels of antidepressant drugs in his system. He did not have a prescription for the drugs.
Cops discovered his gun had been fired THREE times – a tough trick for a suicide victim.
Raynella, a 59-year-old registered nurse, was charged with murdering David — and now authorities are convinced she murdered Ed as well.
Pick up the new issue of The ENQUIRER for all the details!
