John E. Neumar Jr., a 79-year-old Augusta, Georgia resident and U.S. Navy veteran, died on October 25, 2007, at the Veterans Administration Hospital. His death certificate listed sepsis, ischemic colitis, and ileus. The family grew suspicious when his stepmother, Betty Johnson Neumar, did not notify his son and had his body cremated despite a pre-purchased burial plot.

Betty Neumar was later the focus of a multi-state probe after it emerged John was her fifth husband and four previous husbands had died under violent or suspicious circumstances. Investigators seized John Neumar’s ashes and tested them for poisons such as arsenic because his symptoms could have matched poisoning, but the tests were negative. Georgia authorities ultimately closed the case, saying they had no evidence linking Betty Neumar to his death. No arrest was made.

Did anyone in the Augusta area know John’s routine or notice anything unusual in the months before October 2007?