when the unsolved mysteries program came out and we saw that the evidence of methylmalonic acidemia had been specifically forbidden at the trial, well, that seemed really just unjust. and so i took it upon myself to try to find out exactly what the laboratories had done who claimed they found ethylene glycol. shoemaker teams up with senior st. louis university biochemist dr. william sly. the scientists have a hunch ethylene glycol may never have been present in ryan s blood and that the lab technician may have made a mistake. under dr. sly s supervision, shoemaker runs tests on ryan stallings blood sample to see if they can detect elements that can be mistakenly read as ethylene glycol. the scientists begin by looking at boiling points for various compounds. each compound boils at a certain temperature and is represented by a peak on a graph.
so he just asked me, could you please run these and see if there s any signs of a genetic illness? shoemaker runs a series of tests on ryan s blood. it immediately became apparent that yes, the first child had had methylmalonic acidemia. so shoemaker tells prosecutors two important facts. one, ryan had mma. but two, because mma is not always fatal, it was most likely the poison his colleague found and not the disease that killed ryan. in every instance they said this child had ethylene glycol poisoning. in fact, the st. louis city medical examiner also finds signs of the poisoning in ryan s brain. he tells the prosecutor that there are crystals consistent with a by-product of ethylene glycol. faced with all those facts, i determined in my own mind that certainly patricia stallings should be tried and a jury should determine her guilt or innocence. two years after the death of her son ryan, patricia
illness? shoemaker runs a series of tests on ryan s blood. it immediately became apparent that yes, the first child had had methylmalonic acidemia. so shoemaker tells prosecutors two important facts. one, ryan had mma. but two, because mma is not always fatal, it was most likely the poison his colleague found and not the disease that killed ryan. in every instance they said this child had ethylene glycol poisoning. in fact, the st. louis city medical examiner also finds signs of the poisoning in ryan s brain. he tells the prosecutor that there are crystals consistent with a by-product of ethylene glycol. faced with all those facts, i determined in my own mind that certainly patricia stallings should be tried and a jury should determine her guilt or innocence. two years after the death of her son ryan, patricia
the evidence of methylmalonic acidemia had been specifically forbidden at the trial, well, that seemed really just unjust. and so i took it upon myself to try to find out exactly what the laboratories had done who claimed they found ethylene glycol. shoemaker teams up with senior st. louis university biochemist dr. william sly. the scientists have a hunch ethylene glycol may never have been present in ryan s blood and that the lab technician may have made a mistake. under dr. sly s supervision, shoemaker runs tests on ryan stallings blood sample to see if they can detect elements that can be mistakenly read as ethylene glycol. the scientists begin by looking at boiling points for various compounds. each compound boils at a certain temperature and is represented
first child also had this genetic disease. so he just asked me, could you please run these and see if there s any signs of a genetic illness? shoemaker runs a series of tests on ryan s blood. it immediately became apparent that yes, the first child had had methylmalonic acidemia. so shoemaker tells prosecutors two important facts. one, ryan had mma. but two, because mma is not always fatal, it was most likely the poison his colleague found and not the disease that killed ryan. in every instance they said this child had ethylene glycol poisoning. in fact, the st. louis city medical examiner also finds signs of the poisoning in ryan s brain. he tells the prosecutor that there are crystals consistent with a by-product of ethylene glycol. faced with all those facts, i determined in my own mind that