FILE 705 / 4 June 2026 / 182 MIN / full

Medicine Made Me Murder

St. George, UtahListen

The town

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

This is St. George, Utah. It's in southwestern Utah, like all the way in the corner there... this is in Washington county. about 0:05:22

History, in brief

1861

The town was settled in 1861 as a cotton mission, which is why it became known as Utah's Dixie; cotton never became a successful crop.

about 0:07:18

Town note

The settlement is named after George A. Smith, an LDS church apostle.

about 0:08:21

1877

In 1877 the LDS church completed the St. George Utah Temple, its third temple and the oldest still in active use in Utah.

about 0:08:28

Town note

In the early 1950s St. George received most of the fallout from above-ground nuclear testing at Yucca Flats in Nevada, and cancer rates rose from the mid-1950s until the early 1980s.

about 0:08:45
All 7 history facts

1861

The town was settled in 1861 as a cotton mission, which is why it became known as Utah's Dixie; cotton never became a successful crop.

about 0:07:18

Town note

The settlement is named after George A. Smith, an LDS church apostle.

about 0:08:21

1877

In 1877 the LDS church completed the St. George Utah Temple, its third temple and the oldest still in active use in Utah.

about 0:08:28

Town note

In the early 1950s St. George received most of the fallout from above-ground nuclear testing at Yucca Flats in Nevada, and cancer rates rose from the mid-1950s until the early 1980s.

about 0:08:45

1980

In 1980 People magazine reported that 91 of about 220 cast and crew who filmed The Conqueror near St. George in 1956 had developed cancer.

about 0:10:00

1992

In 1992 an earthquake destroyed three houses and a lot of utility infrastructure.

about 0:10:46

2005

In 2005 a hundred-year flood killed one person and destroyed 28 homes.

about 0:10:57

The figures, as told

Religious

78%

Biggest faith: Mormon, 70.4%

about 0:15:26

Who lives here

White 80.7% · Black 0.8% · Asian 0.8% · Hispanic 13%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▼ a little bit below average

about 0:23:29

Violent crime
▼ about half

about 0:23:37

Murders
none in four years

about 0:45:51

Money

Median home value$485,000
Two-bedroom rent$1,270
Median household income$63,604
Cost of living110

For sale

$81,000

Two-bedroom, one-bath trailer, 1,050 square feet

about 0:17:53

For sale

$293,000

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,039 square feet

about 0:18:27

For sale

$1,169,000

Four-bedroom, four-bath house, 4,340 square feet

about 0:19:20
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2026

Property crime

"a little bit below average"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2026 about 0:23:29

Violent crime

"about half"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2026 about 0:23:37

Murders

"none in four years"

Comparison: "before 1990". No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:45:51

Population

"92,875"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:14:14

Population in 1990

"28,502"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:14:17

Population in 2000

"49,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:14:30

Women

"51%"

Comparison: "more women than men". No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:14:39

Median age

"37.9"

Comparison: "right about the national average". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2026 about 0:14:43

Married people

"59.7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:14:52

White residents

"80.7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:15:04

Black residents

"0.8%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:15:04

Asian residents

"0.8%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:15:04

Native American residents

"0.9%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:15:26

Hispanic residents

"13%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:15:26

Lifetime odds of developing cancer for men

"43%"

Comparison: "US population; the town is a lot higher". Direction: above.

As told in 2026 about 0:10:35

Religious people

"78%"

Comparison: "50-50 is as high as the show has heard". Direction: above.

As told in 2026 about 0:15:26

Median household income

"$63,604"

Comparison: "below the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2026 about 0:16:10

Cost of living

"110"

Comparison: "100 is average". Direction: above.

As told in 2026 about 0:16:21

Median home cost

"$485,000"

Comparison: "above the national average by $150,000". Direction: above.

As told in 2026 about 0:16:45

Average two-bedroom rental

"$1,270"

Comparison: "right at the national average". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2026 about 0:17:12

Two-bedroom, one-bath trailer, 1,050 square feet

"$81,000"

Comparison: "after a $19,000 price cut, 20% off". No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:17:53

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,039 square feet

"$293,000"

Comparison: "after a $5,000 price cut". No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:18:27

Four-bedroom, four-bath house, 4,340 square feet

"$1,169,000"

Comparison: "after a $50,000 price cut". No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:19:20

The reviews

3.0 / 5 · average of 6

5 stars

“Born and raised here and still living here; a great in-between of small town and plenty to do, with variety of residents, good schools, sports teams and job opportunities. Hence five stars.”
about 0:11:32

3 stars

“Very friendly town for someone wanting to settle, but if you want nightlife or fun activities it is really not the place.”
about 0:12:06

3 stars

“Very family friendly, but everyone is caught up in keeping up with the Joneses, a big Mormon thing; everyone seems copy and paste.”
about 0:12:32

1 star

“St. George wins the award for most hated city for domesticated animals; hard to rent with a pet, people on trails point guns at hikers' dogs, and the police do not care.”
about 0:12:48

5 stars

“An incredible discovery, educational and fun, good for kids and adults; actual dinosaur footprints and impressions of skin, an excellent selection of books, and more than an hour planned.”
about 0:21:35

1 star

“Very disappointing, mud tracks only, no dinosaurs.”
about 0:22:08

In Utah

Closest episodes

  1. The Sickest DesireCedar City, Utah · 30 December 202180 km / 50 miShow on map
  2. Born To WinParagonah, Utah · 23 July 2022115 km / 71 miShow on map
  3. The Missing Head MysteryBoulder City, Nevada · 21 August 2026182 km / 113 miShow on map
  4. Murder In The BloodGrasshopper Junction, Arizona · 3 October 2025197 km / 122 miShow on map
  5. No Good Deed...Golden Valley, Arizona · 12 November 2020216 km / 134 miShow on map

The story

Janice Elaine Fondrin was born on April 20th, 1960 in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, one of three children of John and Betty Joe Fondrin. Her mother worked for the county supervisors and retired as Berkeley County's finance director, so the family was comfortably middle class. Janice sang in the school choir, was a cheerleader, and was remembered as an outgoing, happy girl. She studied nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, paying her own way by working as an aide in a nursing home, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in nursing. Her teachers called her an excellent student, and she won two scholarships from the state and local chapters of the Business and Professional Women's organisation. She spent a few months in Las Vegas, found it too much, and in 1989 settled in St. George, Utah, where she became a licensed registered nurse at the St. George Care Center. She was a private woman who never talked about herself, named her cat Rambo, and telephoned her mother four or five times a week. In May 1990 she was promoted to director of nursing.

He was an Eagle Scout, served a two-year LDS mission in Switzerland, and took a zoology degree at Southern Utah State College in Cedar City. He taught junior high science in Tuba City, Arizona, for about six months in 1983 and 1984, spent two months as a deputy in Mohave County, Arizona, in 1986, and was a licensed EMT. In 1987 he moved to St. George to be near his parents while his father's health failed, and worked about ten hours a week as a home health aide, first for Mesa View Extended Home Care and later for the St. George Surgical and Medical Clinic. His father died of a heart attack in November 1988.

He sent her bouquets of roses, turned up at her desk, and in April 1989, after about six months, they married. Nancy moved out three weeks later. In June 1989 she filed for divorce and a restraining order on the same day, and the divorce was final that September. He appeared at her home and her workplace, telephoned, pushed and shoved her, and left notes under her windscreen wiper. Meanwhile Janice Fondrin and Nancy became best friends, and Janice urged Nancy to stand up to her ex-husband and to call the police every time he breached the order.

Janice got in his face and shouted at him to leave Nancy alone, and several witnesses heard it. The next day she obtained a restraining order of her own, and on July 21st she filed a complaint. A witness heard a vehicle between two and half past two and saw a man doing something to Janice's car, which was backed up to her front door. Janice came downstairs; he shot her once in the chest, and she died within a minute. He wrapped her in a bedspread, carried her out, put her in the boot of her own Thunderbird, wiped some of the blood from the walls, and drove west.

At about three o'clock another witness saw a man park Janice's car in her space. Later that morning Janice did not arrive at work. Nancy Snow rang her house, got no answer, drove over, and found the townhome in disarray, with the kitchen screen damaged and blood visible inside. She went straight to the St. George Police Department and said her best friend was missing, and that she thought her ex-husband had done it. Police found a large amount of blood on the living room carpet, blood on the front door, the tile and the porch, a bullet hole in the front window, and a nine millimetre shell casing in the kitchen.

The body was found on July 26th, 150 feet off Camp Springs Road, about 15 miles west of St. George on the Shivwits reservation, in the middle of the night. Janice had been shot and had been dead before she left her apartment. Two blankets from her house, her pink pyjamas and her underwear lay nearby, along with a beer can. Her car had black brush in the wheel wells, a desert plant that grows where she was found, which is how police narrowed the search. His bail was set at $500,000, and the judge refused him appointed counsel because of the guns he had inherited from his father.

In September 1990 he was sent to the forensic unit of the state hospital for evaluation. His lawyer, Alan D. Boyack, a former Green Beret, pt, one-time Mohave County coroner and flamboyant local defence attorney, built a defence of involuntary intoxication.

He was freed in August 2020 and went back to St. George. Within a month Janice's mother Betty Joe died. Phone messages showed him negotiating purchases, and a search found a nine millimetre handgun and thousands of rounds. Janice is buried at Berkeley Memorial Gardens in Moncks Corner, South Carolina.

The case

Murder of Janice Fondrin

Victims

Janice Elaine Fondrin (30). registered nurse and director of nursing at the St. George Care Center; from Moncks Corner, South Carolina

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 4 June 2026.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Nancy Snow. ex-wife and Janice's best friend; reported her missing
Betty Joe Fondrin. Janice's mother
John Fondrin. Janice's father
Beth Fondrin. Janice's sister
John Fondrin III. Janice's brother
Alan D. Boyack. court-appointed defence attorney
W. Brett Langston. prosecutor
Philip Eves. the judge

The timeline

  1. November 1957 is born in Nevadaabout 0:49:48
  2. April 20th, 1960 Janice Elaine Fondrin is born in Moncks Corner, South Carolinaabout 0:37:30
  3. 1983 to 1984 teaches junior high science in Tuba City, Arizona, for about six months (Tuba City junior high)about 0:58:39
  4. 1986 spends two months as a deputy in Mohave County, Arizonaabout 0:59:53
  5. 1987 moves to St. George to be near his ailing father and works as a home health aideabout 1:00:47
  6. October 1988 meets Nancy Snow at an LDS singles partyabout 1:16:40
  7. November 1988 father dies of a heart attackabout 1:02:53
  8. November 1988 A doctor prescribes Prozac for his depressionabout 1:06:29
  9. 1989 attempts suicide twice with barbiturate overdosesabout 1:12:12
  10. April 1989 and Nancy Snow marry after about six months togetherabout 1:19:19
  11. Three weeks after the wedding, 1989 Nancy moves out of the marital homeabout 1:20:27
  12. June 1989 Nancy files for divorce and for a restraining order on the same dayabout 1:20:58
  13. September 1989 The divorce is finalabout 1:21:12
  14. May 1990 Janice Fondrin is promoted to director of nursing at the St. George Care Center (St. George Care Center)about 1:25:31
  15. Three days before the killing, July 1990 confronts Nancy and Janice at a bar; Janice shouts at him to leave Nancy aloneabout 1:25:54
  16. July 20th, 1990 Janice obtains a restraining order against the day after the bar confrontationabout 1:25:51
  17. July 21st, 1990 Nancy drives Janice home and sees peering through the back fence (Colorview town homes)about 0:48:51
  18. July 21st, 1990 Janice files a complaint against about 1:27:59
  19. July 22nd, 1990, about 1 a.m. leaves his apartment with a nine millimetre Ruger pistol ( apartment)about 1:45:43
  20. July 22nd, 1990, between 2 and 2.30 a.m. A witness sees a man doing something to Janice's car, backed up to her front door (Colorview town homes)about 1:30:51
  21. July 22nd, 1990 enters through the kitchen window and shoots Janice in the chest; she dies within a minute (Colorview town homes)about 1:45:51

Killing of Mildred, the Halcion case

Victims

Mildred (82). mother, who had Alzheimer's; she turned 83 on the day she was killed

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 4 June 2026.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Mildred. her mother, the victim
her former son-in-law. the Washington County sheriff's deputy who responded to the shooting

The timeline

  1. March 1988 Upjohn stops manufacturing the 0.5 milligram Halcion tablets without recalling them or telling doctorsabout 2:13:08
  2. June 19th, 1988 gives her mother a birthday card for her 83rd birthday ( mobile home)about 2:13:54
  3. June 19th, 1988 shoots her sleeping mother eight times in the head and neck ( mobile home)about 2:14:05
  4. 1989 files a $21 million civil suit against Upjohnabout 2:15:42
  5. 1994 , now living in Las Vegas, hangs herself on the anniversary of her mother's death (Las Vegas)about 2:39:20

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode