In the 90s of the last century, in a town called Kudasayi in Kerala, India, Roy, a young man in his early 20s, came to his uncle's house to celebrate the housewarming.
Here, Roy meets a girl named Jolly, who is told by his uncle that Jolly is his aunt's niece and that the two are about the same age and can make friends.
Roy's uncle didn't expect that his casual talk would invisibly open Pandora's box, and a serial murder case that swept the entire family and led to the death of 6 people one after another kicked off at this moment...
(Roy and Jolly, who just dated, the pictures in this article are all from the documentary)
Perfect daughter-in-law
After they met, Roy and Jolly began to exchange letters, and the two became closer and closer as they talked, and developed from friendship to love.
It's one thing to make friends, it's another thing to fall in love.
When they heard that Roy was dating Jolly, most of their relatives became alarmed.
Because, although the two are relatives who have made a few turns, their family backgrounds are very different.
Roy's father was a high-ranking official in the Education Bureau, and his mother was the principal of a local school.
(Roy's father and mother)
Originally from a mountainous area where her parents had been farming for generations, Jolly herself was keen on fashion and often openly expressed her desire to marry into a wealthy family.
In the eyes of the people around him, Jolly and Roy are inevitably in love, and they are inevitably suspected of "high climbing".
(Jolly as a young man)
But Roy, who is in love, is desperate and insists on asking his family to marry Jolly.
Roy's father objected at the time, saying that Jolly was a distant relative and from the mountains, and he was afraid that it would not affect him.
Roy's mother agreed to the marriage, firstly because she had no family concept, and secondly, she heard that Jolly had a master's degree, and secretly hoped that she would be able to go out to work after marrying into the family and not be trapped in the kitchen.
(Roy's mother)
In 1997, Roy and Jolly had a lavish wedding at a local church, and the couple were married.
（Roy和Jolly结婚照）
For some time after the wedding, Roy's family was very happy with Jolly, a gentle, empathetic daughter-in-law, and a good cook, and the whole family was immersed in happiness.
However, after a few years, a kind of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law contradiction that can be called "alternative" in India began to gradually appear.
Roy's mother found that her daughter-in-law, Jolly, who had a master's degree, seemed to be obsessed with kitchen and housework, and had little enthusiasm for going out to pursue a career, which was very different from what she had hoped for.
(Roy's mother)
Roy's mother began to knock on Jolly, saying that she could do the housework for her, and that her daughter-in-law only needed to go out to work, so as not to bury her education.
But Jolly was pregnant at the time, and her mother-in-law couldn't say much.
It wasn't until Jolly gave birth that Roy's mother began to talk about looking for a job again......
(Jolly and her mother-in-law have a strained relationship)
One day in 2002, the family received news that Jolly's father was coming to visit.
When the in-laws came to be guests, they naturally had to be grandly entertained, so the family was busy.
Jolly and Roy's sister were cooking chicken in the kitchen when her mother-in-law came in and went out with a glass of water.
(Jolly roasting chicken in the kitchen)
About twenty minutes later, Roy's sister went to the room to look for her mother, only to find her leaning against the window, her face flushed and her eyes watering down with tears, and she said to her daughter with difficulty:
"I can't breathe, call a doctor for me!"
The family scrambled to make phone calls and find a car to take her mother to the hospital, and within five minutes of arriving at the hospital, the doctor announced that Roy's mother had died.
(Roy's mother died mysteriously)
The sudden death of Roy's mother caught everyone off guard, but the family calmly accepted the result:
After all, Roy's mother was old and suffering from multiple diseases, and the family took it for granted that she had a hereditary stroke, and neither asked for an autopsy nor questioned it.
But after her mother's death, Roy's sister suddenly began to notice that Jolly had become extremely active, and took the initiative to take over a share of the family affairs that her mother-in-law had handled, and she became the new mistress of the family...
（Roy的妹妹和Jolly）
Roy's sister can't say anything wrong, but she always feels that there is something hidden in her sister-in-law Jolly.
After her mother-in-law died, Jolly changed her attitude and announced that she was going out to work.
After some hard work, Jolly, who has a master's degree, found a position as a visiting professor at the National Institute of Technology.
After that, she wore a badge every day and rode a small motorcycle to the academy to take classes.
(Documentary scene restoration: Jolly rides a motorcycle to school)
Since then, her family has become more and more respectful of her, and the neighbors around her have also praised her, praising Jolly as a good daughter-in-law and a good woman, a good housekeeper, and a cultured and cultivated person.
What's even more rare is that Jolly is still not idle when she gets home, and she is busy with housework whenever she has free time, and when guests visit, Jolly can often be seen ironing her father-in-law's shirt.
Up to the hall and down to the kitchen, for a while, Jolly became the "perfect daughter-in-law" in the eyes of the town's residents......
(Perfect Daughter-in-law Jolly)
Mysterious death
However, after a few years, new family conflicts began to reappear......
Around 2008, Roy's father and Jolly began to have a falling out.
One of Roy's cousins, Mathew, who is also a relative of Jolly, works as a sales manager in a jewelry store and often runs home and behaves close to Jolly.
（Roy的表哥Mathew）
Roy's father thinks it's quite inappropriate, thinking that Mathew's purpose is not pure, and Jolly is not shy about it, and often hides in the corner and secretly makes phone calls, suspected of cheating.
The old man couldn't bear it anymore and had a big fight with his daughter-in-law about it, and Jolly defended himself and said a lot of reasons, but his father-in-law didn't believe it......
（Roy的父亲跟Jolly有了矛盾）
Until one night, Roy's father was ready to fall asleep as usual, and planned to take some mushroom capsules before bed, which was a supplement he had been taking for a long time.
(Mushroom capsules)
Jolly went to another room to fetch the mushroom capsules, served her father-in-law and lay down after taking the medicine.
Not long after he fell asleep, Roy's father's body was abnormal, he had difficulty breathing, his whole body was convulsed, he tried to force his body to crawl to the washstand, and soon went to consciousness again...
Jolly saw the movement of the sink, and instead of stepping forward to help, Jolly called a nearby neighbor to take Roy's father to the hospital.
(Documentary scene restoration: Roy's father collapsed on the washstand)
Roy's father died on the way before he could reach the hospital.
Jolly took the initiative to come forward and inform the doctor on behalf of the family, saying that her father-in-law died of a heart attack and could be buried directly without an autopsy.
(Two elderly people in the family died)
Roy's sister begins to notice something strange about her father's death, but her sister-in-law Jolly cries to death at her father's funeral, and she dispels her suspicions once again.
(Jolly crying at her father-in-law's funeral)
The family was not suspicious of Jolly, but rumors began to spread in the neighborhood.
Jolly is rumored to be an "ominous daughter", and since marrying into the family, two old men have died one after another.
(Neighbors start rumoring that Jolly has a problem)
But Jolly doesn't care, she still smiles at her neighbors and generously helps her in various situations on weekdays. Soon after, she became pregnant with her second child......
As time passed, the gossip faded away, and Jolly regained the trust of the townspeople, turning back into the respected polytechnic professor and good daughter-in-law.
(The townspeople begin to forget the rumors)
In stark contrast, her husband, Roy, had a bad career, he lost his job and had no financial resources. As a result, there were some conflicts between husband and wife......
(Jolly's family of four)
Roy's sister began to hear rumors that her sister-in-law, Jolly, seemed to be divorcing her brother.
The atmosphere in the house has also become eerie, Jolly and Roy live in different rooms, and the weekday communication is like a routine......
At the end of 2010, Roy suddenly called his brother and sister together and pulled out a photocopy of his father's will, which was left to him and his wife, Jolly, and his brother and sister had no share.
Roy said that he hoped his younger siblings would consider moving out sooner.
(Falsified father's will)
The younger sister saw the cat on the spot, she pointed out that there was no stamp on the will, and there was no corresponding witness signature, and the scene was suddenly silent, and the matter was stopped......
(Roy's sister suspects that there is something wrong with her brother and sister-in-law)
Before my sister could figure out the reason, something happened at home soon......
(Roy and Jolly's relationship has cracked)
On September 30, 2011, Jolly made an early dinner for the children to eat before putting them to bed.
At 8 p.m., Jolly went to the kitchen and cooked a bowl of chickpea curry for her husband Roy.
Roy felt strange after eating, and then rushed into the bathroom to vomit and didn't come out for half an hour.
(Documentary scene restoration: Roy eats chickpea curry rice)
As in the previous scene, after finding out that Roy had an accident, Joll did not offer to help, but called the neighbor again.
The neighbors rushed into the bathroom and found Roy, who was foaming at the mouth with convulsions all over his body,
Everyone rushed him to the hospital, but before he could reach the hospital gate, Roy was dying.
(Roy mysteriously dies)
Three people died in the family, and Roy's uncle, the old man who had brought Roy and Jolly to their marriage, finally realized that something was wrong and insisted on a forensic autopsy.
(Jolly and her uncle, who is also Roy's uncle, attend the funeral.)
The medical examiner's autopsy report was soon released, and the report was marked by a key word - "cyanide poisoning......
(The words "cyanide poisoning" in the autopsy report)
Subsequently, the local police came to investigate, and Jolly explained to the police that her husband had a debt of 100,000 rupees (about 8,600 yuan), and he was under a lot of pressure recently, and it was likely that he could not think of committing suicide.
The police actually accepted Jolly's statement and hastily closed the case.
But neither Roy's uncle nor Roy's younger siblings believed in such an outcome, and there was never a debt collector in the family, nor did he see who Roy borrowed money from, and it didn't look like he was in debt.
Moreover, cyanide is a chemical that is difficult for ordinary people to get their hands on, how did Roy get it?
The police did not investigate these mysteries in depth.
(Parents and son died one after another)
In 2012, Roy's younger siblings learned that Jolly had transferred Roy's parents' large house to their own name.
(Roy's parents' house)
The younger brother was furious, and he learned through an acquaintance that Jolly had used a forged will to complete the transfer.
The fake will was tampered with on the basis of his father's original will, and it also "intimately" filled in the "loopholes" pointed out by Roy's sister before.
(Left: True Will, Right: Forged Fake Will)
The younger siblings thought about taking their sister-in-law to court, but when they thought that the two nephews were still young, they swallowed silently.
What the two didn't expect was that the strange incident soon reappeared......
In 2014, the uncle who matched Roy and Jolly's marriage also died unexpectedly, and the death was surprisingly similar to the previous three relatives, like a stroke and a heart attack......
After Roy's uncle's death, the family hastily dealt with the aftermath and did not conduct an autopsy.
(Roy's uncle dies mysteriously)
Four people in a family have died, and the younger siblings begin to realize that more and more evidence points to Jolly, but they are still hesitant to report the crime and initiate further investigation into Jolly......
Without waiting for Roy's younger siblings to get ready, Jolly secretly got along with Roy's cousin Shaju again......
（Roy的堂哥Shaju）
Shaju is a wealthy businessman with a successful career, a harmonious family, and two children with his wife.
But it all seemed to be difficult for Jolly......
One day, Shaju held a communion service for her daughter at home, which was attended by many relatives and friends, including Jolly and her two children.
(Jolly and two sons)
During this time, an elder went into the kitchen to get food and feed it to Shaju's daughter.
Feeding and feeding, the two-year-old girl suddenly began to convulse all over her body, rolled her eyes, and her body involuntarily fell backwards.
People at the scene immediately called an ambulance, and Shaju's daughter was rushed to the hospital, but her life was still not saved.
The hospital said that the cause of the child's death was suffocation due to food blockage in his throat.
(Shaju's daughter)
After the death of her daughter, Shaju's wife fell into depression.
Jolly began to frequent her cousin's house, comforting her and recommending supplements to treat her depression.
In 2016, my sister-in-law also died of a "heart attack" one day after following Jolly's advice and eating the mushroom capsules she gifted...
(Jolly attends Shaju's wife's funeral)
A year after her cousin's death, Jolly suddenly announced to her family that she was marrying Shaju.
One of them lost their husband and the other their wife, and they just started a new family to take care of the children in both families...
（Jolly和Shaju结婚）
Truth?
At this point, Roy's sister can't bear it anymore - since her sister-in-law Jolly married into Roy's family, six members of the family have died in 14 years, and now she is still involved with Roy's cousin......
（Jolly正式嫁给Shaju）
Knowing many details from beginning to end, she locked the biggest suspicion on Jolly.
But the police refused to investigate deeply, so she had to come by herself.
She first went to the medical examiner and asked for a copy of Roy's full autopsy report to look through.
In addition to the words "cyanide poisoning", she saw the latter sentence again:
"There was undigested rice and chickpeas in the stomach. ”
(Post-mortem report)
She suddenly remembered that when her brother Roy had just died, she had come home and asked Jolly, "What was the last thing my brother ate before he died?"
Jolly replied, seemingly nonchalantly:
"I ate chickpea curry rice at noon and didn't eat again in the evening. ”
The autopsy report clearly stated that Roy died at 11:20 p.m. that night, with undigested rice and chickpeas in his stomach.
In other words, the elder brother ate chickpea rice that night.
Jolly clearly remembers what her brother had eaten, but deliberately concealed the time...
Roy's sister was immediately enlightened:
The person who poisoned Roy, and even Roy's parents, uncle, cousin, and niece, may be the perfect daughter-in-law of Roy's family in the eyes of everyone, the former sister-in-law Jolly!
(Jolly is suspected of being the real culprit in a series of deaths)
Roy's sister rushed to the police station years later to report the incident and informed her of the results of her investigation.
Fortunately, this time, the new sheriff is a responsible officer, and after listening to the description, he realizes the seriousness of the case and immediately initiates an investigation into Jolly.
(Sheriff in the case of Jolly's poisoning)
This investigation can be regarded as completely unraveling Jolly's old bottom, and the mysteries of the past have been reasonably explained in turn:
Jolly comes from a poor background and has always dreamed of marrying into a decent family in the city.
To this end, she has been working hard to make this dream come true.
When she first met Roy, she deceived the other party that she had graduated with a master's degree, but in fact she only studied in the preparatory department of secondary school, but she firmly believed that Roy's family would not really look at her academic certificate.
After marrying into Roy's family, she still managed to get herself a fake master's diploma just in case.
Because her father-in-law is a high-ranking official of the Education Bureau, he often has photocopies of other students' certificates in his hands, so she secretly found a student's master's degree certificate and tampered with it into her own name.
(Jolly's doctored academic certificate)
Not long after, Jolly discovered that there was no way to keep the academic fraud a secret, especially in the period after giving birth, Roy's mother continued to urge her to find a job, and her father was going to visit the family again.
She fears that when the two in-laws meet, they talk about their education and job search, and everything will be revealed, so she doesn't stop doing it, and kills Roy's mother by pouring cyanide into the water.
So the question is, where did Jolly's cyanide come from?
As mentioned earlier, Jolly is close to Roy's cousin, Mathew, and may even have gotten along for a long time.
Mathew was a jewellery salesman, and the master goldsmith used a large amount of cyanide salts for polishing, so he was legally qualified to obtain cyanide.
Police speculate that Jolly obtained the cyanide through Mathew's channels.
（Roy和表哥Mathew）
In the following cases, the cause and method of death of each person gradually became reasonable.
Roy's father was killed by her killers because he suspected Jolly and Mathew of having an adulterous affair.
Roy himself was in trouble because of his wife's cheating, and Jolly wanted to monopolize the house, so he was finally killed by Jolly.
The police speculated that during this period, Roy himself was even involved in some of his wife's lies and conspiracies, including her lying that she had found a job, forging a work permit from the Polytechnic Institute, and even forging her father's will to offend her younger siblings in order to save Jolly, just to occupy the property with Jolly.
It's just that he didn't expect that his wife Jolly would cross the river and tear down the bridge, kill him and take the property alone.
Roy's uncle is killed for trying to open an investigation into Jolly.
Shaju's daughter and wife died in the middle of Jolly's plans to remarry...
Everything is typical of a serial killer.
Criminal psychologists point out that serial killers like Jolly usually use similar tactics when killing a victim, with a gap between the two crimes.
Judging from the modus operandi of more than ten years, Jolly's time interval is getting shorter and shorter, his methods are becoming more and more proficient, and he is becoming more and more experienced in controlling the amount of poison.
(Criminal psychologist analyzes Jolly's motives)
Over the years, Jolly has managed to fool relatives and the police so that people don't really suspect her, just because she manages her image well.
Externally, she has created a respected, independent and successful female image, using as much as possible to create a positive aura and meet the expectations of society for herself.
In private, she used her ruthless criminal methods to continue to kill people and remove the stumbling blocks that hindered her life.
The ins and outs of all this became extremely plausible after the collapse of Jolly's personality.
However, there is no way to convict Jolly with a reasonable storyline alone.
In 2020, Kerala police dispatched a large number of people to open the coffins of six deceased members of the Roy family at the same time.
Police also cordoned off Roy's large house in an attempt to find evidence of cyanide residues.
(Police launch a large-scale investigation)
At that time, more than a decade had passed since a series of murders, and it had become increasingly difficult to obtain evidence.
After the autopsy, only the body of Shaju's daughter was found to have cyanide, and with the "cyanide poisoning" clearly mentioned in Roy's autopsy report, only two of the six people who died were found to have evidence of poison.
Although the accomplice who provided Jolly with cyanide (Mathew's goldsmith colleague) has been arrested and admitted to his involvement in the crime, there is still a long way to go before Jolly can be successfully convicted.
(Mathew's fellow goldsmith, an accomplice who provided Jolly with cyanide)
Jolly was subsequently arrested, and on the day she was escorted into a police van, Kudasayi watched the crowd crowd fill the scene.
The people in the town could never have dreamed that this respected university professor, the perfect daughter-in-law of virtuous and virtuous people, would be a serial killer who had been hidden for many years.
（Jolly被逮捕）
In March 2023, the Kerala District Court established a special court for the case, which is said to have appeared with as many as 200 witnesses, and is still pending......
Netflix's recent documentary, "Curry and Cyanide," describes the ins and outs of the case.
(Documentary "Curry and Cyanide")
Jolly's lawyer firmly believes that after such a long time has passed since the incident, the police have had great difficulties in handling the case and collecting evidence, and Jolly is very likely to be acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
But Roy's younger siblings, and even Jolly's own son, are convinced that she is guilty, and they will join other witnesses in court to seek justice for the six lives lost by Roy's family.
Let's wait and see what the outcome of the case will be......
（曾经幸福的Jolly和Roy）