Obscura: A True Crime Podcast · Justin Drown

MURDERED: Timothy & Kelly Farrar (Part 1 of 2) | Prairie Village, KS 1995

October 15, 2025·29 min·1 clip

Castor beans contain ricin, and Michael realizes his repeated gastrointestinal collapse fits that exposure pattern.

1. Obscura: A True Crime Podcast centers on Deborah Jones Farrar, Michael Farrar, and the Prairie Village, Kansas, family case from 1951 through October 1995. 2. The episode uses narrator-led biography and family history to explain why Deborah, Michael, Tim, Kate, and Kelly Farrar matter to the story. 3. The core question is how a successful medical family in Kansas City and Prairie Village reached the point of illness, suspicion, and a house fire in 1995. 4. Deborah Jones was born on February 28, 1951, in Havana, Illinois, to Bob and Joanne, and she was 19 months younger than Pamela. 5. Her teachers noticed that her academic aptitude exceeded classmates, and she also played piano and violin, read novels, and excelled at tennis and soccer. 6. At Metamora Township High School and Peoria Central High School, she joined cheerleading, student council, choir, and French club, while her IQ was described as 165 and her GPA as perfect. 7. In 1969 she entered the University of Illinois as a chemistry major, later married Duane Green in 1974, and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1975. 8. Deborah entered emergency medicine, Michael later completed a cardiology fellowship in 1986, and the family settled into medical work at Trinity Lutheran Hospital and North Kansas City Hospital. 9. Their children were Tim, born January 20, 1982, Kate, born in 1984, and Kelly, born December 13, 1988. 10. The home life included nannies, private school, swimming and tennis lessons, Boomer the black Labrador, and mixed accounts from other parents about Deborah's involvement. 11. A nanny later recalled Deborah saying, "I didn't want kids. I never had. I'm just doing it for Mike," which stands out against the rest of the parenting portrait. 12. Deborah's work shifted from hospital medicine to peer reviews and Medicaid claims, and former colleagues described her bedside manner as unempathetic. 13. The episode describes her chronic pain, use of sedatives and narcotics, and escalating temper that affected Michael, the children, and household life. 14. Michael and Deborah separated in early 1994, after which he moved into an apartment and later considered a six-bedroom home in Prairie Village. 15. A house fire on May 21, 1994, damaged the family's existing home, and insurance money helped them finalize the $400,000 Prairie Village purchase in June 1994. 16. The Prairie Village house is described as a three-level, 5,000-square-foot Tudor with 18 rooms, a pool, a four-car garage, a jacuzzi, and an intercom system. 17. A June 1995 Peru trip introduced Michael to Margaret Hacker, a registered nurse married to an anesthesiologist, and the two later continued spending time together. 18. Michael's July 1995 divorce request, Deborah's heavy drinking, the August hospitalizations, and the castor-bean search show the marriage becoming more volatile by the week. 19. The episode's tone is investigative and chronological, with detailed narration, quoted recollections, and medical and domestic specifics. 20. Listeners who like medical true crime and family breakdowns will get the most from this episode, while people wanting a short, low-detail overview may skip it.

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