Naman Shrestha
In 1994, when Linda Curry took her last breath under suspicious circumstances, the doctors and police couldn’t find the cause of her unexplained death, leaving them puzzled. However, her friends and family members had their suspicions about her husband, Paul Curry, who had a reasonable motive to take his wife’s life. In ‘Dateline: Secrets Uncovered’ season 9 and episode 25 titled ‘Toxic Relations,’ we get a detailed account of Linda Curry and her relationship with her husband, Paul Curry, as well as the investigation that took place following her tragic demise.
Who is Paul Curry?
Linda Curry (née Kinkade) was an intelligent as well as beautiful young woman who had already been involved in various long-term relationships. While being employed at the San Onofre nuclear plant, her love life felt unfulfilled, but that was only the case until Paul Curry came to work at the same nuclear power plant in March 1989. Despite being 13 years junior to Linda, who was 45 at the time, Paul, the 32-year-old ‘Jeopardy’ winner, managed to charm her with his smarts. Soon after they met, the pair started dating.
After being the embodiment of a perfect couple for about three years, Paul and Linda decided to take the next step in their relationship. So, on September 12, 1992, they got married in Las Vegas, after which they lived in a house in San Clemente, California, which Linda had purchased. Although the couple spent a lot of time together, working and cooking, there was reportedly no passion between them as Paul did not seem interested in consummating the marriage.
Just one month into the wedding, Linda called her best friend Merry Seabold and opened up about Paul insisting on her getting a $1 million life insurance policy and naming him as beneficiary. In order to please her husband, she obliged. Soon, Linda was caught by surprise when an unknown woman on the phone asked about Paul’s child support. She got to know about his child and two previous marriages, for which he apologized profusely and booked them a romantic getaway to make it up to her. However, it turned into something unimaginable as a Hantavirus broke out amongst all the passengers, including Linda and Paul.
When Linda’s condition worsened, she was rushed to the hospital and remained there for several weeks. The strange thing was that nothing alarming could be seen in her blood work, leaving the doctors puzzled as to what was making her condition worse. Right after her symptoms disappeared, she returned home 25 pounds lighter and more fragile. But Paul’s dedication towards taking care of her, by drawing her bubble baths and being there for all her needs, soon helped Linda to regain some of her health back. This was only the case until New Year’s Eve of 1993, as she got severely ill again and had to be hospitalized immediately.
A few days later, one of the nurses found evidence of tampering with Linda’s IV bag as she discovered a needle puncture in the tubing. Following this discovery, the police got involved with the case, but before the investigation could go anywhere, Linda was released from the hospital. Then, on June 10, 1994, the 49-year-old Linda died in her home, after which Paul was eligible to collect on the life insurance policy. With no concrete piece of evidence at hand, the case went cold for several years up until 2002, when a new detective revisited the case and thought she could get to the bottom of it.
After going through Linda’s post-mortem toxicology report, the detective discovered the presence of nicotine in her system even though she didn’t smoke. Since toxicology analysis in 1994 wasn’t as advanced as it was in 2002, the new report showed that her system contained 50-to-100 times more nicotine than that of a regular smoker, which was enough to confirm that Linda died of nicotine poisoning.
The authorities believed that Paul used to put tobacco into Linda’s food and drugged her with Ambien before injecting the toxic dose of nicotine behind her ear, which explained the small mark behind her ear that they found in the autopsy. By using deception, the detective somehow managed to have Paul confirm that he was alone with Linda when she passed away, making him the only plausible suspect. This was enough to finally arrest him for killing his wife in 2010.
Paul Curry is Still Behind Bars
Nearly two decades after Paul Curry poisoned his wife, Linda Curry, on September 11, 2014, he stood trial for insurance fraud and first-degree murder with special circumstances. When a competent and renowned nicotine expert gave his expert opinion and concluded that Linda died quickly from nicotine poisoning, it was enough for the jury to deem Paul guilty of her murder. On November 14, 2014, Paul got sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Currently, he is serving his life sentence in Valley State Prison at 21633 Avenue 24 in California’s Chowchilla.
Read More: Linda Curry Murder: How Did She Die? Who Killed Her?
