Murder in Massachusetts

Patricia's Mental Breakdown

Claiming Patricia Olsen was involved in her husband's murder was one thing, proving it would turn out to be another matter entirely. Detectives would have to come up with a motive. Since Christopher's arrest, detectives figured out that Patricia was the beneficiary of Neil's $175,000 life insurance policy, Neil's retirement savings, the home she shared with him, and a half-dozen or so vehicles they owned between them. With the enormous financial debt Patricia had run up between the two businesses, not to mention her total disregard for the household bills, state police felt they had a fairly solid case against her. Moreover, Berkshire County District Attorney David Capeless knew he could explain to a jury why it was Patricia wanted her husband dead—the oldest motive on record.

Berkshire County District Attorney David Capeless

Greed.

Neil Olsen, apparently, was worth more dead than alive.

If Patricia seemed able to handle the stress of her husband's death as detectives and crime scene investigators combed through her house, she was hiding it pretty well. Because three days after Neil's murder, on January 14, Patricia was admitted to the psyche ward of the local hospital for observation, where she remained for several days. It had all blown up in her face and she finally broke down. A few days in the county rubber room might help clear her head—and maybe even get cops off her back.

According to detectives and David Capeless, Patricia hadn't forgotten to pay the cable television bill for a few months, or simply blown off the light and phone bills, as most people short on cash likely do.

Not even close.

By the first of the year 2005, Capeless told the court later, Patricia hadn't paid "more than $10,000 in utility bills and taxes ... [and had] borrowed $45,000" from one of Neil's brothers "to prevent the bank from foreclosing on their home."

She and Neil were in deep trouble financially.

Later, Patricia admitted to becoming "sloppy" with their bills throughout the years, but vehemently denounced allegations that she kept her inept book keeping skills from Neil. Instead, she said she and Neil were "extremely busy," mainly because they ran two different businesses and didn't communicate all that well. Apparently, Patricia felt there just wasn't enough time in their busy lives to tell her husband that everything he had ever worked for throughout his life was about to be stripped from him because his wife hadn't paid their bills.