Kristin Rossum. The American Beauty Killer.

A young biotech worker is found dead in his La Jolla apartment, his body carefully laid out on a bed sprinkled with rose petals and framed by a wedding photo. His wife—an ambitious county toxicologist with access to some of the most powerful drugs in the world—tells police it was suicide. Investigators aren’t so sure.

In this episode, we unpack the chilling “American Beauty” murder of Gregory de Villers and the calculated actions of his wife, Kristin Rossum. We trace their relationship from whirlwind romance to toxic spiral, exploring Kristin’s hidden meth addiction, her affair with a supervisor at the medical examiner’s office, and the missing fentanyl that would become the centerpiece of a murder trial.

You’ll hear how forensic toxicology transformed a suspicious overdose into a first-degree murder case, why prosecutors called fentanyl “the perfect poison,” and how a crime scene staged to look cinematic instead exposed a killer who thought she was smarter than the system. We also dive into the courtroom drama, the life sentence, the multimillion-dollar civil judgment, and the lasting questions this case raises about trust, power, and access inside forensic labs.

If you’re drawn to evidence-driven true crime, complex relationship dynamics, and the intersection of science and deception, this deep dive into the rose petal murder will stay with you long after the episode ends.

Sources used for this podcast

• Join the H2H In-laws & Outlaws
• Follow H2H on Instagram
• Follow H2H on X
• Send Kris and Rob a Text or Message

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