Did Watching a True-Crime Documentary Give Janie Lynn Ridd the Idea to Try and Kill Her Friend?

It seems as if think pieces about true crime are released into the world on an almost daily basis. They inevitably ask the same questions regarding ethics, the effects of consuming true-crime, and of course why people are interested in it. That last part is almost always about women who, according to Psychology Today, make up roughly 80 percent of the audience.

True crime has also been accused of contributing to actual crimes, the same way horror movies and video games were once vilified. Logically that makes no sense, as people are ultimately responsible for their own actions. However, every once in a while a story comes along that bucks the norm. Such is the case with Rachel and her best friend Janie Lynn Ridd, who might have tried to kill her pal after they watched a true-crime documentary together. Where is Ridd now? Hopefully not watching Netflix.

In August 2020, ABC 4 News out of Salt Lake City, Utah, reported that Ridd had been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison after she confessed to attempting to poison Rachel, whose name has been omitted. The 51-year-old Ridd had been made beneficiary of Rachel's life insurance policy which was valued at $500,000. Rachel also entrusted Ridd with the care of her son, should something ever happen to her, and added this to her will.

Relieved yet still traumatized, Rachel spoke with the outlet mere hours after the sentence was handed down. "We considered each other family and we called each other our sisters," she told them. Things came to a head for Rachel in October 2019 after she told Ridd her plan to make her niece the legal guardian of her son, per KUTV. Ridd was obsessed with the boy and consequently hid Rachel's will in her car, to prevent the change from being made. At that point, Ridd had already enacted a deadly plan.

Ridd and Rachel had been friends since they were kids, and in March 2019 they were living together. Rachel was undergoing several spinal surgeries and needed a caretaker who could also look after her son, who is autistic. After her first surgery in March 2019, a series of bumps appeared around the incision. Doctors quickly discovered that they contained E. Coli and K. Oxytoca, and had been injected by way of an outside source.

Over the course of nine months Rachel had three surgeries which were made worse by the infections she didn't know were being injected by her friend. Rachel recalls being concerned about her son, who wouldn't understand why his mother was screaming from the pain, a fear she shared with Ridd. These infections also slowed Rachel's recovery period. During this time, Rachel was also taken to the hospital several times due to low blood sugar levels. It turns out Ridd was also injecting her with insulin.

This is when the true-crime documentary comes into play, as while they were watching one in March, Ridd casually mentioned that she thought the best way to kill someone would be to inject them with insulin. Rachel later relayed this conversation to police.

When the infections and insulin weren't working, Ridd hopped onto the dark web and purchased "Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (VRSA), a bacterium that causes an infection ranging from a skin infection to a severe blood infection," per ABC 4.

Luckily for Rachel, the person who sold Ridd the VRSA was an undercover FBI agent. Although Ridd told them she was a high school science teacher who was conducting an experiment, authorities did not believe her. Once they apprehended Rid and obtained a search warrant, FBI found used insulin needles with Rachel's DNA on them. She then confessed to her crimes.