Debora Green was born Debora Jones on February 28, 1951, in Havana, Illinois, the younger of two daughters. From early childhood, she was exceptionally intelligent and could read and write before age three. She excelled academically, graduating as a National Merit Scholar and co-valedictorian of her high school class.

She began college at the University of Illinois in 1969, majoring in chemistry. Although she originally planned to become a chemical engineer, she shifted paths and enrolled in the University of Kansas School of Medicine, graduating in 1975. While completing her emergency medicine residency, she married Duane Green, but their marriage ended amicably after a few years due to incompatibility.

In 1979, she married Michael Farrar, then a medical student. While Farrar pursued his internal medicine and cardiology training, Green advanced her own medical career in emergency medicine and later in hematology and oncology. They settled in the Kansas City area, where they welcomed three children: Timothy in 1982, Kate in 1984, and Kelly in 1988.

Professionally, Green was respected for her competence but sometimes viewed as cold. Personally, her marriage was increasingly turbulent. She struggled with chronic pain, insomnia, and periods of severe depression. By the early 1990s, she abandoned her medical practice, working part-time from home. As her marriage disintegrated, she began drinking heavily, further straining family life.

In the summer of 1995, Michael Farrar decided to divorce Debora. He had also started a relationship with another woman, Margaret Hacker. During this period, Farrar suffered repeated episodes of unexplained severe illness. Though at first attributed to possible tropical disease from travel, it was later discovered that he had been poisoned with ricin, a deadly toxin derived from castor beans.

On October 24, 1995, a devastating fire broke out at the Farrar-Green family home in Prairie Village, Kansas. Debora Green and her daughter Kate escaped, but her two other children, thirteen-year-old Tim and six-year-old Kelly, died inside. Fire investigators found clear evidence that the fire had been deliberately set. Trails of accelerant led back to Green’s bedroom, and a robe burned in a way that suggested it had been worn while setting smaller fires throughout the house.

The investigation soon revealed another crime: Michael Farrar’s prolonged illness was not accidental. Detectives found packets of castor beans hidden in Green’s purse. Forensic tests later confirmed that Farrar’s blood contained antibodies indicating repeated exposure to ricin.

Green was arrested on November 22, 1995. Charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of her children, two counts of attempted first-degree murder for poisoning Farrar, and one count of aggravated arson, she was held on a record-setting $3 million bail.

Initially, Green claimed she had no memory of setting the fire and suggested her son may have been responsible. She also denied poisoning Farrar. But as the evidence mounted, including her singed hair, accelerant patterns, and eyewitness accounts, her defense team acknowledged that conviction was likely.

On April 17, 1996, she entered an Alford plea, formally maintaining her innocence but conceding that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to convict her. This plea spared her the death penalty. At her sentencing on May 30, 1996, Green was given two concurrent forty-year prison terms. She has since filed appeals and petitions for a new trial, arguing that psychiatric medications affected her ability to understand her actions, but all efforts have failed.

Today, Debora Green remains imprisoned in Kansas. She will not be eligible for release until November 21, 2035, by which time she will be 84 years old.