Janie Ridd Case: Poisoning Plot, Dark Web Sting, and Sentence

The Janie Ridd case is a Utah criminal matter in which Janie Lynn Ridd, a live-in caregiver, pleaded guilty in 2020 to poisoning her best friend of 25 years with insulin and bacteria and attempting to buy an antibiotic-resistant superbug on the dark web to finish the job. She was sentenced to consecutive prison terms of up to 20 years, then paroled in January 2022 after serving roughly 25 months. The case reached a wide audience through the Netflix docuseries Worst Roommate Ever.¹

Who Ridd and Her Victim Were

Ridd met the victim, publicly identified only as Rachel, in 1995. Rachel was 22 and recently divorced; Ridd was 26. They became close, moved in together, and came to describe each other as sisters.²

Rachel had worked as a paramedic before a herniated disc forced her out of the job, and she went through multiple spinal surgeries over the following years. She had a son, Ryder, born in 2010, who has autism and is largely nonverbal.³ As Rachel’s health worsened, Ridd was paid to care for both of them and, by prosecutors’ account, gained “100% control” over Rachel’s finances, documents, and daily life.⁴

Two documents mattered later. The women held life insurance policies naming each other as beneficiaries; Rachel’s was worth $500,000. Her will designated Ridd as Ryder’s legal custodian if Rachel died.⁵

The 2018 Custody Lawsuit

By 2015, Ridd was being paid to care for Ryder, and that income was a significant part of the household. Rachel later said Ridd grew jealous and controlling, and misled others into thinking she was Ryder’s parent.³

On June 20, 2018, Ridd sued Rachel for custody of Ryder and obtained an ex parte protective order. Rachel found out when authorities contacted her. Child Protective Services investigated, and Ryder was returned to Rachel ten days later.⁶ Prosecutors later described an “obsessive desire to take custody of [the victim’s] child” as the central motive for what followed.²

How Ridd Poisoned Rachel

Starting in 2019, Rachel suffered a string of unexplained medical crises while recovering from spinal surgeries. Prosecutors tied each one to Ridd.

In March 2019, after Rachel’s neck surgery, doctors found a suspicious MRSA infection in the wound.⁷ In June 2019, Rachel, who is not diabetic and uses no insulin, was hospitalized twice for dangerously low blood sugar. Investigators later found that Ridd bought insulin from a dark web vendor in September 2019, and Ridd had told Rachel that insulin would be the ideal way to kill someone without being caught.⁴ In October 2019, after another surgery, three golf ball-sized infections appeared on Rachel’s wound. One tested positive for E. coli. Her surgeon told investigators the infections did not come from surgery and “must have been injected.”

Rachel also said Ridd used sedatives, including Xanax and ketamine, to knock her out before injecting her. That allegation was not part of the formal charges.⁸

The October attacks lined up with a new flashpoint. Rachel had told Ridd she planned to change her will to name her niece, rather than Ridd, as Ryder’s guardian. Prosecutors said Ridd hid a copy of the will in her vehicle to keep the change from happening.²

The Dark Web Sting

In late 2019, Ridd contacted a dark web vendor to buy Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or VRSA, an antibiotic-resistant superbug that can cause invasive infections, pneumonia, and death.⁹ On December 12, 2019, she paid $300 in Bitcoin, gave her Holladay, Utah, home address, and claimed to be a biology teacher.⁷

Authorities had already received a tip about the attempted purchase.¹⁰ On December 17, 2019, federal agents delivered a package of fake VRSA to Ridd’s mailbox, watched her collect it, and confronted her at her workplace. She first said she had ordered coffee, then admitted ordering the VRSA and other items, saying she wanted to conduct “experiments.” A search of her vehicle turned up a copy of Rachel’s will. A search of the shared home turned up hypodermic needles that were not Rachel’s, and officers found three of Rachel’s pills in Ridd’s pocket at the time of arrest. The amount of VRSA involved was enough to affect one person, and investigators said Ridd was not a threat to the general public.⁷

Charges, Plea, and Sentence

Ridd, then 51, was charged in Utah’s Third District Court with three felonies: aggravated intentional abuse of a disabled or elder adult, attempted intentional abuse of a disabled or elder adult, and attempted possession of a weapon of mass destruction. The case was prosecuted by the Utah Attorney General’s Office at the state level, and the weapon of mass destruction count was brought under Utah state law.¹¹

On August 25, 2020, Ridd pleaded guilty to two counts:

Attempted possession or use of a weapon of mass destruction, a second-degree felony carrying one to 15 years.
Attempted aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, a third-degree felony carrying up to five years.

The remaining count was dismissed under the plea deal.⁵

Third District Judge Kara Pettit ordered the two terms to run consecutively, for a combined potential of up to 20 years, and ordered $1,000 in restitution. Under Utah’s indeterminate sentencing system, the actual release date sat with the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. Assistant Attorney General Michael Gadd had asked the board to keep Ridd ineligible for parole until fall 2028.⁵

At sentencing, Rachel described the betrayal: “I really have a hard time believing that the person I’ve known for 25 years, my best friend and roommate, could do what she did. But it was diabolical, it was evil. It was plotted and planned so perfectly.”⁴

Why She Was Out in 25 Months

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole released Ridd in January 2022, about 25 months in, and well short of the 2028 date prosecutors had urged.¹ No public reporting has laid out the board’s reasoning, and Ridd’s whereabouts since release have not been reported.

A jail phone call recorded before her release, later aired in the Netflix documentary, captured Ridd saying of Rachel’s son: “I’m going to find a way to get him away from her. He needs to come back to me now.”¹²

The Netflix Episode

The case is the subject of the first episode of Season 2 of Worst Roommate Ever, titled “My BFF Tried to Kill Me.” The season was produced by Blumhouse and directed by Cynthia Childs.¹³ The episode includes FBI footage of Ridd’s interrogation after the sting and interviews with Rachel about the 25-year friendship, the pattern of abuse, and Ridd’s fixation on Ryder.¹²

1
Today. Worst Roommate Ever: Janie Lynn Ridd True Story
2
ABC4. Victim Speaks After Best Friend Sentenced for Attempting to Poison and Kill Her
3
The Independent. Worst Roommate Ever: Janie Lynn Ridd True Story
4
NBC Philadelphia. A Utah Woman Tried to Poison Her Best Friend — Here’s How She Got Caught
5
Deseret News. Utah Woman Sentenced to Prison for Buying Bacteria to Infect Roommate
6
The Independent. Worst Roommate Ever: Janie Lynn Ridd True Story
7
KUTV. Utah Woman Pleads Guilty to Buying Biological Agent on Dark Web to Harm Roommate
8
Newsweek. Utah Woman Accused of Injecting Roommate with E. Coli, Staph Bacteria Purchased Online
9
Idaho State Journal. Woman Pleads Guilty to Buying Biological Agent Online to Harm Former Roommate
10
Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City Woman Arrested
11
KSL. Utah Woman Goes to Prison for Buying Bacteria to Infect Roommate Already in Poor Health
12
Forbes. Where Is Janie Ridd Now? The Chilling True Story Behind Netflix’s Worst Roommate Ever Episode
13
Netflix Tudum. Worst Roommate Ever Season 2 Release Date News