In May 1900, Sarah Kuhn was 17 years old and, as the result of pressure from her parents, newly married to wealthy farmer Charles Kuhn. On September 4, 1900, Charles and Sarah drove from Delta, Iowa to What Cheer, Iowa; by the time they arrived, he was dead; an autopsy revealed he had died of strychnine poisoning. She was charged with his murder, and on January 4, 1901, convicted; she was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. She appealed to the state supreme court, which granted her a new trial, but convicted her a second time in 1904. A bill pardoning her was passed in the Iowa General Assembly, but defeated in the Senate. In June 1905, she committed suicide; a handwritten confession was subsequently found.