Julie Post drowned by husband Ed Post in St. Louis

While planes didn't fall from the sky when clocks ticked over from 1999 to 2000 on the last New Year's Eve of the twentieth century, most of us remember Y2K. Forensic Files' last episode of season four was the series' 52nd total episode. It was the last to air in the 1990s, on December 29, 1999. The season five premiere would not be seen until September 12, 2000.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

It's hard to say much about this episode before mentioning its star, Dee Joyce Hayes – a prosecutor in the DA's office. What a smart, classy lady. Paired with Detective Gary Hayes, the two make a true power couple. Her memorable turn of phrase, "It was from the book of Who Cares?" gets many callouts and likes in YouTube's comments. I've heard it many times and tried, but I can't add it to my own repertoire. But for Hayes' curiosity about the mysterious drowning at the Omni Hotel, an investigation may not have occurred.

Also among the YouTube comments, the channel's choice to use Kim Otan's photo as this episode's thumbnail is head-scratching. Kim had a twin sister, and it was mentioned (twice) that Ed Post may have expressed an attraction. Hardly relevant to the case's outcome, or even especially steamy, leaning into this tangent of the story makes little sense. The case shared plenty of photos of the victim and perpetrator, together and apart, but they channel owners' chose a random NPC as a thumbnail.

I was impressed with Dr. Wein and the battery of various tests he and his team performed. He likely pulled that towel ring from the testing rig from angles impossible to reproduce by hand. I'm unsure whether the reproduction of similar damage to a similar towel ring was key to the jury's consideration, but Ed Post pulling the ring from the wall while standing outside the tub makes the most sense. Did Wein's team stop at test #24, or were there even more?

The production team did well in gathering participants from across this case – the best members are here: prosecutor, defense attorney, state attorney, lead investigator, medical investigator, two experts, and more! With the case's events taking place in 1986, and the episode's production in 1999, it's impressive that the show was able to bring so many players together to tell the story.

How bad were the Posts' finances?

Ed Post met Julie Thigpen while the two were students at the University of Southern Mississippi. This is located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, ninety miles southeast of Jackson. My paternal grandmother grew up in Columbia, and my sister and I were fortunate to spend many childhood summers in Mississippi in the 1980s.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Just before the episode's 6:30 mark, Gary Hayes comments on Julie Post's salary being in the "low-to-mid twenty thousand dollar" range. But the early episode also tells viewers Julie was a spectacular salesperson at Truax Wagner, making over $1 million in sales every year since 1982. Adding to this, the episode described Ed's financial difficulties between 1985 and 1986. But Ed Post was a competent, smart man. He had earned his wealth in a new city, New Orleans, in just his first few years there. Recall that he began working at the Truax Wagner real estate firm, but he was soon a ten percent owner. I've been at my company 26 years (today as I write this, in fact), and I'm still a zero percent owner.

So how hard would a bad year like 1985-86 have really hit Ed and Julie Post? It did not seem like the couple was living beyond their means in New Orleans. Real estate professionals know the windfalls of strong years are offset by lean ones. I have doubts about the negative state of the family's finances at the time of Julie Post's murder.

Greed, vanity, and some silly choices

After murdering Julie, jogging around St. Louis, faking discovery of his wife's body, and phoning police, Ed called his brother. Why brother? Ed's brother was a lawyer. Whether he was barred in Missouri is unknown, but he seemed either close enough or eager enough to meet Ed in St. Louis quickly. The two photographed the scene of the supposed accident for their own potential case against the Omni. But how did this actually occur? Why would the hotel allow Ed back into the room after it had become the scene of a death? Yes, his wife's death, but Ed's motives for returning were obviously nefarious.

And as smart as I may have suggested Ed should have been about maintaining a strong financial position, he was not smart when it came to timing. One hundred percent of insurance companies will look into adjustments to a policy before a claim against it. All of them. If that adjustment was made less than one month before the covered party's demise, this will raise a flag. So Ed knew scrutiny would come, and he must have been bold enough to think he could at least convince an adjuster. He likely did not count on investigators. Adding or increasing coverage shortly before a victim's demise is always suspicious, as in Undertaken (s11e13).

The episode showed a very slow reel-to-reel audio recording that seemed to have Ed reciting his version of events. Investigators felt Ed's tale of his wife's discovery was inauthentic. They heard the same phrasing and same sequence each and every time. Curious about these recordings' evidentiary value, I chose not to include them as "Recorded narrative: Perpetrator," as I felt the physical evidence played a far more important role in Ed Post's conviction.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

The reenactment had "Ed" finish prying the towel ring from its wall mount and callously toss it into the tub with his wife's body. My curiosity jumps to when Ed got the idea to impugn the towel ring. I first thought he held his helpless wife underwater until she succumbed to drowning. Then, in a flash of inspiration, Ed noticed the towel ring. He seized it with both hands, wrenched it back and forth, back and forth, until finally it ripped from its sturdy wall mount. But it is just as likely that Ed always meant to sell the idea that Julie's death was precipitated by a hardware failure. The real question is: did Ed always plan to blame and sue the Omni Hotel?

Final notes

Okay, let's at least allow for the possibility, however remote, that the bathroom towel ring could have been genuinely defective and broken away. Improper installations occur everywhere. Material failures and manufacturing defects exist. Experts tried to reproduce the damage seen on the towel ring, but who knows if all of the damage was new? Hotel guests are hard on rooms. I can imagine several ways previous guests might have stressed or damaged the towel ring ahead of the Posts' visit.

Dee Joyce Hayes had a late-episode segment where she suggests Ed Post might have succeeded with his murder plot had he not pursued the wrongful-death suit against the Omni Hotel. But for that lawsuit investigation, investigators' interest may never have been piqued. I'm not sure about this, though it is also suggested during the episode's conclusion by prosecutor Dean Hoag. But Hoag's commentary is about excluding the towel ring entirely, not just the lawsuit.

Then, confusingly, Hoag's hypothetical narrative mentions Ed suing the Omni Hotel, recovering his wife's life insurance money, and escaping suspicion. Since this scenario suggests Ed does not implicate the towel ring, what exactly is Ed's case against the Omni? Could he sue them based on his wife's accidental drowning alone?

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

It's logical that practically all murder convictions are appealed. Ed Post's appeal after receiving life in prison without parole was imminent. But why was a plea deal struck after Ed's conviction? I'm not familiar with this turn of events from other cases. Seemingly, that appeal was strong enough to give the prosecution second thoughts. Ed's new sentence: 30 years with parole eligibility.

Where is Ed Post now in 2026?

Ed Post pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in late 1995 and received a 30-year sentence after already spending roughly six and a half years in custody awaiting the final outcome of the case. Although he became parole-eligible years earlier, the public reporting I found indicates that Post was not released until 2014, when he left Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific. After that, the public record appears to thin out considerably, and I did not locate a reliable update establishing where or if Ed Post was living as of 2026. He would be 82 years old now in 2026.