Mrs Rodeheaver believed that three was her unlucky number, a tidbit of information gleaned from her horoscope. After her husband passed away, Mrs Rodeheaver believed that she stayed in touch with him via a spiritualist who called herself Madam Dorian. Mrs Rodeheaver was very vulnerable to hypnotism, and Madam Dorian's assistant, Terrence, had succeeded in making her give him several valuable pieces of jewellery.