Here’s If the Drugs Used to Kill Merritt in The Perfect Couple Are Real

The Perfect Couple has been one of Netflix’s most engaging murder mysteries to hit the streamer all year. The story centers on an extremely wealthy Nantucket family, the Winburys, some members of which take drastic measures when an illegitimate pregnancy threatens their trust funds. The barbiturates and pentobarbital used for the murder are real—just don’t get any ideas, OK?

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The night before Amelia and her fiance Benji’s wedding , Amelia’s best friend and maid of honor is found dead on the beach. Merritt , as it turns out, was having an affair with Tag, the husband of the Wilbury matriarch. She was also pregnant. This meant once the child was born, the family would have to wait another 18 years to receive their fortunes. Abby ultimately decided to take care of the problem herself by crushing up pills and putting them in Merritt’s glass of juice. Once Merritt was drowsy, Abby led her down to the beach and drowned her in the ocean.

Editor’s note: the following story contains mention of euthanasia.

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What are barbituates?

Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs derived from barbituric acid that act on the central nervous system. Historically, they’ve been used to treat conditions like anxiety, and insomnia, and as general anesthesia, but their use has been scaled back and replaced with benzodiazepines, e.g. Valium, due to safety concerns as it’s very easy to overdose.

What is pentobarbital?

Pentobarbital is a kind of barbiturate that, in modern times, is most commonly used in veterinary medicine for anesthesia and euthanasia of animals, as well as in certain human medical contexts such as medically induced comas or to control seizures.

The reason these substances were in the house in the first place was because Karen, Amelia’s mother, has terminal cancer. Benji and Amelia’s wedding was moved earlier to accommodate her declining health and she reveals she had been keeping three pentobarbital pills with her as a backup plan to end her life if the pain got too much. “They were kind of like a security blanket for me in case things got worse quickly,” she tells her family and the police. “A young man in my cancer support group got them for me. You take three at once.”