<P> Paul asks Mary Alice 's neighbors and friends , Susan ( Teri Hatcher ) , Lynette ( Felicity Huffman ) , Bree ( Marcia Cross ) and Gabrielle ( Eva Longoria ) , to go through her clothes and other belongings and then pack them up , as he thinks it will be too hard for him . The women end up finding a letter addressed to Mary Alice , a blackmail note reading , `` I know what you did , it makes me sick , I 'm going to tell . '' Thereafter , the women make a series of discoveries concerning Mary Alice 's past and her possible motives for ending her life ; she was being treated by Dr. Albert Goldfine ( Sam Lloyd ) where she revealed that she once went by the name Angela , and she may have had something to do with a baby that went missing . Paul soon discovers who sent Mary Alice the note , their next - door neighbor struggling with financial difficulty , Martha Huber ( Christine Estabrook ) , whom he ends up strangling to death out of pure rage and burying her body in the nearby forest . Meanwhile , her son Zach begins having flashbacks and is under the impression he killed a baby named Dana , who he believed to be his younger sister and reveals this to Julie Mayer ( Andrea Bowen ) , Susan 's daughter . Paul worries over what Susan is spreading about their family , so he tells Susan in private that Zach accidentally killed his younger sister , Dana , and that he and Mary Alice covered it up to protect him . However , it becomes evident that this is not the case when Paul tells Zach that Dana is still very much alive . </P>
<P> Paul asks Mary Alice 's neighbors and friends , Susan ( Teri Hatcher ) , Lynette ( Felicity Huffman ) , Bree ( Marcia Cross ) and Gabrielle ( Eva Longoria ) , to go through her clothes and other belongings and then pack them up , as he thinks it will be too hard for him . The women end up finding a letter addressed to Mary Alice , a blackmail note reading , `` I know what you did , it makes me sick , I 'm going to tell . '' Thereafter , the women make a series of discoveries concerning Mary Alice 's past and her possible motives for ending her life ; she was being treated by Dr. Albert Goldfine ( Sam Lloyd ) where she revealed that she once went by the name Angela , and she may have had something to do with a baby that went missing . Paul soon discovers who sent Mary Alice the note , their next - door neighbor struggling with financial difficulty , Martha Huber ( Christine Estabrook ) , whom he ends up strangling to death out of pure rage and burying her body in the nearby forest . Meanwhile , her son Zach begins having flashbacks and is under the impression he killed a baby named Dana , who he believed to be his younger sister and reveals this to Julie Mayer ( Andrea Bowen ) , Susan 's daughter . Paul worries over what Susan is spreading about their family , so he tells Susan in private that Zach accidentally killed his younger sister , Dana , and that he and Mary Alice covered it up to protect him . However , it becomes evident that this is not the case when Paul tells Zach that Dana is still very much alive . </P>
who wrote the letter to mary alice in desperate housewives
who wrote the letter to mary alice in desperate housewives
next - door neighbor struggling with financial difficulty , Martha Huber
next - door neighbor struggling with financial difficulty , Martha Huber