stella nicholls cyanide

Stella Nichols. Reports said Snow died after swallowing cyanide-laced Excedrin. Now, private detective Al Farr and his partner Paul Ciolino are on a mission to prove what they both firmly believe: Nickell is innocent. Nickell, who kept tropical fish in a large tank, had crushed the cyanide in the same bowl that she used to turn the algaecide into powder. Stella Maudine Stephenson was born in Colton, Oregon, to Alva Georgia "Jo" (ne Duncan; later changed her name to Cora Lee) and George Stephenson. Detective Mike Dunbar, who worked on the case, says she wanted insurance money. They have a history of helping people they feel have been unfairly convicted. Snow was airlifted to the hospital, but she was declared brain dead a few hours later. [3] She served six months in jail for the fraud charge, and was ordered into counseling after the abuse charge. Cindy told the FBI that her mother had wanted to kill recovering alcoholic Bruce because after he had gone through rehab and sobered up, he had become a bore. [1][2], On June 5, 1986, the Nickells were living in Auburn, Washington, when Bruce, 52, came home from work with a headache. had offered the rewards for information leading to an arrest in the June, 1986, killings, which led to the nations first trial in a product-tampering death. Stella Nickell was convicted two years later. But why would she bring the poisoning to police attention in the first place? Stella denies abusing her children: "(Hamilton) wasn't feeling good. The records tended to confirm at least that part of Hamiltons story. Snows suspicious death triggered an autopsy. Bruces heavy drinking suited Stella just fine. Paramedics found her unconscious and gasping for breath. "She thought, 'If that murderer got away with it, I can, too,'" Olsen said of Nickell. [5] Stella, Hamilton claimed, had even told her that she had tried to poison Bruce previously with foxglove hidden in capsules. [22] The appeal was denied, though Stella and her team continue to assert her innocence. [29][30] The murders are discussed in the Jodi Picoult novel House Rules, published in 2010. Her May 1988 conviction and prison sentence were the first . "American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood and the Cyanide Murders That Shook the World.". 48 Hours reports on the search. Authorities ruled his death to be from natural causesemphysema, the attending physicians said. She grew up in a poor family. An appeal based on jury tampering and judicial misconduct issues was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in August 1989. Stella's friend A.J. Nickell took advantage of the panic created by Snow's death and asked police to consider Bruce's case as part of their investigation. [15][16], Stella's legal team sought a mistrial on grounds of jury tampering and judicial misconduct. DARLING (born NICHOLLS) and 3 other siblings. She bought nine more bottles of Excedrin and cut through the protective film with a razor blade. Stella claimed that her daughter, Cynthia Hamilton, lied about her involvement in the case in order to reap the $300,000 of reward money being offered. Johnson & Johnson warned the public not to buy its product, stopped making and advertising it, and recalled more than 30 million bottles worth more than 100 million dollars. Investigators speculated she had used the same container to crush algae killer and store cyanide. On May 8, 1864, Yankee troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, to find the Rebels already there. Stella Nicholls is the main protagonist of the 2019 film, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The crime was chillingly similar to the Chicago Tylenol murders four years earlier. She will be eligible for parole in 2017. [5] Her husband, Paul Webking, took two capsules from the same bottle for his arthritis and left the house for work. He was taken by helicopter to a Seattle hospital. She also planted other bottles of cyanide-tainted Excedrin in local stores to. Klein laments the fact that her mother missed every milestone in her life, like her wedding and the birth of her son, over the past 36 years. Stella Nickell used Cyanide to kill her victims. "It really bothers me. Trusted by millions of genealogists since 2003 Trusted information source for millions of people worldwide Check Writing Quality. One factor was strong objections from advertisers, including Johnson & Johnson, owner of the Tylenol brand of painkillers which had been affected by the 1982 Chicago case. Although the defense challenged her credibility, the jury believed her and convicted Stella of fatally poisoning her husband and Sue Snow. Stella Maudine Nickell ( ne Stephenson; born August 7, 1943) is an American woman who was sentenced to ninety years in prison for product tampering after she poisoned Excedrin capsules with lethal cyanide, resulting in the deaths of her husband Bruce Nickell and Sue Snow. Stella handed two bottles of Excedrin over to police -- supposedly bought at two different times from two different stores. Cindy Hamilton was paid a $250,000 reward for her help in the case against her mother. [5], Records from the Auburn Public Library, when subpoenaed, showed that Stella had checked out numerous books about poisons, including Human Poisonings from Native and Cultivated Plants and Deadly Harvest. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. They informed the FBI, who took jurisdiction of the case. Her first lawyer also asked to see it, and never did. The Old Crime is New Again newsletter is a monthly email covering a topic that has not appeared in the blog. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But Tom Noonan, who managed the local fish store at the time, says she did buy algae destroyer. At 16, she gave birth to a daughter, Cynthia. Investigators in Seattle say her plan was foiled when Bruce's death was attributed to emphysema - a natural cause. But, the author said, the poisoner has never cared about the attention. It's a notorious case out of Auburn a woman convicted of lacing Excedrin painkillers with cyanide that killed two people in 1986, including her husband. Colbert says that he has never seen the polygraph graph, although he has asked to. Stella was dirt poor, she lived in a small trailer with her husband, grown daughter Cynthia, and grandchild; Stella's her mother lived next door. They turned out to be algae destroyer, a product used to kill algae in fish tanks. Prosecutors said Stella Nickell put cyanide in capsules of Extra-Strength Excedrin and gave them to her husband. Records from the Auburn Public Library showed Stella had checked out numerous books on poisoning. ", If you have information regarding this case, please contact Al Farr at, The Tylenol Mafia: Marketing, Murder and Johnson & Johnson. [6] Bruce had taken them to no effect save for complaining of sudden drowsiness. [5], In response to the publicity, Stella came forward on June 19. Sue Snows husband, Paul Webking, agreed to undergo a polygraph examination and passed. Estella had 4 sisters: Edith A. But he took a polygraph, passed, and was eliminated as a suspect. Investigators exhumed Bruce Nickells body and found evidence of cyanide. Nickell never admitted to the crimes, but during her first appeal for early release, she finally took responsibility for murdering Bruce. Paramedics rushed to the home at 1404 N Street NE in Auburn. When another tainted bottle from the same lot was found in a grocery store in nearby Kent, Bristol-Myers, the manufacturers of Excedrin, responded to the discovery with a heavily publicized recall of all Excedrin products in the Seattle area,[8] and a group of drug companies came together to offer a $300,000 reward for the capture of the person responsible. Stella says she researched cyanide after her husband died. For 19 months, Farr and Ciolino have been traveling the country without pay, interviewing witnesses and friends, talking to anyone who may help them re-open this case. On June 5, Bruce came home from work with a headache. Seven people died in that case, which was never solved. LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED & Stella Nickell - The Seattle, Washington Excedrin Cyanide Murders | Listen Notes Authorities became suspicious because she told them she had bought two bottles of Excedrin at different times, probably in different places. Like cyanide poisoning. Farr and Ciolino believe that finding Hamilton is the key to their case. Records show agents found five contaminated bottles of medicine during a search of Auburn-area grocery stores and pharmacies, prompting widespread recalls of over-the-counter analgesics in the Northwest and elsewhere as health officials and the FBI sought to uncover the source of the poison. This seemed unlikely, because out of thousands of bottles checked in the entire region, authorities found only five with tainted capsules, and Stella had two of them. A year and half after Bruce Nickell died, Stella Nickell was arrested and stood trial in federal court. by Scott McCabe. They also posted a $100,000 reward. When Cindy was 9, Stella was charged with hitting her with a curtain rod, bruising her legs. In the unlikely event she is paroled, at age 73, she could still face state murder charges, which have never been filed. Nickell says her husband walked out on the deck to watch the birds, and suddenly collapsed. But why would she bring the poisoning to police attention in the first place? Police initially focused on Snows husband Paul Webking. READ MORE: How Americans Became Convinced Their Halloween Candy was Poisoned, Woman convicted of killing two in Excedrin tampering, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/woman-convicted-for-tampering-with-excedrin. See Photos. A more recent but undated photo of Stella Nickell. Authorities alleged he put rat poison in capsules of several SmithKline Beckman Corp. products in Florida and Texas in a failed scheme to manipulate the price of SmithKline stock. The clincher came when Stellas oldest daughter, Cindy Hamilton, contacted police. The association authorized a $200,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the 1986 death of Diane Elsroth of Yonkers, N.Y., who took cyanide-laced Tylenol, he said. Hamilton eventually collected $250,000 of that money. When another bottle of contaminated Excedrin turned up at a grocery store in Kent, the manufacturer, Bristol-Myers launched an immediate recall of all Excedrin in the Seattle area. (Note: Polygraph tests are not evidence and failing or refusing to take one is not evidence of guilt). [1] By the summer of 1987, even Stella's attorneys acknowledged that she was the prime suspect in the case. Sign Up. Investigators concluded they were dealing with product tampering. The killer in that case has never been caught. Paramedics rushed her to Harborview, but she died without regaining consciousness. To fill the now empty hours at home, she began keeping a home aquarium. The Auburn Public Library, responding to an FBI subpoena, revealed that Stella had checked out titles such as Deadly Harvest and Human Poisoning from Native Plants. Required fields are marked *. Log In. Coryn I. Nicholls (Mayerson) is a Physician Assistant in Walnut Creek, CA. Sign up for the newsletter today. Detective Mike Dunbar, who worked on the case, says she wanted insurance money. She asked for compassionate release due to bad health, but where was her compassion when she murdered her own husband and another women? "She was having a hard time breathing." He died in the hospital, but doctors did not detect the cyanide and ascribed the death to emphysema. } Gregg Olsen, whose book "Bitter Almonds" chronicles the case, says that is why the FBI zeroed in on her. Police initially focused on Snow's husband Paul Webking. She was the first person to be found guilty of violating the Federal Anti-Tampering Act after putting cyanide. A federal judge has denied a plea for compassionate release from prison by an Auburn woman whos serving 90 years for planting poisoned pills that killed two and prompted national recalls of over-the-counter painkillers. Stella Nicholls : I can't leave my dad. Now 27, Hamilton had been in and out of Stella's life for years. Farr says that there is no credible evidence against her. Although investigators were sure they had the right person, they had very little to take to a jury: No fingerprints, nor any way to prove that Stella Nickell ever bought or possessed cyanide. Stella also alleges that the evidence actually points to another person as the killer, and that the testimony about various smaller details in the case, such as the store owner who testified about her having purchased Algae Destroyer, was influenced by promises of payment. At age 16, following the birth of her first daughter, Cynthia Hamilton, Stella moved to Southern California, where she married and had another daughter. Her bar-hopping drastically reduced, Stella began to request more night shifts at her baggage-screener job at SEA-TAC airport. She maintains her innocence, claiming her daughter lied for the reward money. Your email address will not be published. "And I won't quit fighting until I prove it.". ", Klein has watched all three of Nickell's parole hearings, where she's petitioned for release on "compassionate grounds." They had thought it was drug overdose, but she was not a known user, and had taken only a couple of Extra - Strength Excedrin. They say she was desperate to establish an accidental cause of death. He was taken by helicopter to a Seattle hospital. (CBS) Thirteen years ago, in Washington state, Stella Nickell was convicted of killing her husband Bruce, and Sue Snow, a bank manager, by putting cyanide in Excedrin capsules. They learned she had purchased the algae killer found in the cyanide, and that she had been told by the clerk to crush it before using. In a panic, Stella Nickell, 43, called police and said that her husband, Bruce, 52, had died on June 5, soon after taking an Excedrin capsule from the same lot as the ones that killed Snow.. [2] She was also known to have, even before Snow's death, repeatedly disputed doctors' ruling that her husband had died of natural causes. Bruce was a heavy equipment operator with a drinking habit, which suited her lifestyle,[3] and the two were married in 1976. [6] Concrete evidence proving that she had ever purchased or used cyanide was lacking, and despite their relative certainty that she had orchestrated the poisonings as either an elaborate cover-up for an insurance-motivated murder of her husband or a desperate attempt to force her husband's death to be ruled an accident to increase her insurance payout, they were unable to build a strong case supporting arrest. "Rock star" reptile breeder murdered; Coroner: "Not a random act" She became eligible in 2017 after serving 30 years of her 90-year sentence. With Snow dead, Stella could step forward and notify police. [23], After the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders, new FDA regulations went into effect which made it a federal crimerather than just a state or local crimeto tamper with consumer products. But by the time of the trial, Rider says, the FBI had convinced her that her friend was the killer. Olsen says Hamilton and her mother had a combative relationship. By age 16 she was pregnant with her first daughter, Cindy Hamilton. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Farr says that there is no credible evidence against her. [13], On December 9, 1987, Stella was indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of product tampering, including two which resulted in the deaths of Bruce and Snow,[6][14] and arrested the same day. [2] The former was marked as overdue in library records, indicating that she had borrowed but never returned it. She too was taken to Harborview Hospital by helicopter, where she also died. "I am not guilty," says Nickell. Her May 1988 conviction and prison sentence were the first under federal product tampering laws instituted after the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders. For one thing, authorities found only five contaminated bottles of painkillers in all of King County. Stella Nicholas. While it was deemed to be a manufacturing error, the defense thought that it involved product tampering and therefore should have been disclosed during jury selection. [3] At 6:30 am, their 15-year-old daughter Hayley found Snow collapsed on the floor of her bathroom, unresponsive and with a faint pulse. Then Stella Nickell's daughter, Cindy Hamilton, began talking to police. Nickell says her husband walked out on the deck to watch the birds, and suddenly collapsed. Social Profiles. Includes Age, Location, Address History for Stella Chen; Arrest, Criminal, & Driving Records . In early 1974, when she was 32, she met Bruce Nickell. Manufacturer Bristol-Myers initiated a nationwide recall of Extra Strength Excedrin capsules, and immediately stopped making the product. Stella, who was ordered to go to counseling, says her daughter was jealous of her. In inorganic cyanides, the cyanide group is present as the cyanide anion CN.This anion is extremely poisonous.Soluble salts such as sodium cyanide (NaCN) and potassium . Another memo mentions that Stella's two Excedrin bottles came from one store, Albertsons. Stella had taken out $76,000 of life insurance on Bruce. Farr and Ciolino have been traveling the country without pay, interviewing witnesses and friends, talking to anyone who may help them. Nickell was the first to be convicted. In the next 12 years, there would be a failed marriage and a second daughter. When both turned out to contain contaminated capsules, investigators grew suspicious. The media was riveted because of its similarity to the notorious Chicago "Tylenol murders," less than four years earlier, when seven people died in fall 1982 after taking cyanide-tainted Tylenol pills. But then they found out that he was an organ donor and a sample of his. Under her husband's insurance policy, which paid out more for accidental death, she stood to receive an extra $100,000. This has led some to speculate that she may have initially conspired with her mother against her stepfather, then testified against her mother for the reward after her mother failed an FBI polygraph. Prosecutors said Stella Nickell put cyanide in capsules of Extra-Strength Excedrin and gave them to her husband. Gregg Olsen, Bitter Almonds: The True Story of Mothers, Daughters, and the Seattle Cyanide Murders (New York: Warner Books, 1993); "Update 2002" in St. Martin's Press Paperback edition, 2002. Your email address will not be published. Stella Nickell is convicted on two counts of murder by a Seattle, Washington, jury. She claimed to have bought the two bottles at different times in different stores. ER 2002-12, 2014-16 Milford Haven, Dyfed, SA73.
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