Police arrested her the same day, and she went on trial in April 1988. She said that she acted in self-defense as a victim of domestic violence. Ramn Morales : Hospitals have records. Stella continued to maintain her innocence after her trial. After searching for months, they found her in Southern California. But the plot backfired. But Tom Noonan, who managed the local fish store at the time, says she did buy algae destroyer. The FBI began an investigation into possible product tampering having been the source of the poison. The detectives discovered an FBI memo that seems to support Rider's account. [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. (Note: Polygraph tests are not evidence and failing or refusing to take one is not evidence of guilt). But in 1986, when two Seattle-area people died after ingesting Excedrin laced with cyanide, Stella Nickell was nabbed for the. Nickell is the subject of a new book, "American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood and the Cyanide Murders That Shook the World." }, First published on June 4, 2001 / 12:09 PM. Gregg Olsen, whose book "Bitter Almonds" chronicles the case, says that is why the FBI zeroed in on her. or. Sue Snow collapsed in her bathroom of her home in the Seattle, Washington, suburb of Auburn. [2] A total of five bottles had been found to have been contaminated in the entire country, and it was regarded as suspicious that Stella would happen to have acquired two of them purely by chance. "She can sometimes be very, very skillfully evasive," says Farr. But U.S.. Stella Nickell, then 75, had been sentenced to 90 years in prison in 1988, after she was found guilty of product tampering. Farr and Ciolino have been traveling the country without pay, interviewing witnesses and friends, talking to anyone who may help them. Because of product tampering legislation passed in response to the Chicago killings, these murders became a federal case. He died shortly after arriving. Sue Snows husband, Paul Webking, agreed to undergo a polygraph examination and passed. Olsen says Hamilton and her mother had a combative relationship. A second autopsy proved her right. 00:19:08 - Mrs. Stella Nickell might have actually gotten away with it too, if it weren't for her greed and a touch of karma. You have permission to edit this article. Hamilton testified. Around the time Stella failed a FBI polygraph, her daughter from a previous marriage, Cindy Hamilton, 27, came forward. Stella handed two bottles of Excedrin over to police -- supposedly bought at two different times from two different stores. The doctors said it was emphysema, but Stella says that never made sense, because he didnt have that disease. The case made headlines across the world. [2] When her bar visits were curtailed by Bruce's sobriety,[3] she began requesting evening shifts at her security screener job at SeattleTacoma International Airport and cultivated a home aquarium as a new hobby. Cindy subsequently received $250,000 of the $300,000 drug industry award. Less than a week later, Sue Snow, a 40-year-old bank manager took two extra-strength Excedrin capsules for an early-morning headache. She belongs in prison until she is dead. Stella Nicholls. After the war, he opened a haberdashery in Kansas City. Her lawyers have also petitioned, unsuccessfully, for a new trial. Stella is a young teenage girl living in a high school for her 1968-69 school year. 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. Nixon reaffirmed his promise to withdraw 150,000 read more, On May 8, 1884, Harry S. Truman is born in Lamar, Missouri. Background Report for Stella Chen. Stellas lawyer said nothing about the reward because a deal was made. "It all just kind of dawned on me, wait a minute, this was a whole setup," she says. Sign Up. Paramedics rushed her to Harborview, but she died without regaining consciousness. Stella . Trusted by millions of genealogists since 2003 Trusted information source for millions of people worldwide In early 1974,. Read. Nickell was given two 90-year sentences for the murders of her husband and Susan Snow. Farr and Ciolino talked to other people who were also rewarded for their role in the case. The revised cause of death made a difference to Stella Nickell. [18] She was denied parole in 2017.[19]. A subsequent test of the deceased Bruce Nickell's blood sample showed that he, like Sue Snow, had died of cyanide poisoning. At age 16, following the birth of her first daughter, Cynthia Hamilton, Stella moved to Southern California, where she married and had another daughter. Stella Nickell was convicted two years later. To Nickell's frustration, the autopsy failed to pick up on the poison. Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. [10], With investigatory focus turned to Stella, detectives uncovered more circumstantial evidence pointing to her as the culprit. She added that "as negative as it is, I have chosen to learn from it and not become bitter. Her husband, Bruce Nickell, collapsed at home in 1986 at the age of 42 after taking several Excedrin tablets for a headache, according to news accounts. (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. [20] Her release date is given as July 10, 2040, when she will be 96 years old. "She was having a hard time breathing." "But more importantly, I know who didn't do it and that's Stella Nickell. All Rights Reserved. [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. [2] She was also known to have, even before Snow's death, repeatedly disputed doctors' ruling that her husband had died of natural causes. Now, private detective Al Farr and his partner Paul Ciolino are on a mission to prove what they both firmly believe: Nickell is innocent. But this time, pathologists smelled the telltale scent of bitter almonds during the autopsy, and determined that cyanide poisoning had killed Sue Snow. She said she had bought the bottles on two occasions, one somewhere in Auburn, the other at Johnny's Market in Kent. On the basis of their new findings, Stella's legal team today filed a request for a new trial. Federal prosecutors said they opposed her release. In early 1974, when she was 32, she met Bruce Nickell. After building flatboats, de Soto and his 400 ragged troops crossed the great river under the cover of read more, On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, armed members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) surrender to federal authorities, ending their 71-day siege of Wounded Knee, site of the infamous massacre of 300 Sioux by the U.S. 7th Cavalry in 1890. Investigators found it remarkable that of only five tainted bottles out of the 15,000 that had been screened, Stella Nickell had turned in two of them, saying she had purchased them two weeks apart at separate locations. Stella Nickell, then 75, had been sentenced to 90 years in prison in 1988, after she was found guilty of product tampering. See Photos. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Noonan claimed she bought so much algae destroyer, he had to special order it just for her. The Free Encyclopedia of Washington State History. Nickell watched Bruce die in agony on June 5, 1986, a few days after buying the cyanide at a chemical-supply company. Paramedics found her unconscious and gasping for breath. ER 2002-12, 2014-16 Milford Haven, Dyfed, SA73. Nickell hatched another plot within a week. In all the tainted capsules, the cyanide was flecked with small green crystals, determined to by an algae killer used to clean the water in aquariums. Comments can only be made on article within the first 3 days of publication. [9] On June 24, a cyanide-contaminated bottle of Anacin-3 was found at the same store where Snow had bought her contaminated Excedrin. Stella had two of them. [9], Examination of the contaminated bottles by the FBI Crime Lab found that, in addition to containing cyanide powder, the poisoned capsules also contained flecks of an unknown green substance. "It was a means to an end," the author said. She lived with the Nickells months before Bruce died. Another memo mentions that Stella's two Excedrin bottles came from one store, Albertsons. At 16, she gave birth to a daughter, Cynthia. But, the author said, the poisoner has never cared about the attention. Stella says she researched cyanide after her husband died. Hayley Klein was transfixed by the woman who fatally poisoned her mother, Sue Snow. Stella Nickell's small-time world was one of big-time dreams. She was sentenced to 90 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. They exhumed her husband's body and determined that he too, had been poisoned. But he took a polygraph, passed, and was eliminated as a suspect. SEATTLE -- A federal jury convicted Stella Nickell Monday of lacing pain relief capsules with cyanide, killing her husband and a random victim, in the nation's first fatal . Like cyanide poisoning. [21] A second appeal, beginning in 2001, was filed by her new attorney, Carl Park Colbert, based on evidence obtained by private detectives Al Farr and Paul Ciolino, requesting a new trial on the basis of new evidence having been discovered that the FBI may have withheld documents from the defense. [12] The FBI identified her fingerprints on cyanide-related pages of a number of the works she had checked out during this period. [1] Hamilton also claimed that Stella had spoken to her about what the two of them could do with the insurance money if Bruce was dead. 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. [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. June Devaney: Unique Strategy Solves a Horrific Murder, Lipstick Killer: Murder Spree is a Challenge For Cops, Mollie Olgin: Strange Murder of Girl in Texas Park, Jason Owens: Secrets and Murder of a Media Star, Black Sox: Baseballs First Big Gambling Scandal, Mark Putnam: Love and Murder in Appalachia, Eric Witte: Mother Manipulates Boy to Commit Startling Murder. With Snow dead, Stella could step forward and notify police. Officers broke open the capsules and found the powdered toxin inside. Additionally, network executives feared the film would inspire copycat crimes. The Old Crime is New Again newsletter is a monthly email covering a topic that has not appeared in the blog. A consortium of drug companies, alarmed about product tampering, posted a $300,000 reward. She refused to help the defense team. [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. 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 Nickell laced painkillers with cyanide, murdering her husband and a random woman, Sue Snow. 48 Hours reports on the search. Both were found to contain cyanide-laced capsules. [29][30] The murders are discussed in the Jodi Picoult novel House Rules, published in 2010. Stella Chen has been associated with one company, according to public records. They were married two years later. But then they found out that he was an organ donor and a sample of his. On May 8, 1864, Yankee troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, to find the Rebels already there. Her May 1988 conviction and prison sentence were the first . She bought nine more bottles of Excedrin and cut through the protective film with a razor blade. 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. May 08, 2013 12:00 AM. A total of five bottles containing cyanide-laced capsules were recovered: the bottle Sue Snow had purchased, the two bottles Stella Nickell had turned in, the Excedrin found on the shelves at Johnny's Market in Kent, and the Anacin capsules discovered at Pay-n-Save in Auburn. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider 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. Following that failure, Stella had begun library research into other methods and hit upon cyanide. She had taken out a total of about $76,000[11][note 2] in insurance coverage on her husband's life, with an additional payout of $100,000 if his death was accidental. Strength Excedrin is a safe medication. [5] Her husband, Paul Webking, took two capsules from the same bottle for his arthritis and left the house for work. When Cindy was 9, Stella was charged with hitting her with a curtain rod, bruising her legs. They were married two years later. Her husband, Bruce, died after taking cyanide-laced Excedrin tablets in . 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. By CYNTHIA FLASH. Find Nicholls's address, hospital affiliations and more. [2] Tests by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed the presence of cyanide in her husband's remains and in two Excedrin bottles Stella had turned over to police. Sign up for the newsletter today. 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. "She never talks about my mom," Klein said. Prosecutors said Stella Nickell put cyanide in capsules of Extra-Strength Excedrin and gave them to her husband. The detectives say they simply don't know who the killer is. They had thought it was drug overdose, but she was not a known user, and had taken only a couple of Extra - Strength Excedrin. Investigators in Seattle say her plan was foiled when Bruce's death was attributed to emphysema - a natural cause. However, the motion was denied. She told police that her husband had recently died suddenly after taking pills from a 40-capsule bottle of Excedrin with the same lot number as the one that had killed Snow. He was able to do this during his time as a hospital orderly.His spree took place between 1970 and 1987. One of the jurors had been a plaintiff in a case involving a pill baked into Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers. She originally called police and turned over two bottles of Excedrin. As of April 2019, Stella Nickell is housed at female-only low security/minimum security Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin in California, just east of San Francisco. [7] On June 18, Bristol-Myers recalled all Excedrin capsules in the United States, pulling them from store shelves and warning consumers to not use any they may already have bought;[7] two days later the company announced a recall of all of their non-prescription capsule products. #inline-recirc-item--id-a607eb04-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d ~ .item:nth-child(5) { [2] The possibility of state charges for the actual murders of Bruce and Snow continues to exist. Stella's payoff now totaled $175,000. Examination showed that Bruces signatures on at least two of the policies in his name were forgeries. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Im afraid for her life: Riverside CC womens coach harassed after Title IX suit, Want to solve climate change? She said she had a bottle of Excedrin in her home with the same lot number as the bottle that had killed Sue Snow. Stella Nicholls : They locked her away because she was different. Stella Maudine Stephenson was a native of Colton, Oregon. Stella Nicholls is the main protagonist of the 2019 film, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

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