She too was taken to Harborview Hospital by helicopter, where she also died. 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. She told the FBI that her mother had talked for years about killing her husband, and went to the library to research poisonous plants and cyanide. She asked for compassionate release due to bad health, but where was her compassion when she murdered her own husband and another women? win all terms to run concurrently. Stella Nickell by Michael Thomas Barry O n May 8, 1988, Stella Nickell is convicted on two counts of murder by a Seattle, Washington, jury. But then they found out that he was an organ donor and a sample of his. Gregg Olsen, whose book "Bitter Almonds" chronicles the case, says that is why the FBI zeroed in on her. Prosecutors said Stella Nickell put cyanide in capsules of Extra-Strength Excedrin and gave them to her husband. [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. Olsen told Insider that Snow was a random victim who "paid for Stella's greed with her life." During the autopsy, an assistant medical examiner noticed the odor of bitter almonds, a tell-tale indicator of cyanide. She is evil. Another $300,000 was shared by nine people who helped police arrest a Florida man in 1986. DARLING (born NICHOLLS) and 3 other siblings. In June 1986, two Auburn residents were killed by painkillers laced with cyanide. One of the jurors had been a plaintiff in a case involving a pill baked into Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers. She also planted other bottles of cyanide-tainted Excedrin in local stores to. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. The case made headlines across the world. Find Nicholls's address, hospital affiliations and more. [5], In response to the publicity, Stella came forward on June 19. He joined the army at the relatively advanced age of 33 in 1916 to fight in World War I. A year and half after Bruce Nickell died, Stella Nickell was arrested and stood trial in federal court. 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. The FBI found Stella's fingerprints on several books. 48 Hours reports on the search. Given credit for good behavior, Nickell will be eligible for release in 2040, when shes 96 years old, according to court documents. How Americans Became Convinced Their Halloween Candy was Poisoned. Nickell was the first to be convicted under it. Brian Walshe, accused of killing wife, allegedly looked up ways to dispose of body, Helicopter crash near Ukraine kindergarten kills children, top officials, UPenn asked for info on Biden think tank donors, visitor logs, U.S. lawyer who died in Mexico was "victim of a brutal crime," family says, Matt Schlapp sued by former Herschel Walker aide alleging sexual battery, 200 millionaires say inequality is "eating the world alive". Sue Snow collapsed in her bathroom of her home in the Seattle, Washington, suburb of Auburn. They turned out to be algae destroyer, a product used to kill algae in fish tanks. Stella Nicholls. Authorities became suspicious because she told them she had bought two bottles of Excedrin at different times, probably in different places. She had a history of abusing drugs. She said that she acted in self-defense as a victim of domestic violence. At 16, she gave birth to a daughter, Cynthia. Gradually suspicion hardened on Stella Nickell. [5][7], Initial suspicions were directed at Bristol-Myers, with Stella and Webking filing wrongful death lawsuits against the company. Whites hosting gig came about, in read more, On May 8, 1541, south of present-day Memphis, Tennessee, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, one of the first European explorers to ever do so. .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { [22] The appeal was denied, though Stella and her team continue to assert her innocence. [1] By the summer of 1987, even Stella's attorneys acknowledged that she was the prime suspect in the case. Around the time Stella failed a FBI polygraph, her daughter from a previous marriage, Cindy Hamilton, 27, came forward. But, the author said, the poisoner has never cared about the attention. display: block; She bought nine more bottles of Excedrin and cut through the protective film with a razor blade. Stella Maudine Stephenson was a native of Colton, Oregon. [15][16], Stella's legal team sought a mistrial on grounds of jury tampering and judicial misconduct. Klein is featured in "American Mother," a book about Nickell published this week. When her mom's autopsy results showed she had died of cyanide poisoning, Klein struggled to process the news. Paramedics rushed to the home at 1404 N Street NE in Auburn. See Photos. When detectives investigated, they found that Stella had borrowed, but never returned, a book called Human Poisoning. O n this day, May 9, in 1988, a Seattle woman was found guilty of killing her husband and another person by lacing Excedrin capsules with cyanide. Hamilton went on to testify against Nickell at her trial two years later. They arrested me and I was only in jail overnight.". 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. Nickell was convicted after police and FBI agents, following months of investigation, concluded she had laced her husbands Excedrin painkillers with cyanide to collect on his insurance, then planted poisoned pills in stores to throw off investigators. Stella Nickell laced painkillers with cyanide, murdering her husband and a random woman, Sue Snow. Although the defense challenged her credibility, the jury believed her and convicted Stella of fatally poisoning her husband and Sue Snow. FBI working to identify unknown victims of serial killer Stellas lawyer said nothing about the reward because a deal was made. She added that "as negative as it is, I have chosen to learn from it and not become bitter. Rider was never called to testify. She said she had a bottle of Excedrin in her home with the same lot number as the bottle that had killed Sue Snow. 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. Bruce was a heavy equipment operator with a drinking habit, which suited her lifestyle,[3] and the two were married in 1976. Authorities became suspicious because she told them she had bought two bottles of Excedrin at different times, probably in different places. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Nickell poisoned Bruce so she could pocket his life insurance, and Snow died the same way in a foiled effort to cover her tracks, Olsen said. Her fate was sealed when Hamilton told the FBI that her mother had repeatedly talked about killing Bruce in different ways. Your email address will not be published. Gregg Olsen's, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, "Case 93: Sue Snow and Bruce Nickell - Casefile: True Crime Podcast", "Killing Her Husband Wasn't Enough for Stella Nickell; to Make Her Point, She Poisoned a Stranger", "Mystery Involving Failed Mother-Daughter Relationship, Product Tampering and Murder, CBS", "Poisoned Painkiller Panic: The Snow-Nickell Cyanide Murders", "Poisoned Excedrin Suspected in 2D Seattle Death", "Ninety-year prison term in tampering deaths", United States Food and Drug Administration, "Husband of cyanide poisoning victim questioned", "Woman is Held in Deaths from Excedrin Laced with Cyanide", "Woman Guilty of Killing 2 With Poisoned Excedrin", "Woman Guilty of Killing 2 in Poisoned Excedrin Case", "Possibility of Mistrial Raised In Product-Tampering Case", "Stella Nickell, serving 90 years for planting poisoned pills, killing 2, seeks release from prison", "AUBURN WOMAN SERVING 90-YEAR TERM SEEKS NEW TRIAL IN HUSBAND-POISONING CASE", "The Federal Anti Tampering Act: Criminal Offense To Tamper With Consumer Products", "Nickell gets 90 years for cyanide murders", "TV film canceled after drug maker objects", "USA Network Pulls Movie After Advertiser Protests", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stella_Nickell&oldid=1130965489, People convicted of murder by Washington (state), Articles with dead external links from November 2021, Articles with permanently dead external links, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Pages using infobox criminal with motive parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 January 2023, at 21:57. Some cite $71,000, some $75,000, and some $76,000. Stella had taken out $76,000 of life insurance on Bruce. Now 27, Hamilton had been in and out of Stella's life for years. Tests confirmed that Snow had died from acute cyanide poisoning. Stella Nickell used Cyanide to kill her victims. Search for profiles by email and username. This California farm kingdom holds a key, Six people, including mother and baby, killed in Tulare County; drug cartel suspected, These are the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles, New Bay Area maps show hidden flood risk from sea level rise and groundwater. The Chicago Tylenol case had resulted not only in the 1983 Federal Anti-Tampering Law under which she was charged, but FDA requirements that products be packaged with tamper-resistant technology such as blister-packs, bottle mouth seal covers, shrink wrap bottle covers, visible seals that must be broken to open the bottle, and taped box ends. [2] She was also known to have, even before Snow's death, repeatedly disputed doctors' ruling that her husband had died of natural causes. The FBI began an investigation into possible product tampering having been the source of the poison. "Mom's eyes were open and her fingers were bent and locked up," Klein said. After her death was reported in the news, Stella called police to tell them that she thought her husband had also been poisoned. But why would she bring the poisoning to police attention in the first place? Prosecutors said Stella Nickell put cyanide in capsules of Extra-Strength Excedrin and gave them to her husband. Nickell says her husband walked out on the deck to watch the birds, and suddenly collapsed. You have to go to the city. 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. When Cindy was 9, Stella was charged with hitting her with a curtain rod, bruising her legs. They exhumed her husband's body and determined that he too, had been poisoned. Additionally, network executives feared the film would inspire copycat crimes. He died, as did Auburn woman Sue Snow, who apparently picked up a bottle of the tainted tablets from a grocery store, according to news reports and court records. Cindy subsequently received $250,000 of the $300,000 drug industry award. As the investigation continued, the FBI lab found an important clue: green crystals mixed in with the cyanide. Stella also had more than her share of legal troubles. After searching for months, they found her in Southern California. Paramedics found her unconscious and gasping for breath. To Nickell's frustration, the autopsy failed to pick up on the poison. MMII Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved 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. Stella Nickell about the time of the poisonings. [12] The FBI identified her fingerprints on cyanide-related pages of a number of the works she had checked out during this period. [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. ER 2002-12, 2014-16 Milford Haven, Dyfed, SA73. I sent her to school; she told the nurse I had beat her that morning. A consortium of drug companies, alarmed about product tampering, posted a $300,000 reward. After the war, he opened a haberdashery in Kansas City. Stella Nicholl. 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. Stella had an aquarium, but says she never bought algae destroyer. 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. 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." "My belief is that the polygraph was a ruse to try and coerce a confession out of her," says Stella's new lawyer, Carl Colbert. The doctors said it was emphysema, but Stella says that never made sense, because he didn't have that disease. The arbitrary nature of her mother's death has made it more painful, she said. For one thing, authorities found only five contaminated bottles of painkillers in all of King County. Check Writing Quality. She originally called police and turned over two bottles of Excedrin. The teen called 911. Stella denies abusing her children: "(Hamilton) wasn't feeling good. Stella Nickell was sentenced to. Stella met Bruce Nickell in 1974. They had thought it was drug overdose, but she was not a known user, and had taken only a couple of Extra - Strength Excedrin. Stella and Steven have lived together in a single family house in Philadelphia, PA. View more. Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. In the next 12 years, there would be a failed marriage and a second daughter. (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. Snow died a few days later, after also taking Excedrin pills laced with cyanide. [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. She became eligible in 2017 after serving 30 years of her 90-year sentence. The detectives also question how she first became a suspect. Detectives later found traces of algaecide a chemical used to clean fish tanks in the Excedrin pills. The Seattle cyanide poisonings are the subject of several true-crime television episodes and at least one book Gregg Olsens Bitter Almonds, published in 2013. And she is completely capable of murdering again at 78 yrs old. A more recent but undated photo of Stella Nickell. She belongs in prison until she is dead. The other three charges each drew a 10-year term. When she saw a news report about a woman dying from Excedrin capsules filled with cyanide, she called the police. Then Stella Nickell's daughter, Cindy Hamilton, began talking to police. Trending News When that read more, Before the United States formally declared war on Mexico, General Zachary Taylor defeats a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto north of the Rio Grande River. This information would spread across the town she lived and cause her to start getting bullied because . Cynthia Hamilton, Stellas daughter, came forward (possibly in order to obtain reward money) with her account of Stellas plan to kill her husband. 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 told them that she thought that he'd been poisoned, too. [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. Are you a "motivated dater"? Nickell took a lie detector test and failed. This time it was a bottle of Maximum Strength Anacin-3 at the Pay 'n Save store where Sue Snow was thought to have bought her fatal Excedrin. }, First published on June 4, 2001 / 12:09 PM. She became eligible for parole in 2018 but remains in prison. Stella was indicted in federal court and Cindy testified against her at the trial. After all, it had been less than four years since the unsolved Tylenol poisonings in the Chicago area. One June evening in 1986, he came home with a headache and four Excedrins. Her first lawyer also asked to see it, and never did. 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