[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. In the next 12 years, there would be a failed marriage and a second daughter. According to Cindy, Stella had pointed out that if Bruce died, she and Cindy would have the cash they wanted to open a tropical fish store, or perhaps a ceramics store, another of Stella's hobbies. }, First published on June 4, 2001 / 12:09 PM. He died in the hospital, but doctors did not detect the cyanide and ascribed the death to emphysema. But the policy would pay an additional $100,000 if he died from accidental causes. The killer in that case has never been caught. The detectives discovered an FBI memo that seems to support Rider's account. Additionally, network executives feared the film would inspire copycat crimes. Trusted by millions of genealogists since 2003 Trusted information source for millions of people worldwide Reports said Snow died after swallowing cyanide-laced Excedrin. Stella Nickell is convicted on two counts of murder by a Seattle, Washington, jury. One June evening in 1986, he came home with a headache and four Excedrins. Stella's friend A.J. The other victim was Susan Katherine Snow, 40, also of Auburn, who authorities said had bought the poisoned capsules. 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. On May 8, 1864, Yankee troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, to find the Rebels already there. In the next 12 years, there would be a failed marriage and a second daughter. On June 5, 1986 at 5:02 p.m., Stella Nickell called an emergency volunteer fire department on the Kent-Black Diamond Road. The Bureau of Prisons could ask for Nickells release, the judge said, but has not done so. Nickell watched Bruce die in agony on June 5, 1986, a few days after buying the cyanide at a chemical-supply company. [9] On June 24, a cyanide-contaminated bottle of Anacin-3 was found at the same store where Snow had bought her contaminated Excedrin. You have permission to edit this article. The company followed this on June 20 with a recall of all their non-prescription capsule products. He was taken by helicopter to a Seattle hospital. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Bruces heavy drinking suited Stella just fine. Stella refused, her lawyer saying she was too shaken up. Bruce's insurance paid an extra $100,000 if he died by accident, including poisoning. Snow was airlifted to the hospital, but she was declared brain dead a few hours later. At 6:30 a.m., Snows 15-year-old daughter, Hayley, found her lying on the bathroom floor, unresponsive and with only a faint pulse. Now, 13 years later, private detective Al Farr and his partner Paul Ciolino are on a mission to prove what they both firmly believe: Nickell is innocent. ER . Her husband, Bruce, died after taking cyanide-laced Excedrin tablets in . The defense agreed not to cross-examine Cindy about the reward. One June evening in 1986, he came home with a headache and four Excedrins. Snow died a few days later, after also taking Excedrin pills laced with cyanide. But Tom Noonan, who managed the local fish store at the time, says she did buy algae destroyer. "I think that she probably killed Bruce and expected them to find out that he died from cyanide poisoning," he says. 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 . 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. 48 Hours reports on the search. At 16, she gave birth to a daughter, Cynthia. Stella Nicholls. Stella Nickell grew up poor in the Pacific Northwest. The eight who will also share in the reward in the Nickell case are: Thomas Noonan of Auburn, Wash., $15,000; Bonnie Anderson of Federal Way, Wash., $10,000; Denise Button of Seattle, $7,500; Sandra Scott of Auburn, $7,500; Katy Parker of Auburn, $2,500; Gerald McIntyre of Kent, Wash., $2,500; Lynn Force, of Seattle, $2,500; and Melinda Denton, also of Seattle, $2,500. She told Farr that she is not sure her mother is really guilty. [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. Cynthia Hamilton, 30, the Nickells daughter who now lives in Garden Grove, testified that her mother repeatedly talked about ways to kill her husband, Bruce Nickell, who was 52 when he died. [3] The FDA inspected the Morrisville, North Carolina, plant where the tainted lot had been packaged, but found no traces of cyanide to explain its presence in the Washington bottles. Officers broke open the capsules and found the powdered toxin inside. We offered the rewards as a deterrent because we feel that the best way to deter tampering is to catch the tamperers, said John T. Walden, a senior vice president of the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Assn. was to be made about the Nickell case to air on USA Network, but it was cancelled shortly before production began. A sweep of grocery and pharmacy shelves in King County produced another tainted bottle from Johnny's Market in Kent, and the lot number of the bottle recovered from Sue Snow's home was publicized. Seven people died in that case, which was never solved. [2] Investigators examined the contents of the Snow-Webking household and discovered the source of the cyanide: the bottle of Excedrin capsules that both Snow and Webking had used the morning of Snow's death. Comments can only be made on article within the first 3 days of publication. Noonan claimed she bought so much algae destroyer, he had to special order it just for her. Nickell took a lie detector test and failed. View this record View. There was nothing wrong with her. [1][2] Stella soon found herself in various legal issues, including a conviction for fraud in 1968, a charge of spousal abuse for beating Hamilton with a curtain rod in 1969, and a conviction for forgery in 1971. Both were found to contain cyanide-laced capsules. Farr says that there is no credible evidence against her. Stella had taken out $76,000 of life insurance on Bruce. Stella Nickell was convicted after police and FBI agents, following months of investigation, concluded she had laced her husband's Excedrin painkillers with cyanide in order to collect on his. When her mom's autopsy results showed she had died of cyanide poisoning, Klein struggled to process the news. She said she had bought the bottles on two occasions, one somewhere in Auburn, the other at Johnny's Market in Kent. In chemistry, a cyanide (from Greek kyanos 'dark blue') is a chemical compound that contains a CN functional group.This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom.. The case. Instead of partying with Stella, long a regular fixture on the Auburn-Kent tavern circuit, he chose to stay home watching television or talking CB lingo on his citizen's band radio. A year and half after Bruce Nickell died, Stella Nickell was arrested and stood trial in federal court. [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. Another memo mentions that Stella's two Excedrin bottles came from one store, Albertsons. Stella Nicholls : They locked her away because she was different. Around the time Stella failed a FBI polygraph, her daughter from a previous marriage, Cindy Hamilton, 27, came forward. Stella resented Bruces newfound sobriety because it deprived her of their visits to bars. He said that the companies were extra sensitive because the police had found no leads on the Tylenol murders in Illinois. Sign Up. 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. 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. Stella Nicholls. Stella had taken out $76,000 of life insurance on Bruce. [1] By the summer of 1987, even Stella's attorneys acknowledged that she was the prime suspect in the case. View more. Log In. A year later, Stella put cyanide in an Excedrin capsule that Bruce later took for a headache. But the policy would pay an additional $100,000 if he died from accidental causes. Death by cyanide poisoning was big news in Washington. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. But why would she bring the poisoning to police attention in the first place? (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. 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. A year and half after Bruce Nickell died, Stella Nickell was arrested and stood trial in federal court. Stella Nickell used Cyanide to kill her victims. On June 11, Sue Snow, a 40-year-old bank manager, took two Excedrin capsules for an early-morning headache. Now 27, Hamilton had been in and out of Stella's life for years. What happens next? [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. They arrested me and I was only in jail overnight.". [20] Her release date is given as July 10, 2040, when she will be 96 years old. Three capsules out of those that remained in the 60-capsule bottle were found to be laced with cyanide in toxic quantities. 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. Sign up for the newsletter today. In 1985, Stella took out a life insurance policy on Bruce that included a substantial indemnity payment for accidental death. They then looked toward Nickell. Prosecutors said Stella Nickell put cyanide in capsules of Extra-Strength Excedrin and gave them to her husband. "It all just kind of dawned on me, wait a minute, this was a whole setup," she says. The crime was chillingly similar to the Chicago Tylenol murders four years earlier. Despite a strong circumstantial case, there was no direct proof that Stella Nickell had bought or used cyanide. Ramn Morales : Hospitals have records. [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. 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. The bottle had the same lot number as the bottle in Sue Snows home. A few years later, though, she had a change of heart. Stella was indicted in federal court and Cindy testified against her at the trial. They then looked toward Nickell. You have to go to the city. 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. Then there was the insurance. This, in turn, brought in the FBI. After her death was reported in the news, Stella called police to tell them that she thought her husband had also been poisoned. Since her husband, Bruce Nickells was already dead and buried they could not do anything. Olsen says Hamilton and her mother had a combative relationship. Stella's neighbor, Sandy Scott, became a spy for the FBI. [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. She told police, and doctors realized that Bruce Nickell had also been poisoned. They say she was desperate to establish an accidental cause of death. Background Report for Stella Chen. Stella Nickell Fast forward to 1986. She was the first person to be found guilty of violating the Federal Anti-Tampering Act after putting cyanide in Excedrin capsules in an effort to kill her husband. She'd heard a thump and the sound of water running over the sink. She said that she didnt testify for the reward. Stella is a young teenage girl living in a high school for her 1968-69 school year. [2] The possibility of state charges for the actual murders of Bruce and Snow continues to exist. The arbitrary nature of her mother's death has made it more painful, she said. She maintains her innocence, claiming her daughter lied for the reward money. [6] Bruce had taken them to no effect save for complaining of sudden drowsiness. Milford Haven, Dyfed, SA73. It was also featured in episode 93 of Casefile True Crime Podcast in August 2018. Stella handed two bottles of Excedrin over to police -- supposedly bought at two different times from two different stores. When investigators came to Nickells home to pick up the Excedrin bottle, she told them that there were two bottles and that she had purchased them on different days at different places. She also planted other bottles of cyanide-tainted Excedrin in local stores to. [31], The 2000 TV film Who Killed Sue Snow? They asked the family if Snow had any enemies. "She can sometimes be very, very skillfully evasive," says Farr. "I couldn't take it in," she said. 4 Stella J Nicholls. She even searched Stella's home for algae destroyer. She wanted to stay home. [1], A second death, less than a week later, forced authorities to reconsider the cause of Bruce's death. She continues to maintain her innocence, saying that Cindy lied to get the $300,000 reward money (she received $250,000). Her bar-hopping drastically reduced, Stella began to request more night shifts at her baggage-screener job at SEA-TAC airport. In 1986, the Nickells lived in Auburn, Washington, a suburb south of Seattle not far from SEA-TAC airport. America immediately thought of the unsolved 1982 Chicago Tylenol product-tampering murders in which seven people died. Stella Nickell (born August 7, 1943) is an American woman murdered her husband and another and tried to make it look like the work of a serial killer. Federal prosecutors said they opposed her release. Nickell says her husband walked out on the deck to watch the birds, and suddenly collapsed. 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. Gregg Olsen, whose book "Bitter Almonds" chronicles the case, says that is why the FBI zeroed in on her. After all, it had been less than four years since the unsolved Tylenol poisonings in the Chicago area. Hamilton went on to testify against Nickell at her trial two years later. 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. 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