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. So she put poisoned painkillers in stores, they say, hoping someone else would die and the tainted capsules would be discovered. Stella had two of them. People named Stella Nicholl. As the investigation continued, the FBI lab found an important clue: green crystals mixed in with the cyanide. Correction: Death By Cyanide 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. Olsen said that Nickell laced Bruce's Excedrin with cyanide so that the authorities would think his death was accidental, which would allow her to claim his $100,000 life-insurance policy. I sent her to school; she told the nurse I had beat her that morning. One of the bottles happened to be purchased by Snow. The next day, Bruce Nickell's widow Stella, a 42-year old raven-haired security screener at Seattle-Tacoma International airport, characterized by a neighbor as "a washed-up honky-tonk girl," called police. Manufacturer Bristol-Myers initiated a nationwide recall of Extra Strength Excedrin capsules, and immediately stopped making the product. [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. [20] Her release date is given as July 10, 2040, when she will be 96 years old. "And I won't quit fighting until I prove it.". Suspicious investigators, noting that $100,000 of that would only be paid out because the cause of death was now known to be cyanide, wondered if Stella had randomly killed Sue Snow by planting the bottle that killed her on the Pay-N-Save shelf, simply to bring attention to the fact Bruce had been poisoned and increase her take. "American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood and the Cyanide Murders That Shook the World.". DARLING (born NICHOLLS) and 3 other siblings. They turned out to be algae destroyer, a product used to kill algae in fish tanks. 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. Her release date is set for July 10, 2040, when she will be almost 97 years old. Joanna R Nicholls. [6] She went on trial in April 1988 and was found guilty of all charges on May 9, after five days of jury deliberation. "Stella was desperate because she murdered her husband and got nothing out of it," Olsen said. I think, 'Say her name, lady.'". The government says all required documents were handed over. [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. [1], In January 1987, Stella's now-grown daughter, Cynthia Hamilton, approached police with information: her mother had spoken to her repeatedly about wanting Bruce dead, having grown bored with him after he quit drinking. Despite a strong circumstantial case, there was no direct proof that Stella Nickell had bought or used cyanide. Stella's payoff now totaled $175,000. But the plot backfired. Stella also had more than her share of legal troubles. 44 year old Stella Nickell, of Auburn, Washington, had been absolutely miserable with her life. She said of Nickell, "She has no regard for what she did to other people's lives I don't know why anybody should have any regard for her now.". 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". [1] By the summer of 1987, even Stella's attorneys acknowledged that she was the prime suspect in the case. On June 5, 1986 at 5:02 p.m., Stella Nickell called an emergency volunteer fire department on the Kent-Black Diamond Road. Paramedics found her unconscious and gasping for breath. "She was having a hard time breathing." 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. Less than a week later, Sue Snow, a 40-year-old bank manager took two extra-strength Excedrin capsules for an early-morning headache. Includes Age, Location, Address History for Stella Chen; Arrest, Criminal, & Driving Records . "All she wanted was a tropical-fish store.". 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. [5] Stella, Hamilton claimed, had even told her that she had tried to poison Bruce previously with foxglove hidden in capsules. "It was a means to an end," the author said. 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.. But they found Cyanide in the pills. After the war, he opened a haberdashery in Kansas City. Local and state authorities are not, however, prevented from also filing charges in such cases. [5], During an autopsy on Snow, Assistant Medical Examiner Janet Miller detected the scent of bitter almonds, an odor distinctive to cyanide. View this record View. The police say Stella told them she bought them at different times, probably at different stores. She told authorities that her mother had done extensive research at the library. The police searched the family home and found an open bottle of Excedrin, a brand that Snow often used, in the kitchen cabinet. 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. As Stella told it, he took four extra-strength Excedrin capsules before collapsing minutes later. Seven people died in that case, which was never solved. But this time, there was a suspect and an arrest. A consortium of drug companies, alarmed about product tampering, posted a $300,000 reward. 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. 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. The drift toward war with Mexico had begun a year earlier when the U.S. annexed the Republic of Texas as a read more, In 1975, John Sebastian, former member of the beloved '60s pop group the Lovin Spoonful, was asked to write and record the theme song for a brand-new ABC television show with the working title Kotter. was to be made about the Nickell case to air on USA Network, but it was cancelled shortly before production began. In 1988 in Washington state, Stella Nickell was convicted of killing her husband Bruce, and Sue Snow, a bank manager, by putting cyanide in Excedrin capsules. [9] On June 24, a cyanide-contaminated bottle of Anacin-3 was found at the same store where Snow had bought her contaminated Excedrin. Officers broke open the capsules and found the powdered toxin inside. She had a history of abusing drugs. The FBI found Stella's fingerprints on several books. Hamilton testified. Investigators verified that Stella had bought Algae Destroyer from a local aquarium supply store. On June 11, Sue Snow, a 40-year-old bank manager, took two Excedrin capsules for an early-morning headache. She too was taken to Harborview Hospital by helicopter, where she also died. [22] The appeal was denied, though Stella and her team continue to assert her innocence. [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. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. 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 and Steven have lived together in a single family house in Philadelphia, PA. View more. Farr and Ciolino believe that finding Hamilton is the key to their case. [5] Investigators were also able to verify that Stella had purchased Algae Destroyer from a local fish store; it was speculated that the algaecide had become mixed with the cyanide when Stella used the same container to crush both substances without washing it in between uses. Nickell never admitted to the crimes, but during her first appeal for early release, she finally took responsibility for murdering Bruce. [18] She was denied parole in 2017.[19]. The crime was chillingly similar to the Chicago Tylenol murders four years earlier. Stella had an aquarium, but says she never bought algae destroyer. The detectives discovered an FBI memo that seems to support Rider's account. America immediately thought of the unsolved 1982 Chicago Tylenol product-tampering murders in which seven people died. The revised cause of death made a difference to Stella Nickell. The bottle had the same lot number as the bottle in Sue Snows home. You have to go to the city. But U.S.. 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. [5][7], Initial suspicions were directed at Bristol-Myers, with Stella and Webking filing wrongful death lawsuits against the company. Stella Nickell told police that her husband had died suddenly just a few days earlier and that he had also taken Excedrin. Stella Nickell grew up poor in the Pacific Northwest. "It all just kind of dawned on me, wait a minute, this was a whole setup," she says. } Given credit for good behavior, Nickell will be eligible for release in 2040, when shes 96 years old, according to court documents. Her May 1988 conviction and prison sentence were the first under federal product tampering laws instituted after the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders. She was paid $7,500. Stella met Bruce Nickell in 1974. They asked the family if Snow had any enemies. He joined the army at the relatively advanced age of 33 in 1916 to fight in World War I. Stella Nickell, 78, has served 34 years of her sentence and last month filed a petition arguing that her failing health and nearly spotless record should qualify her for early release. 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. In early 1974, when she was 32, she met Bruce Nickell. "She thought, 'If that murderer got away with it, I can, too,'" Olsen said of Nickell. She continues to maintain her innocence, saying that Cindy lied to get the $300,000 reward money (she received $250,000). Then Stella Nickell's daughter, Cindy Hamilton, began talking to police. Sign up for notifications from Insider! [1][2], Stella finally consented to a polygraph examination in November 1986. AIM was founded in 1968 by read more, On May 8, 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. The case. [3] She served six months in jail for the fraud charge, and was ordered into counseling after the abuse charge. 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. MMII Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved Elizabeth was born on July 31 1868. Over a few weeks, Farr met with her twice. Colbert says that he has never seen the polygraph graph, although he has asked to. Investigators speculated she had used the same container to crush algae killer and store cyanide. Stella and Bruce Nickell married in 1976, shortly after seven people were killed in Chicago, Illinois, from poisoned Tylenol pills. 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.. She is portrayed by Zoe Colletti . A year later, Stella put cyanide in an Excedrin capsule that Bruce later took for a headache. Stella Nicholls is the main protagonist of the 2019 film, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The same amount is offered in the 1982 Chicago-area deaths of seven people, who also were killed with tainted Tylenol capsules, he said. Two more insurance policies on Bruce's life now came to light. She is a citizen of Mill Valley and the daughter of Roy Nicholls. The clincher came when Stellas oldest daughter, Cindy Hamilton, contacted police. But in 1986, when two Seattle-area people died after ingesting Excedrin laced with cyanide, Stella Nickell was nabbed for the. One June evening in 1986, he came home with a headache and four Excedrins. Nickell says her husband walked out on the deck to watch the birds, and suddenly collapsed. When detectives investigated, they found that Stella had borrowed, but never returned, a book called Human Poisoning. Bruce's insurance paid an extra hundred thousand dollars if he died by accident, including poisoning. (Note: Polygraph tests are not evidence and failing or refusing to take one is not evidence of guilt). display: none; Stella Nickell was found guilty in federal court not of murder but of product tampering on May 9, 1988, and was sentenced to 90 years. Donald Harvey (April 15, 1952 - March 30, 2017) was an American serial killer who claimed to have murdered 87 people, though official estimates are between 37 and 57 victims. Nearly two weeks later, she heard about Sue Snow. In the next 12 years, there would be a failed marriage and a second daughter. 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. The Bureau of Prisons could ask for Nickells release, the judge said, but has not done so. At the time, Excedrin was packaged in plastic bottles with the mouth of the bottle sealed with foil and the lid secured to the bottle with plastic wrap. Stella, who was ordered to go to counseling, says her daughter was jealous of her. Hamilton collected $300,000 in damages, financed by a group of drug companies including Johnson & Johnson. 48 Hours reports on the search. The arbitrary nature of her mother's death has made it more painful, she said. They are not sure where the dialogue will lead. Detective Mike Dunbar, who worked on the case, says she wanted insurance money. 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Failed marriage and a second daughter to air on USA Network, but never returned, a 40-year-old manager!, shortly after seven people died after ingesting Excedrin laced with cyanide, finally! Bought algae destroyer I can, too, ' '' Olsen said of Nickell local aquarium supply store..!