Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Now some top sleuths are trying to prove her innocence. Stella appealed her conviction but none of her appeals succeeded. Paramedics found her unconscious and gasping for breath. Farr and Ciolino talked to other people who were also rewarded for their role in the case. Judge wont release WA woman serving 90 years for planting poisoned pills, Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. Additionally, network executives feared the film would inspire copycat crimes. Required fields are marked *. Somewhat bizarrely, he said, Nickell planned to use the money to open a pet store selling tropical fish. Sign up for the newsletter today. [15][16], Stella's legal team sought a mistrial on grounds of jury tampering and judicial misconduct. On May 8, 1864, Yankee troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, to find the Rebels already there. Another $300,000 was shared by nine people who helped police arrest a Florida man in 1986. See Photos. She continues to maintain her innocence, saying that Cindy lied to get the $300,000 reward money (she received $250,000). "It's entirely possible that the real killer is walking around somewhere out there," says Farr. Name Stella Nicholls Occupation Student Gender Female Species Human Age 15-17 Status Alive Birth date c. 1951-1953 Appearances Film (s) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Actors/Actresses Portrayed by Zoe Colletti Stella Nicholls is a fictional character appearing in the 2019 film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Rewards authorized for two other drug-tampering cases remain unpaid. She added that "as negative as it is, I have chosen to learn from it and not become bitter. Investigators speculated she had used the same container to crush algae killer and store cyanide. 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. She stands by her testimony that her mother had talked about killing Bruce, though she never said Stella confessed. The eighth of read more, On May 8, 1919, Edward George Honey, a journalist from Melbourne, Australia, living in London at the time, writes a letter to the London Evening News proposing that the first anniversary of the armistice ending World War Iconcluded on November 11, 1918be commemorated by read more. Log In. 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. The detectives also question how she first became a suspect. Three capsules out of those that remained in the 60-capsule bottle were found to be laced with cyanide in toxic quantities. After searching for months, they found her in Southern California. Background Report for Stella Chen. Reports said Snow died after swallowing cyanide-laced Excedrin. Seven people died in that case, which was never solved. There Stella Nickell poisoned two people trying to get her husbands life insurance money. Harvey claimed to have begun killing to "ease the pain" of patientsmostly cardiac patientsby smothering them . Under her husband's insurance policy, which paid out more for accidental death, she stood to receive an extra $100,000. 48 Hours reports on the search. The FDA quickly ruled out Bristol-Myers, as the source of the cyanide. [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. The FBI found Stella's fingerprints on several books. Stella denies this, and says she told them she didn't know where she had bought the bottles. 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. But they found Cyanide in the pills. Klein is featured in "American Mother," a book about Nickell published this week. The crime was chillingly similar to the Chicago Tylenol murders four years earlier. The FBI found Stella's fingerprints on several books. 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. "She never talks about my mom," Klein said. On December 9, 1987, a federal grand jury indicted Stella Nickell on five counts of product tampering. [10], With investigatory focus turned to Stella, detectives uncovered more circumstantial evidence pointing to her as the culprit. They asked the family if Snow had any enemies. 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. MMII Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved 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. Prosecutors said that Nickell had tampered with medication in several stores to cover up her husband's death. However, the motion was denied. She also planted other bottles of cyanide-tainted Excedrin in local stores to divert suspicion, authorities said. The FBI laboratory determined that the contaminated capsules contained small particles of an algicide called Algae Destroyer. At 16, she gave birth to a daughter, Cynthia. Pathologists said that her husband died of emphysema; calling it a natural death meant Nickell couldn't collect on the life-insurance policy. Her fingerprints were also found all over other books on cyanide. In early 1974,. I sent her to school; she told the nurse I had beat her that morning. The reward money came from a drug manufacturer's trade association. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. They were married two years later. She discovers that the stories are coming back to life. She had a history of abusing drugs. In early 1974, when she was 32, she met Bruce Nickell. 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. So she put poisoned painkillers in stores, they say, hoping someone else would die and the tainted capsules would be discovered. On June 5, Bruce came home from work with a headache. He joined the army at the relatively advanced age of 33 in 1916 to fight in World War I. Noonan claimed she bought so much algae destroyer, he had to special order it just for her. [5] Her husband, Paul Webking, took two capsules from the same bottle for his arthritis and left the house for work. She told authorities that her mother had done extensive research at the library. Ramn Morales : Hospitals have records. Noonan claimed she bought so much algae destroyer, he had to special order it just for her. [20] Her release date is given as July 10, 2040, when she will be 96 years old. Stella had taken out $76,000 of life insurance on Bruce. Stella Nickell is convicted on two counts of murder by a Seattle, Washington, jury. Stella Nickell had three life insurance policies on her husband. Stella Nicholls. 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. In the face of the publicity blitz, Stella Nickell came forward on June 19. 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.". 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. She said she had bought the bottles on two occasions, one somewhere in Auburn, the other at Johnny's Market in Kent. 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 odds of her selecting two contaminated bottles by random chance were astronomical. 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 Nicholls is the main protagonist of the 2019 film, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Police arrested her the same day, and she went on trial in April 1988. Stella Nicholls : I can't leave my dad. As the investigation continued, the FBI lab found an important clue: green crystals mixed in with the cyanide. by Scott McCabe. But in 1986, when two Seattle-area people died after ingesting Excedrin laced with cyanide, Stella Nickell was nabbed for the. In June 1986, two Auburn residents were killed by painkillers laced with cyanide. But then they found out that he was an organ donor and a sample of his. 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. Investigators concluded they were dealing with product tampering. Then Stella Nickell's daughter, Cindy Hamilton, began talking to police. Following that failure, Stella had begun library research into other methods and hit upon cyanide. 44 year old Stella Nickell, of Auburn, Washington, had been absolutely miserable with her life. Sue Snow collapsed in her bathroom of her home in the Seattle, Washington, suburb of Auburn. Her release date is set for July 10, 2040, when she will be almost 97 years old. Nickell was given two 90-year sentences for the murders of her husband and Susan Snow. 2011 Update: New book presents compelling case that the murderous capsules were prepared within the manufacturer's facilities, not at the retail level. Stella Chen has been associated with one company, according to public records. [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 asked for compassionate release due to bad health, but where was her compassion when she murdered her own husband and another women? (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. Cindy told FBI investigators that Stella had researched toxic local plants and other poisons at local libraries. Stella and Steven have lived together in a single family house in Philadelphia, PA. View more. Her husband, Bruce, died after taking cyanide-laced Excedrin tablets in . Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Detective Mike Dunbar, who worked on the case, says she wanted insurance money. As the investigation continued, the FBI lab found an important clue: green crystals mixed in with the cyanide. He was taken by helicopter to a Seattle hospital. The government says all required documents were handed over. Police initially focused on Snow's husband Paul Webking. Stella had an aquarium, but says she never bought algae destroyer. Stella Nickell, then 75, had been sentenced to 90 years in prison in 1988, after she was found guilty of product tampering. They informed the FBI, who took jurisdiction of the case. Milford Haven, Dyfed, SA73. Insurance on Bruce and says she wanted insurance money pain & quot ease. `` it 's entirely possible that the contaminated capsules contained small particles of an algicide called algae.! 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