They then looked toward Nickell. It was found among a thousand pages never turned over to the defense. She is evil. In early 1974, when she was 32, she met Bruce Nickell. "But more importantly, I know who didn't do it and that's Stella Nickell. 48 Hours reports on the search. 44 year old Stella Nickell, of Auburn, Washington, had been absolutely miserable with her life. 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. She lived with the Nickells months before Bruce died. President Nixon, at a news conference, defends the U.S. troop movement into Cambodia, saying the operation would provide six to eight months of time for training South Vietnamese forces and thus would shorten the war for Americans. Detective Mike Dunbar, who worked on the case, says she wanted insurance money. 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. Investigators verified that Stella had bought Algae Destroyer from a local aquarium supply store. Her husband, Bruce, died after taking cyanide-laced Excedrin tablets in 1986. But this time, pathologists smelled the telltale scent of bitter almonds during the autopsy, and determined that cyanide poisoning had killed Sue Snow. Stella Nicholls. The FBI refused to comment. Trending News 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. [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. Snow died a few days later, after also taking Excedrin pills laced with cyanide. } [20] Her release date is given as July 10, 2040, when she will be 96 years old. When detectives investigated, they found that Stella had borrowed, but never returned, a book called Human Poisoning. 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. Farr says that there is no credible evidence against her. Paramedics found her unconscious and gasping for breath. Noonan, the fish store manager, was paid a $15,000 reward. Stella Nickell grew up poor in the Pacific Northwest. Joanna R Nicholls. 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. Cindy said that her mother had talked of killing Bruce Nickell, at one point discussing hiring a hit man. Then Stella Nickell's daughter, Cindy Hamilton, began talking to police. Are you a "motivated dater"? Like last weeks case, this week deals with murder by poison. Records from the Auburn Public Library showed Stella had checked out numerous books on poisoning. 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. 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. [1] By the summer of 1987, even Stella's attorneys acknowledged that she was the prime suspect in the case. They say she was desperate to establish an accidental cause of death. When she saw a news report about a woman dying from Excedrin capsules filled with cyanide, she called the police. Stella Nickell was convicted two years later. They informed the FBI, who took jurisdiction of the case. Olsen said that Nickell told her daughter, Cindy Hamilton, about the scheme, despite their fractious relationship, and how she was inspired by the Tylenol deaths. By CYNTHIA FLASH. The FBI laboratory determined that the contaminated capsules contained small particles of an algicide called Algae Destroyer. She had a history of abusing drugs. The company followed this on June 20 with a recall of all their non-prescription capsule products. 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. Hamilton testified. Hamilton eventually collected $250,000 of that money. [5] According to Stella, he took four extra-strength Excedrin capsules from a bottle in their home for his headache and collapsed minutes later. (Note: Polygraph tests are not evidence and failing or refusing to take one is not evidence of guilt). 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 . Estella May McILMOYLE (born NICHOLLS) was born on month day 1898, to Joseph NICHOLLS and Elizabeth Ann NICHOLLS (born McILMOYL). 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. Nearly two weeks later, she heard about Sue Snow. Olsen told Insider that Snow was a random victim who "paid for Stella's greed with her life." On the basis of their new findings, Stella's legal team today filed a request for a new trial. Authorities became suspicious because she told them she had bought two bottles of Excedrin at different times, probably in different places. She later moved to Southern California where she married and had another daughter. The film was to have been directed by Jeff Reiner and starring Katey Sagal as Stella Nickell. But he took a polygraph, passed, and was eliminated as a suspect. [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. She also planted other bottles of cyanide-tainted Excedrin in local stores to. This dating app might be for you. 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. Trusted by millions of genealogists since 2003 Trusted information source for millions of people worldwide Stella handed two bottles of Excedrin over to police -- supposedly bought at two different times from two different stores. 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. 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 . Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. A lawyer representing Stella told reporters that she was too "shaken up" to be subjected to the examination. She said that she acted in self-defense as a victim of domestic violence. She also planted other bottles of cyanide-tainted Excedrin in local stores to divert suspicion, authorities said. [5][7], Initial suspicions were directed at Bristol-Myers, with Stella and Webking filing wrongful death lawsuits against the company. Explore historical records and family tree profiles about Stella Nicholls on MyHeritage, the world's family history network. One June evening in 1986, he came home with a headache and four Excedrins. This has led some to speculate that she may have initially conspired with her mother against her stepfather, then testified against her mother for the reward after her mother failed an FBI polygraph. A year and half after Bruce Nickell died, Stella Nickell was arrested and stood trial in federal court. See Photos. [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. In early 1974, when she was 32, she met Bruce Nickell. In the next 12 years, there would be a failed marriage and a second daughter. But they found Cyanide in the pills. 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. 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. "48 Hours": Brooke Skylar Richardson case Now 27, Hamilton had been in and out of Stella's life for years. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine during World War II. Her May 1988 conviction and prison sentence were the first . Stella Nickell, then 75, had been sentenced to 90 years in prison in 1988, after she was found guilty of product tampering. Hayley Klein was transfixed by the woman who fatally poisoned her mother, Sue Snow. Check Writing Quality. You have permission to edit this article. She said that she didnt testify for the reward. Examination showed that Bruces signatures on at least two of the policies in his name were forgeries. Bruce's insurance paid an extra hundred thousand dollars if he died by accident, including poisoning. Stella Nickell's small-time world was one of big-time dreams. In June 1986, two Auburn residents were killed by painkillers laced with cyanide. Noonan claimed she bought so much algae destroyer, he had to special order it just for her. They were married two years later. Estella had 4 sisters: Edith A. Sues husband also took two capsules from the bottle for his arthritis before leaving for work. I sent her to school; she told the nurse I had beat her that morning. Written by Gregg Olsen, the book includes interviews with Klein and Nickell's daughter, Cindy Hamilton. Then there was the insurance. Bruce's insurance paid an extra $100,000 if he died by accident, including poisoning. She asked for compassionate release due to bad health, but where was her compassion when she murdered her own husband and another women? Webking did so, but Stella, who had started drinking heavily,[2] declined. He said that the companies were extra sensitive because the police had found no leads on the Tylenol murders in Illinois. Around the time Stella failed a FBI polygraph, her daughter from a previous marriage, Cindy Hamilton, 27, came forward. "She didn't want notoriety," Olsen said. Stella and Bruce Nickell married in 1976, shortly after seven people were killed in Chicago, Illinois, from poisoned Tylenol pills. Like cyanide poisoning. Prosecutors said that Nickell had tampered with medication in several stores to cover up her husband's death. ", Klein has watched all three of Nickell's parole hearings, where she's petitioned for release on "compassionate grounds." Prosecutors said Stella Nickell put cyanide in capsules of Extra-Strength Excedrin and gave them to her husband. 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. They were married two years later. "She thought, 'If that murderer got away with it, I can, too,'" Olsen said of Nickell. Stella denies this, and says she told them she didn't know where she had bought the bottles. Stella's payoff now totaled $175,000. [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. 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. The police searched the family home and found an open bottle of Excedrin, a brand that Snow often used, in the kitchen cabinet. [9] Investigators' suspicions began to turn to Stella when they discovered that she claimed that the two contaminated Excedrin bottles that she had turned over to police had been purchased at different times and different locations. by Scott McCabe. The poisonings resulted in widespread public anxiety, as they came just five years after seven people died in Chicago from poisoned Tylenol capsules, leading to the product-tampering law under which Nickell was convicted. 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. Stellas lawyer said nothing about the reward because a deal was made. The killer in that case has never been caught. } Following that failure, Stella had begun library research into other methods and hit upon cyanide. The bottle had the same lot number as the bottle in Sue Snows home. Stella Nicholls was presumably born in the early 1950s, and when Stella was young, her mother would leave her for an unknown reason. Nickell took a lie detector test and failed. [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. The Food and drug administration and the manufacturer, Bristol - Meyers, moved quickly to remove all Extra - Strength Excedrin bottles from the shelves across the, The victims had taken it as a regular pill and did not realized it had Cyanide. [24] Under this law, Stella Nickell's crime was prosecutable as a federal product tampering case as well as a state murder case, and she was not convicted of murder, but of product tampering that caused death.
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