[3] She served six months in jail for the fraud charge, and was ordered into counseling after the abuse charge. Stella's neighbor, Sandy Scott, became a spy for the FBI. She even searched Stella's home for algae destroyer. She later moved to Southern California where she married and had another daughter. Cynthia Hamilton, Stellas daughter, came forward (possibly in order to obtain reward money) with her account of Stellas plan to kill her husband. Your email address will not be published. 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. "She can sometimes be very, very skillfully evasive," says Farr. Notifications from this discussion will be disabled. Rushed to Harborview Medical Center, Bruce did not respond to doctors efforts to revive him. However, the motion was denied. "Stella was desperate because she murdered her husband and got nothing out of it," Olsen said. Stella Maudine Stephenson was born in Colton, Oregon, to Alva Georgia "Jo" (ne Duncan; later changed her name to Cora Lee) and George Stephenson. 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. They have a history of helping people they feel have been unfairly convicted. The Free Encyclopedia of Washington State History. May 9, 1988, U.S. Marshall Merry Moore leads Stella Nickell from the federal courthouse after a jury convicts her on five counts of product tampering. [29][30] The murders are discussed in the Jodi Picoult novel House Rules, published in 2010. At age 16, following the birth of her first daughter, Cynthia Hamilton, Stella moved to Southern California, where she married and had another daughter. 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. [2] The former was marked as overdue in library records, indicating that she had borrowed but never returned it. The Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Assn. According to Olsen, the police theory is that Stella Nickell crushed the algae tablets in a bowl, and then later, when she mixed the cyanide, used that same bowl without cleaning it. 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. Now some top sleuths are trying to prove her innocence. [6][note 1] Bruce died shortly thereafter at Harborview Medical Center, where treatment had failed to revive him. Find Nicholls's address, hospital affiliations and more. The case. This information would spread across the town she lived and cause her to start getting bullied because . In the next 12 years, there would be a failed marriage and a second daughter. Joseph was born on July 27 1873. Stella was indicted in federal court and Cindy testified against her at the trial. .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { Ramn Morales : If you're serious about being a writer, it's not going to happen here. She said that she acted in self-defense as a victim of domestic violence. Paramedics were called and transported Snow to Harborview Medical Center, but she died later that day without regaining consciousness. She also planted other bottles of cyanide-tainted Excedrin in local stores to divert suspicion, authorities said. 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." Under her husband's insurance policy, which paid out more for accidental death, she stood to receive an extra $100,000. Her husband, Bruce, died after taking cyanide-laced Excedrin tablets in 1986. He joined the army at the relatively advanced age of 33 in 1916 to fight in World War I. Other occupants: Joanna R Nicholls. A $250,000 reward will be paid to a Garden Grove woman whose testimony helped convict her mother in two killings with cyanide-laced Excedrin, a spokesman for a pharmaceutical group said Friday. She bought nine more bottles of Excedrin and cut through the protective film with a razor blade. 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 Tom Noonan, who managed the local fish store at the time, says she did buy algae destroyer. Stella continued to maintain her innocence after her trial. [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. But U.S.. In the face of the publicity blitz, Stella Nickell came forward on June 19. But the plot backfired. #inline-recirc-item--id-a607eb04-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d ~ .item:nth-child(5) { But this time, there was a suspect and an arrest. Her husband, heavy-equipment operator Bruce Nickell, 52, was in distress in their single-wide trailer home just off Lake Moneysmith Road in the town of Auburn. Klein is featured in "American Mother," a book about Nickell published this week. Her May 1988 conviction and prison sentence were the first . Nickell tampered with five additional bottles of Excedrin and placed them on store shelves in the Seattle area. She is played by Zoe Colletti. Hamilton eventually collected $250,000 of that money. Snow died a few days later, after also taking Excedrin pills laced with cyanide. [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. "Why in the world would she have a second bottle of contaminated capsules just sitting there waiting to hand over to law enforcement," asks Farr. [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. After her death was reported in the news, Stella called police to tell them that she thought her husband had also been poisoned. She told them her mother had often spoken of wanting Bruce dead. "It was a means to an end," the author said. [12] The FBI identified her fingerprints on cyanide-related pages of a number of the works she had checked out during this period. [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. But why would she bring the poisoning to police attention in the first place? 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. [23], After the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders, new FDA regulations went into effect which made it a federal crimerather than just a state or local crimeto tamper with consumer products. Other evidence pointed to Stella. After an autopsy, the cause of death was declared to be emphysema. But he took a polygraph, passed, and was eliminated as a suspect. Stella had an aquarium, but says she never bought algae destroyer. "American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood and the Cyanide Murders That Shook the World.". As the investigation continued, the FBI lab found an important clue: green crystals mixed in with the cyanide. The government says all required documents were handed over. Snow died a few days later, after also taking Excedrin pills laced with cyanide. 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. "And I won't quit fighting until I prove it.". She lived with the Nickells months before Bruce died. [18] She was denied parole in 2017.[19]. Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. The FBI began an investigation into possible product tampering having been the source of the poison. She claimed Stella admitted to researching poisons and told her of an unsuccessful attempt to poison Bruce with foxglove. She told police, and doctors realized that Bruce Nickell had also been poisoned. 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. Sues husband also took two capsules from the bottle for his arthritis before leaving for work. How Americans Became Convinced Their Halloween Candy was Poisoned. 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. Investigators exhumed Bruce Nickells body and found evidence of cyanide. 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. Nearly two weeks later, she heard about Sue Snow. Klein was 15 when she found her 40-year-old mother lying on the bathroom floor in June 1986. Authorities became suspicious because she told them she had bought two bottles of Excedrin at different times, probably in different places. Stella Nickell, then 75, had been sentenced to 90 years in prison in 1988, after she was found guilty of product tampering. She told Farr that she is not sure her mother is really guilty. The son of a farmer, Truman could not afford to go to college. On May 8, 1864, Yankee troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, to find the Rebels already there. Hayley Klein was transfixed by the woman who fatally poisoned her mother, Sue Snow. Find your friends on Facebook. Stella Nickell is convicted on two counts of murder by a Seattle, Washington, jury. "She was having a hard time breathing." Stella had an aquarium, but says she never bought algae destroyer. [6], With contamination of the Excedrin at the source having been ruled out, investigators began to focus their investigation on the end-users of the product. Stella . The revised cause of death made a difference to Stella Nickell. That case moved Congress to enact tough tampering laws. They have a history of helping people they feel have been unfairly convicted. Cindy subsequently received $250,000 of the $300,000 drug industry award. } 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. When Cindy was 9, Stella was charged with hitting her with a curtain rod, bruising her legs. Klein, who lives with her family in New Mexico, said the loss had taught her "a lot about life." 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