Killer Dose: The Stella Nickell Excedrin Murders (True Crime Files) by Elliot Christopher

In June 1986, Bruce Nickell, a heavy-equipment operator living near Seattle, died suddenly after taking what seemed like an ordinary dose of Excedrin for a headache. His death was initially attributed to natural causes. Less than a week later, another local resident, 40-year-old bank employee Sue Snow, collapsed after swallowing two Excedrin capsules during her morning routine. Toxicology revealed cyanide. Panic erupted, recalling the infamous Tylenol murders of 1982. Supermarket shelves were cleared, nationwide recalls announced, and consumers everywhere looked at medicine bottles with fear. Investigators soon realized Bruce’s death was not natural but linked to the same poison. The terrifying theory of a random killer scattering poisoned bottles seemed at first plausible — until suspicion began circling closer to Bruce’s widow, Stella Nickell. The evidence trail was chilling. Forensic testing of capsules revealed cyanide laced with microscopic green flecks traced to an aquarium algaecide found in the Nickell home. Stella’s fingerprints appeared on pages of library books about poisons and product tampering, checked out months before Bruce’s death. Her daughter, Cindy Hamilton, reluctantly testified that Stella had spoken about cyanide and complained bitterly about money problems. Most damning of all, investigators uncovered multiple life insurance policies on Bruce, each with double-indemnity clauses for accidental death — policies Stella had quietly arranged. Read more