Stella Nickell laced Excedrin capsules with cyanide in a deliberate bid to collect life insurance on her husband while disguising the act as random product tampering.
The scheme unfolded in Washington state in 1986 and resulted in two deaths. Bruce Nickell, her husband of many years, ingested the poisoned capsules on 5 June and died the following day. Eleven days later Sue Snow, a bank manager and mother of two, collapsed after taking capsules from a different contaminated bottle and died hours afterward. Authorities initially treated both cases as instances of consumer product sabotage, a fear that had lingered since the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders.
Nickell’s plan relied on the appearance of widespread danger. She placed four additional poisoned bottles on store shelves around the Seattle area. By creating multiple points of contamination she hoped investigators would conclude that a deranged stranger had targeted the product line. The strategy briefly succeeded in prompting a nationwide recall and an extensive FBI investigation before attention turned to inconsistencies in her own accounts.
Background
Stella Nickell’s Personal Circumstances
Stella Nickell had lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of her adult life. She worked in various low-wage jobs and maintained a modest household with her husband Bruce, a heavy-equipment operator. Their marriage had experienced periods of strain, yet the couple remained together. Financial pressures mounted after Bruce suffered a series of health setbacks that limited his ability to work full time.
Nickell later stated that she had researched life-insurance policies in the months before Bruce’s death. She secured coverage worth more than $175,000, including double-indemnity clauses that would pay extra in the event of accidental death. Those policies became central to the prosecution’s motive once investigators examined her statements.
The Victims
Bruce Nickell was 52 at the time of his death. Colleagues described him as a steady worker who enjoyed outdoor activities. Sue Snow, 40, worked at a local bank and raised two daughters. Neither victim had any known connection to Nickell beyond the shared use of Excedrin capsules purchased from different stores.
The Crimes
Nickell obtained potassium cyanide through a mail-order supplier by claiming she needed it for a gold-refining hobby. She emptied Excedrin capsules, replaced the contents with cyanide mixed with crushed pills, and resealed the containers. On the morning of 5 June she served Bruce a dose from one of the altered bottles. He died the next morning at a hospital in Auburn.
To reinforce the product-tampering narrative Nickell placed additional contaminated bottles in stores. One of those bottles reached Sue Snow on 11 June. Snow took two capsules before leaving for work and collapsed at her desk. She died later that day despite emergency treatment. Autopsies on both victims revealed lethal levels of cyanide.
Investigation
Initial Response
Local authorities and the Food and Drug Administration treated the deaths as possible consumer-product sabotage. The FBI joined the inquiry because interstate commerce was involved. Agents collected and tested thousands of Excedrin bottles across the region. Four additional poisoned containers were recovered from store shelves, confirming deliberate contamination rather than manufacturing error.
Focus on Nickell
Investigators grew suspicious when Nickell repeatedly contacted authorities to offer information and to express concern that her husband’s death might be linked to the same tampering that killed Sue Snow. Her account of where she had purchased the Excedrin changed several times. A fingerprint belonging to Nickell was later identified on a plastic bag inside one of the poisoned bottles recovered from a store. The bag had contained the cyanide she had ordered.
Further examination revealed that Nickell had researched cyanide and insurance payouts on library computers. She had also asked acquaintances about the effects of cyanide and about how police investigate tampering cases. These details, combined with the fingerprint evidence, shifted the focus from a random saboteur to a targeted domestic crime.
Capture and Trial
Nickell was arrested in December 1987. Prosecutors charged her with two counts of murder and with product tampering. The trial took place in federal court in Seattle. The government presented the fingerprint, library records, insurance documents, and recorded inconsistencies in her statements. The defence argued that the evidence was circumstantial and that no direct witness linked Nickell to the act of poisoning. After several days of deliberation the jury convicted her on all counts in May 1988. She received a sentence of 90 years in federal prison.
Psychological Profile
Court-appointed evaluators noted that Nickell displayed a pattern of calculated deception rather than impulsive violence. Financial gain served as the primary driver. She showed no remorse during interviews and maintained that an unknown person had contaminated the capsules. The case illustrates how ordinary domestic motives can intersect with fears of random public danger when a perpetrator attempts to mask murder as consumer terrorism.
Legacy and Cultural Impact
The Nickell case prompted renewed scrutiny of over-the-counter medication packaging. Manufacturers accelerated the shift to tamper-evident seals and blister packs. It also reinforced the legal principle that product-tampering hoaxes intended to conceal other crimes carry severe federal penalties. The conviction remains one of the few successful prosecutions of a domestic murder disguised as random consumer-product sabotage.
Conclusion
Stella Nickell’s actions combined personal financial ambition with a deliberate attempt to exploit public anxiety over product safety. The investigation ultimately rested on physical evidence and documentary records rather than speculation, leading to a conviction that withstood appeal. The case continues to serve as a clear example of how domestic homicide can be concealed, for a time, behind the appearance of a larger threat.