Police: Retiree made ricin, tested it on neighbors

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Lisa Rathke, Associated Press
 Updated 12:49 pm, Friday, December 1, 2017

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A retirement community resident made ricin and tested the deadly toxin on her neighbors by putting it on their food or in beverages over a period of weeks, investigators said.

Betty Miller told an FBI agent that she wanted to "injure herself" and was testing the poison's effectiveness on other residents at the Wake Robin senior living facility, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court on Thursday.
 
Police were called to the senior community in Shelburne on Tuesday after Miller told heath care providers she had manufactured the ricin and placed it on other residents' food and beverages, the agent said in the complaint. No residents reported symptoms of ricin poisoning, he said.

Miller said she harvested 30 to 40 castor beans from plants growing on Wake Robin's property and made 2 to 3 tablespoons of ricin twice in her kitchen, the complaint said. She exposed other residents to the ricin on at least three occasions, the complaint said.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Police-Retiree-made-ricin-tested-it-on-neighbors-12398145.php

[marylandblue]

1. It's good to have a hobby when you retire.

But maybe she should have tried macrame first?

[democrank]

2. What?

[Bradshaw3]

3. I live in a retirement community

And while I would never poison my neighbors I certainly understand the impulse.

[marble falls]

4. I guess quilting stopped having the buzz it used to have....

From children of the corn to crones of the castor.

[EX500rider]

5. She should have read a little further down the wikki page...lol

"Ricin is easily denatured by temperatures over 80 °C (175 °F) meaning many methods of deploying ricin would generate enough heat to denature it."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin

[CanonRay]

6. Life at Del Boca Vista III

[sl8]

7. She wanted to "injure herself", but felt the need to test the effects on her neighbors first?

Last edited Sat Dec 2, 2017, 02:13 AM - Edit history (2)

Yes, I think I see her logic here.

Sure, everybody says that ricin is a deadly poison, but what if it turns out that it actually makes elderly people feel much younger, full of vim and vigor, à la Cocoon? If that turned out to be the case, she certainly wouldn't want to take it herself, because she wants to injure herself, not feel better, God forbid.

[kimbutgar]

8. I see this story becoming an episode of deadly women in ID tv

[Luciferous]

9. Sounds like she's been watching too much Breaking Bad

[defacto7]

10. Better check for the anthrax in her box of Cream of Wheat

[dembotoz]

11. Reminds me of my mom's cooking

Her mystery meat really was mysterious

[Sancho]

12. I think the DNC should offer her a free winter home in the Villages..

Turn Florida Blue!