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Perfect Crimes: Nickell Poisoning / Taylor Mystery
Coming Soon
Stella Nickell
When Stella Nickell heard about the 1986 Tylenol court cases - in which families won large settlements form the company after loved ones died from taking poisoned tablets of the drug - she had an idea. Her husband regularly took Excederin - and it would be easy enough to poison some of the capsules. She inserted rat poison into some of the gelcaps and sure enough, her husband died after taking them. Doctors pronounced the death as natural as they had no reason to suspect poisoning.
Stella had got away with murder but she wasn't satisfied with the life insurance settlement she received. She wanted to sue the makers of Excederin, so she stole containers of the medication from several stores in her area, figuring that if there were other deaths, she could demand that her husband's death be re-examined. She poisoned the stolen bottles, returned them to store shelves and in due time, someone did take a poisoned capsule. An Excedrin scare broke out when police found poisoned capsules belonging to the second victim and Stella demanded that her husband's death be reviewed. But police were suspicious and routinely examined the motives of family members. The family of Stella's second victim was cleared but Stella seemed suspicious, since two poisoned bottles of Excederin were found in her home. What were the chances that she would have purchased two tainted bottles by accident? Eventually, Stella's daughter came forward and testified that Stella had wanted to kill her husband. Stella was convicted of murder and would have got away with it if she had kept her greed in check.
William Desmond Taylor
Hollywood film director William Desmond Taylor was found shot to death in his Los Angeles apartment in 1922. Through the investigation of his murder, the seamier side of the movie business was revealed to the public for the first time. Over ten years of investigation, many dark secrets, often involving celebrities, were brought to light. Hidden identities, secret affairs, drug addictions, drug dealing and robbery all figured into the case. Though many of those involved in the case thought they knew ‘who done it’ no one was ever prosecuted for the crime. And yet, over 75 years later, would-be detectives and scholars alike are still fascinated by the case.
When Stella Nickell heard about the 1986 Tylenol court cases - in which families won large settlements form the company after loved ones died from taking poisoned tablets of the drug - she had an idea. Her husband regularly took Excederin - and it would be easy enough to poison some of the capsules. She inserted rat poison into some of the gelcaps and sure enough, her husband died after taking them. Doctors pronounced the death as natural as they had no reason to suspect poisoning.
Stella had got away with murder but she wasn't satisfied with the life insurance settlement she received. She wanted to sue the makers of Excederin, so she stole containers of the medication from several stores in her area, figuring that if there were other deaths, she could demand that her husband's death be re-examined. She poisoned the stolen bottles, returned them to store shelves and in due time, someone did take a poisoned capsule. An Excedrin scare broke out when police found poisoned capsules belonging to the second victim and Stella demanded that her husband's death be reviewed. But police were suspicious and routinely examined the motives of family members. The family of Stella's second victim was cleared but Stella seemed suspicious, since two poisoned bottles of Excederin were found in her home. What were the chances that she would have purchased two tainted bottles by accident? Eventually, Stella's daughter came forward and testified that Stella had wanted to kill her husband. Stella was convicted of murder and would have got away with it if she had kept her greed in check.
William Desmond Taylor
Hollywood film director William Desmond Taylor was found shot to death in his Los Angeles apartment in 1922. Through the investigation of his murder, the seamier side of the movie business was revealed to the public for the first time. Over ten years of investigation, many dark secrets, often involving celebrities, were brought to light. Hidden identities, secret affairs, drug addictions, drug dealing and robbery all figured into the case. Though many of those involved in the case thought they knew ‘who done it’ no one was ever prosecuted for the crime. And yet, over 75 years later, would-be detectives and scholars alike are still fascinated by the case.
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