The murder in the chapter I read
was the case of Cheryl Lewis. Her boyfriend at the time, Frederick Allan, killed
her by using cyanide. Allan had been married and divorced twice before he met
Cheryl. Allan and Cheryl decided to go on a holiday vacation in Egypt and on
their last night, Allan poured her a gin and tonic, in which he added cyanide
and within minutes she was in pain. In order to make it seem like Allan
actually cared about Cheryl he ran to the receptionists’ desk in the hotel to
get help. They got the doctor to come and once he realized that it was too late
for him to help her, they called an ambulance and she was pronounced dead. Her
skin had a little pigment of blue to it and Cheryl’s parents issued an autopsy
to find out the exact cause of her death. The only symptom that Cheryl actually
showed was an inflamed stomach by some corrosive agent. This was weird because
she didn’t have the same inflammation in her mouth. This murder was very
complicated because cyanide disappears from the body after death, making it
hard to detect what her actual cause of death was. Because cyanide exists in
cigarettes and Cheryl was a smoker, Allan could just blame the cyanide in her
body from that.
Allan was so soul less that he
actually changed Cheryl’s will in order to benefit himself and hopefully
inherit everything she had, which is a lot considering she had a lot of money. In
order to cover his butt he reported that Cheryl’s Mercedes had been
stolen. When the police found the car
they found two gold rings and bracelets and also four pieces of sodium cyanide,
which looked tampered with because obviously Allan used them. With the will,
Allan would inherit 450 000. Cheryl’s new will (that Allan made) was dated 1993
and Allan made a huge mistake by spelling Cheryl’s middle name Leslie when it
is actually spelt Lesley. When interviewed, Allan changed his story multiple
times in order to make his story seem true. He said she had a heroin overdose
and that she was an addict, then he said he was framed by agents employed in the
arms trade, and then he said he was framed by Cheryl’s ex-husband.
Obviously Allan was found guilty
and was sentenced to life in prison with a strong recommendation that he remained
in prison for a long time.
Another incident in which
cyanide was used for murder was a Tylenol case. There was no rhyme or reason to
it and they don’t even know what the person’s name was, but he purchased
several bottles of Tylenol and replaced its contents with cyanide and then
replaced the bottles on the shelves of stores. Many deaths followed this
action. The bottles were placed on the shelves at the Arlington Heights and
there was a 12 year old, a 27 year old, and a 25 year old that died from taking
the Tylenol. There were also several more deaths in the Chicago area, where a
man named Michael Shaffer finally looked at the capsules and found that some of
the pills contained potassium cyanide.
They had two suspects and the
first one could not have been linked to the murders, but he was caught with
firearms and was sent to jail, how unfortunate. The second suspect was arrested
but for fraud, not the Tylenol case. Four months after this incident there was
another murder, which resulted in a second recall. A woman named Stella had
changed the capsules in an Excedrin bottle to kill her husband, and like the
woman that she is, she did it for money. She had taken out three life
insurances for a total of $71 000 and then another $100 000 if it was proven to
be accidental. She was eventually found guilty and sentenced to 90 years in
prison.
“Every month the chemical
industry manufactures enough hydrogen cyanide to kill every person on the
planet” (1). Cyanide is toxic because it binds to the iron atom present in the
active site of an enzyme, which happens in the cell mitochondria. The enzyme is
known as cytochrome oxidase and it catalyzes the final stage of the oxidation
of glucose by oxygen, making it essential for life (1). It is also what is
known as an irreversible enzyme inhibitor, meaning once it binds to an iron
atom, it cannot be removed unless by a chemical attack. When this happens,
depending on how much cyanide was taken in, the person can acquire a headache,
nausea, and/or eye and skin irritation (2). Symptoms like these occur based on
how much cyanide is taken in; 10 ppm is a normal amount, 150 ppm for 30 minutes
can endanger someone’s life and then 300 ppm is almost always death. Cyanide is
very dangerous because it is one of the fastest acting of all poisons.
Cyanides are natural chemicals
and the most deadly of all the cyanides is Hydrogen cyanide. Hydrogen cyanide
can be deadly by just breathing it in. This type of cyanide could have been
involved with the creation of life because in the 50s Miller and Urey performed
an experiment to see how life actually started and in doing so, their results
contained hydrogen cyanide, which later reacted and turned into more complex
molecules. All cyanide ions form strong bonds with metals. This is because they
form pi bonds and have negative charges.
Cyanide is formed by carbons and
nitrogens being combined by a triple bond. This creates organic compounds known
as nitriles. Its acidity is weak when dissolved in water. Cyanides are used in
different products, such as cosmetics fire retardants, dyes, paints, different
foods, plants, cigarettes, plastics and textiles (3). Adiponitrile is used to
make nylon (polymer). About 15% of hydrogen cyanide is manufactured into sodium
cyanide. Cyanide loses its toxicity when it forms a bond with a carbon atom in
a larger molecule.
Cyanide is made by bacteria,
fungi, algae, insects and plants (3). There are a couple different ways to
treat cyanide exposure. Hydroxycobalamine is able to bind rapidly to the
cyanide group, which is used in France a lot (1). 4-dimethylaminophenol acts more
rapidly and has a lower residual toxicity. Kelocyanor uses cobalt to pick up
the cyanide.
There are ways to protect
yourself from cyanide even though it seems like ones it hits you its almost
inevitable that you’re going to die. You can take off all your clothes and wash
your entire body if you think you have been exposed and you can also leave a
building immediately if you think there is cyanide in the air (3). It has also
been said that sugar can protect a person from cyanide poisoning in order to
form less toxic compounds.
1. Molecules of Murder book
2. http://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/cyanide/basics/facts.asp
3. http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/cyanide.html
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