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Tonya Miller: Lead
Jesse Solano: Synopsis
Geraldine Ituralde: Research, Q&A
Robert Villalpando: Summary

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Sue Frost, as she is rushing to get her kids ready to go to daycare, develops a headache later turning into her head pounding. Mrs. Frost takes “something” for her headache and was later found collapsed on the floor by her husband, Henry Frost. Paramedics at the residence mention Mrs. Frost was not responsive to sound or light and the on-call physician suggests she might have experienced an aneurysm or drug overdose from cocaine. Mrs. Frost died a short time after arriving at the hospital.

William Delaforte, the county coroner and his assistant, Steven Sheath, conclude Mrs. Frost was poisoned by cyanide. Some of the Extra-StrengthExcedrin Mrs.. Frost ingested for her headache contained cyanide. The FBI investigated the case due to other cyanide contaminated Extra-Strength Excedrin in nearby areas. Mrs. Stella Penny becomes involved in the case when she reports to the Seattle police that she believes there might be a connection between her husband's death and Mrs. Frost. Mrs. Penny becomes a suspect as suspicion in her involvement in lacing the capsules with cyanide grows. Mrs. Penny fails a lie detector test and her daughter, Regina Hicks, tells the FBI that her mother had often talked about killing her husband through the use of cyanide and had researched the effects of cyanide.

Mrs. Penny was indicted on December 9, 1987 and tried the following April. She was convicted on May 9, 1988 and sentenced to 90 years in prison.

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• Algicide found in tainted capsules by the FBI lab
• Two of the five bottles contaminated were from her home
• Fish tank found in her home
• Pet store clerk who positively identified her.
• Background check that included check fraud, forgery, and child abuse
• Recent significant debt
• Home foreclosure
• She increased Bart's life insurance policy
• Call to the doctor to verify cause of death
• Failed polygraph
• Daughter informed FBI of intent
• Checked out book called Human Poisoning
• Checked out book called Deadly Harvest prior to Bart's death
• 84 fingerprints in the book Deadly Harvest, most of the fingerprints were found in the section on cyanide

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Why does the FBI have jurisdiction over the Sue Frost poisoning case?

The FBI has jurisdiction because they investigate all product tampering cases.

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When did product tampering become a crime handled by the FBI?

Following the death of seven people in different jurisdictions throughout the Chicago area, Congress passed the Federal Anti-Tampering Act. Product tampering became handled by the FBI in 1982 (H.R. 1544 Federal Anti-Tampering Act, 1983-1984).

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Which previous case led to product tampering becoming a crime that falls under FBI jurisdiction?

The  Tylenol murders that took place in 1982 led to the 1983 Anti Tampering Act (Markel, 2014).

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Where did this case (referred to in Question 3) of product tampering occur?

Illinois around the Chicago area (Markel, 2014).

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Who was ultimately convicted of the crime referred to in Question 3?

No one was ever convicted even though a James Lewis tried to claim he was the culprit in his attempt to extort the Johnson & Johnson company. That claim was never substantiated although he was convicted of extortion (Markel, 2014).

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What should the next steps be in the investigation of the case called a "Headache to Die For"?

The FBI should determine if both deaths are linked, investigate the factory that produces the Excedrin, and determine how the cyanide was put into the bottles.

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Why would the death certificate for Stella Penny's husband, Bart, not have shown cyanide poisoning as the cause of death?

When cyanide enters the body, it typically leads to major complications such as respiratory failure. The toxin may be over-looked by a medical examiner because it mimics an allergic reaction of some sort.

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Why was it important for the FBI agents to determine if there was a possible connection between Sue Frost, a banker, and Bart Penny, a construction worker?

They had to determine if the cases were linked as part of a terrorist attack, or to see if they needed to investigate as to whether or not there were more victims.

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Why was it considered unusual or peculiar to find that all capsule containing cyanide also contained algicide?

It was unusual to find that all capsules contaminated with cyanide were also tainted with algicide because it shows that the bottles were tampered with after it was produced and the same person most likely put both substances in the bottles.

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How could the algicide (which is sold in pellet form) and the cyanide wind up in the same capsule?

The suspect might have used a container that had been contaminated with algicide for the mixing of the cyanide prior to placing it into the capsule, resulting in cross-contamination.

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Why did the FBI think it was odd for Stella to have two contaminated bottles of excedrin in her home?

It was out of the ordinary for Stella to have two contaminated bottles in her home due to the fact that the purchases of the two bottles were on two different days and at two different stores. It is highly unlikely that one person would have two contaminated bottles from two different places when there were only five contaminated bottles found.

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Which factors lead the FBI to begin considering Stella more as a suspect than a grieving widow?

The FBI found the fish tank in Stella’s home. As forensic investigations examined the medications more thoroughly, they found an algae killer that had been used in Stella's fish tanks.

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Why did the FBI do a background check on Mrs.Penny?

They started to suspect Stella as the killer because of the link between her and the algicide. This led the FBI to conduct a background check to see if Stella had participated in any previous crimes, ones that could possibly relate to the one she was, at the time, suspected of committing.

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Was any of the evidence gathered by the FBI sufficient to arrest Mrs. Penny for murder? Why or why not?

There was no hard evidence to convict her of the crime, but a lot of circumstantial evidence was present like the increase of her husbands life insurance, the fish tank in Stella's house, her previous crimes of check fraud and forgery, and the fact that she contacted the doctor who signed the death certificate to ensure that her husband died from emphysema and not an accidental cause.

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Why would Stella call the doctor who signed her husbands death certificate asking if he was sure he made the right call?

She probably called the doctor to see how much he had discovered from her husband's death. Probably to also see if her true way of killing her husband had been uncovered.

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What would you suggest as the next steps in the investigation?

I would suggest the FBI  get some hard evidence on Stella by searching her home for cyanide in some equipment she might have used to mix the capsule.

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Speculate on why her daughter did not say anything to the police intentionally, but later contacted them and informed them of her mothers desire to see her husband dead.

Mrs. Penny had been convicted of child abuse in the past, so her daughter was probably threatened by her mother to keep quiet about what she was doing.

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Why was physical evidence needed to build a substantial case against Mrs. Penny?

The physical evidence is needed to support all the circumstantial evidence they found on Mrs. Penny. Without it, she could've easily been cleared of everything with a good lawyer behind her.

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What are latent finger prints?

Latent fingerprints are the accidental fingerprints left by the friction of the skin on a surface.

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Could Mrs. Penny have avoided being caught and convicted for her husband's murder? How?

She could have avoided being caught in several ways; get rid of the fish tank, mix the cyanide somewhere other than her home, not tell her daughter about the research, read the book with some gloves on, not keep more than one contaminated bottle in her home, and not call to confirm her husbands cause of death.

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Would you describe this as potentially a perfect muder "gone bad" due to frustration and greed on the part of Stella Penny? Explain.

I believe it would have been the perfect murder if Stella hadn't gone and increased the life insurance policies on her husband. It was also a huge Red Flag that she called the Coroner to "make sure" he had the correct cause of death recorded.

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The case occurred before the passage of the Patriot Act. Even so, libraries re not in the habit of making the records of their patrons readily available to law enforcement agencies. How do you think the FBI obtained the information regarding Stella Penny's library activities?

As mentioned in the article, Stella's daughter informed the FBI of her mother's library research. Beyond that, it was likely that there was a warrant obtained so that they could see Stella's library records.

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What should the agents do to get additional evidence to indict Mr. Penny?

They should ask Mrs. Penny's daughter to come in for an official statement that can be kept on record. They should also search the library for physical evidence of the book that her daughter claims she used for research.

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How has the passage of the Patriot Act affected collection 0f such information by the FBI and other federal agencies?

By passing the Act, government agencies can access the electronic information without a warrant. This information can help the FBI narrow down a suspect list and can potentially help find criminals and suspects faster and easier (History.com, 2017).

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So first Mrs. Frost passes out and paramedics arrive trying to figure out if it is a drug related overdose. They soon realize that Mrs. Frost is not the person to overdose on drugs or commit suicide because there was no evidence of these things at the scene. After Mrs. Frost's death there was an autopsy preformed by William Delaforte, the county coroner, his assistant and him then concluded that there was an almond odor from the body which they concluded the victim was poisoned by cyanide. They then examined Mrs. Frost's over the counter medicines and found a connection to her Excedrin Migraine pills to have cyanide in them. Bristol-Myers, the manufactory of Excedrin, contacted all retail stores to take all bottles off of the shelves. This then lead to local police discovering two laced bottles with cyanide. One in Springville and another in Auburn Hill. The FBI then came in and got a call from Stella Penny claiming there might be a connection with the laced Excedrin and her husband's recent death. Then a chemist from the FBI discovered in the laced bottles there was an algae destroyer found in the pills. The FDA did a search of over 740,000 bottles and found that Mrs. Penny had 2 out of the 5 laced bottles across the Northwest. This is where there was a case started to be formed as Penny being the prime suspect. Friends and family said Stella was actually hurt from her husband's loss, this did not matter because they found a fish tank in her home which formed more connections to her being the suspect. FBI agents then searched all local pet stores around Penny's area. They found one employee who distinctly remembered Ms. Penny buying algae destroyer. After this the FBI  did a background check and found her to be convicted of many felonies in prior years as well as learned that her and her husband were in a load of financial debt. Investigators found that Stella then increased the amount of money she would get if her husband died to about 176,000. The FBI also learned that Ms. Penny called the autopsy reporter and asked if her husband's death was ruled death by emphysema. Quite odd of a question ask if you already know the answer. They soon interview Penny and have her take a lie detector case  based off the following question, "did you lace the capsules with cyanide?" Penny answered no, but failed the test and demanded her lawyer. Then the daughter of Stella tells FBI agents that Stella did research and talked about killing her husband with cyanide. This solidification the FBI got just built towards the case against Stella. Thus leading the FBI to check all local libraries and found Stella had not returned a book named, Human Poisoning, and checked out a book about toxic plants (Deadly Harvest) on two different occasions. Stella's fingerprints were found in Deadly Harvest in parts of the book about cyanide. All the communication between local and government officials, as well as analysist/scientist helped piece all the evidence together.

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How do you lift latent fingerprints from a book?

A special dust that coats the oils left on a surface by a person's fingerprints is lightly dusted onto the surface. After that, a special brush is used to remove the excess powder that has not adhered to the oils. Last, a plastic sticker is used to collect the dust that has settled onto the pattern of the fingerprints.

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-History.com Editors. (2017, December 19). Patriot Act. Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/patriot-act
-Markel, D. H. (2014, September 29). How the Tylenol murders of 1982 changed the way we consume medication. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982

Links to an external site.

-Sawyer, & S., H. (1983, October 13). H.R.1544 - 98th Congress (1983-1984): Federal Anti-Tampering Act. Retrieved April 6, 2020, from https://www.congress.gov/bill/98th-congress/house-bill/1544