Cyanide-Laced Excedrin Tied to 2nd Seattle Death, Findings Suggest

Medical examiners on Thursday confirmed that a second person in a Seattle suburb died of cyanide poisoning--possibly from Extra-Strength Excedrin--and Food and Drug Administration scientists said that the poisons “in all likelihood” came from the same source.

Meanwhile, FDA Commissioner Frank E. Young told reporters that the two deaths probably are a “local occurrence.” Nevertheless, he continued to urge that consumers nationwide remove the capsules from their medicine chests because he said he wants the public to “be safe rather than sorry.”

Authorities said late Thursday that they found more tainted capsules in a bottle sent in by a store in a nearby suburb. The tainted capsules were brought to police earlier in the week from Johnny’s Food Center in Kent, Kent police Lt. Dave Everett said.

Sue Hutchcroft, spokeswoman for the FDA, said she did not know how many tainted capsules were found or in how many bottles.

“We have turned over additional capsules to the FBI for their investigation,” Hutchcroft said. “Our people have been out collecting samples all day . . . from stores, and they bring them back to our labs for testing.”

In Seattle, King County Executive Tim Hill told a news conference that “preliminary indications suggest” that Bruce Nickell, 52, died from cyanide-laced Excedrin, as did 40-year old Sue Snow.

Nickell collapsed in his home and died June 5, and his death originally was attributed to natural causes. But after Snow’s death was linked to the capsules, Nickell’s widow noticed that her home had Excedrin capsules with the same lot number and turned over a bottle of them to authorities. When cyanide was found in some of the medicine, tests were performed on tissue from Nickell’s body.

Thursday morning, FDA scientists in Cincinnati began examining capsules from Nickell’s home to determine if a “link” existed between the poisons that killed the two persons.

Late Thursday afternoon, Faye Peterson, an FDA spokesman here, said the cyanide from the capsules found in the Snow household and the cyanide found in capsules from Nickell’s home “are similar. In all likelihood, they originated from the same source.”

Peterson added, however, that the poison does not match that found in other suicides and tamperings in other parts of the country in recent months.

Peterson said a second bottle of 40 capsules from the Nickell household has been turned over to the FBI, which is investigating the two deaths.

FDA officials said they have found no evidence that the headache remedy had been tampered with at the Morrisville, N.C., plant where it is made.

Capsules in the Snow and Nickell households both had the lot number 5 H102, and Auburn authorities said the product could have been bought at the same store. The capsules from the Kent store also came from lot number 5 H102. The second bottle of Excedrin from Nickell’s home bore the lot number 5 H105, FDA officials said. They added that they are advising consumers to remove all of the Excedrin capsules from their homes, regardless of lot numbers.

Local hospital officials and medical examiners in Auburn have been criticized for not reacting swiftly enough to family suspicions that Snow’s collapse may have been connected to her taking the Excedrin capsules.

However, FDA Commissioner Young on Thursday praised King County Medical Examiner Dr. Corinne Fligner and the local police for their cooperation in the case.

He added that the proper course of action was “to let the people know that we’ve got a problem with Extra-Strength (Excedrin), and I wouldn’t want it on my conscience that I didn’t warn the American people as rapidly as possible not to take this compound.”

The recent spate of poisonings has raised anew concerns over whether all capsules should be banned from the marketplace. The FDA consulted a number of firms and interest groups after Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules tainted with cyanide killed seven persons in Chicago in 1982 and decided not to order such a move. However, Tylenol has since stopped production of the capsules.

Jack Martin, associate commissioner for public affairs at the FDA, said: “We’re looking at it, but we haven’t found any tamper-proof dosage form. If you take capsules off the market, they’ll just go to the next thing.”

At the Seattle news conference, Hill called for immediate removal of any Extra-Strength Excedrin capsules remaining on store shelves in King County, where Auburn is located, saying: “I believe an emergency situation exists.”

Bristol-Meyers Co., the manufacturer of the popular painkiller, Wednesday night ordered a nationwide recall of the capsules, telling consumers they can send the medication to Excedrin Capsules, P.O. Box 1000, Baltimore, Md., 21268, in exchange for either tablets or a cash refund.

Times staff writer Paul Houston contributed to this story.