2nd Soup Packet in Box Poisoned; Random Act Seen

The cyanide-tainted packet of instant chicken-noodle soup that killed a man on Labor Day was apparently poisoned in a random act by a “diabolically sick individual,” investigators said today as they revealed a second packet in the box also had been poisoned.

Packages of Lipton Cup-a-Soup were pulled from store shelves in southern New Jersey as authorities investigated the death, treating it as a homicide.

The death of Lewis Denber, 27, of Runnemede, was the seventh this year in the United States involving poisoned consumer products and may be the first involving random tampering of packaged food. The six previous deaths were caused by ingestion of poisoned non-prescription medicines, and three of those deaths were eventually classified as suicides.

Denber’s mother bought the instant soup package at Clements Bridge Shop ‘n’ Bag grocery store in Runnemede Plaza just before Labor Day, Camden County Prosecutor Samuel Asbell said.

The soup mix was made Monday with water boiled by Denber’s girlfriend and mixed by Denber, who was on a liquid diet because of an unspecified stomach ailment, Asbell said.

Soup ‘Tasted Funny’

Denber, an electronics technician for RCA in Camden, told his girlfriend that the soup “tasted funny” and “didn’t look right,” Asbell said. Denber took about two sips, threw the soup into the sink and then became violently ill.

Denber’s girlfriend called an ambulance, but he died two hours later.

Denber had not eaten anything else Monday, the prosecutor added.

An autopsy Wednesday determined Denber died of cyanide poisoning.

The box from which Denber took a package of the mix had a triangular hole on one side shaped like an upside down “V” that could have been made by a small pocket knife or a box cutter, Asbell told the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill.

Syringe Hole Suspected

The other side of the box also had a small hole that could have been made by a hypodermic syringe, another investigator told the newspaper.

Authorities today said a second, unused packet of soup in the box used by Denber also contained cyanide. A third packet from the box was being tested.

The FDA found no contamination after testing about 100 soup packages bearing the same lot number, 6-C-13-GGF, as the victim’s box. Tests were being run on another 600 packs also removed from the Runnemede store where Denber’s mother purchased the soup, said director Loren Johnson of the agency’s Philadelphia office. He said the tests would take all day.

The Shop ‘n’ Bag chain removed the product from other Camden-area stores and Thomas J. Lipton Co. ordered all Cup-a-Soup removed from shelves in Camden and Gloucester counties.