Excedrin Killer Sentenced to 90 Years

A woman convicted in the nation’s first death-by-product tampering trial was sentenced to 90 years in prison Friday for killing her husband and a stranger with Excedrin capsules laced with cyanide.

U.S. District Judge William Dwyer recommended that Stella Nickell not be eligible for parole for a minimum of 30 years, saying, “The jury has found the defendant guilty of appalling crimes.”

Nickell, 44, of suburban Auburn, sat at the defense table with her hands tightly clasped in her hand, her fingers intertwined and her thumbs fidgeting. She appeared to pale when the sentence was read.

“It must be said that these are crimes of exceptional callousness and cruelty,” Dwyer said, taking note of the fact that the poisoned capsules had been left on store shelves and could have easily fallen into the hands of innocent victims.

Nickell received 90-year terms each for two counts of product tampering that resulted in the deaths of her husband, Bruce Nickell, and Susan Katherine Snow of Auburn. She faced possible life terms on those two counts.