WHY CERTAIN POISONS ARE SO POPULAR AMONGST KILLERS

Poisonings can be discussed in a number of different ways when the topic of murderers comes up. In this article we’ll take a slightly more unique and in-depth look at the method of killing by focusing on three common poisons used by those who commit homicide. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of poisons that could be used, but there tend to be three that are used more than most: Succinylcholine (a.k.a. "Sux"), antifreeze, and arsenic (most commonly in the form of rat poison).  It could cause someone to wonder why these three?  Why are they used more than others?  Well there are a few reasons for each of the poison’s popularity.

"Just Hit 'Em With a Little Sux"

Succinylcholine, a.k.a. Sux, is most often used as a muscle relaxant to order to help in the aid of intubations during emergencies and surgery.  It is intended to save lives, not end them.  Yet there have been numerous cases in which this drug has been used to kill.  Now the question is why this drug?  Well the first reason is that it's generally difficult to trace within the body after a far shorter period of time than certain other drugs.  There's also the benefit that, rarely, is this drug ever suspected in a death because it's rarely accessible to the average person.  Being a drug with a specific medical purpose it's generally only found in hospitals and, if someone outside the medical field were to go looking for it, not only would they probably be unable to get it but they'd likely raise a lot of red flags with those around them (never good when planning a murder.)   That being said it's rather easily available to those in the medical field, especially those who work in emergency, critical care, and surgical departments.  For those like Chaz Higgs, a critical care nurse convicted of murdering his politician wife, Kathy Augustine, it wouldn't only have been easy, it'd have been free with a single vial taken from the hospital likely going unnoticed.  The same holds true for Dr. William Sybers, Dr. Carl Coppolino, and surgerical technician Kim Hricko, all of whom were convicted of murdering their significant others via succinylcholine or some variant of it (such as Suxamethonium and Rocuronium).  There was also another killer, one far more widely known by the public, that used succinylcholine in her murders...serial killer Genene Jones, who killed between 11 and 50 young patients during her time as a pediatric nurse.

Don't Drink the Gatorade!

James Keown was convicted of the murder of his wife in July 2008.  He did it via poisoning her. Specifically he spiked her Gatorade with antifreeze over the course of months in 2004, culminating with a fatal dose on September 4, 2004.  Outside the rather obvious reason of using antifreeze because it's cheap and easily accessible to just about anybody there are a few other reasons why Keown likely selected this liquid to spike his wife's drink with.  Ethylene glycol, the key ingredient in antifreeze, is colorless, odorless, mostly non-volatile, and tastes sweet. Someone drinking it wouldn’t even know they’re being poisoned, especially if it's slipped into a drink that's already sweet. There's also the fact that, once ingested, the immediate signs and symptoms of poisoning resemble alcohol intoxication – dizziness, coordination issues, headaches, confusion, and sometimes nausea and vomiting. The truth is a person could be poisoned right out in the open with no one the wiser for the next 12 hours or, depending on the dose and person, until after their death.  There's another reason why a killer would choose antifreeze and that’s the possibility of having plausible deniability.  A murderer could claim that the victim ingested it accidentally by mistaking it as simply a sweet drink just as children so often do or even intentionally as a form of suicide because of its easy availability and overall sweetness.  All these reasons are likely why not only James Keown chose the poison, but also Stacey Castor (convicted of killing her second husband, David Castor, and suspected of killing her first, Michael Wallace), Mark Jensen (convicted of killing his wife, Julie Jensen), and Julia Lynn Taylor (convicted of murdering her husband, Maurice Glenn Taylor, and boyfriend, Randy Thompson).

Arsenic and Old Lace

The phrase is outlived only by the method of poisoning, arsenic.  The first and foremost reason it's used so often is because it is found in numerous household items therefore both easily accessible and explained away by a killer: "Of course there's arsenic in my home, it's in my rat poison/pesticide/wood preservative". Should the victim be a child it’s almost even more easily explained as the killer can claim that the child got into the product all on their own.  Arsenic can be tested for in a victim, but the problem is that the test is really only effective within a few days of the poisoning unless there are very high levels of arsenic in the body, then the test can still be done a year later. Still there is another possible problem in testing and that’s that the test itself only shows whether or not there are above-average levels of the toxin in the body, but it cannot tell how or, even if, the levels will affect the person. This means a defense attorney could potentially claim that, even if it's proven the victim ingested arsenic, that it wasn't the actual cause of death.  Many female serial killers of the past used this method, taking advantage of the plentiful arsenic available on their little farms...Nannie Doss (a.k.a. "Arsenic Annie" or "The Giggling Granny" who killed 11 family members), Mary Ann Cotton (who killed between 15-21 people using rat poison, which contains arsenic), and Velma Barfield (who is believed to use arsenic on about 5, killing them) just to name a few.

Author's Note: The quote "Just hit 'em with a little sux" came from the testimony of one of Chaz Higgs' coworkers during the man's murder trial.