Authors: John H. Trestrail
Criminal Poisoning: Investigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, and Attorneys (3 page)
“Passion
[poison]
often makes fools of clever men; sometimes even makes clever men of fools.” — La Rochefoucauld
In dealing exclusively with poisons as weapons in the hands of the murderer, tamperer, and terrorist,
Criminal Poisoning: Investigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, and Attorneys, Second Edition
continues to represent a pioneering work.
The following are my goals in bringing forth this book:
• To make it much more difficult for poisoners to get away with their crime.
• To help investigators develop a mindset that will make their poisoning investigations more efficient.
• To help attorneys successfully prosecute the poisoning offender.
• To raise the degree of suspicion in the first place!
• To ultimately reduce the number of homicidal poisonings by generating awareness in forensic communities.
In order to encourage international communication on the subject of homicidal poisons, I have founded the Center for the Study of Criminal Poisoning, which performs the following activities: • Maintains an international database on criminal poisoning cases.
• Maintains a collection of printed resources and references on forensic toxicology.
• Provides training workshops on the investigation of murder by poison.
• Conducts forensic research projects.
• Encourages international communication on homicidal poisoning.
Some of the oldest offensive killing weapons used by humankind, after the stick, stone, and fist, were the poisons. Yet, after nearly 5000 years of xiii
xiv
recorded history, no in-depth work has ever been produced that deals exclusively with poisons as weapons for homicide. My review of the international literature has revealed only a few scattered scientific papers dealing with the psychology of the poisoner. In addition, books on medical jurisprudence and forensic investigation have devoted only a few pages to this important subject, usually stating that it is a
rare
occurrence. How do we know the true rarity of the use of poisons or homicide? All one has to do is look at the number of poisonings that are first documented only after the exhumation of the deceased in order to raise the logical question, “If we missed this one, how many more have been missed?” If all those buried in our cemeteries who were poisoned could raise their hands, we would probably be shocked by the numbers!
For years, the homicidal poisoner has remained shrouded in mystery.
What little we think we know about the criminal poisoner represents only the tip of an iceberg, with the majority of our knowledge still remaining hidden under the surface. It is hoped that this work will serve as a valuable tool in the hands of the criminal investigator, forensic scientist, toxicologist, and attorney, and better increase our chances of avenging each victim of a homicidal poisoner.
The reader should know that for brevity and consistency, I have chosen to use the pronoun “he” in referring to a poisoner throughout most of this work. If the reader wants to mentally substitute “she” for “he,” that is perfectly appropriate.
Unfortunately, a copy of this work is eventually bound to wind up in the hands of a potential criminal poisoner, who may gain some information to use in planning their crime and attempting to escape punishment. But the trade-off is that at the same time, law enforcement will now have detailed information that, it is hoped, will assist them in dealing more effectively with this almost invisible crime.
For, as I try to tell in the following poem, we each must become a
Toxic Avenger
, and bring to justice those individuals who have chosen this most secretive mode of homicide. It makes no difference whether a victim was killed with a knife, a gun, a bomb, or a poison; they each and every one deserve the full extent of justice that our society can deliver.
Homicide by poisoning is one of the most difficult types of cases to prove, both for the death investigator and medical expert. It has been stated that posionings occur rarely, accounting for only about 3 to 6% of homicides. In this statement, we should add the word “known” before homicides, as I believe that they do not rarely occur, but rather are rarely detected!
The main problem is that in posionings, the investigator often has no visible signs of trauma to indicate that the death is other than natural. Bullets
xv
The Toxic Avenger
by
John Harris Trestrail, III, RPH, FAACT, DABAT
Toxicology
From the grave, if lips could speak
the person who was, pleads—you must seek
the individual who had my trust,
and through deceit and cunning into grave did thrust
this body once alive and well,
now silenced by death, who cannot tell
my death was NOT what all thought then,
for a poison brought my life to end!
Avenge me now, for you alone
can find the truth beneath this stone.
Look close and the clues you will see
that tell the tale of what killed me.
For you must tell all others now,
that this was MURDER—and tell them how!
For if no one looks to find what’s here,
an injustice was done to a life so dear.
If now only you could hear,
my muted pleading to make wants clear.
I’d speak as plain as it could be.
Since I can’t—YOU must AVENGE ME!
leave holes, knives leave cuts, clubs leave bruises, but the poisoner covers the murder with a blanket of invisibility! Important clues are usually buried with the victim. As poisons are offensive weapons, not defensive weapons, often the crime scene may seem nonexistent.
As the French scientist Louis Pasteur once said, “Chance favors the prepared mind,” and in this spirit, it is hoped that the contents of
Criminal Poisoning: Investigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, and Attorneys, Second Edition
will so prepare the mind of every criminal investigator, and therefore greatly increase their chances of solving this type of criminal event. After reading this reference work, it is hoped that each criminal investigator will become a “toxic avenger”!
John Harris Trestrail, III, RPH, FAACT, DABAT
Poisoners Throughout History
1
Poisoners Throughout History
“I maintain that though you would often in the fifteenth century have heard the snobbish Roman say, in a would-be off-hand tone, ‘I am dining with the Borgias tonight’, no Roman was ever able to say, ‘I dined last night with the Borgias.’ ” —And Even Now, Max Beerbohm
It is safe to say that poisoners have always been part of society, continue to be with us now, and will likely be with us in the future. To better understand these offenders, it is important for us to understand how our knowledge of poisons has developed and been passed down throughout history, in the various cultures and societies of the world.
1.1. POISONS IN ANCIENT TIMES
1.1.1. Introduction
The first homicidal poisoner is now clearly lost in the mists of time, living as early as 70,000 BC, yet one can certainly speculate on the type of person and incident that led to the possession of this knowledge. Certainly he or she was a member of an early tribe of ancient humanity who first noticed the negative effects that exposure to certain substances had on living organisms. Perhaps it began with the observation that shortly after consuming a plant, fungus, or mineral an animal or fellow tribal member became ill and possibly died. This reasoning individual was able to conclude cause and effect by the method
post hoc ergo propter hoc
(after this, therefore on account of this); this method is usually considered an illogical form of reasoning but here is quite correctly applied. This observation allowed proper determination of the potential for the deleterious effects that would result from exposure From: Forensic Science and Medicine: Criminal Poisoning, Second Edition By: J. H. Trestrail, III © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
1
2
Criminal Poisoning
to a certain substance originating from an animal, a vegetable, or a mineral source. Early man believed that flowers drew their toxicity from the vapors emanating from the entrances to the “Underworld
,”
that snakes developed their venom by devouring plants, and that stinging insects increased their potency by drawing venom from dead snakes. Any individual who obtained knowledge of the effects of poisons would certainly possess a great power among fellow tribal members. Perhaps the knowledge could have been used for the good of the group, as with the development of poisons for hunting, but the knowledge could certainly have been as easily used for homicidal purposes. This knowledge of poisons led eventually to power, the power to mystery, and the mystery to the fear of those individuals holding the ability to kill with such an invisible weapon. It is probable that this powerful knowledge was kept secret among a very select group of shamanistic individuals. Whoever this individual was, the knowledge he possessed was passed among selected members of the inner power circle, by word of mouth, down through countless generations.
Let us travel back in time to look at various ancient peoples and their knowledge of poisons, and especially the use of these substances for the purpose of homicide.
1.1.2. The Sumerians
Our first stop on our trip to the past is with the Sumerians, peoples living in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 2500 BC. It is known that there has been a knowledge and interest in the subject of poisons as far back as their early recorded history. Deciphering of the Sumerians’ ancient cunei-form clay documents has revealed that they worshiped a deity of noxious poisons known to them as “Gula.” She was the first known, recorded spirit associated with poisons and was also called the “Goddess of Healing,” the “Mistress of Charms and Spells,” and the “Controller of Noxious Poisons.”
1.1.3. The Ancient Egyptians
As early as 3000 BC, the Egyptian King Menes studied the properties of poisonous plants (Smith, 1952). The “Ebers’ Papyrus” (ca. 1534 BC), an ancient Egyptian document, recorded the incantation, “repeat not the name I.A.O., under the penalty of the peach.” The Egyptians may have known that the seed kernel of the peach, and other members of the botanical genus
Prunus
(including the cherry, apricot, and bitter almond), contain plant compounds known today as “cyanogenic glycosides,” which can release toxic cyanide compounds in the presence of water and the proper plant enzyme. The Egyptians even believed that their gods were susceptible to the effects of poisonous entities.
Poisoners Throughout History
3
They believed that their god “Ra” nearly succumbed from the effects of a venomous snakebite, and that “Horus” suffered a fatal outcome from the sting of a scorpion. In 525 BC, Psammentius, the king of Egypt, was forced to drink the then-believed poisonous substance “bull’s blood,” which allegedly caused his immediate death. Zopyrus, a physician in Alexandria, concocted a general poison antidote that consisted of 30–50 various ingredients.
1.1.4. The Hebrews
Some scholars believe that the witches mentioned in the Old Testament were sorcerers and poison vendors. The Hebrews even had words for some of our dangerous poisons:
sam
(arsenic),
boschka
(aconite), and
son
(ergot).
Although the use of poisoned arrows is mentioned in the Bible (in the book of Job), there are no references in the Old or New Testaments to the homicidal use of poisons (Bombaugh, 1899).
1.1.5. The Asian Indians
In the earliest writings from ancient India, one can begin to see discussions of the incidence of homicidal poisoning and its investigation. Two of the earliest writings on the subject of poisons, dating from 600 to 100 BC, were the
Charaka Samhita
and the
Susruta Samhita
. Another document, the Veda, gives the physician specific directions in the detection of poisoners: “He does not answer questions, or the answers are evasive. He speaks non-sense, rubs the great toe along the ground and shivers. His face is discolored. He rubs the roots of the hair with his fingers and he tries by every means to leave the house. The food which is suspected should be given to animals. It is necessary for the practitioner to have knowledge of the symptoms of the different poisons and their antidotes, as the enemies of the Raja, bad women and ungrateful servants sometimes mix poison with food.”
