From: Wikipedia
Anti-freeze
Fast Facts:
– Engine coolant
– Contains ethylene glycol
– Sweet tasting
– Causes inebriation
– Dyed green to be able to detect it
– One of the top homicidal poisons in USA
The main ingredient in anti-freeze is ethylene glycol which is poisonous. It only takes a small amount of anti-freeze to poison a person. As your body absorbs and metabolises the anti-freeze it is converted into other toxic substances. It can take from 30 minutes to 12 hours for poisoning symptoms to show (the worst symptoms take longer to appear). Initially a person might feel drunk, with symptoms including headache, fatigue, lack of coordination, grogginess, slurred speech, nausea and vomiting. As the anti-freeze continues to break down the chemical can interfere with kidney, lung, brain, and nervous system function. Organ damage can occur 24 to 72 hours after ingestion.
There are two options for antidotes for poisoning by anti-freeze: fomepizole or ethanol. Both drugs can reverse the effects of the poison and prevent further problems, such as permanent organ damage.
Because ethylene glycol has a sweet taste and because anti-freeze is not a suspicious purchase, it is a popular poison, particularly in the USA.
Lynn Turner, from Georgia, fed her husband, and later her boyfriend anti-freeze laced Jello and other food and drinks. She was convicted in 2004 of murder.
A Houston doctor was charged with placing ethylene glycol in claiming the ethylene glycol he placed in a colleague’s coffee was an artificial sweetener.
James Keown was arrested and sentenced to life in prison after feeding his wife a steady diet of anti-freeze in her Gatorade. He had crippling debt and wanted his wife’s quarter of a million life insurance policy.
This was the exact motive of Angelina Rodriguez who tried three times to kill her husband before succeeding, also adding anti-freeze to his Gatorade. She was sentenced to death. Rodriguez tried at least three times to kill her husband Frank, finally succeeding, on September 9, 2000, by spiking his Gatorade with antifreeze. Her motive was a $250,000 life insurance policy. She was also convicted of threatening a witness to whom she had revealed her plan to kill Frank.
(Tune into my blog on Monday for a final poisons post)
References:
https://murderpedia.org/female.R/r/rodriguez-angelina.htm
https://truecrimedaily.com/2015/09/23/10-infamous-poisoning-cases-solved-and-unsolved/
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/01/inquiring-minds-deborah-blum-poison-forensics/
https://www.healthline.com/health/antifreeze-poisoning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol
April 30, 2021 at 9:18 pm
Well goodness! Why not just make it taste nasty? It might help slow down the murders! Lol
Congratulations on making it to the end AJ! You have inspired us with lots of different ways to kill people 😂 look at all the research you did!! WOW! The reflection post is due Monday? I should probably get that done…
April 30, 2021 at 9:52 pm
I’m not sure when the reflections post is. This is just a little bit extra I had on poisons that I wanted to post (again so I have it on record lol). I’m not ready for the reflections post yet either.
April 30, 2021 at 9:55 pm
Oooooohhhsss I see lol
Happy end of Friday! Have a good sleep, other side of the world friend!
May 1, 2021 at 8:09 am
Thanks, GF. Reflections are all of next week, so I’ll just make mine the reflections post as well.
April 30, 2021 at 11:58 pm
Strong one to end on, Anita. Congratulations for finishing!
May 1, 2021 at 8:10 am
Thanks, Jacqui 🙂
May 1, 2021 at 7:08 am
Three times? And the husband stayed with her anyway?? Too bad she succeeded.
Well done on the challenge, I learned a lot with this very interesting theme!
May 1, 2021 at 8:10 am
I know! Maybe he thought she was so bad at it she’d never actually kill him? And thanks, glad you found it interesting.
May 1, 2021 at 6:30 pm
Whoa. People will do horrible things for money… Also you’d think at this point they’d try to change the taste somehow. 😀
The Multicolored Diary
May 2, 2021 at 11:19 am
I know! Why keep it sweet and easily disguised in a gatorade bottle – maybe change the colour to sludgy grey and give it an odour of sewage!
May 1, 2021 at 6:31 pm
This has been a very interesting theme for A to Z, I learned a lot from your posts. Thank you, and congratulations on making it to Z! 🙂
The Multicolored Diary
May 2, 2021 at 11:21 am
Thank you, Tarkabarka. I wasn’t as prepared as I wanted to be this year, so I feel like it was an achievement 🙂
May 2, 2021 at 6:41 am
No one will ever know how many dogs were killed by anti-freeze. I was warned millennium ago not to leave it unattended in an open pan, dogs are drawn to the smell of it.
May 2, 2021 at 11:22 am
Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. How awful.
May 2, 2021 at 7:09 am
This is why people should be wary of others giving them drinks. Not a pleasant way to go.
May 2, 2021 at 11:22 am
Exactly right, although you’d think you could trust your spouse!
May 2, 2021 at 9:35 am
I knew to keep antifreeze away from pets, because they like the sweet taste. But I didn’t know people used it on each other! Another good reason to stay away from neon-green drinks!
Great job with the challenge. Such interesting posts!
May 2, 2021 at 11:27 am
Lol, any food that has “neon” in its description should be avoided, in some way or another I’m sure it will kill you.
Thanks, Jenny 🙂
May 2, 2021 at 6:07 pm
We may say many things about Angelina Rodriguez, but she was not a quitter!!! If she didn’t succeed, she got up and tried again. Oh my goodness, this coulda have been her chances to reconsider her bad choices, but no.
Thank you for another educating and entertaining series and congratulations on completing 2021 A – Z!