Woman Suspected of Mailing Cyanide Dies in Custody
A woman awaiting trial on charges she mailed cyanide packets disguised as nutritional supplements to people across the country died Thursday at a federal medical facility in Texas.
Kathryn Schoonover, 50, was found to be terminally ill with cancer after her arrest in California and was sent to the Federal Medical Center on Carswell Air Force Base in Ft. Worth. In September, doctors said she had only six months to live.
The Schoonover case sent a scare across the nation last August when she was arrested outside the post office in Marina del Rey, where she had allegedly stuffed cyanide packets attached to health supplement brochures into 100 envelopes.
A witness said Schoonover was wearing rubber gloves, holding a container marked with a skull and crossbones, and scooping a substance from the container into envelopes.
There have been no known deaths from cyanide mailings.
In a van where Schoonover was living, authorities found two “hit lists” naming people apparently targeted to receive the cyanide packets, postal inspectors said.
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