American Notes WASHINGTON STATE

When Bruce Nickell, 52, a state maintenance worker in Auburn, Wash., collapsed and died in June 1986, doctors attributed his death to emphysema. Five days later Susan Snow, another Auburn resident, died after swallowing an Extra- Strength Excedrin capsule that had been laced with cyanide. Nickell's widow Stella told authorities that her husband had taken Excedrin from the same product lot. They concluded that Nickell too was the victim of a cyanide-laced capsule. The two deaths sparked a major criminal investigation and prompted Excedrin manufacturer Bristol-Myers to issue a nationwide recall.

Last week, in the first indictment of its kind, a federal grand jury charged Stella Nickell with causing the deaths of her husband and Snow by means of tampering with a consumer product. Prosecutors refused to explain her alleged motives, and their memo seeking court approval of her jailing was sealed. If convicted of the tampering charge, Nickell could face life in prison.