Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, a 52-year-old North Carolina restaurateur, was charged by Henderson County sheriff’s deputies on Friday with the murder of one woman and attempted murder of another woman and her boyfriend. Casper-Leinenkugel has also been accused of a 2007 murder that remained unsolved until now.
Casper-Leinenkugel’s daughters were her victims, and she also tried to poison one daughter’s boyfriend. 32-year-old Leela Jean Livis died after consuming the poisoned wine, whereas Livis’s half-sister, Maija Lacey, and Maija’s boyfriend Richard Evan Pegg survived.
The poisoning incident happened last November, during Thanksgiving, when there was a party of 12 people, and everyone kept a distance from the poisoned wine bottle apart from Leeka, Maija, and Richard. Sandra Riddle, mother of Casper-Leinenkugel’s ex-husband, Stacey Shelton, spoke about the incident, saying, “They were there to have Thanksgiving dinner at their mother’s house, and next thing, Leela was dead, and Maija and her boyfriend (Pegg) were in the hospital.”
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She then added, “I don’t know (why). That’s just the strangest part of it. What was to be gained?” Given the strange nature of Leela’s death, an investigation was started into Casper-Leinenkugel and police eventually found out that the wine that killed the daughter was laced with acetonitrile, a colorless liquid that could be found in lithium batteries and turns into cyanide over time, according to prosecutors.
Moreover, before Thanksgiving, Casper-Leinenkugel had also Googled, “What happens if I accidentally ingest acetonitrile”, which further helped the case. However, in another unexpected turn, investigators also found the woman’s connection to Michael Schmidt’s death in 2007, as he was killed in a mysterious house fire. State prosecutors have also revealed that her name has surfaced in other unspecified deaths that are now under investigation.
Riddle offered insight into Casper-Leinenkugel’s history, who, she said, had always been associated with destructive activities. Since she had known her for some 25 years, Riddle talked about the time she first met her, “I met her as Linda Casper — that’s all she’s ever been to me. She’s the one that changed her name.”
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Her son then married her, and the couple adopted a 3-year-old Leela. They then had a daughter, Maija. Explaining Casper-Leinenkugel’s nature further, Riddle said, “I know when Maija was little, (Linda) would use Maija’s name and information to get credit cards.”
She then added, “I don’t associate with Linda. When her and my son broke up, he was moving out of the house, and we were helping him move and we went back up to get the rest of the stuff and the house had burnt down mysteriously in the middle of the night.”
Now, District Court Judge Abe Hudson has ordered that Casper-Leinenkugel be held without bond, and her next date of court appearance has been set for Feb. 10 as she told the judge that she wanted an attorney to represent her.
