Latest news with #AndreaWhitaker
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Wisconsin poisoning attempted homicide investigation, 2 charged
The Brief Prosecutors in Dane and Rock counties charged a man and woman with multiple counts of attempted homicide. Investigators said the two planned to create poisons and use them to try to murder two different women. Court records show the man's bond was set at $10 million, the woman's at $4 million, in Dane County. MADISON, Wis. - Prosecutors in both Dane and Rock counties have charged two people with attempted homicide after investigators said they conspired to poison two women. What they're saying The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation announced the charges against 43-year-old Paul VanDuyne and 41-year-old Andrea Whitaker – both of Madison. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android According to the criminal complaints filed against the two, they planned to create poisons and use them to attempt to murder two different women with whom VanDuyne had previously "been involved." According to WMTV-TV in Madison, investigators determined substances including cyanide and thallium were used in the attempted homicides. Both VanDuyne and Whitaker are charged in both Dane and Rock counties with multiple counts of attempted homicide, among other felonies. Court records show VanDuyne's bond was set at $10 million, Whitaker's at $4 million, in Dane County. The Source Information in this report is from the Wisconsin Department of Justice and Wisconsin Circuit Court, as well as reporting from WMTV-TV in Madison.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Couple charged in alleged cyanide plot to kill ex-girlfriends; agents hospitalized during search
A Wisconsin couple have been charged in a plot to kill two women with cyanide, and several investigators tracking the pair were hospitalized after coming into contact with the poison, according to prosecutors and reports. Paul VanDuyne and Andrea Whitaker are accused of creating poisons and using them in an elaborate attempt to murder two different women who were ex-girlfriend's of VanDuyne, according to the Wisconsin Justice Department. Prosecutors allege VanDuyne broke into a woman's car in a Middleton Costco parking lot last month and contaminated her water bottle with cyanide. She found people outside her car telling her that the car had been tampered with, although she didn't find anything wrong at the time, Fox 47 reported. She did find the water tasted funny, the outlet reported. Chiropractor Accused Of Poisoning Wife With Lead During Divorce Now Claims He Was A Victim Too: Report Two weeks later, the same thing is alleged to have happened again. This time, the woman brought the bottle to the police, who tested it and confirmed it contained cyanide. Around the same time, another woman in Rock County was hospitalized after drinking cyanide-tainted water found in her car after a gym visit. Read On The Fox News App Both alleged victims briefly dated VanDuyne, prosecutors said. Alabama Chiropractor Charged After Allegedly Attempting To Poison Wife With Lead-laced Pills VanDuyne was arrested Sunday after the hazmat-linked investigations and after authorities caught him allegedly trying to help cover up evidence. Police had been monitoring VanDuyne but were forced to move quickly when he tried to contact the Rock County woman last weekend. He was arrested and booked Sunday. While in jail, VanDuyne called Whitaker and asked her to remove items from his house, prosecutors said. Agents intercepted her leaving with her belongings. When searching her phone, they found multiple messages between the couple discussing different poisons. Prosecutors believe the pair were planning to murder VanDuyne's ex-girlfriends with poison. At least seven state investigators on the case have been hospitalized for possible exposure to the poison, reported. The outlet reported that Dane County Assistant District Attorney William Brown revealed Whitaker's online history included searches for "Does potassium cyanide cloud water?" and "Sodium cyanide odor, sodium cyanide." Searches also included "What does cyanide look like?" and "Cyanide lethal," he said. VanDuyne and Whitaker face charges in Rock County of attempted homicide, aggravated battery, reckless endangerment and stalking — all involving a dangerous weapon. In Dane County, VanDuyne faces more charges for attempted homicide and stalking, while Whitaker is also accused of helping him and trying to cover it up. Seven agencies were involved in the investigation, including the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation, the Rock County Sheriff's Office, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories and the article source: Couple charged in alleged cyanide plot to kill ex-girlfriends; agents hospitalized during search
Fox News
9 hours ago
- Fox News
Couple charged in alleged cyanide plot to kill ex-girlfriends; agents hospitalized during search
A Wisconsin couple have been charged in a plot to kill two women with cyanide, and several investigators tracking the pair were hospitalized after coming into contact with the poison, according to prosecutors and reports. Paul VanDuyne and Andrea Whitaker are accused of creating poisons and using them in an elaborate attempt to murder two different women who were ex-girlfriend's of VanDuyne, according to the Wisconsin Justice Department. Prosecutors allege VanDuyne broke into a woman's car in a Middleton Costco parking lot last month and contaminated her water bottle with cyanide. She found people outside her car telling her that the car had been tampered with, although she didn't find anything wrong at the time, Fox 47 reported. She did find the water tasted funny, the outlet reported. Two weeks later, the same thing is alleged to have happened again. This time, the woman brought the bottle to the police, who tested it and confirmed it contained cyanide. Around the same time, another woman in Rock County was hospitalized after drinking cyanide-tainted water found in her car after a gym visit. Both alleged victims briefly dated VanDuyne, prosecutors said. VanDuyne was arrested Sunday after the hazmat-linked investigations and after authorities caught him allegedly trying to help cover up evidence. Police had been monitoring VanDuyne but were forced to move quickly when he tried to contact the Rock County woman last weekend. He was arrested and booked Sunday. While in jail, VanDuyne called Whitaker and asked her to remove items from his house, prosecutors said. Agents intercepted her leaving with her belongings. When searching her phone, they found multiple messages between the couple discussing different poisons. Prosecutors believe the pair were planning to murder VanDuyne's ex-girlfriends with poison. At least seven state investigators on the case have been hospitalized for possible exposure to the poison, reported. The outlet reported that Dane County Assistant District Attorney William Brown revealed Whitaker's online history included searches for "Does potassium cyanide cloud water?" and "Sodium cyanide odor, sodium cyanide." Searches also included "What does cyanide look like?" and "Cyanide lethal," he said. VanDuyne and Whitaker face charges in Rock County of attempted homicide, aggravated battery, reckless endangerment and stalking — all involving a dangerous weapon. In Dane County, VanDuyne faces more charges for attempted homicide and stalking, while Whitaker is also accused of helping him and trying to cover it up. Seven agencies were involved in the investigation, including the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation, the Rock County Sheriff's Office, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories and the FBI.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Wisconsin pair charged in alleged plot to stalk, poison and kill dating app liaisons
A Wisconsin boyfriend and girlfriend who have been charged with attempted murder are accused of trying to poison two women the man previously dated after he met them online, authorities said. Paul VanDuyne Jr., 43, and Andrea Whitaker, 41, have each been charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery, recklessly endangering the public and stalking, according to criminal cases filed in the Madison region. On Friday, they appeared in court separately in Janesville, in Dane County, which also is home to the state capital. Bail was set at $10 million for VanDuyne, who prosecutors said has access to substantial resources, and $4 million for Whitaker. Pleas were not entered, and each remained in custody, according to jail records. The defendants have separate lawyers, who did not respond immediately to requests for comment. One of the two victims — each of whom met VanDuyne on a dating app and saw him only a few times — described an experience discovering a stranger she later realized was Whitaker crouched next to her vehicle in her garage in April. The woman is identified in redacted court records as the victim from Dane County; the other woman is identified as the victim from Rock County. The Dane County woman said Friday in court that she met VanDuyne more than a year ago, went on two dates with him and told him she was not interested in seeing him again. "I was never his girlfriend, yet he and Andrea developed the delusion that I was," she said in court Friday. "This delusion was so strong, they tried to murder me. Their actions and motivations are disconnected from reality. Both have shown their capacity for evil." Appearing at VanDuyne's hearing, the woman said that after she discovered the allegations against the couple, she has people stay with her overnight, she installed a security system, and she hides her vehicle. "I need the court's protection," she said. "The community needs the court's protection." Prosecutors said VanDuyne met Whitaker online roughly during the time he dated the victims and carried on a relationship virtually as she took courses in the field of pharmacology away from the area. Upon completing her courses, she moved nearby, and the two met in person in the spring, according to narratives presented in case documents. VanDuyne graduated from Princeton University more than 20 years previously, the institution confirmed. He had a career as a mechanical engineer, his lawyer said in court Friday. Documents in the Rock County case say he was recently divorced and started dating the victims after having met them on dating apps or sites that were not named. When he connected with Whitaker, the two embarked on a plot against the victims, prosecutors said. The victim from Rock County came to the attention of authorities in early May when a doctor from the Wisconsin Poison Center reported that a woman was hospitalized with thallium in her system, the court documents say. Thallium was once commonly used to kill rodents. Largely because of accidental poisonings, it has been banned from household use in the United States since 1965 and commercially since 1975. The doctor, identified only by a last name, is quoted as saying, 'The only way a human could have this amount of thallium in her system is if they were intentionally consuming it.' Prosecutors said the victim reported no suicidal action and struggled to think of anyone who would try to poison her — the names she came up with were vetted — until VanDuyne came to mind, according to the documents from Rock County. She told detectives about texts she had received in early 2025 from the man she knew only as Paul when they dated starting nearly two years before, the documents say. She gave investigators VanDuyne's number, and they started looking at him this month, according to the court documents. She said he had sent her texts in the spring after months of no contact. In them, the Rock County victim said, he called her "evil" and blamed her for causing his girlfriend, Whitaker, to kill herself when she discovered their dating history, the documents say. Whitaker did not kill herself. In fact, court documents allege, she was integral to the plot to kill the two other women VanDuyne had dated, and they worked together to taint water bottles and vehicles with poisons they procured or, in one case, made from scratch. In the May incident that sent the Rock County victim to the hospital, the woman took her middle-school-age sister to the movies but both became ill, according to the documents. The victim took her vehicle to a dealership, where workers reported a noxious smell and tossed out a storage tote they said contained an unknown substance, the documents say. Because the woman and her sister described a smell of rotten eggs, detectives concluded the substance was hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas. Rock County Sheriff Curtis Fell said the Rock County victim was still in a wheelchair as a result of her poisoning. Without the medical care she has received — including an antidote flown overnight from California — she most likely would have died, he said. The alleged plot affected the other victim, the woman from Dane County, not long afterward, in mid-May, when bystanders reported someone breaking into her vehicle at a Costco parking lot on two separate occasions, according to the documents. A witness at the Costco parking lot reported seeing a man get into a Chrysler Pacifica minivan that was traced back to VanDuyne, authorities said in the documents. After one of the incidents, the victim reported drinking bottled water she left in her vehicle and noticing it tasted terrible, the court documents say. The water tested positive for cyanide and thallium. After they realized the two women may have been the victims of the same perpetrators, authorities took a second look at the Rock County victim's vehicle and concluded it was the subject of break-ins or attempts with markings similar to those made in the Costco attempts, the documents say. Detectives got a judge's permission to track VanDuyne's movements and found him traveling to the Rock County victim's residence, according to the documents. After that trip, they allege, authorities found a trail camera hung on a tree across from the victim's home. In other instances, the couple worked together to use cyanide, thallium and abrin in multiple attempts to poison the victims, once even putting a powdery substance in the ventilation system of a victim's vehicle, authorities said in the court documents. Abrin can be made by grinding the seeds of rosary peas, authorities said in the documents. On Thursday, a search of VanDuyne's minivan turned up a tan bag with multiple vials inside, the court documents say. Authorities found rosary peas in the bag and a seed grinder at his home, the documents say. An FBI hazardous materials team was called to help with the search, and members took an active part multiple times, the documents say. The defendants were expected to appear in Rock County court next week to face charges of attempted murder and stalking for VanDuyne and attempted murder and aiding a felon for Whitaker. VanDuyne is due in Dane County court again Aug. 4. Whitaker is scheduled for an appearance there July 2. 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