A mother is suspected of intentionally poisoning her own daughter with contaminated wine during a holiday gathering, prompting authorities to investigate potential connections to other unexplained deaths.
Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, aged 52, is accused of causing the death of her daughter, Leela Levis, and making her daughter’s sister and her sister’s boyfriend ill after they consumed the wine at a Thanksgiving dinner with 12 family members. Casper-Leinenkugel and the other nine individuals present did not partake of the wine. Following the meal, the trio fell ill, with Leela passing away on December 1, leading to a police inquiry.
The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina, with assistance from the state’s bureau of investigation, is conducting a probe into Leela’s death. Investigators revealed that the wine ingested by the trio had been tampered with acetonitrile, a clear liquid commonly found in batteries that can transform into cyanide over time, as per prosecutors.
Further investigations uncovered that Casper-Leinenkugel had allegedly searched online about the effects of ingesting acetonitrile. Authorities are also exploring potential links between the mother and the unsolved case of Michael Schmidt, who died in a house fire in 2007.
North Carolina prosecutors disclosed that the mother may have ties to other undisclosed deaths that are currently under scrutiny. Casper-Leinenkugel had operated a restaurant inspired by council houses in Germany, where she grew up.
She claimed to have established multiple restaurants and bars in the U.S. and a dry-cleaning business, with her extended family involved in running Wisconsin’s Leinenkugel Brewing Company. Casper-Leinenkugel has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, and three counts of distributing prohibited food and beverages, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
She is being held without bond and could potentially face capital punishment. North Carolina authorities are actively working to reintroduce the death penalty through “Iryna’s Law,” named after a Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed by a mentally unstable repeat offender. This legislation aims to broaden the range of execution methods to include death by firing squad and the electric chair, in addition to lethal injection, which is currently the only authorized method for executing convicted individuals.