HENDERSON COUNTY, NC – A North Carolina woman allegedly poisoned four people with a chemical that turns into cyanide inside the body, and investigators say her killing spree may have started nearly two decades ago.
Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel faces two murder charges and two attempted murder charges in connection with the poisoning deaths of Leela Lavis in 2025 and Michael Schmidt back in 2007.
She’s also charged with attempting to kill Richard Pegg and Mia Lacey in 2025, plus three counts of distributing prohibited food or beverages.
The weapon of choice was acetonitrile, a chemical solvent that the CDC says “forms cyanide in the body” and often causes delayed toxic effects. Victims might not even realize they’ve been poisoned until it’s too late.
According to arrest warrants, Casper-Leinenkugel “unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did knowingly distributed or otherwise caused to be placed in a position of human accessibility or ingestion a beverage which contained a poisonous chemical.”
The 2025 incidents brought her to investigators’ attention, but the probe quickly expanded when authorities connected her to the 2007 death of Schmidt. That case had apparently gone unsolved for years.
How Casper-Leinenkugel allegedly knew her victims and what motivated the poisonings hasn’t been disclosed. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office is keeping details close to the vest, declining to release additional information beyond the formal charges.
The 18-year gap between Schmidt’s death and the recent poisonings raises questions about whether there could be other victims who were never identified.
Casper-Leinenkugel is being held pending trial. Her attorney hasn’t commented publicly on the charges.
