Texas prosecutors say Shannon Richardson sent poisoned letters to President Obama and NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg
It is a story that reads like the plot of a cheap, pulp thriller – except perhaps not quite as believable.
On Friday, a pregnant bit-part actor in Texas was charged with sending letters to President Barack Obama and New York mayor Michel Bloomberg laced with the deadly nerve poison ricin in an apparent bizarre bid to frame her husband for the crime.
Shannon Richardson, who has had small roles on TV shows like the Walking Dead and Vampire Diaries, is a mother of five, who first went to the police with her concerns that her husband, Nathaniel Richardson, might have mailed the letters – which were intercepted before they reached their intended recipients.
But as investigators studied the case the focus of their questioning instead began to settle on the person who had made the outrageous claims in a scenario that on its face value saw a marital spat develop into a full blown bio-terrorist attack on the White House.
According to an FBI affidavit, Shannon Richardson contacted authorities on May 30 and described finding small, brown beans with white speckles – a description matching the key ingredient in ricin, castor beans – at the couple's home in New Boston, Texas. She also told investigators that she had found a note on her husband's desk with addresses for Bloomberg and Obama, according to the Associated Press.
But her claims started to fall apart when she failed a polygraph test and investigators found numerous inconsistencies in her account of events. They included the troubling fact that her husband was at work when internet searches tied to the letters were made on the couple's laptop and when the envelopes containing the letters were postmarked.
Eventually, according to prosecutors, Richardson admitted that she had received syringes and lye – a caustic chemical used in making ricin – in the mail; that she had printed the labels for the letters; and that she mailed them. However, she insisted her husband typed them and "made her" print and send them, the affidavit says.
Tonda Curry, Shannon Richardson's lawyer, has said there was no intention to harm anyone and noted that it's common knowledge that mail is checked before it reaches the person to whom these letters were addressed. "From what I can say, based on what evidence I've seen, whoever did this crime never intended for ricin to reach the people to which the letters were addressed," Curry said.
No charges have been filed against her husband. His attorney, John Delk, told the AP that his client was pleased with his wife's arrest and was working with authorities to prove his innocence.
The couple are divorcing and the house that they once shared is now under quarantine after FBI agents wearing chemical suits searched through it last week. According to court documents, multiple samples taken from the home have tested positive for ricin.
If inhaled, ricin can cause respiratory failure, among other symptoms and if swallowed, it can shut down the liver and other organs, resulting in death. The amount of ricin that can fit on the head of a pin is said to be enough to kill an adult if properly prepared. No antidote is currently available.
Amazingly this is not the first case of its kind this year. In April letters laced with ricin were sent to Obama, a Mississippi senator and a local judge. Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Mississippi, was quickly arrested but charges were dropped and another man was picked up. That man, J Everett Dutschke, was later charged with mailing the letters, but also with trying to frame Curtis – who was described as a local rival.