In the fall of 1988, Peggy Carr, her son Duane Dubberly, and her stepson Travis Carr became violently ill inside their rural Florida home. The symptoms were strange and terrifying: severe nerve pain, numbness, weakness, trouble walking, and eventually, hair loss. Doctors discovered they had been exposed to thallium, a rare and deadly heavy metal.
The source was even more disturbing. Someone had carefully opened glass bottles of Coca-Cola, added thallium, resealed the caps, and placed the bottles inside the Carr home. Peggy died after spending more than four months in a coma. Six other members of the household were also poisoned, including a young child.
The investigation pointed to George Trepal, the Carr family's next-door neighbor. He had chemistry knowledge, a history of disputes with the family, and a bottle-capping machine in his garage. We cover the poisoning, the undercover operation that gave investigators access to Trepal's home, the trial, and the later questions about FBI testimony that did not overturn his conviction.
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SOURCES:
https://law.justia.com/cases/florida/supreme-court/1993/77667-0.html
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-supreme-court/1378976.html
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-11th-circuit/1606616.html
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/capitalcases/inmatedetails7d85.html?IID=403
https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/special/9704a/21trepal.htm
https://supremecourt.flcourts.gov/content/download/345265/file/01-2267_petition.pdf
https://www.flsheriffs.org/uploads/apb/ALL_POINTS_BULLETIN%2C_VOL_1%2C_NO_3%2C_1991.pdf
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/05/01/Poisoning-suspect-had-staged-murder-party/4393641534400/
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1990/04/08/sebring-man-arrested-in-fatal-cola-tampering/
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1990/08/26/suspect-used-poison-before-officials-say/
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1991/02/05/fatal-cola-tampering-case-goes-to-jury/
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1991/02/06/man-guilty-of-murder-in-poisoning-of-neighbors/
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1991/03/08/family-s-bitterness-persists-despite-death-sentence-for-man/
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1995/09/17/murder-on-the-mind/
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/04/16/u-s-probe-fbi-lab-work-flawed-florida-convictions/
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2000/10/27/judge-calls-fbi-agent-s-work-sloppy-but-death-verdict-stands/
https://books.google.com/books/about/Poison_Mind.html?id=jkoR8UN8-PIC
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38420185/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8249271/
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