Cyanide Again

Capsules figure in two cases

When Susan Bowen, 30, was rushed to the hospital after lapsing into a coma in her San Jose, Calif., home, doctors suspected a heart attack or a stroke.

But when hospital tests revealed an "unknown substance" in her blood, Bowen's husband Richard hired a private laboratory to analyze the contents of a bottle of Maximum Strength Anacin-3 capsules he said she had used. Five of the capsules had been tampered with, and one contained cyanide. Richard Bowen retained flamboyant San Francisco Attorney Melvin Belli to sue the maker of Anacin-3, American Home Products Co., for $1 million. But last month Bowen was arrested as a suspect in the crime.

Last week Bowen, 29, a circulation manager for the San Jose Mercury News, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and poisoning of medicine. In a surprise move, Belli introduced Susan Bowen in court in an attempt to obtain his client's release on bail. Unable to speak because of brain-stem damage sustained in the poisoning, Bowen's wife nodded in assent when Santa Clara County Municipal Court Judge Stephen Manley read a written statement in which she said, "I in no way suspect him of trying to injure me." Judge Manley, however, denied bail for Bowen, citing "clear and convincing evidence." San Jose police say they do not believe Anacin-3 capsules played any part in the poisoning.

Some 700 miles north, in Hillsboro, Ore., detectives were keeping "open minds" in their investigation into the death of Patricia Bennett, 31. A campus security officer at Portland Community College, Bennett died last week after swallowing one or more Anacin-3 capsules laced with cyanide. Her death was the first fatal poisoning linked to pain relievers since seven people in the Chicago area died between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1. Meanwhile, American Home Products is voluntarily withdrawing all Anacin-3 capsules not in tamper-resistant containers. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.