- Born
- Birth nameStella Maudine Stephenson
- Stella Nickell was born in August 1943 in Colton, Oregon, USA. She was previously married to Bruce Edward Nickell and Robert "Bob" Warren Strong.
- SpousesBruce Edward Nickell(September 1976 - June 6, 1986) (his death)Robert "Bob" Warren Strong(June 3, 1964 - 1971) (divorced, 1 child)
- On May 9, 1988 she received a 90-year prison sentence for the murders of her husband and a bank manager. She got the dubious honor of being the first person to be convicted of murder by product tampering (she added cyanide to excedrin tablets).
- Her daughter Cynthia turned states evidence and testified against her mother, for which was rewarded $250,000 of the $300,000 reward money.
- Poisoned her second husband, Bruce, with cyanide-tainted Excedrin capsules, in order to collect the insurance money (some $176,000). When his death was ruled to be from emphysema (a ruling that deprived her from $100,000 of the insurance money), she callously poisoned Susan K. Snow, a 40-year-old bank manager, by placing cyanide in capsules and placing them on a store shelf. This gave her the excuse to have her husband's death re-investigated.
- Has two children, Cynthia Lea (b. October 23, 1959) and Leah Ruth (b. November 4, 1966) - Cynthia is from a teenage relationship and Leah is her daughter with Bob Strong.
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