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CNN Live Saturday
Maine Police Searches Home of Man Linked to Arsenic Poisonings
Aired May 03, 2003 - 16:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Maine today searched the farmhouse of a man linked to an arsenic-laced pot of coffee served last Sunday at a nearby church. A church elder died, 15 others were ill, and now the owner of the farmhouse is dead, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
CNN's Jason Carroll is working this mystery today from Caribou, Maine -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, and a lot of developments in this case today. We are standing in front of Daniel Bondeson's home. If you take a look behind me you can see that investigators are still out here. They are taking samples in that shack that you see there just beyond that yellow truck parked in Bondeson's front driveway.
Earlier today investigators did confirm that a shooting that took place here yesterday at the home is, in fact, related to the arsenic poisoning case at the Gustaf Adolph Evangelical Church.
State police say that Daniel Bondeson is, in fact, a suspect in this case. As you said he did die yesterday of a result of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police are still waiting at this point for autopsy results. Bondeson is a farmer. Police are searching for evidence. They would not indicate what specific type of evidence they are looking for but they did say that the search could take several days.
There are obviously many questions about what happened here, questions about whether or not there's any sort of suicide note that was left behind. Police would not confirm that, only to say that they do have information tying Bondeson to the crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. MICHAEL SPERRY, MAINE STATE POLICE CHIEF: Our troopers were called to the scene of a shooting in Woodland (ph). As a result of that, we have developed information which links that shooting to the death at the church and also the poisoning of the people who were -- who are in the hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Obviously, Fredricka, a lot of people want to know what the motive may have been in all this. Investigators would only say that they have gathered information within the past 24 hours that would lead them to believe what the motive may have been. But at this point, they are not ready to release what that information was -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, Jason, what about those 15 people who were hospitalized? Are many of them still being hospitalized for that poisoning?
CARROLL: At this point, those 15 people that you mentioned are still in the hospital, still receiving treatment to try to flush the arsenic poisoning out of their system -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. It will take some time, as will the results of that autopsy of the man who died of that apparent gunshot wound last night. Thanks very much, Jason.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Poisonings>
Aired May 3, 2003 - 16:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Maine today searched the farmhouse of a man linked to an arsenic-laced pot of coffee served last Sunday at a nearby church. A church elder died, 15 others were ill, and now the owner of the farmhouse is dead, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
CNN's Jason Carroll is working this mystery today from Caribou, Maine -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, and a lot of developments in this case today. We are standing in front of Daniel Bondeson's home. If you take a look behind me you can see that investigators are still out here. They are taking samples in that shack that you see there just beyond that yellow truck parked in Bondeson's front driveway.
Earlier today investigators did confirm that a shooting that took place here yesterday at the home is, in fact, related to the arsenic poisoning case at the Gustaf Adolph Evangelical Church.
State police say that Daniel Bondeson is, in fact, a suspect in this case. As you said he did die yesterday of a result of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police are still waiting at this point for autopsy results. Bondeson is a farmer. Police are searching for evidence. They would not indicate what specific type of evidence they are looking for but they did say that the search could take several days.
There are obviously many questions about what happened here, questions about whether or not there's any sort of suicide note that was left behind. Police would not confirm that, only to say that they do have information tying Bondeson to the crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. MICHAEL SPERRY, MAINE STATE POLICE CHIEF: Our troopers were called to the scene of a shooting in Woodland (ph). As a result of that, we have developed information which links that shooting to the death at the church and also the poisoning of the people who were -- who are in the hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Obviously, Fredricka, a lot of people want to know what the motive may have been in all this. Investigators would only say that they have gathered information within the past 24 hours that would lead them to believe what the motive may have been. But at this point, they are not ready to release what that information was -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, Jason, what about those 15 people who were hospitalized? Are many of them still being hospitalized for that poisoning?
CARROLL: At this point, those 15 people that you mentioned are still in the hospital, still receiving treatment to try to flush the arsenic poisoning out of their system -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. It will take some time, as will the results of that autopsy of the man who died of that apparent gunshot wound last night. Thanks very much, Jason.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Poisonings>
