Poisoned Food Adds Twist to Rampage Case

WINNETKA, Ill. — A woman who went on a deadly shooting rampage at a school first delivered arsenic-tainted juice to at least six homes and poisoned snacks to a pair of Northwestern University fraternities, police said Saturday.

Three people who ate the snacks at Alpha Tau Omega became seriously ill and were taken to Evanston Hospital, Police Chief Herbert Timm said. University and hospital officials said a total of six students were treated and released.

Timm said Laurie Dann, 30, dropped off the drinks laced with arsenic at the doors of six homes in Glencoe, Highland Park and unincorporated Winnetka where she once worked as a baby-sitter.

One Glencoe girl felt ill after sipping the juice but was not taken to a hospital, Timm said. A Highland Park child was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

Laboratory tests showed the juice contained arsenic, Winnetka police Sgt. Gene Kalvaitis said. But he said he did not know how much arsenic was in the juice.

Note Attached

Attached to one of the packages Dann left was a note that read: “Love your little sisters. Enjoy.”

The developments added a bizarre twist to the case. On Friday, Dann walked into Hubbard Woods Elementary School and opened fire, killing an 8-year-old boy and wounding five other children. She later wounded a sixth person at a nearby home where she holed up before killing herself.

Four of the wounded children were listed in critical condition Saturday.

Timm was not sure why Dann delivered the arsenic-laced snacks to the Alpha Tau Omega and Psi Upsilon fraternities, although he said that “she did have a friend at the Northwestern campus.”

At Dann’s Madison, Wis., apartment, the police chief said, authorities found a list of people who received the drinks. They also found two vials of powdered substances and books about poison.

Syringe at Apartment

Timm said police found a syringe at a suburban Chicago apartment where Dann stayed and investigators believed she used that to inject arsenic into the snacks.

Meanwhile, hundreds of parents and children touched by the tragedy gathered at the school Saturday to discuss the shootings and offer prayers for the victims and for Dann. Social workers were on hand to talk privately with them.

Dr. Ira Sloan, chairman of the psychiatry department at Evanston Hospital, said reactions ranged widely. “There were children who were crying,” Sloan said. “There were children helping each other, hugging each other and handing Kleenex to each other. There were children who were angry.”

Police believe that Dann became distraught when a family that hired her to baby-sit said they were leaving Illinois. Before the shootings, she tried to set fire Friday to the family’s home and another school, police said.

The attack Friday was a nightmare for residents of this affluent suburb just north of Chicago. The last murder here, a police sergeant said, took place 31 years ago when an officer was shot.