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Background: News footage of the hazmat investigation in Madison, Wis. (WMTV). Insets (left to right): Paul Van Duyne and Andrea Whitaker (Dane County Jail).
A Wisconsin couple accused of allegedly attempting to poison the man’s ex-girlfriends with cyanide is at the center of a multiagency investigation that landed several agents in the hospital.
Paul Van Duyne, 43, and Andrea Whitaker, 41, are both in custody at the Dane County Jail after prosecutors charged them with several felonies related to multiple hazmat investigations throughout Wisconsin. Van Duyne is charged with one count of stalking and two counts of attempted first-degree murder; Whitaker is charged with harboring and aiding a felon and one count of attempted first-degree murder.
During Whitaker’s bail hearing on Wednesday, Dane County Assistant District Attorney William Brown told the court that her search history revealed several inquiries about cyanide, including “What does cyanide look like?”
Other alleged searches included “Cyanide lethal dose?” and “Does potassium cyanide cloud water?”
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WMTV, a local NBC affiliate, was in the courtroom for Whitaker’s hearing, during which Brown outlined the charges against her. According to WMTV’s reporting, Brown said that Van Duyne allegedly attempted to kill two of his ex-girlfriends with cyanide and enlisted Whitaker to help him cover up evidence, saying, “It does appear that this defendant and Mr. Van Duyne have started dating and apparently created this plot to kill his ex-girlfriends by poisoning them with cyanide valium poisons.”
Local ABC affiliate WISN was also in the courtroom when Brown revealed Whitaker’s internet search history in court, stating, “‘Does potassium cyanide cloud water?’ ‘Sodium cyanide odor, sodium cyanide.’ Over and over again, she’s searching different kinds of poisons. ‘What does cyanide look like?’ ‘Cyanide lethal dose?'”
Brown reportedly stated that the investigation into Van Duyne’s activities had been going on for more than a month, involving agencies such as the FBI and the Wisconsin National Guard along with the Middleton Police Department, the Rock County Sheriff’s Office, and the Janesville Police Department.
According to Brown, seven agents from the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Department of Criminal Investigation involved with the case were hospitalized after exposure to the substances found while executing a search warrant at three different locations.
While in court, Brown also discussed what happened to two of Van Duyne’s alleged targets. About a month ago, a woman left a Costco in Middleton, Wisconsin, and returned to her car, only to find that it was reportedly surrounded by people who told her the vehicle had been broken into. When she took a drink from a water bottle that she had left in the car, she immediately noticed a strange taste and spit it out.
Brown said that the water bottle was tested at the state’s crime lab, where it was found to contain cyanide.
Brown also cited a case of a woman in Rock County — where Janesville, Wisconsin, is located — who was hospitalized after drinking from a water bottle she kept in her car, where she had reported seeing a powdery substance.
Both women, Brown said, had previously gone on dates with Van Duyne. Brown told the court, “So while it does appear that Mr. Van Duyne was perhaps the actual person that was entering both victims vehicles and putting the cyanide in the water bottles, and in at least Rock County putting cyanide powder in the air vents, I think [Whitaker’s] involvement is absolutely clear in that she is likely the brains of the operation in figuring out how to do this.” Brown noted that Whitaker has an educational background in pharmacology.
Van Duyne was arrested on Sunday in Rock County after he was tracked to the home of the woman who lives in Janesville. Brown said that Van Duyne “forced everyone’s hand” by showing up there after the alleged attempt to poison her.
As for Whitaker, Brown stated that Van Duyne called her while he was in jail to ask her to get evidence out of his home, including a laptop and possibly poisonous substances. Search warrants were executed at both of their home addresses as well as an address Van Duyne had listed on a recent restraining order from May 22.
Whitaker’s bond was set at $750,000 and she was ordered not to have any contact with Van Duyne. Both suspects were scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
