directly proportional to the amount of arsenic in the sample. the computer-generated results were startling. debbie started receiving small doses of arsenic in may of 1999, and towards the end of july of 1999, she received a large dose, which was approximately 80 times what a normal human being should have in their system of arsenic. this timeline excluded members of sarah smith s family as possible suspects because they had moved to the midwest after sarah s death. investigators had only one other suspect with a possible motive.
and excellent surgeon in buffalo. his mother was a fine person. after the pignataros reconciliation, debbie started to feel ill. i had thought i had the flu for months, just maybe a little case of the flu, because i would get nauseous and vomit and just not be myself. initially, neither her husband nor her doctors knew what to make of it. i was having trouble walking where i couldn t lift my legs. there was numbness in my legs and hands. i diagnosed myodisplastic state, and the neurologist diagnosed other things, the gastroenterologist diagnosed pancreatitis. we didn t know how to put it all
medical license back. he gave debbie poison. she developed gastric symptoms. he then tried to convince her doctors to perform gallbladder surgery that she wouldn t survive. had debbie died during surgery, tony could argue, as he did in sarah smith s case, that people occasionally die in surgery and that he shouldn t have been singled out. and in tony s eyes, that would have vindicated him. see, my own wife died under a doctor s care in a hospital while having surgery, and that s what we felt was his prime motivation. but why didn t she die from the massive dose of arsenic? medical experts say this was miscalculation. when tony gave his wife smaller doses of poison, she developed a tolerance for it, so the higher doses later had less of an effect. i m sure he was thinking, i can t believe she s still alive.
anything that looked suspicious, powdery was taken to be analyzed at the lab and came back negative. detectives interviewed debbie s daughter, since she, too, had some of the same symptoms as her mother. they asked her what she ate on the day she became ill. there was soup left on the kitchen table, and she ate some of it. that night she was vomiting. debbie then remembered an important detail, that tony made the soup that day. he brought me the bowl. and i remember saying, i can t eat all this. he s like, no, eat it, it s good for you. their daughter found some of that soup left over on the stove and took some. to find out exactly how long debbie had been ingesting arsenic, doctors decided to study her hair.
twice, and i couldn t believe my eyes. it looked like something that i remember reading about in medical school. debbie s red blood cells had degenerated, a condition known as karyorrhexis. i ran down to the library and i got out a book on toxicology and i also went on to something called medline on the computer. the medical literature described some possible causes. when her doctor factored in her other symptoms numbness of her hands and legs, disorientation and nausea, the answer became clear. i was able to complete the description of arsenic in my mind, and it fit her perfectly. arsenic is a heavy metal poison and not one you normally encounter. further testing indicated debbie