'Forms cyanide in the body': Woman dosed multiple people with poisonous chemical and killed 2, police say

Background: The rural road where Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina (Google Maps). Inset: Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel (North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation).

A North Carolina woman is accused of slipping a deadly chemical into the drinks of at least three people, killing one — and authorities say this isn't the first time she has committed murder.

Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, 52, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the 2025 death of 32-year-old Leela Livis, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation announced in a statement.

Officials say that the investigation unearthed information about a decades-old slaying, adding a second murder charge to the case against Casper-Leinenkugel.

"During the course of the investigation, Detectives located evidence linking Casper-Leinenkugel to the murder of Michael Schmidt that occurred in Henderson County in 2007," the NCSBI statement said.

The woman, who had reportedly previously opened a restaurant in Asheville, is also charged with two counts of attempted murder, state officials said, as well as three counts of distribution of prohibited food or beverage.

"[T]he defendant unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did knowingly distributed or otherwise caused to be placed in a position of human accessibility or ingestion a beverage which contained a poisonous chemical, acetonitrile, which might cause death or serious physical injury," an arrest warrant reviewed by Law&Crime said. Acetonitrile is a chemical solvent used for a variety of purposes, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides and batteries.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, acetonitrile "forms cyanide in the body" and can result in "delayed toxicity."

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The defendant was the subject of a 2016 story on local news website Mountain Xpress about the opening of her restaurant, Patton Public House, in nearby Asheville.

According to that story, Casper-Leinenkugel had opened "six restaurants and bars across the country."

Court records show that a judge denied Casper-Leinenkugel's request for release, and that she is currently being held at the Henderson County Detention Facility. No future court date was indicated.