00:00:04
[music playing]
00:00:06
The patient, Chad Shelton,
is a 74 centimeter long White
00:00:11
male infant.
00:00:12
NARRATOR: When an
11-month-old baby died
00:00:14
under mysterious circumstances,
the autopsy samples
00:00:18
provided few clues,
but the pathologist
00:00:22
noticed something suspicious.
00:00:24
The liver is diffusely
yellow, showing
00:00:27
early signs of necrosis,
which is highly
00:00:29
unusual for a child of his age.
00:00:31
NARRATOR: He had never
seen anything like it.
00:00:34
Tissue samples will be sent
to the lab for further testing.
00:00:39
[music playing]
00:01:03
NARRATOR: Sally
and Bruce Shelton
00:01:05
lived in the quiet Midwestern
town of Omaha, Nebraska.
00:01:09
Omaha had many of
the benefits of life
00:01:12
in a large city with little
of the crime and violence
00:01:15
of other cities its size.
00:01:17
The Sheltons had been
married for about two years.
00:01:20
Sally worked for an
insurance company,
00:01:22
Bruce was a
television repairman.
00:01:25
Most of their free
time was spent
00:01:27
with their 11-month-old
son, Chad, whom they adored.
00:01:31
He was a big, full baby, big
hands, big feet like his daddy.
00:01:36
He looked a lot like his daddy.
00:01:37
But yet, he had some
features of his mama.
00:01:40
Never sick.
00:01:41
He was a real healthy baby,
and a very sweet little baby.
00:01:47
NARRATOR: On Sunday
morning, September 10, 1978,
00:01:51
Sally and Bruce had
a full day planned,
00:01:54
shopping, running
errands, and cleaning
00:01:57
the carpets in their home.
00:01:59
TOMAS GUILLEN: They had
already been cleaning the house
00:02:01
and preparing it for
some new furniture.
00:02:05
They had money, but
they were trying
00:02:06
to buy a piece at a time, just
like any family starting off.
00:02:09
So that day, they were going
to a-- the-- a furniture store
00:02:13
to get new lamps to
spiffy up the apartment.
00:02:17
NARRATOR: After
furniture shopping,
00:02:19
they visited Sally's sister
at a small family gathering.
00:02:22
GROUP: (SINGING)
Happy birthday--
00:02:24
NARRATOR: Attended
a birthday party,
00:02:27
and stopped for tacos at a
drive-thru Mexican restaurant.
00:02:32
Later that night,
11-month-old Chad became ill.
00:02:36
He was pale, lethargic, and had
vomiting so severe his parents
00:02:40
said his entire body shook.
00:02:43
He was rushed to the
Emmanuel Medical Center.
00:02:46
LYNDA DIETRICH:
This is little Chad.
00:02:48
NARRATOR: Lynda Dietrich
was the nurse on duty.
00:02:51
Within hours, Chad was
bleeding from every orifice.
00:02:55
I was terribly alarmed.
00:02:56
He looked like he was
dying in front of me,
00:02:59
like he was just going
to die in front of me.
00:03:03
NARRATOR: Doctors ordered a
full range of blood tests.
00:03:06
Chad's platelet
count was 19,000,
00:03:09
far below the norm of 140,000,
and a blood sugar level of 11,
00:03:16
an indication of
serious liver failure.
00:03:19
Blood was coming out of
the corner of his eyes,
00:03:21
the corner of his nose,
corner of his mouth,
00:03:24
every pore had little bitty
blood just-- just barely
00:03:27
seeping out all over him.
00:03:30
It was horrible to see
something like that.
00:03:35
NARRATOR: Early the next
morning, Chad Shelton's heart
00:03:38
rate dropped to 46
beats per minute,
00:03:40
then dropped even further.
00:03:43
Doctors and nurses
work feverishly
00:03:45
to revive him without success.
00:03:48
Just 48 hours after being
admitted to the hospital,
00:03:51
Chad Shelton died.
00:03:56
DOROTHY SHELTON:
It was terrible.
00:03:57
Really pretty baby.
00:03:59
That baby just started
life, and God took him.
00:04:05
NARRATOR: A few hours
later, another patient
00:04:07
was admitted to the hospital
with the same symptoms.
00:04:11
This time, it was a
25-year-old truck driver.
00:04:15
LYNDA DIETRICH: Something is
terribly, terribly wrong here.
00:04:17
These are two healthy people,
and now, we have a little baby
00:04:21
that's dead, and we have a
25-year-old man that's dying,
00:04:26
and we don't know
what's wrong with them.
00:04:29
NARRATOR: Whatever had
killed Chad Shelton,
00:04:32
doctors now feared
it was spreading.
00:04:39
25-year-old Duane
Johnson was painting
00:04:42
the exterior of his house when
he first started to feel sick.
00:04:46
He had a headache, muscle pain,
chills, diarrhea, and vomiting.
00:04:52
He also developed
a severe nosebleed.
00:04:56
He was taken by
ambulance to Emmanuel
00:04:58
Medical Center,
the same hospital
00:05:00
that treated Chad Shelton.
00:05:03
He was very sick, and he was
obviously bleeding into many
00:05:07
cutaneous surfaces,
i.e., his skin,
00:05:09
and probably bleeding and oozing
into many internal organs.
00:05:13
NARRATOR: A few hours
later, Duane Johnson died.
00:05:19
It was Lynda Dietrich,
Chad Shelton's
00:05:21
nurse, who first discovered
an alarming coincidence.
00:05:26
Duane Johnson was
Chad Shelton's uncle.
00:05:31
My God, what is going on here?
00:05:32
What is killing these people?
00:05:34
What do we have here?
00:05:35
Do we have an
infectious disease?
00:05:37
Is this a new type of virus?
00:05:39
Is this one that we
didn't understand?
00:05:42
Was anybody else
going to catch it?
00:05:45
NARRATOR: Soon, there
were more cases.
00:05:47
Chad's parents, Bruce and
Sally, also had some vomiting.
00:05:51
Duane Johnson's daughter,
Sherry, was also sick and was
00:05:54
admitted to the hospital.
00:05:56
Health officials held
an emergency meeting
00:05:59
to identify the cause of
the mysterious outbreak,
00:06:02
and they called in the
Centers for Disease
00:06:04
Control in Atlanta, Georgia.
00:06:07
Dr. Renate Kimbrough
was the CDC toxicologist
00:06:11
assigned to the investigation.
00:06:13
She knew from the
autopsy results
00:06:15
that whatever killed
these two individuals
00:06:18
did so without leaving a trace,
and affected only the liver.
00:06:23
The people didn't have fever.
00:06:25
Normally, if you have
a very rapid onset
00:06:27
of an infectious
disease, you usually
00:06:30
have fever, often, very
high, and these people
00:06:34
didn't have that.
00:06:35
NARRATOR: Health
officials frantically
00:06:37
searching for clues.
00:06:39
Was it a chemical in
the shampoo Chad's
00:06:42
parents used on their carpets?
00:06:44
Or was it the Mexican food
from the drive-in restaurant?
00:06:47
Chad's mother said the
tacos didn't taste right.
00:06:51
Duane Johnson had been
painting his house.
00:06:53
Was it something in
the paint or the fumes?
00:07:00
During the course of
their investigation,
00:07:02
health officials discovered
that Chad Shelton and Duane
00:07:06
Johnson were together one day
about a week before they died.
00:07:10
It was at a family gathering
at Duane Johnson's home.
00:07:14
The other family members
who developed symptoms
00:07:16
were there too.
00:07:18
Obviously, water
samples were taken,
00:07:20
insulation samples were taken,
soil samples were taken,
00:07:25
paint scrapings were taken.
00:07:27
We took everything that
could possibly have
00:07:29
had an effect on this family.
00:07:32
NARRATOR: A window air
conditioner in Johnson's home
00:07:35
was missing its filter
and sat beneath a tree
00:07:38
used by roasting birds.
00:07:40
Health officials tested
the soil for histoplasma
00:07:43
capsulatum, a
yeast-like fungus caused
00:07:46
by contaminated bird feces.
00:07:51
They also discovered
that lemonade
00:07:53
had been served at the family
gathering at the Johnson home.
00:07:56
Everyone who drank
the lemonade got sick.
00:07:59
The three who did
not stayed well.
00:08:05
Unfortunately, the
lemonade was gone,
00:08:07
and the lemonade
picture had been washed.
00:08:11
Tests on the tap water,
the lemonade mix, and sugar
00:08:15
used to make the lemonade
were all negative,
00:08:18
and the soil outside
the Johnson's home
00:08:20
did not contain the fungus
from contaminated bird feces.
00:08:26
Sherry Johnson,
Duane's daughter,
00:08:28
survived her brush with the
mysterious illness thanks
00:08:31
to a blood transfusion, but she
suffered serious liver damage.
00:08:37
As Dr. Kimbrough continued to
analyze the autopsy slides,
00:08:41
she was baffled.
00:08:43
She had never seen such damage
to human liver tissue before.
00:08:47
But when she looked through
her pathology textbooks,
00:08:50
she noticed a photograph that
looked surprisingly similar.
00:08:55
It was liver tissue
of an individual who
00:08:58
had been poisoned with
a cancer-causing agent,
00:09:02
dimethylnitrosamine, or DMN.
00:09:06
DMN is a cancer-causing
agent given
00:09:10
to animals in cancer research.
00:09:12
It was water-soluble,
highly toxic,
00:09:16
and affects only
the liver, and would
00:09:18
leave no trace in an autopsy.
00:09:22
Dr. Kimbrough now
suspected foul play.
00:09:26
She told police to look
for some connection
00:09:29
between the family
and someone who worked
00:09:32
in a cancer research facility.
00:09:35
She suspected Chad
Shelton and Duane
00:09:38
Johnson had been murdered.
00:09:44
Dr. Renate Kimbrough suspected
the Chad Shelton and Duane
00:09:48
Johnson had been
poisoned with DMN,
00:09:51
a compound used to
cause cancer in animals.
00:09:55
She suspected that the
toxin was in the lemonade.
00:09:59
Everyone who consumed
lemonade that day
00:10:01
either got sick or died.
00:10:04
But there was no proof.
00:10:06
The lemonade was gone,
and the pitcher washed.
00:10:10
Things just don't
happen like that to me.
00:10:14
And so I thought,
we oughta look.
00:10:15
It just didn't fit.
00:10:17
NARRATOR: Burchard interviewed
the surviving family members,
00:10:21
including Duane
Johnson's wife, Sandy,
00:10:23
asking if they knew
of anyone who held
00:10:26
a grudge against their family.
00:10:28
They all said no.
00:10:31
On a hunch, Burchard searched
the police computer database,
00:10:35
entering the name of Duane
Johnson, and when he did,
00:10:40
he found a surprise.
00:10:46
Three years earlier, when
Duane and Sandy Johnson
00:10:48
were newlyweds, there
was a confrontation
00:10:51
outside their home with
an armed assailant.
00:10:59
[gun firing]
00:11:00
Sandy's brother was
wounded in the shoulder.
00:11:05
Another shot went
through a front window.
00:11:08
Get out of here!
00:11:09
Get out!
00:11:10
Get out of here!
00:11:12
NARRATOR: The shooter
was an old boyfriend
00:11:13
of Sandy's, angry with Duane
for stealing his girlfriend.
00:11:17
His name was Steven Roy Harper.
00:11:21
Steven Harper met Sandy
Johnson in high school.
00:11:24
Sandy was a popular,
pretty, blue-eyed blonde.
00:11:27
Harper was an honor student,
quiet and the loner who planned
00:11:31
to become a veterinarian.
00:11:33
Sandy Johnson was
Harper's first girlfriend.
00:11:37
Harper was shy around girls.
00:11:39
As a child, he was
severely burned
00:11:41
in a house fire which
left him with scars,
00:11:44
both physical and psychological.
00:11:47
He always felt self-conscious
about that and he never dated.
00:11:51
So very much, when Sandy comes
along, one love, and that's it.
00:11:57
NARRATOR: After
the attack in 1975,
00:12:01
Harper was arrested, pleaded
no contest to the shooting,
00:12:04
and was sentenced
to up to five years
00:12:06
in the state penitentiary.
00:12:08
But Lieutenant Burchard soon
discovered that Harper served
00:12:12
only one year of that sentence.
00:12:15
After Harper was
released from prison,
00:12:18
he took a job as
a lab technician
00:12:21
at the Eppley Cancer Institute.
00:12:25
I thought, well, maybe
this isn't so far-fetched.
00:12:28
Maybe I'm really right.
00:12:30
And it scared me.
00:12:32
NARRATOR: Police
obtained a search
00:12:34
warrant for Harper's home.
00:12:35
In the garage, they found
evidence of animal experiments.
00:12:41
A local veterinarian told
police that a month before Duane
00:12:44
Johnson and Chad
Shelton died, he treated
00:12:48
Steven Harper's dog and cat.
00:12:50
They both had
unexplained bleeding,
00:12:53
and both animals died.
00:12:56
And it was exactly what
happened to Duane Johnson.
00:12:58
And that-- that really convinced
me that this was our boy.
00:13:02
NARRATOR: But police
had a problem.
00:13:04
They had plenty of
circumstantial evidence
00:13:07
linking Harper to
the poisonings,
00:13:09
but they had no
scientific proof.
00:13:13
DMN is rapidly
metabolized in the body
00:13:17
and excreted within
hours of ingestion,
00:13:20
so there was no trace of
it in any of the victims.
00:13:23
There was, in effect,
no murder weapon.
00:13:27
We had a whole bunch of
theories and suppositions
00:13:30
and no evidence is
where we were at.
00:13:32
We had to some--
00:13:33
in some other way, prove
that DMN had been there.
00:13:39
NARRATOR: At the University
of California at Irvine,
00:13:42
Dr. Ronald Shank, a
cancer researcher,
00:13:45
had been conducting
animal experiments,
00:13:47
looking at how
cancer-causing agents,
00:13:50
like DMN, altered the DNA.
00:13:53
Dimethylnitrosamine attacks
the DNA of the liver cell
00:13:58
and it leaves a chemical
footprint on the DNA.
00:14:02
That footprint will lead to
a mutation which causes--
00:14:06
it starts the cancer process.
00:14:09
NARRATOR: Dr. Kimbrough
asked Ronald Shank
00:14:12
if you would try
something he had
00:14:13
never done before, to conduct
his first human experiment.
00:14:18
She sent eight coded samples
of liver and kidney tissue
00:14:22
in order to conduct
a blind test.
00:14:24
One of the samples
belonged to Duane Johnson,
00:14:27
although Dr. Shank
had no idea which one.
00:14:31
High performance liquid
chromatography separated
00:14:34
the various components of
the DNA and the computer
00:14:38
charted those components
visualized on a graph.
00:14:42
DNA from seven of
the eight liver samples
00:14:47
was completely normal.
00:14:49
One liver sample had DNA
that gave us two extra peaks
00:14:54
in the liquid chromatography.
00:14:56
Those two extra peaks
were identical to what
00:15:00
you would see if the
individual had been
00:15:03
exposed to dimethylnitrosamine.
00:15:06
NARRATOR: The liver sample
belonged to Duane Johnson.
00:15:11
That's what Shank and
Kimbrough did for us.
00:15:14
he proved it beyond
a reasonable doubt
00:15:16
that this was the substance
used to the exclusion
00:15:19
of any other known
substance in the world.
00:15:22
NARRATOR: Science provided
the murder weapon.
00:15:26
Other evidence would provide
the full picture of Steven
00:15:30
Harper's deranged mind.
00:15:35
[music playing]
00:15:42
What are you doing here?
00:15:43
I wanna talk to Duane.
00:15:44
No.
00:15:45
I wanna talk to Duane.
00:15:46
No, Steve.
00:15:47
[screams]
00:15:48
[gun firing]
00:15:50
NARRATOR: When Steven Harper
opened fire on the Johnson
00:15:52
family in 1975, he was consumed
with both jealousy and rage
00:15:57
over Sandy Johnson's rejection.
00:16:03
With Harper in prison
for the shooting,
00:16:05
his bizarre behavior continued.
00:16:08
He mailed these pictures
depicting Sandy as a witch
00:16:11
to her home.
00:16:13
Initially, Sandy
Johnson couldn't believe
00:16:16
that her old boyfriend
was capable of murder,
00:16:18
which explains why
she didn't identify
00:16:21
him as a possible suspect.
00:16:23
Their unusual relationship
was the focus of Thomas
00:16:26
Guillen's book, "Toxic Love."
00:16:29
She had painted the former
boyfriend, Steven Harper,
00:16:32
as a very peaceful person,
as a very loving person,
00:16:36
as a very good boyfriend.
00:16:38
"He was not prone to
violence," quote unquote.
00:16:41
That sort of portrayal.
00:16:44
Very puzzling, very perplexing.
00:16:47
Why would she do that?
00:16:48
I don't know.
00:16:49
NARRATOR: After prison,
Harper took a job
00:16:52
at the Eppley Cancer Institute.
00:16:55
Published reports say it
was here where Harper first
00:16:59
learned about the deadly DMN.
00:17:02
A newspaper article had
been posted on the company's
00:17:05
bulletin board describing
how a German chemist
00:17:08
killed his wife by putting
DMN in her marmalade.
00:17:17
Authorities believe that
Harper confiscated DMN
00:17:21
from a locked
refrigerator in the lab
00:17:24
and experimented at home
to find the correct dosage.
00:17:31
Harper confided to
a friend that he
00:17:34
broke into Sandy and
Duane's home on a Thursday
00:17:37
night when no one was there.
00:17:47
He poured the DMN in
a pitcher of lemonade
00:17:51
he found in the refrigerator.
00:17:53
[music playing]
00:18:08
The following Sunday
afternoon, the Johnsons,
00:18:11
Sheltons, and the grandparents
all gathered for what
00:18:15
would be their last
family get together.
00:18:19
Duane had been painting
outside and had
00:18:22
two large glasses of the
lemonade to quench his thirst.
00:18:27
11-month-old Chad had
some lemonade in his cup.
00:18:31
Sandy's parents did
not drink the lemonade
00:18:34
and were drinking
coffee instead.
00:18:37
Ironically, the presumed target
of the sabotage, Sandy Johnson,
00:18:42
didn't like lemonade and
drank something else.
00:18:49
Duane died because he ingested
two full glasses of lemonade,
00:18:53
more than the others.
00:18:56
Chad was simply too small for
his system to handle the toxin.
00:19:01
Steven Harper was
convicted of two counts
00:19:04
of first degree murder and
three counts of poisoning
00:19:07
with intent to kill.
00:19:09
He was sentenced to death
in the electric chair.
00:19:12
But before that
could happen, Harper
00:19:15
committed suicide in his cell.
00:19:18
Saddest story that
you can ever think of.
00:19:20
It was sad enough that a child
dies, that people get poisoned,
00:19:23
but you have this plot
of murder by cancer,
00:19:27
but you have living victims.
00:19:30
And his plot to kill with
cancer may still come to pass.
00:19:36
NARRATOR: Sherry
Johnson was two years
00:19:38
old when she ingested the DMN.
00:19:41
Although a blood
transfusion saved her life,
00:19:44
she suffers chronic liver
problems to this day.
00:19:48
Bruce Shelton was so distraught
over the murder of his son,
00:19:52
Chad, and consumed by the fear
that he would develop cancer
00:19:57
that he lost his job, descended
into a life of alcoholism,
00:20:02
and died homeless
at the age of 38.
00:20:06
He was buried beside the
infant son he mourned.
00:20:11
His wife, Sally, remarried
and reportedly refused
00:20:15
to have more children for
fear she would develop cancer
00:20:18
and not be alive to raise them.
00:20:21
That was the
most ingenious way
00:20:22
to commit the perfect crime,
to commit the perfect murder.
00:20:27
Give somebody something that
nobody will suspect, where they
00:20:30
died years later of cancer.
00:20:32
And you can't detect it.
00:20:34
NARRATOR: And without
scientific evidence,
00:20:37
the case against Steven Harper
might never have been proven.
00:20:42
I've spent my
whole career trying
00:20:44
to find out how chemicals
cause cancer and try
00:20:48
to prevent that process.
00:20:50
And it bothers me
that there would
00:20:53
be people out there who would
take a chemical like that
00:20:57
and use it to--
00:20:58
to try to cause cancer.
00:21:00
It's a-- a very sick thing.
00:21:03
[music playing]
