WA WA - Seattle, WhtFem 30-50, 159UFWA, alias 'Mary Anderson', copper IUD, breast surgery scars, Oct'96

[sasha17]

I went back and listened to the episode of this case on the Unresolved Podcast and one of the suggestions is she could’ve been a spy that lived in the United States or Canada her whole life but had relatives in other countries. I then found that Othram said her origins traced back to Eastern Iran or Afghanistan, and she may be of Persian descent. Is it possible this woman was a spy for Iran or Afghanistan? And decided to take her own life because she felt bad about what she was doing? I know it says they traced her origins to those countries which can be mean several things but i can’t help put wonder if this woman didn’t do some sort of work for one of those countries at one time or another.

It sounds like a fictional spy thriller but I suppose anything is possible. It could explain how she got cyanide. Suicide pill - Wikipedia

 

[Friday Fan]

It sounds like a fictional spy thriller but I suppose anything is possible. It could explain how she got cyanide. Suicide pill - Wikipedia

Cyanide used to be fairly easy to obtain.


This HS student bought it from a chemical supply in Kentucky.

Deadly But Legal: Poison On The Web

Police Say Teen Killed Romantic Rival With Cyanide Bought On Web

www.cbsnews.com

There was also a woman in Seattle (of all places), who poisoned her husband and some other people with Algae Destroyer. She laced their Excedrin capsules with it. One pill and they died right there on the spot. Boom.

"Forensic Files" Something's Fishy (TV Episode 1997) ⭐ 7.8 | Documentary, Crime

21m | TV-14

www.imdb.com

 

[lonewanderer]

Cyanide used to be fairly easy to obtain.


This HS student bought it from a chemical supply in Kentucky.

Deadly But Legal: Poison On The Web

Police Say Teen Killed Romantic Rival With Cyanide Bought On Web

www.cbsnews.com

There was also a woman in Seattle (of all places), who poisoned her husband and some other people with Algae Destroyer. She laced their Excedrin capsules with it. One pill and they died right there on the spot. Boom.

"Forensic Files" Something's Fishy (TV Episode 1997) ⭐ 7.8 | Documentary, Crime

21m | TV-14

www.imdb.com

The unidentified man that left the name William L. Toomie took cyanide in the 80s.

The Iceman also used cyanide quite a bit, and the Tylenol murders were cyanide, weren’t there?

 

[Friday Fan]

The unidentified man that left the name William L. Toomie took cyanide in the 80s.

The Iceman also used cyanide quite a bit, and the Tylenol murders were cyanide, weren’t there?

Yes, the Tylenol murders were cyanide.

Just pointing out that cyanide wasn't all that hard to obtain at the time. The algae destroyer contained cyanide. I don't know if it still does. I worked with potassium cyanide while I was in college (1975). I see that KCN is still available online to labs, industry and universities etc.

And here's a HS student who ingested it:

LAB ACCESS REVIEWED AFTER CYANIDE SCARE

Downers Grove South High School will review its laboratory safety procedures and rules for student access to chemicals after a student’s ingestion of a potentially lethal chemical at the scho…

www.chicagotribune.com

This here was recent:

UM lab stands by policies after potassium cyanide goes missing

It’s been almost two months since University of Montana police sounded the alert – someone took a vial of a lethal poison from a University of Montana research lab. University of Montana Facebook post on missing potassium cyanide Investig

nbcmontana.com

hhhmmm (did she work at a university or a lab somewhere?)

 

[Queena]

I went back and listened to the episode of this case on the Unresolved Podcast and one of the suggestions is she could’ve been a spy that lived in the United States or Canada her whole life but had relatives in other countries. I then found that Othram said her origins traced back to Eastern Iran or Afghanistan, and she may be of Persian descent. Is it possible this woman was a spy for Iran or Afghanistan? And decided to take her own life because she felt bad about what she was doing? I know it says they traced her origins to those countries which can be mean several things but i can’t help put wonder if this woman didn’t do some sort of work for one of those countries at one time or another.

That would certainly be a good possibility. I used to think that it was like the movies, a spy clean up crew comes and retrieves all they can to not blow the cover.

The unidentified man that left the name William L. Toomie took cyanide in the 80s.

The Iceman also used cyanide quite a bit, and the Tylenol murders were cyanide, weren’t there?

I was thinking about him. I wonder if there's any DNA left to test.


The Tylenol murders, a crime that's never been officially solved. There's a great documentary or podcast on the murders.

 

[Tired Professor]

The unidentified man that left the name William L. Toomie took cyanide in the 80s.

The Iceman also used cyanide quite a bit, and the Tylenol murders were cyanide, weren’t there?

There is also the case of “Paul Deering” (LAX John Doe) who died using Cyanide just 3 years before “Mary”.

CA - CA - Los Angeles, WhtMale 30-45, UP3713, cyanide suicide in hotel room, Oct'93

But if so, why are we not seeing a missing person’s report? This makes me think that maybe he’s foreign. I get that the report could have been lost, but being foreign might also explain why anyone close to him has yet to locate him. Yes being foreign is an option but let’s be honest, it’s far...

www.websleuths.com

I think someone on that thread mentioned that jewelers use cyanide, or maybe did back then?

 

[Susikatze]

Yes, the Tylenol murders were cyanide.

Just pointing out that cyanide wasn't all that hard to obtain at the time. The algae destroyer contained cyanide. I don't know if it still does. I worked with potassium cyanide while I was in college (1975). I see that KCN is still available online to labs, industry and universities etc.

And here's a HS student who ingested it:

LAB ACCESS REVIEWED AFTER CYANIDE SCARE

Downers Grove South High School will review its laboratory safety procedures and rules for student access to chemicals after a student’s ingestion of a potentially lethal chemical at the scho…

www.chicagotribune.com

This here was recent:

UM lab stands by policies after potassium cyanide goes missing

It’s been almost two months since University of Montana police sounded the alert – someone took a vial of a lethal poison from a University of Montana research lab. University of Montana Facebook post on missing potassium cyanide Investig

nbcmontana.com

hhhmmm (did she work at a university or a lab somewhere?)

She could have worked in the medical field or knew people who did. Many exile Iranians in the US used to work in the medical field. She could have been a doctor, chemist, nurse or she may have been married to one. Also I am sure that there are easy ways to obtain it somewhere if you really want.

 

[Friday Fan]

She could have worked in the medical field or knew people who did. Many exile Iranians in the US used to work in the medical field. She could have been a doctor, chemist, nurse or she may have been married to one. Also I am sure that there are easy ways to obtain it somewhere if you really want.

Many were engineering students where I went to school. However, I went to a small school, which didn't have a medical school. The was prerevolution.

I think cyanide is/was available wherever chemicals are used.

I had a part time job working in the chemistry lab at two year college. The cyanide would have been a reagent used in upcoming lab experiments to likely identify a particular compound. This would be for either freshmen chemistry, organic chem (2nd year class) or analytic chem (2nd year class). I can't remember what it was used for. The guy I worked with told me there was enough cyanide in the container to kill everyone within entire city.

 

[its.evey]

I went back and listened to the episode of this case on the Unresolved Podcast and one of the suggestions is she could’ve been a spy that lived in the United States or Canada her whole life but had relatives in other countries. I then found that Othram said her origins traced back to Eastern Iran or Afghanistan, and she may be of Persian descent. Is it possible this woman was a spy for Iran or Afghanistan? And decided to take her own life because she felt bad about what she was doing? I know it says they traced her origins to those countries which can be mean several things but i can’t help put wonder if this woman didn’t do some sort of work for one of those countries at one time or another.

Do you know why they suggested her being a spy? Sorry, I haven't listened to the podcast.

 

[Hollyllennoco]

Yes, the Tylenol murders were cyanide.

Just pointing out that cyanide wasn't all that hard to obtain at the time. The algae destroyer contained cyanide. I don't know if it still does. I worked with potassium cyanide while I was in college (1975). I see that KCN is still available online to labs, industry and universities etc.

And here's a HS student who ingested it:

LAB ACCESS REVIEWED AFTER CYANIDE SCARE

Downers Grove South High School will review its laboratory safety procedures and rules for student access to chemicals after a student’s ingestion of a potentially lethal chemical at the scho…

www.chicagotribune.com

This here was recent:

UM lab stands by policies after potassium cyanide goes missing

It’s been almost two months since University of Montana police sounded the alert – someone took a vial of a lethal poison from a University of Montana research lab. University of Montana Facebook post on missing potassium cyanide Investig

nbcmontana.com

hhhmmm (did she work at a university or a lab somewhere?)

Algae destroyer did NOT contain cyanide! The woman had mixed the cyanide in the same pill crusher as the algae destroyer tablets which is what led to her arrest.

 

[Hausos]

All the theories and discourse are rather unique. I may come across as rude for saying so but this case is pretty simple… an Iranian (or Armenian?) women who was likely suffering depression/a mental health condition or a bad home life, etc, commits suicide and makes sure she can’t be tracked down so her family doesn’t know. I think it’s really this simple.

The Bible is interesting. She could be Armenian. Imo it’s just as likely she’s Iranian because a lot of Iranians revoke Islam when coming to the west, are irreligious, or convert to other religions.

She just hasn’t been given an identity yet because there’s not a lot of MENA people taking DNA tests.

 

[sasha17]

All the theories and discourse are rather unique. I may come across as rude for saying so but this case is pretty simple… an Iranian (or Armenian?) women who was likely suffering depression/a mental health condition or a bad home life, etc, commits suicide and makes sure she can’t be tracked down so her family doesn’t know. I think it’s really this simple.

SBM. I tend to agree with you but the confusing list of items she brought with her is what throws me. A kitchen bowl? Black leather gloves? An iron (even though her outfits were velour)? Just seems like an odd combo of things.

 

[Hausos]

SBM. I tend to agree with you but the confusing list of items she brought with her is what throws me. A kitchen bowl? Black leather gloves? An iron (even though her outfits were velour)? Just seems like an odd combo of things.

Yeah, the list of items is a bit strange but overall not too much. Maybe the iron had a steaming function — you can steam velour. The kitchen bowl is weird, yes. The rest — makeup, outfits, gloves, etcetera… Iranian and Armenian women are known to be very glamorous and take good care of their looks. I think she came to Washington to tend to some business and kill herself. I think she’s not from Washington, but from either New York, Canada, or even California.

For some reason I remembered a sad story (the Shafia family murders) in which an Afghan woman was married to her husband who eventually ended up getting another wife as his first wife turned out to be infertile. The first wife was basically kept as a maid and didn’t have freedoms and wasn’t really treated with dignity. This story has obviously no relation to our Mary Anderson butttt the “never giving birth” gave me pause because if Mary truly is Iranian, it’s not very common for women to never have given birth in that part of the world. Especially in her generation. So I do wonder what kind of life she led... maybe she had health issues… maybe there was relationship troubles… she clearly had enough of the world to commit suicide… and she never wanted anyone close to her to know that she did.

edit: just wanted to add another one of my personal opinions but I’m always conflicted with suicide threads such as these where it is made clear that the victim doesn’t want to be identified. This woman has so much speculation and discourse surrounding her. I always felt it was better to respect the dead and their wishes. She didn’t want to be identified for a reason — meanwhile there are countless of Jane and John Does who are victims of tragic murders, torture, kidnappings, etc that don’t get as much attention/sleuthing.

 

[sasha17]

edit: just wanted to add another one of my personal opinions but I’m always conflicted with suicide threads such as these where it is made clear that the victim doesn’t want to be identified. This woman has so much speculation and discourse surrounding her. I always felt it was better to respect the dead and their wishes. She didn’t want to be identified for a reason — meanwhile there are countless of Jane and John Does who are victims of tragic murders, torture, kidnappings, etc that don’t get as much attention/sleuthing.

SBM. I know what you mean and I've thought about this before, too. Personally, I'd love for her to be identified and her family notified but if the family chooses to keep that private and not make it public, that would be perfectly fine. I'm thinking of Lyle Stevik. Similar situation with an unidentified man who died by suicide in a hotel. He was eventually identified by DNA Doe Project but the family chose to keep the ID private. Seems like a good compromise to get some answers to the people who might need it (the family) but also finally close the case.

 

[Friday Fan]

All the theories and discourse are rather unique. I may come across as rude for saying so but this case is pretty simple… an Iranian (or Armenian?) women who was likely suffering depression/a mental health condition or a bad home life, etc, commits suicide and makes sure she can’t be tracked down so her family doesn’t know. I think it’s really this simple.

The Bible is interesting. She could be Armenian. Imo it’s just as likely she’s Iranian because a lot of Iranians revoke Islam when coming to the west, are irreligious, or convert to other religions.

She just hasn’t been given an identity yet because there’s not a lot of MENA people taking DNA tests.

Her DNA is not consistent with Armenian, unless it's a bad sample or bad company. They have her in NE Iran bordering Afghanistan. I'm Armenian and my DNA comes back only 6% Iranian. I'm sure Armenians from Iran score higher, but the Afghan border just seems too "off" to be Armenian.

 

[sunflowermomma]

Kitchen bowl could indicate a some kind of religious practice/ritual related to washing/cleansing? In my limited knowledge of religions i know both Judaism and Islam use water for mikvah and wudu, respectively, and perhaps other rituals? When traveling, I know there are "workarounds" or different ways of cleansing than you might do at home with all your readily available supplies.

Example of someone using a kitchen bowl for wudu. The bible is in every hotel room and could have been another decoy, like the fake name.

 

[azure]

Kitchen bowl could indicate a some kind of religious practice/ritual related to washing/cleansing? In my limited knowledge of religions i know both Judaism and Islam use water for mikvah and wudu, respectively, and perhaps other rituals? When traveling, I know there are "workarounds" or different ways of cleansing than you might do at home with all your readily available supplies.

Example of someone using a kitchen bowl for wudu. The bible is in every hotel room and could have been another decoy, like the fake name.

I'm not sure this works with the 'large black bible laying across her chest'.

Maybe this is a pedantic guess, but she was planning to poison herself, maybe she bought the bowl to be sick in?

 

[mp_1989]

I was so sure othram would solve this earlier as her case has been fully funded for years - my guess is either no good database hits or family contacted and not sure whether they want to go public

 

[mp_1989]

Or the family that were found aren’t quite sure how she fits in to their genetic tree themselves

 

[GatorFL]

I was so sure othram would solve this earlier as her case has been fully funded for years - my guess is either no good database hits or family contacted and not sure whether they want to go public

When they ID and the family wants her name to be kept anonymous they typically announce that.

They're stuck.