NC - Restaurant owner charged with murdering 2 people by putting poison in their drinks - Hendersonville, Jan 2026

[Clearsky]

Former Restaurant Owner Charged with Murder On Allegations She Slipped Deadly Poison into Someone's Drink

Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, 52, allegedly put a clear, colorless solvent with a sweet-smelling odor into four people’s drinks, authorities allege.

people.com

On Friday, Jan. 16, Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, 52, of Hendersonville, was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the death of Leela Livis, 32, on Dec. 1, 2025, and with the attempted murders of Richard Pegg and Mia Lacey, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) said in a statement.

 

[Spectrix]

What an interesting crime.
I'm keen to find out what connection she had with the victims, as well as motive.

From the article above -

Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, 52, was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the death of Leela Livis, 32, on Dec. 1, 2025, and with the attempted murders of Richard Pegg and Mia Lacey, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) said in a statement.

Detectives also found evidence allegedly linking Casper-Leinenkugel to the 2007 death of Michael Schmidt in Henderson County the SBI alleged in the statement.

Acetonitrile, according to the EPA, is a clear, colorless liquid “with a sweet ethereal odor” that is used mainly as a solvent in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, for spinning fibers and for the casting and molding of plastic materials in lithium batteries.

According to the NIH, acetonitrile is slowly converted to cyanide, which results in “delayed toxicity.”

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[azure]

What an interesting crime.
I'm keen to find out what connection she had with the victims, as well as motive.

From the article above -

Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, 52, was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the death of Leela Livis, 32, on Dec. 1, 2025, and with the attempted murders of Richard Pegg and Mia Lacey, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) said in a statement.

Detectives also found evidence allegedly linking Casper-Leinenkugel to the 2007 death of Michael Schmidt in Henderson County the SBI alleged in the statement.

Acetonitrile, according to the EPA, is a clear, colorless liquid “with a sweet ethereal odor” that is used mainly as a solvent in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, for spinning fibers and for the casting and molding of plastic materials in lithium batteries.

According to the NIH, acetonitrile is slowly converted to cyanide, which results in “delayed toxicity.”

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Leela Livis is the suspect's daughter! And the surviving victims are the daughter's boyfriend and the suspect's other daughter!

killing daughter with poisonous chemical

Officials said the woman was linked to two separate murder cases that took place in 2025 and 2007.

www.foxcarolina.com

In Tuesday’s bond hearing, the state said Casper-Leinenkugel held a 12-person Thanksgiving dinner in Nov. 2025 where she poisoned the wine that her daughter, Leela Livis, another daughter and the her daughter’s boyfriend were drinking. All three drank from the same bottle poisoned with acetonitrile.

 

[Spectrix]

People please, y'all need to stop killing your children. What's the point of giving them the gift of life in the first place if you're going to take it away again?

 

[Scatcat]

Just nuts, but fascinating!

 

[Stunned]

This is all pretty local to me and this is the first I'm hearing about it! How awful for this family and everyone involved!

 

[scaredtopost]

Maybe it's just the closeness of the picture, but this lady looks super scary. JMO

 

[MissPie]

This is all pretty local to me and this is the first I'm hearing about it! How awful for this family and everyone involved!

Ditto! There sure wasn’t anything in the local news that I saw. Weird.