Antidote may have saved lives in church poisoning

NEW SWEDEN, Maine -- The church poisonings that killed an elderly man this week could have been far worse without an arsenic antidote stockpiled after the Sept. 11 attacks, health officials said Friday.

Fifteen other people were sickened by drinking arsenic-laced coffee after Sunday's service at Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church. Two remained in critical condition Friday at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Also Friday, a man affiliated with the church was found shot at his home in Woodland, the next town over, police said. Daniel Bondeson, 53, died after being taken into surgery at Cary Medical Center in Caribou, the hospital reported. It was not known how the shooting occurred.

Investigators were obtaining a warrant and planned to begin a search of his farmhouse today. Police said they were looking into possible links between the shooting and the poisonings.

Health officials said lives may have been saved because of quick access to the antidote purchased with federal bioterrorism grants. The antidote was in Portland and was quickly shipped to northern Maine.

"Having a stockpile of chemical antidotes may very well have been life-saving," said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health.

State police have declared Monday's death of church caretaker Walter Reid Morrill, 78, a homicide. They said they have no suspects or motive.

Investigators fanned out across this tiny farming town Friday, requesting fingerprint and DNA samples from all 50 church members. They also asked for help from the FBI in profiling the killer.

State Police Lt. Dennis Appleton said detectives don't know how or when the coffee arrived at the church, but the percolator was last used about two weeks ago. The person who brewed the coffee was among those who was stricken.

Appleton said investigators' initial thoughts are that the killer came from within New Sweden community, population 621.

TV satellite trucks were parked outside the church and a sign outside the town office building said the planning board meeting had been canceled due to "events in the community."

"It's almost like it's a dream. It's something that's happening in New Sweden but you can't believe it," said Steve Boody, who was filling in as the elementary school bus driver for the regular driver, who was in the hospital from arsenic poisoning. "It's like you hope to wake up and see that it's not happening."

Sara Anderson, co-owner of the Northstar Variety store, said it is unsettling to think somebody in the community could be responsible. "In the back of your mind, you keep hoping it's not somebody from here," she said.

About two dozen people attended a prayer service for victims, family members and New Sweden residents in nearby Caribou. Lutheran ministers said there would be another gathering Saturday and they invited people to come to Gustaf Adolph on Sunday to "reclaim" the site.