Missouri woman accused of spiking husband’s Mountain Dew with poisonous weed killer
A Lebanon, Missouri woman accused of poisoning her husband’s Mountain Dew bottles with insecticide told police she did it because she was mad at him, according to court documents.
Michelle Y. Peters, 47, was arrested June 24, according to court documents.
Authorities say she admitted the same day to spiking bottles of Mountain Dew in the garage fridge her husband often drank from.
Peters said she was mad at her husband because he was “not appreciative” when she threw him a 50th birthday party, according to court documents.
Peters said she meant to put Roundup in the Mountain Dew in order to “be mean.”
Peters has been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action, both felonies, according to court records. She pleaded not guilty to both on Tuesday.
Peters’ husband told detectives that he first noticed a weird taste to his Diet Mountain Dew on May 1, and got sick shortly thereafter, according to court documents.
The victim told detectives he continued to drink the Mountain Dew stored at his home, even after the weird taste persisted, according to court documents. Within a couple of weeks, he started experiencing diarrhea, nausea and a sore throat. He also began vomiting and coughing up brown and yellow mucus.
Peters’ husband sent surveillance video to the Laclede County Sheriff’s Office showing his wife tampering with Mountain Dew stored in their garage refrigerator, according to the sheriff’s office. In the footage, Peters can be seen taking the soda out of the fridge, handling Roundup weed killer, and then putting the soda back in the fridge.
Roundup is a herbicide that contains glyphosate, a chemical known to cause cancer.
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and burning throat are all symptoms consistent with swallowing glyphosate, according to the National Pesticide Information Center.
Other non-active ingredients in Roundup, like dyes and anti-foaming agents, can be more immediately toxic, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA considers Roundup to be one of the most poisonous weed-killers on the market today.
Peters’ husband first reviewed footage of the poisoning on June 12, after which he started testing his wife by putting new bottles of Mountain Dew in the fridge to see if she would tamper with them, according to court documents.
After repeatedly following through with putting Roundup in the new bottles, Peters purchased a new bottle of Roundup for the family garage, according to court documents.
The victim contacted police on June 23 after seeing surveillance footage of Peters near the fridge with a bottle of insecticide, according to court documents.
Peters was arrested the next day, according to court records.
When asked by police detectives about the video footage, Peters said she mixed Roundup and Mountain Dew, first saying she was following a recipe for weed killer that she saw on Pinterest, according to court documents.
Peters also told detectives that her husband was selfish, according to court documents, and that the pair should have gotten a divorce.
Peters’ husband told detectives that when he said he was getting sick, Peters wondered aloud if he had COVID-19 and advised him to stay away from their grandchildren, according to court documents.
Peters’ husband had also taken out a $500,000 life insurance policy on himself, according to court documents.
A mother and grandmother, Peters is the owner of Bodyworks Unlimited, a salon and spa in Lebanon, according to social media.
Bodyworks Unlimited will continue to operate following Peters’ arrest.
Peters is being held in the Laclede County Detention Center and is not eligible for bond, according to the Laclede County Sheriff’s Office. Her next court appearance is at 1 p.m. July 2 for a bond review hearing.
Peters has no previous criminal convictions.
