A Missouri woman has been accused of secretly putting weed killer and insecticide in her husband’s Mountain Dew drinks.
In a statement released earlier this week, the Laclede county sheriff’s office announced that 47-year-old Michelle Peters of Lebanon, Missouri, had been charged with first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action.
Peters allegedly spiked her husband’s Mountain Dew drinks on “several occasions during May and June of this year” with the weed killer Roundup, as well as insecticide, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The victim began suspecting the soda was being tampered with after feeling ill. The victim provided video surveillance to the sheriff’s office, indicating that Michelle Peters was tampering with the Mountain Dew stored in a garage refrigerator. The victim was the only one in the household who drank Mountain Dew, kept in that refrigerator,” the sheriff’s office statement said.
Peters’ husband informed authorities that he drank Mountain Dew on 1 May and noticed a peculiar taste, according to a probable cause statement reviewed by NBC News. However, he continued drinking the beverage. A few weeks later, Peters’ husband said, he started feeling sick and had a variety of symptoms including a sore throat, brown and yellow mucus, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
He added that on 11 or 12 June, he drank a small bottle of Mountain Dew and it tasted normal. When he drank the Mountain Dew that was stored in the fridge at home, it tasted different, NBC reports.
Glyphosate, which is the main active ingredient in Roundup, can cause diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, as well as mild irritation or a superficial corneal injury if it comes in contact with the eyes, WebMD reports. The chemical can also cause increased saliva, burns, and pain in the mouth and throat if swallowed.
On Monday, Peters was arrested and was being held on no bond at the Laclede county detention center as of Friday afternoon.
In the probable cause statement, Peters told authorities that “she was mad … because she had thrown him a 50th birthday party and he was not appreciative”. The statement went on to add: “Michelle said she believed the chemical in the basement was Roundup when she put it in the Mountain Dew and did so to be ‘mean’.”
She allegedly added that she “should have just divorced him” and told authorities that her husband is “selfish and they have relationship issues”.
According to the probable cause statement, Peters initially told authorities that she was mixing Roundup and Mountain Dew to use as weed killer, which she attributed to an idea she discovered on Pinterest.
Peters later admitted to spiking a 2-litre bottle of the beverage with insecticide, that she then put in the garage fridge, per NBC.
The statement added that on 12 June, Peters’ husband reviewed video footage from their garage, which allegedly showed Peters taking a 2-litre bottle of Mountain Dew out of the fridge and a bottle of Roundup into the house. Peters then allegedly put the beverage back in the fridge and the Roundup back on to a garage shelf.
Peters’ husband claims that when he told Peters that he was feeling sick, she told him that he might have Covid and urged him to stay away from their grandkids. The probable cause statement also cited her husband saying that he became “afraid for his life”.
