Carbonara and Cyanide_ The Chilling Case of the Arizona Office Poisoner

A woman walks to the office water cooler, fills her cup, and takes a sip. The taste is bitter, metallic. She sets the cup down. Within hours, she is dead. Her name is Julie Williams. She was never the target.In March 1986, Lewis Allen Harry Jr., a 32-year-old equipment manager at a Phoenix community college, decided to kill his wife Sandra [citation:1]. He tried poisoning her Scotch bottle first. When that failed, he turned to the office water cooler where she worked at Transamerica Title Insurance in Tempe [citation:2]. He poured sodium cyanide into the five-gallon bottle. Two coworkers tasted the tainted water and spat it out because of the bitter flavor [citation:3]. Julie Williams was not so lucky. She collapsed at her desk and died two days later [citation:1]. Harry had a criminal record dating back to 1975 for robbery, forgery, and assault on a federal officer [citation:8]. A judge set his bond at $1.37 million after a detective stated Harry "tried to kill his wife" [citation:2]. The poison was odorless when dry but may have smelled faintly of almonds when mixed with water—a warning no one recognized in time [citation:1]. Turn down the lights, put on your headphones, and press play because the water cooler was never meant to be a weapon.