On April 27, 2003, 27 members of a 50 member church congregation at the Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church in New Sweden, Maine gathered for a meeting to discuss the purchase of a new furnace for the church. While at the meeting, 16 members drank coffee from one of two urns holding coffee for the congregation. These 16 members ended up being treated for severe vomiting at two hospitals, one member, named Walter Reid Morrill passed away at the age of 78 due to this illness. Upon investigation, police determined one of the urns holding coffee had been poisoned with extreme levels of arsenic.

To this day, the case is closed due to police believing they knew who had done it, but the town is divided in whether the case should reopen and find the accomplices or remain closed and let bygones be bygones.

sources:

Imhoff, Frank. (2006, April 21). Case Closed on Lutheran Church arsenic poisoning in Maine. Retrieved from: https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/7127

WGME. (2018, April 27). Special Report: New Sweden Arsenic poisonings. Retrieved from: https://wgme.com/news/local/special-report-new-sweden-arsenic-poisonings

Murderpedia. Daniel Bondeson. Retrieved from: https://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/bondeson-daniel.htm

Sharp, David. (2008, June 15). In Maine, pains linger for arsenic poisoning survivors. Retrieved from: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jun-15-adna-arsenic15-story.html

Zernike, Kate. (2003, May 1). Arsenic Poisoning at Church Mystifies a Maine Town. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/01/us/arsenic-poisoning-at-church-mystifies-a-maine-town.html

Robinson, Bryan. (2006, January 7). Church Poisoning May Never Be Solved. Retrieved from: https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96750&page=1