A woman who pleaded guilty to possessing the poison ricin around the time of her boyfriend’s mysterious death was sentenced Tuesday to nearly three years in prison.
Debbie Siers-Hill, 63, was sentenced in a federal court in Norfolk after pleading guilty last year.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says the cause and manner of death of 67-year-old Frederick Brooks remains “undetermined.”
No one has been charged with his death and Siers-Hill has denied allegations that she poisoned her boyfriend.
According to court documents, Virginia Beach Police officers executing a search warrant in March 2016 found a number of chemicals, packages of castor beans, and multiple firearms, one with an “obliterated serial number,” in a storage unit rented by Siers-Hill, 63, of Summerville, who was then living in Virginia Beach.
Federal prosecutors said tests of the chemicals showed a syringe and a double-wrapped container found in the storage unit held ricin, a toxin derived from castor beans with no known antidote.
Federal prosecutors say they are troubled that Siers-Hill manufactured ricin and researched death by caffeine around the time Brooks died.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
