EVERETT — An FBI hazardous-materials team scoured an Everett home Thursday for traces of ricin, a deadly toxin.
A declaration filed in court Wednesday suggested that the poison may be in the home as part of a murder plot.
A woman discovered a suspicious substance in her husband’s home office on Wednesday morning and called police, Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said. Officers who responded to the home in the 1200 block of 50th Street SW suspected that the substance was ricin, which is derived from castor beans, and contacted the FBI.
The case is not believed to be connected to terrorism, FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said.
“A lot of people hear ‘ricin’ and they think terrorism,” Burroughs said. “(That) isn’t the case here.”
People living in the surrounding Seahurst neighborhood weren’t in danger and no evacuations were ordered, officials said.
Thursday’s search followed a domestic violence incident Monday night at the same home.
The husband, 48, and the wife, 43, both were hospitalized, Goetz said.
The man on Thursday remained in the hospital with an undisclosed medical condition.
When doctors clear him for release, he likely will be jailed for investigation of first-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment, Goetz said.
The wife was treated for injuries and released the same night. She petitioned for a protection order against her husband Wednesday.
She reported that he beat her with a dumbbell, causing wounds that required stitches and staples to close.
She also reported possible poisoning with “Visine eye drops and ricinus (sic) communis robust seeds and lye and rat bait,” according to the petition. She alleged her husband tried to push her down the stairs and may have been on his way to get a gun.
The woman’s sister filed a declaration as part of the petition, alleging she saw blood on the stairs, large bags of used Visine bottles, unidentified seeds, lye, rat poison and guns.
The woman wrote that she was afraid her husband “will succeed in killing me,” according to the petition.
Also included in the petition are two photocopied pages with notes in which someone has scribbled the scientific names for ricin and lye.
Thursday’s search was prompted after the woman found something suspicious in her husband’s office and became alarmed, Goetz said. That was her first time back at the home since Monday.
When police went to the home they believed they found ricin, Goetz said. They backed off and called the FBI.
An FBI hazardous materials team from Seattle went to Everett on Thursday afternoon to search the home. They had help from two FBI hazardous-materials specialists from the Washington, D.C., area.
Authorities cordoned off Seahurst Avenue to most traffic about 3 p.m., but allowed neighbors to get to their homes.
Neighbors said the comfortable middle-class area has struggled some with drug activity and burglaries, but nothing like the case police are now investigating.
“It’s a quiet neighborhood, actually,” said Robyn Fitzhugh, who has lived there about eight years. “Everybody walks their dogs. We’re all friendly with each other.”
Ricin is illegal to possess or manufacture.
The FBI found ricin in Kirkland a few years ago but never determined why the man there was making the dangerous substance. No terrorism connection was found.
Ricin is deadly in small amounts but easily contained, Burroughs said.
In its deadliest form, ricin can be fatal in miniscule amounts and there is no antidote, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ricin poisoning typically leads to vomiting and diarrhea followed by organ failure, the CDC reports. Death is possible within 36 to 72 hours of exposure.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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