Virginia authorities charge woman with possession of ricin

NORFOLK, Va. – Federal authorities in Virginia have charged a South Carolina woman with possession of the deadly poison ricin and having a gun with an obliterated serial number.

Sixty-two-year-old Debra Siers-Hill of Ladson, South Carolina, made an initial court appearance Friday and is due back in court Tuesday for a hearing to determine whether she should remain in custody pending trial.

An indictment alleges that Siers-Hill had the poison and gun in March 2016, one month after her boyfriend, 67-year-old Frederick Brooks, died in Virginia Beach.

Brooks’ family has filed several lawsuits alleging that Siers-Hill poisoned him, but she has never been charged in his death.

Media outlets have reported that Siers-Hill’s first husband died in 1993 in South Carolina from what a coroner determined was suicide by drinking antifreeze.