Roommate Arrested In St. Cloud Poisoning Case

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A Moorhead man has been arrested for allegedly poisoning a St. Cloud man in June of this year. The St. Cloud Police Department (SCPD) says they have arrested 35-year-old Stuart Hanmer of Moorhead for homicide in connection with the death of 33-year-old Cody Ernst of St. Cloud. SCPD says on June 20th, they were notified that Ernst had been admitted to the University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis in critical condition with an extremely high level of the heavy metal Thallium in his system. Ernst died from complications two days later.

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What is Thallium?

Thallium is a poisonous, soft, bluish-white metal and is recovered as a by-product from lead and zinc smelting. St. Cloud Police, with assistance from a number of other agencies, conducted an investigation into the poisoning and, through the course of the investigation, determined that Hanmer intentionally poisoned Ernst. Hanmer was Ernst's roommate at the time of the poisoning. Hanmer is currently being held in the Stearns County Jail pending formal charges.

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