Barbara Joan March (born October 10, 1945) is an American criminal from

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

who is imprisoned for 'Mailing Injurious Articles' to fourteen United States government officials. In April 2005, she sent several food items, including

baked goods Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but it can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot Baking stone, stones. Bread is the most commonly baked item, but many other types of food can also be baked. Heat is ...

and

candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

, to the fourteen officials. Each item was laced with a lethal dose of

warfarin Warfarin, sold under the brand name Coumadin among others. It is used as an anticoagulant, anticoagulant medication. It is commonly used to prevent deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and to protect against stroke in people who ha ...

(rat poison). Each package included a typewritten note that threatened the recipient with being poisoned, and had the return address of people she had a grudge against, such as former co-workers and classmates. The items were sent to the: * Nine justices of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a United States federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI director is appointed for a ...

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served a ...

Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation The deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (formerly known as the associate director) is a senior Federal government of the United States, United States government position in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The office is se ...

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an Admiral (United States), admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the United States Secretary ...

of the United States *

Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force The chief of staff of the Air Force ( acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is the service chief of the United States Air Force. They are the principal military advisor to the secretary of the Air Force on matter pertaining to the Air Force. They are a m ...

Chief of Staff of the United States Army The chief of staff of the Army (CSA) is a statutory position in the United States Army held by a general officer. As the highest-ranking officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the chief is the principal military advisor and a ...

An investigation by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

resulted, led by

Special Agent In the United States, a special agent is an official title used to refer to certain investigators or detectives of federal, military, tribal, or state agencies who primarily serve in criminal investigatory positions. Additionally, some special ...

Monica M. Patton. After initial testing of evidence and investigation of the people named as the senders of the packages, a pattern emerged linking March to the items. March's home was searched, leading to the discovery of documents and sufficient evidence to lead to an arrest and charges. At the time of her arrest on June 24, 2005, March was living in a rented room at a

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

homeless shelter. March had previously been convicted in 1985 of attempting to poison several relatives with wine. On March 1, 2006, March pleaded guilty to 14 counts of mailing injurious articles. On October 11, 2006, she was sentenced to serve fifteen years, and is currently serving her time at

FCI Danbury The Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury (FCI Danbury) is a low-security United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Danbury, Connecticut. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Depar ...

, with a projected release date of July 19, 2018. March signed out of a halfway house in April 2018 and failed to return, she was arrested and pled guilty to escape charges and was sentenced to an additional five years in prison.

References

External links

"Justice Recalls Treats Laced With Poison" November 17, 2006Poison Plot Targeted Supremes
{{DEFAULTSORT:March, Barbara Joan 1945 births 21st-century American criminals American escapees Living people Place of birth missing (living people)