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Grand jury issues indictments in poison murders

Gudrun Linda Jean Casper-Leinenkugel

By Bill Moss, Published: February 5, 2026

A Henderson County grand jury last week formally indicted a 52-year-old Hendersonville woman on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her daughter on Dec. 1 and a 42-old-man in October 2007 plus two counts of attempted first-degree murder after another daughter and that daughter’s boyfriend became ill by a toxic chemical in wine they consumed.

The defendant, Gudrun Linda Jean Casper-Leinenkugel, has remained jailed without bond since her arrest on Jan. 16. The grand jury also indicted her on three counts of causing the ingestion of “a beverage which contained a poisonous chemical,” an industrial solvent called acetonitrile that slowly converts to cyanide in the body.

Investigators say three people consumed wine laced with acetonitrile at a Thanksgiving weekend dinner on Sunday, Nov. 30, at Casper-Leinenkugel’s home in the Big Willow community of Henderson County. Her daughter, Leela Jean Livis, died of poisoning the following day at her home in Cullowhee; Livis’s half-sister, Maija, and Maija’s boyfriend, Evan Pegg, became ill after the family gathering.

By cross-checking unusual deaths with Casper-Leinenkugel’s address, Henderson County sheriff’s detectives linked the woman to the death of Michael Schmidt in October 2007. An updated death certificate filed in May 2008 listed the cause of Schmidt’s death as “acute acetonitrile toxicity (probably huffing)” and at the time categorized the manner of death as accidental. (Michael Schmidt at some point changed his name to Mischa August Schmidt, which is the name listed on the death certificate.)

Although Casper-Leinenkugel told a judge in a first appearance last month that she intended to hire an attorney herself instead of using a public defender, court records say “no attorney named as hired in the system” as of Jan. 29. Casper-Leinenkugel is next scheduled for a court appearance on Feb 26 in Henderson County Superior Court.