5. Arsenic
Just like the previous entry on our list of untraceable drugs and poisons that cause death in humans, arsenic has seen its fair share as a murder weapon in fiction and in movies. Arsenic is primarily used in alloys, medicine, and agriculture and in small doses doesn’t harm the health. However, the cases of accidental poisonings with arsenic are not unfamiliar and long term exposure leads to severe health issues including cancer. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning are nausea, stomach pain, and vomiting blood. As an intentional poison, arsenic was extensively used in the past, mostly due to its availability. It could be slipped in the drink or food, and the victim wouldn’t know the difference. Applied regularly in small doses, arsenic poisoning was easily mistaken for an illness, and the victim would suffer for days. In large doses, death occurred in hours. That is all in the past. Now arsenic poisoning is easily detectable, and it is harder to obtain it. These are reasons why no one uses it anymore. One of the recent high profile cases of arsenic poisoning we could find was when a woman from San Diego killed her husband with arsenic in order to obtain veteran’s benefits. Initially, she got away with it, but her husband’s real cause of death was discovered a year later and she was sentenced to life in prison.
Pixabay / Public Domain
