Church Poisoning May Never Be Solved

April 27 -- No matter how hard they try, residents of New Sweden, Maine, cannot escape the cloud left by the church arsenic poisonings one year ago.

Last April 27, New Sweden was robbed of its small-town innocence when 16 congregation members of the Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church were poisoned — one fatally — by arsenic-laced coffee they had consumed following Sunday service. Less than a week later, police announced they suspected a longtime churchgoer, Daniel Bondeson, was behind the poisoning. But before they could arrest Bondeson, he shot himself and later died at the hospital.

Bondeson's death prevented investigators from finding a decisive motive in the case. Investigators believed Bondeson, 53, did not act alone. They have said a note he left behind and interviews with church members suggest "church politics" may have motivated the poisonings.

Still, one year later, answers continue to elude Maine police and the New Sweden community. Bondeson's lawyer, Peter Kelley, said recently that his client visited him the day before he shot himself and revealed information that may clear up the intrigue surrounding the poisonings. However, Kelley said he is bound to silence by attorney-client privilege. He could disclose information to authorities if he gets a waiver from the Bondeson estate, but that waiver has yet to come.

Nonetheless, residents are not eager to voice their outrage or talk about the case. They see that some survivors are still not fully recovered from the poisonings — one must now use a cane to walk around, while others have lingering health problems — and they do not want to reopen an old wound that has never really healed.

"They don't want to talk about it anymore. They're done talking about it and want to move on," said the Rev. Shelly Timber, who acted as a spokeswoman for the church and the New Sweden community at the time of the poisonings. "I wouldn't encourage anyone to talk about it [to the media] and wouldn't send anyone their way."