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A teacher in the US has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly being caught on hidden camera poisoning her husband’s smoothie.

Sarah Scheffer’s partner installed the surveillance equipment after suspecting his wife had been contaminating his food and drink over a number of weeks, causing him to feel unwell.

When questioned by police in Missouri, the 37-year-old woman is said to have admitted adding the root of the lily of the valley to a blender “with the intent to cause the victim harm”, according to a probable cause statement.

It also said: “The defendant admitted to knowing that ingesting ‘lily of the valley’ could result in death.”

Despite its delicate appearance and scent, the plant is highly toxic.

The statement said: “The victim described eight occurrences in which the defendant provided a beverage or food that had an odd taste and shortly after ingesting he experienced extreme fatigue, confusion, blurred vision, severe cotton mouth, and nausea.”

Scheffer was confronted by her husband on New Year’s Day, after she brought him a beverage with a “bitter taste,” it was claimed.

The suspect allegedly said she urinated in the drink, then “admitted to putting an industrial strength adhesive in it,” only to then deny putting anything in the beverage.

Her husband subsequently put in a camera which captured Scheffer making a smoothie for him, it is claimed.

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She allegedly added a root from a bag labelled “lily of the valley” that her husband had previously seen on a table at their home.

The smoothie, which had been placed in the fridge, was seized by police to be submitted to a state laboratory for testing.

Scheffer is currently being held at the Cole County Jail, because police believe she would be at risk of failing to appear in court in response to a criminal summons.

She allegedly said she was in a relationship with someone in Pakistan and “has conducted Google searches for flights” to the country.

Scheffer is reportedly a design and art teacher at Calvary Lutheran High School in Jefferson City.

Her name and photo appear to have been removed from the school’s online page following her arrest.

Calvary Lutheran High School said in a statement to ABC News that it had been notified by police of a “criminal matter pertaining to an employee” who has since been placed on leave.

Calvary Lutheran executive director John Christman said in the statement: “The alleged conduct was outside of the employee’s association with the school and did not involve a student or any other school personnel.

“As a Christian community, Calvary Lutheran High School believes in protecting the well-being of all individuals who are part of our programmes and we seek to respond in a caring and sensitive manner to everyone in our school community.

“With this in mind, consistent action has been taken in response to the notification.”

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Boy, eight, and mother in critical condition as nine people injured in shooting at Detroit waterpark

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Boy, eight, and mother in critical condition as nine people injured in shooting at Detroit waterpark

An eight-year-old boy is in a critical condition after he was shot in the head at a waterpark in Michigan – with eight other people injured.

His mother is also in a critical condition, while his four-year-old brother is in a stable condition with a leg wound, after a gunman opened fire in a Detroit suburb on Saturday.

Another other six victims, who are all aged 30 or over, including a husband and wife and a 78-year-old man, are said to be in a stable condition.

Police tracked the suspected gunman, described as a 42-year-old white man, to a home, where they sent a drone inside to find he had died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

The shooting happened at just after 5pm at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad in Rochester Hills, an area of a city park where people can play in fountains of water.

Police respond to the scene of a shooting at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad, Saturday, June 15, 2024, in Rochester Hills, Mich. The Oakland County Sheriff...s Office says there are ...numerous wounded victims... after police were called for an active shooter. (WXYZ via AP)
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Police respond to a shooting at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad. Pic: WXYZ/AP

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said the attack appeared to be random, with the gunman driving up to the park, walking to the water recreation area and firing up to 28 times, stopping multiple times to reload.

“People were falling, getting hit, trying to run,” he said. “Terrible things that unfortunately all of us in our law enforcement business have seen way too much.”

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The sheriff said the gunman, who at least one witness said was using two handguns, was “apparently in no rush” and “just calmly walked back to his car”.

An officer arrived at the scene within two minutes of the 911 call, he said, with the first deputies providing first aid including tourniquets.

A handgun and three empty magazines were recovered from the scene, the sheriff said.

Police were able to quickly come up with a likely address, and a car matching the suspect’s was discovered at the residence.

Sheriff Bouchard said the quick actions of police may have prevented a “second chapter” to the shooting as he showed a photo of a semiautomatic rifle on a table inside the home.

Officials with the Oakland County Sheriff's Department, Rochester Hills Fire Department and other jurisdictions secure the scene of a shooting at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad, Saturday, June 15, 2024, in Rochester Hills, Mich. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)
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Officials secure the scene. Pic Katy Kildee/Detroit News/AP

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Another handgun, believed to have been used by the suspect to take his own life, was also found inside.

The suspect, who is believed to have lived with his mother, did not live in Rochester Hills and it is not yet known why he went to the park or what his motive may have been.

Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said he “started to cry” when he arrived at the scene because it is supposed to be a place where people gather and have fun.

The shooting was a reminder “that we live in a fragile place,” he said, while Sheriff Bouchard called it “a gut punch” for the county.

“Our most fervent hope, at least at his point, is that all of the injured victims have speedy recoveries,” he said.

“None of us… anticipated going into Father’s Day weekend with this kind of tragedy that families will be deeply affected by forever.”

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Missouri woman who spent 43 years behind bars has murder conviction overturned

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Missouri woman who spent 43 years behind bars has murder conviction overturned

A woman who was a psychiatric patient when she incriminated herself in a 1980 Missouri murder has had her conviction overturned after spending 43 years behind bars.

Sandra Hemme’s lawyers say a disgraced police officer was responsible for the killing of 31-year-old library worker Patricia Jeschke and this is the longest time a woman has been imprisoned for a wrongful conviction in US history.

Judge Ryan Horsman ruled on Friday the 63-year-old had established evidence of actual innocence, said her trial counsel was ineffective and prosecutors had failed to disclose evidence that would have helped her.

He said she must be freed within 30 days unless prosecutors retry her, but her lawyers, with the New York-based Innocence Project, are seeking her immediate release.

“We are grateful to the Court for acknowledging the grave injustice Ms Hemme has endured for more than four decades,” they said in a statement, promising to keep up their efforts to dismiss the charges and reunite Hemme with her family.

The brutal killing of Ms Jeschke grabbed the headlines after her worried mother climbed through her apartment window in in St Joseph, Missouri, and found her daughter’s naked body on the floor surrounded by blood on 13 November 1980.

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Her hands were tied behind her back with a telephone cord, and a pair of tights was wrapped around her throat, with a knife under her head.

Ms Hemme was shackled in leather wrist restraints and so heavily sedated she “could not hold her head up straight” or “articulate anything beyond monosyllabic responses” when she was first questioned over Ms Jeschke’s death, according to her lawyers.

They alleged in a petition seeking her exoneration that authorities ignored her “wildly contradictory” statements and suppressed evidence implicating Michael Holman, then a 22-year-old police officer who tried to use the murdered woman’s credit card on the day her body was found.

The judge found that “no evidence whatsoever outside of Ms Hemme’s unreliable statements connects her to the crime”.

“In contrast,” he added, “this Court finds that the evidence directly ties Holman to this crime and murder scene.”

Holman, who had been a suspect and was questioned at the time, was fired after investigations for burglary and insurance fraud, and died in 2015.

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Donald Trump challenges Joe Biden to take cognitive test – only to get name of his own doctor wrong

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Donald Trump challenges Joe Biden to take cognitive test - only to get name of his own doctor wrong

Donald Trump has challenged President Joe Biden to take a cognitive test – only to confuse the name of his own doctor.

The Republican presidential nominee has regularly lambasted his rival over his various gaffes, despite his own tendency to ramble or get facts wrong.

Speaking in Detroit, Mr Trump questioned the president’s mental acuity. He said: “He doesn’t even know what the word ‘inflation’ means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did.”

Seconds later, he continued: “Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much indeed immediately.”

However he was clearly referring to Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician for part of his presidency.

He was elected to Congress in 2021 and is one of Mr Trump’s most vociferous defenders on Capitol Hill.

Mr Trump took the cognitive test in 2018 at his own request, Dr Jackson told reporters at the time. The exam is designed to detect early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairment.

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The former president, who turned 78 on Friday, has made questioning whether the 81-year-old President Biden is up for a second term a centrepiece of his campaign.

But online critics quickly seized on his Saturday night gaffe, with the Biden campaign posting a clip of the moment minutes later.

President Biden poked fun at Mr Trump’s age too, wishing him a happy 78th birthday “from one old guy to another” on X.

Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy shake hands on the day of signing a new security agreement between the United States and Ukraine, in Fasano, Italy, June 13, 2024. Pic: Reuters
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Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy shake hands after the signing of a new security agreement this week. Pic: Reuters

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It comes after a week in which both rivals were criticised for awkward moments in public.

President Biden appeared to freeze for several seconds before briefly stumbling on his words at an event marking the anniversary of Juneteenth on Monday.

Meanwhile, a teleprompter malfunction in Las Vegas saw Mr Trump go off on a bizarre tangent about his dislike of sharks.

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