The oleander poisoning in the Angelina Rodriguez case
California, United States, 2000
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
In September 2000, in Montebello, California, Frank Rodriguez died after days of illness that doctors treated as an infection. His wife, Angelina, had taken out a life insurance policy shortly before. Investigators found antifreeze and oleandrin, the toxin in oleander, a shrub common in gardens across the region, in his body.
Angelina Rodriguez was convicted in 2004. The case became known for showing how a hedge plant, with no strong taste when diluted, can pass for heart disease.
Sources
In the game
Bitter Mezcal
Palenque Mendoza, Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca, night of November 1, 11:20 pm. Don Aurelio Mendoza, 68, owner of the mezcal distillery, collapsed in front of the altar de muertos twenty minutes after the toast.
The game borrows only the method: oleander from the backyard used as poison. Characters, setting, motive and outcome are fiction.
Funeral March
Delacroix Mansion, French Quarter, New Orleans, 11:10 pm. Julien Delacroix, 38, heir to the family, died in the upstairs library at 9:40 pm, during his own father's wake.
The game borrows the method: oleander picked from the garden and dissolved in a drink, causing a death that passes for a heart problem. Characters, setting, motive and outcome are fiction.
