A former housemate is accused of killing a St. Cloud man by poisoning him with an extremely toxic chemical once used to kill rodents.
Stuart W. Hanmer was charged Thursday in Stearns County District Court with one felony count of second-degree murder.
According to the criminal complaint, St. Cloud police started investigating a possible poisoning in June after learning 33-year-old St. Cloud resident Cody Ray Ernst, who was a patient at a hospital in Minneapolis, had a heavy-metal screening showing a lethal dose of thallium.
A Poison Control Center pharmacist told investigators that thallium was likely ingested and there would be “no other way to get this level of exposure from environmental means,” the complaint states.
Medical records show Ernst went to the emergency room at St. Cloud Hospital on May 16 and again on May 17 after vomiting, seizure-like activity and chest pain, the complaint states. He also reported numbness, burning and tingling in his extremities.
Medical records indicate Ernst left the hospital two days later against medical advice but collapsed at a bus stop; he returned to the hospital but was discharged again May 22 after refusing further care, the charging complaint states.
Ernst was admitted to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids the following day and then transferred to M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center. He died June 22.
Investigators learned Ernst was living at a residence in the 400 block of 27th Av. N. in St. Cloud beginning in May. He lived there with two other men, including Hanmer.
