Police find suspected ricin in Everett home

The FBI said this afternoon that they have "a strong suspicion" that an Everett man had the deadly poison ricin in his home office, and a specially trained hazardous-materials team — including experts flown in today from Washington, D.C. — have locked down the home.

The situation began with a domestic-violence call to Everett police Monday and has grown into a substantial federal investigation.

An FBI spokeswoman said agents have no fear that the substance poses any risk to the public or to neighbors, and no one has been exposed or evacuated.

On Monday about 5 p.m., Everett police were called to the home at 1208 50th St. S.W. and found a bleeding 43-year-old woman in her front yard. They went inside and found her husband, 48, unresponsive with some kind of medical emergency, said Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz.

The couple were both taken to the hospital, Goetz said. The husband is still there. His medical problem was not disclosed.

The wife was released later Monday night, Goetz said

Then on Wednesday, while home alone, the woman went into her husband's private home office, which she had never entered before despite years of marriage. She found a suspicious substance. She called Everett police, who identified it as possible ricin, Goetz said.

The house was locked down. The couple has a teenage son who was sent to stay elsewhere.

The FBI applied for a federal search warrant Thursday morning and summoned the experts from Washington., D.C., to join the local hazmat team, said FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs.

When the team finally entered the home, they determined the substance was very likely ricin, Burroughs said. They won't know for sure until laboratory tests are done.

Ricin is an extremely dangerous poison that is extracted from castor beans. Even an amount smaller than a grain of sand can kill an adult.

However, Burroughs stressed that the substance has been securely contained. She said it would take very close contact with it, such as inhaling it or eating it, to be deadly.

The husband has been informed that when he is released from the hospital he will either be taken to the Snohomish County Jail on domestic-violence assault and unlawful-imprisonment charges, or handed over to the FBI for federal charges related to the substance in his office, Goetz said.