Girlfriend pleads guilty to illegal possession of poison

Two years after her boyfriend’s death, cause and manner is still listed ‘undetermined’

NORFOLK — The girlfriend of a Virginia Beach man who died two years ago for unknown reasons pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally possessing the poison ricin.

Debbie Siers-Hill, who is still fighting for a portion of her boyfriend’s estate, is set to be sentenced Jan. 14 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. She faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Siers-Hill, of South Carolina, faces no charges in the Feb. 19, 2016, death of 67-year-old Frederick M. Brooks.

A spokeswoman for Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Office said there was “insufficient evidence to proceed with homicide charges at this time despite us enlisting the services of multiple law enforcement agencies and other experts.” A Virginia Beach police spokeswoman said the investigation was closed.

The cause and manner of his death remain listed as “undetermined,” according to a spokesman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

But Brooks’ family has filed multiple lawsuits and petitions in Virginia Beach Circuit Court blaming Siers-Hill for his death. The latest lawsuit, filed in February before she was indicted in connection with the ricin, alleges she “negligently cared for (Brooks) and wrongfully caused his death by having him consume an unknown substance.” It says she did so “in an attempt to gain control of his estate.”

In a letter last month to the judge handling one of the state lawsuits, Siers-Hill said she still believed she was entitled to part of Brooks’ estate.

Brooks’ family attended Tuesday’s plea hearing in federal court. They declined to comment and referred a reporter to their lawyer, who could not immediately be reached. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Bosse and Alan Salsbury also declined to comment, as did Siers-Hill’s attorney, Suzanne Katchmar.

Thomas Ivan Hill, Siers-Hill’s first husband, died in 1993 in Berkeley County, S.C. The death was ruled a suicide. The coroner said he drank antifreeze.

The charges against Siers-Hill stem from a container of ricin Virginia Beach police found while investigating Brooks’ death. The container, located in Siers-Hill’s storage unit, was wrapped in towels and double-wrapped in plastic bags.

According to a statement of facts filed with Siers-Hill’s plea agreement, investigators also found a ricin-tainted syringe in the storage unit, along with latex gloves and a package of castor plant seeds. Ricin is a poison found in castor beans. Two more castor seeds were found in SiersHill’s car, and castor seed hulls were found in the house she shared with Brooks, according to the statement of facts.

Prosecutors said earlier this year that police located copies of Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and other identifying information for various people in the storage unit. They also said police recovered recordings of conversations between Siers-Hill and others, including some that proved she shot Brooks in 2012 and that they worked together to protect Siers-Hill from prosecution.

A misdemeanor charge of reckless handling of a firearm was filed that year, but eventually dropped.