News-Leader to kill two-year-old antifreeze story

Springfield News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin reports the daily paper is in the process of taking down a 2013 article written two years ago by former News-Leader reporter Kathryn Wall called “How does antifreeze kill? How quickly?”

Roughly 4,500 people view the story every month, and three times as many people read the story last month compared to when it debuted in June 2013.

Pokin's theory? People are using the story for nefarious purposes.

While the story was written by Wall as part of coverage of first-degree murder charges filed against Diane Staudte and her daughter Rachel, Pokin discovered search terms leading current readers to the article were disturbing. At least 12 percent of readers used terms such as:

• Antifreeze poisoning in humans;
• How much antifreeze will kill you; and
• How much antifreeze does it take to kill a person.

According to the column, Executive Editor Paul Berry has decided to take the article off the News-Leader's archives. As of this morning, the article was still alive.

Read more from the Springfield News-Leader.