GUILTY PA - Husband charged in cyanide poisoning death of Dr. Autumn Klein

New Posts

jjenny said:
I don't think he expected that hospital would test her for cyanide.
If it didn't, he'd be home free, since the body was cremated.
Cyanide is not something hospitals normally test for.
If the test was not done, it'd be ruled natural causes, and he'd be going on with his life and no worries.
Click to expand...

They almost DIDN'T test for it too!
 
jjenny said:
Sounds like they didn't have the best marriage, that's for sure. There is a large age difference after all.
Maybe he was the one trying to convince her to get pregnant. Based on what has been reported, he was trying to convince her to take the creatine. Supposedly he was trying to convince her that creatine was going to improve her chances of becoming pregnant. Also at her age if she wanted another child there really is no time to waste.
Click to expand...

IDK, I'm still not getting this :(

While the criminal complaint showed Klein may have been trying to get pregnant by Ferrante, he also suspected she was having an affair with a man in Boston.

That man told police he occasionally met Klein for dinner or drinks and that she complained Ferrante was controlling and not supportive of her job or her their daughter.

The man said Klein visited him in Boston overnight in June 2012 and attended a medical conference with him later that year in Atlanta and another in San Francisco in February.

Within weeks of her death, police determined Ferrante confronted Klein three times about whether she was having an affair. Other evidence shows Klein “intended to have a conversation with Ferrante and that Ferrante would ‘not like the discussion,’” police said.

Klein was also an only child and didn’t want her 6-year-old daughter to be one too, her mother Lois Klein, 78, of Towson, Md., has told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She said Klein was taking fertility drugs and said police had questioned her about whether Ferrante wanted another child, too.
Click to expand...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...2365f0-f56a-11e2-81fa-8e83b3864c36_story.html
 
time said:
IDK, I'm still not getting this :(

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...2365f0-f56a-11e2-81fa-8e83b3864c36_story.html
Click to expand...

I was thinking about the relationship and it may be that the two had a big blow up over a bunch of issues - his being controlling, whether or not she was having an affair, her wanting him to be more supportive, etc. and that Autumn thought they had resolved things so she was back to wanting that second child before it was too late.

The way the probable cause affidavit was written, it does sound like she could have been having an affair but her relationship with the other neurologist could very easily have been innocent. She was openly spending the night at the man's house, not sneaking around, and he had two children there. They could be long time platonic friends who consider the children (likely older kids) to be adequate chaperones. Also 'going to a convention' together doesn't mean the same thing as going on vacation together. It could have been phrased like that because the two were collaborators planning to present a paper together or planning a collaboration and attending those particular conventions to hear related research presented. I just don't want to accept the opinion of a man who is charged with murder unless there is more evidence.

I read the probable cause affidavit. We've already discussed all the information in it here, but seeing it all pulled together is just damning for Ferrante!

http://cbspittsburgh.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/robert-ferrante.pdf
 
jjenny said:
It's there relationship. We might never figure it out. But clearly, even if she were actually cheating, the solution should have been a divorce, and not murder. And this scenario is not the heat of passion either.
Click to expand...

I totally agree about premeditation and that murder is not the answer - it's despicable. It's too bad these two very talented neurologists will not be contributing to the field to society. Sad, that they did not just get a divorce. Obviously he was extremely uncomfortable and upset about the man she was spending time with and she wanted out of the marriage because she felt he was too controlling. Good grief, just go on with you life separately if you have this big of problems.
 
LynnM said:
I was thinking about the relationship and it may be that the two had a big blow up over a bunch of issues - his being controlling, whether or not she was having an affair, her wanting him to be more supportive, etc. and that Autumn thought they had resolved things so she was back to wanting that second child before it was too late.

The way the probable cause affidavit was written, it does sound like she could have been having an affair but her relationship with the other neurologist could very easily have been innocent. She was openly spending the night at the man's house, not sneaking around, and he had two children there. They could be long time platonic friends who consider the children (likely older kids) to be adequate chaperones. Also 'going to a convention' together doesn't mean the same thing as going on vacation together. It could have been phrased like that because the two were collaborators planning to present a paper together or planning a collaboration and attending those particular conventions to hear related research presented. I just don't want to accept the opinion of a man who is charged with murder unless there is more evidence.

I read the probable cause affidavit. We've already discussed all the information in it here, but seeing it all pulled together is just damning for Ferrante!

http://cbspittsburgh.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/robert-ferrante.pdf
Click to expand...

Maybe it doesn't matter, but how do we know she was openly staying at this guys house? It looks to me like these two people spun out of control unfortunately. Doesn't matter if it was a physical affair anyway, but that Klein and Ferrante were obviously not on the same page about what was appropriate in their marriage and where the boundaries are. Not saying either one of them was right or wrong about their boundaries... but sound marriages seem to work on common agreements. You know your marriage is down the tubes if you are telling someone else your plans for divorce but not your spouse! I just wish Autumn Klein had gotten out of the marriage before all this happened and it's sad for all three children and others involved.
 
I was so glad to see him (finally) arrested! I guess it took this long for Prosecutors to get every last bit of their evidence in order. But it sure sounds like they knew what was what pretty early on in their investigation.

How about this information?

"Two days before his wife fell ill, Ferrante allegedly bought more than a half pound of cyanide using a university credit card, which police determined was the only substance he purchased not related to his work, according to an unidentified witness who helped him order “the best and purest cyanide he could get.”

He actually enlisted someone there in the lab to help him place the order for the cyanide! Probably some unknowing assistant. And imagine after the word got out that his wife died from cyanide poisoning! YIKES!

Maybe this idiot doctor watched too many crime shows as opposed to not enough of them! It seems he fell for the "cyanide is undetectable" and "cyanide leaves the body" info that seems to be favored by the writers of murder mysteries.

In actuality, it sounds like the evidence of cyanide was found quite easily. And preserved tissue specimens were able to be used to not only determine the presence of cyanide, but to quantify it. Pretty cool! Great police work and great lab work!

Oh, and the ER personnel at UPMC Shadyside were no slouches either!


Re: The actual arrest
Why would info about a pending arrest be made public and released to newspapers before an arrest has actually taken place? This makes no sense. And, it resulted in a Washington Post online article that says Ferrante was arrested in Florida! (Still posted on their website now!)
 
Then too, more then likely in her early 40s, she knew her biological clock was ticking fast, and didn't want her only daughter age 6, to not have a sibling. Makes sense from that perspective, why the question she posed to him about eggs, etc. with the concoction was made. Not that she loved him, but she wanted a baby and perhaps it didn't matter from whom that baby came.

Anything is possible here. We simply don't know what goes on behind closed doors.

She was an only child, and her parents I read are like 78 or more. They have the 6 yr old now taking care of her. Can you imagine? Older then many grandparents and trying to raise a 6 year old?

Sounds like they had her rather late in life too. Being the only child.
 
time said:
Maybe it doesn't matter, but how do we know she was openly staying at this guys house? It looks to me like these two people spun out of control unfortunately. Doesn't matter if it was a physical affair anyway, but that Klein and Ferrante were obviously not on the same page about what was appropriate in their marriage and where the boundaries are. Not saying either one of them was right or wrong about their boundaries... but sound marriages seem to work on common agreements. You know your marriage is down the tubes if you are telling someone else your plans for divorce but not your spouse! I just wish Autumn Klein had gotten out of the marriage before all this happened and it's sad for all three children and others involved.
Click to expand...

Yea, I don't think it was exactly out in the open. Sounds like the hubby either did not know, if he knew, he didn't approve of her staying in some guy's house.
 
Ferrante must have had the Spitzer syndrome..an expert in neurological things, he swanned through this and made a mess. One attorney says, he couldn't have done it because, essentially, it was too dumb. I would say, i hope she had an affair with Witness 6; just wish she had left this meanie weeks before. Doesn't this guy know pregnant women shouldn't take creatine? Didnt she? Don't understand that.
 
The only thing I could find is that there is lack of scientific information regarding creatine and pregnancy. I don't really think he cared that she'd get pregnant or affect of creatine on pregnancy.
I believe it was a way for him to get her to take the cyanide. He took the creatine from the lab, from what witnesses say. Cyanide also was in the lab.
 
No, I'm sure F didn't care. However it seems bizarre that he was so open about their using creatine, perhaps thinking ahead that it would provide a toxicology excuse should things go awry (as they did), saying it was the creatine that did it, that caused the "brain surges." (Brain surges?) I want to know why Ferrante (who told the paramedics he was a doctor), would think this would be a natural thing to do, in front of his colleagues, and not arouse suspicion on that basis alone among all the doctors he worked with! The website below would say its contraindicated for pregnancy. The fact that Klein was an obstetrician and would take it probably shows she thought protesting at this stage was too difficult. http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/4423416-74/creatine-chemical-ferrante#axzz2aCw3bDTp
 
Yes, the information that has emerged so far does indeed seem bizarre. This "highly respected researcher" is mixing up and drinking some home-made concoction in the lab in front of other workers? Why? What was it supposed to be doing for him, I wonder? And for those of you who have research lab familiarity (sounds like some of you here do) - how normal would it be for a researcher to be ingesting substances used in the studies?

I know we have the mad scientists of fiction who swallow the magic potion in their laboratory, but would this happen in real life? I would think it would be the exact opposite, in not wanting to absorb or inhale or ingest anything by accident in a lab.

I wonder if Ferrante might not have been "unraveling"? If he was still asking Amber if she was having an affair, it doesn't sound like there was too much "out in the open".

In any case, if this goes to trial, it ought to be an interesting one.
 
I think it's pretty obvious why he was using creatine. You should read at the beginning of the thread. He reportedly hired someone to test if creatine can be converted to cyanide. So he was using at as sort of an alibi, IMO. Even if somebody discovered she was killed by cyanide poisoning, he'd claim it was because she took creatine.
 
From a profiling perspective, the use of cyanide on a spouse indicates extreme hatred.
 
"He reportedly hired someone to test if creatine can be converted to cyanide. So he was using at as sort of an alibi, IMO"

Oh, I understood this. What I'm wondering about is him mixing it up and drinking it himself in the laboratory in the days just prior to the murder.

Here is the actual criminal complaint. It outlines his behaviors in obtaining the cyanide and also in the mixing up and drinking the creatine there in the lab.

http://ae3b703522cf9ac6c40a-32964be...riminal-complaint-against-robert-ferrante.pdf

This complaint also gives details on his interactions with her parents both while she was hospitalized and after her death.
 
AlwaysShocked said:
"He reportedly hired someone to test if creatine can be converted to cyanide. So he was using at as sort of an alibi, IMO"

Oh, I understood this. What I'm wondering about is him mixing it up and drinking it himself in the laboratory in the days just prior to the murder.

Here is the actual criminal complaint. It outlines his behaviors in obtaining the cyanide and also in the mixing up and drinking the creatine there in the lab.

http://ae3b703522cf9ac6c40a-32964be...riminal-complaint-against-robert-ferrante.pdf

This complaint also gives details on his interactions with her parents both while she was hospitalized and after her death.
Click to expand...

Maybe he wanted to verify it tasted fine so she would drink it.
 
Just catching up here.....He asked whether an autopsy should be performed before she was even deceased? Dear God!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Staff online

Members online

... and 150 more.
Total: 1,273 (members: 151, guests: 1,122)

Online statistics

Members online
151
Guests online
1,122
Total visitors
1,273
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
591,799
Messages
17,959,048
Members
228,607
Latest member
wdavewong
Back
Top