Alleged 'Antifreeze Killer' Formally Indicted for Murder

A woman accused of killing her husband’s grandmother by poisoning the elderly woman with antifreeze was indicted on a first-degree murder charge this week.

Anne Castagna, 43, was formally charged in the death of Mary Groatman, her grandmother-in-law. Castagna is accused of poisoning Groatman, 88, at a Deptford rehabilitation center in August 2012.

Prosecutors say Castagna researched the effects of antifreeze on the body before Groatman was killed. Ethylene glycol poisoning can happen after a victim ingests as little as 4 ounces of the sweet-tasting liquid, according to statistics from the National Institutes of Health, as the chemical damages organs like the brain, liver, kidneys and lungs.

Groatman was rushed to the hospital after she fell unconscious; hospital staff alerted police when medical tests uncovered antifreeze in Groatman’s system.

Groatman ingested the antifreeze on Aug. 19, 2012, and died five days later.

“If it wasn’t for the exhaustive and important work by the emergency room, this lady might’ve gotten away with murder,” Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton said at the time. “(Groatman) was in good health for someone 88 years of age,” he said.

Castagna is jailed on .