DA Weighs Death Penalty Against Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, Former Asheville-Area Business Owner

Henderson County District Attorney Andrew Murray’s office filed on Feb. 17 to hold a Rule 24 pretrial conference as it weighs seeking capital punishment against Gudrun Casper-Leinenkugel, a former Asheville-area business owner indicted Jan. 28. Casper-Leinenkugel was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of distribution of an illegal food or beverage, the charging document lists.

Prosecutors tie the indictment to an alleged poisoning at a 12-person Thanksgiving dinner in Henderson County in 2025, when Leela Livis, Mia Lacey and Richard Pegg all drank from the same bottle of wine. The substance identified in reporting is acetonitrile, described as a poisonous industrial chemical; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes acetonitrile “metabolizes into cyanide and leads to delayed toxicity, according to the CDC.”

Murray’s office applied for the Rule 24 conference to occur during a Feb. 26 disposition hearing in the case, the filing states. Rule 24 is required when the state intends to seek capital punishment, and the office’s Feb. 17 filing reflects that procedural step as the district attorney weighs whether to pursue the death penalty. Murray declined to comment when reached Feb. 24.

Defense attorney Paul Bidwell declined to comment on the filing when contacted Feb. 23. Bidwell previously told the paper, “Ms. Casper-Leinenkugel firmly denies the criminal allegations against her and intends to defend herself vigorously.” The public record provided with the filing does not state Casper-Leinenkugel’s age, residence or custody status.

Casper-Leinenkugel is described in court material as a Western North Carolina business owner who “helped lead Haywood Road’s Bean Werks Coffee and Tea, and Patton Public House, also known as Bryish Haus and Pub.” The indictment lists counts tied to the Thanksgiving dinner but does not specify which of the three named people correspond to the two murder counts versus the two attempted-murder counts.

Death-penalty context is rare in Henderson County: “No one in Henderson County has been sentenced to death in more than 20 years,” the record notes, and the last case in which the prosecution successfully sought the death penalty in the county was in 2005, when a jury sentenced William “Billy” Raines to death for the murder of Phillip and Pam Holder. Raines remains on death row, which totals 122 people in North Carolina, and the state has not executed a death row prisoner since 2006.

A disposition hearing is scheduled for Feb. 26, and Murray’s office applied to hold the Rule 24 conference at that hearing; whether the conference took place and whether the state will formally announce an intent to seek capital punishment remains pending. Other key details not yet in the public record include which of the three named people, if any, were killed, medical examiner findings or toxicology confirmations, and the defendant’s current custody or arraignment status.