Eldest of 16 arsenic victims recovering

After eight months of physical therapy and powerful medicine, 80-year-old Ralph Ostlund can shovel snow off his porch and bowl twice a week. Long an avid cross-country skier, he planned to try skiing with his grandchildren over the weekend.

"It's a long struggle," said Ostlund, who was unconscious for two weeks and nearly died. "I wasn't supposed to make it. I made it. I'm around. I wouldn't wish what I went through on anybody. It happened. I have to put up with it."

Sixteen people were poisoned at a church social in New Sweden early last spring. One man, 78-year-old Walter Reid Morrill, died.

Daniel Bondeson, Ostlund's friend and skiing partner, committed suicide after the poisonings, leaving a note that implicated him.

Doctors don't know what's ahead for the poisoning victims because never before have so many people ingested so much arsenic and survived. The case remains under investigation by state police.

"I don't know if we'll make an arrest," said state police Lieutenant Dennis Appleton, who oversees the homicide investigation. "We don't know and may never know the true motive for this event. To this day I don't think the victims can rationalize why this happened."

Dale Anderson, who was among those most seriously hurt by the poisoning, said finding out for sure who was involved in the case "would put a lot of people's minds to rest."

"I'd know who I could get mad at," said Anderson.