Minneapolis mom believes son poisoned by highly toxic heavy metal thallium

Poisoning leaves family asking questions

A Minneapolis family is looking for answers after their loved one passed away as the result of poisoning from a heavy metal known as Thallium – nicknamed the" poisoner's poison." FOX 9’s Maury Glover has the story.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Minneapolis family is desperately seeking answers after a 33-year-old man's sudden death, now being investigated as suspicious, which they say appears to have been caused by exposure to the highly toxic heavy metal thallium.

‘It’s been horrible for our family'

What we know:

Family members say Cody Ernst, 33, was a gentle giant who had been sober for six months. But they say his life came to an end, just as it appeared to be turning around.

"Life is never going to be the same without my Cody. Me and my three kids, we've been through a whole lot together, but we never thought we would be here," said Ernst's mother, Mary Dickison.

'I have so many questions'

The backstory:

Family members say Ernst was living in a sober house in St. Cloud last month, when he went to a nearby hospital complaining of seizures and fainting spells.

They say he developed a burning sensation in his legs and became paralyzed from the waist down, while doctors struggled to figure out what was wrong.

"He was crying. He was saying, I feel like I'm going to die," said Dickison.

Family members say Ernst eventually slipped into a coma and was transferred to the University of Minnesota hospital, where his hair started falling out. That's when doctors discovered elevated thallium levels in his blood, but by then the damage to his brain was so severe, his loved ones made the difficult decision to take him off life support, and he died early Sunday morning.

"I'm hurt. I'm broken. I pray every day that it is just some freak accident that happened and that nobody's that evil," said Nickole O'Neill, the mother of Ernst's 14-year-old daughter.

Dig deeper:

The family says doctors told them the thallium levels in Ernst's system were so high that it had to been ingested.

Thallium was used to kill rodents until that use was banned in the U.S. in the 70s because of safety concerns over accidental exposure to the toxic substance. It is still used in the manufacture of electronics, thermometers and specialized lenses, but it also has a notorious history of being used for murder.

‘He was in so much pain’

What they're saying:

Family members want to know how so much thallium got into his system, so they know why he is gone.

"It's a very slow and painful death. And it's not okay to have to watch anybody you loved die from that. This is not okay," said Dickison.

St Cloud Police say they are investigating Ernst's death as suspicious. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has not released an official cause of death.