'Walking Dead' zombie actress takes plea deal in Obama ricin plot

DALLAS -- A Texas actress who played a zombie on the TV show "The Walking Dead" has struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors after being accused of trying to frame her husband for sending poison letters to President Obama and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.


Prosecutors filed notice in federal court in east Texas Thursday that Shannon Guess Richardson, 35, had accepted a deal.

In addition to a small part in "The Walking Dead," Richardson had minor roles in "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Blind Side," according to her profile in the movie database IMDb.

The investigation began in May after Obama, Bloomberg and Mark Glaze -- director of the Bloomberg-backed Mayors Against Illegal Guns group -- received letters containing the poison known as ricin, accompanied by a typed threat:

"You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns," read the notes sent to Bloomberg and Glaze. "Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will excersice that right til the day I die."

In a similar note to Obama, the sender alluded to having a wife and kids. After news of the poison letters broke, Richardson approached investigators to tell them that her husband had sent them.

Richardson's husband, Nathaniel David Richardson, denied involvement and said she was trying to end their marriage. Investigators turned their attention to the actress.


For more on this LA Times story, click here.