Diane Fleming Murder Case
Murder by methanol looks at the Diane Fleming murder case. She was convicted of murder and got 30 years for poisoning her husband with methanol and 20 years for adulteration of a substance with methanol.
Despite overwhelming additional expert evidence of her innocence, Diane Fleming is still locked up, with no hope of a retrial. Misdemeanours by the prosecution add to the farce and the possible wrong diagnosis by the hospital and hence the likely wrong treatment which led to Chuck’s death. An inefficient and incomplete autopsy added to this saga, with the medical examiner not checking and reporting on levels of formic acid, nor for optic nerve damage, despite these conditions being the known symptoms of methanol poisoning.
UPDATE…Diane has been released, see the end of the article
Chuck Fleming
Charles (Chuck) Fleming was a fitness fanatic and wanted to increase his musculature so he bought some ‘creatine’ which promised to do just that. Helped by his wife, they put at least 3x the recommended dose into some bottles of Gatorade. Evidently Chuck misread the instructions, using a tablespoon to measure instead of a teaspoon. After drinking the best part of a bottle of the Gatorade/creatine mix, Chuck started to feel unwell and went to bed early. He was still feeling ill the next morning but went to work. After a while he felt too ill and came home within a couple of hours. When Diane came home, she found him on the sofa groaning. He refused medical help but became very ill and Diane dialled 911. He was taken to hospital later that same day. Chuck died at 1630hrs on June 14, 2000. The autopsy stated that Chuck Fleming had died from ‘acute methanol poisoning’.
In February 2002 Diane Fleming was brought to court charged with murdering her husband by methanol poisoning. (Case No. CR01F01484-01, Commonwealth of Virginia v Diane Fleming).
Prosecution
The presecution led by prosecutor, Warren B Von Schuch concentrated on a number of points including the two major ones of:
- Diane gave a friend a harddrive to keep which had evidence on it that they say proved that Diane was plotting to poison her husband. It was found that a search was done for “methanol poisoning” supposedly in May, a month before Chuck’s death.
- The tension in the household regarding Chuckie the stepson and Chuck the stepdad. Chuck had given Chuckie an ultimatum that he must leave by August and get his own place.
Other salient points for the prosecution were:
- Chuck Fleming had an affair 4 years earlier which the prosecution suggested Diane was still aggrieved by, giving her a motive to kill her husband.
- There was a $400,000 life insurance policy on Chuck Fleming which Diane would be the recipient of in the event of his death.
- There was a bottle of screen wash which contained methanol in the garage which supposedly was used to spike the Gatorade.
Defence
The defence concentrated on Diane’s openness when the police came to check the house for clues to her husband’s poisoning. Their main points were:
- Why would she not throw away the Gatorade if she had spiked it, knowing that the police were to visit. She actually showed the police what Chuck had been drinking.
- Why would she have poisoned Gatorade and put it in the fridge for anyone to drink, especially as her parents were visiting and the high chance that her children may drink it too.
- The Gatorade was mixed with Creatine by both Chuck and Diane.
As for the prosecutions main points about the harddrive and the tension between Chuck and Chuckie, the defence countered:
- Diane admitted to researching Methanol Poisoning but said she did it whilst Chuck was in hospital, after the doctors had phoned and told her what was wrong with him. The defence also countered that the dates on harddrives were unreliable as computers often display spurious dates that do not necessarily correlate with the date and time something was actually done.
- The reason she hid the harddrive was to protect her son. Not because she thought he was guilty but because she thought that if the police picked up on his strange interests, ie. violent films and images, they may presume he was capable of killing. So to be on the safe side she gave the harddrive to a friend for safe keeping. The friend gave the harddrive up to the police after being advised to do so by a relative in the police force.
- The defence explained that the affair that happened 4 years previously, actually strengthened Diane and Chuck’s marriage and all had been forgiven and forgotten years ago.
- The defence also revealed the kindness of Diane, how she was a Sunday school teacher and did voluntary work for the homeless, working in soup kitchens and doing much for her community.
- Diane Fleming also passed a total of 3 polygraph tests ‘with flying colours’.
A miscarriage of justice!
On February, 2002, Case No. CR01F01484-01, Commonwealth Of Virginia v. Diane Fleming, Diane Fleming was tried and convicted to sentences of 30 years for murder and 20 years for adulteration, allegedly ‘spiking’ her husband’s Gatorade with methanol. The guilty verdict (the jury were out for just one hour) was a complete shock to the defence and to this day, it is not known how the jury came to such an erroneous verdict.
What jurors said
When certain members of the jury were asked why they gave a guilty verdict they said that Diane Fleming showed no emotion! Apart from this not being evidence to convict, it was unknown by the jury that Diane Fleming was taking the drug Zoloft which blunts emotional expression. Diane was also taking the narcotic drug Talwin for back pain. Talwin is a potent narcotic analgesic. Diane was an avid taker of aspartame, as was her husband. Aspartame is known to react with Zoloft to produce a ‘zombie like’ demeanour. When some jurors were approached with the fact Diane was on drugs because of her distress, they said if they had known they would have not found her guilty!
Since sentencing
Since the sentencing of Diane Fleming, a number of other anomolies pointing to her innocence, have come to light, as follows:
Chuck Fleming had been having health problems for months. He often complained to his wife of frequent nausea and was regularly short of breath and feeling unwell. He took numerous substances for his fitness regime and drank copious amounts (12 cans a day) of diet soda and other aspartame sweetened drinks and foods. He consume 2-4 drinks of bourbon every day. He also regularly took Tetracycline, Hydrocortisone, Beclomethasone, Naproxen, Prevacid, Multivits with Iron and then the Creatine monohydrate (which contains aspartame) of which he used triple the amount recommended.- His doctor was not asked to testify to the state of Chuck’s health.
- The excessive amounts of aspartame he consumed could have had serious detrimental side affects on his health and does have 11% methyl alcohol in it.
- Chuck actually worked with methanol at his place of employment.
- An independent toxicologist’s report (see below) revealed that Chuck did NOT die from methanol poisoning at all. That being the case, why is Diane in jail for poisoning her husband and adulterating a substance with methanol!
- The medical examiner did not check the eyes for methanol poisoning. (Being ‘blind drunk’) comes from the effect of methanol on the eyes which causes damage and blindness. By the way, the eyes were harvested for transplants.
- The medical examiner did not check for formic acid which is a metabolite of methanol.
Industrial methanol is coloured with a blue dye as a warning of its toxicity. No dye was found in the bottles of Gatorade used for toxicology tests.- Chuck died from a large bleed in the brain, caused by the Heparin administered by the hospital, according to the independent toxicologist.
- The fact that the Gatorade did not have industrial methanol in it was known by the prosecution but the information was not given to the defence. This prosecutor Warren Von Schuch had two other previous misdemeaners ie:
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in VA, admonished Von Schuch “This prosecution team displayed a disconcerting lack of respect for its sole responsibility to ensure ‘that justice shall be done’, as opposed to merely winning the case.”
In another case, prosecutor Von Schuch’s misconduct resulted in a reversal. “The Court finds that Von Schuch acted improperly and in violation of prosecutorial obligations.”
This means that the screen wash found in the garage was not used to spike the Gatorade and the prosecution knew this from their own toxicology report.
Gatorade had NO screen wash in it
There is much evidence here to prove Diane’s innocence, not least the fact that the Gatorade was found NOT to have industrial methanol in it. Apart from that, the science of this case is quite confusing to the layperson especially with the experts coming up with various alternatives as to how and why Chuck died. Even so, they all agree that Diane did not murder her husband and that his cause of death was from consumption and/or administration of either/or:
- Excessive intake of drugs by Chuck, all of which had a drug stabilizer of propylene glycol (PEG).
- Excessive intake and addiction to aspartame which Chuck consumed in copious amounts on a daily basis and had done so for years.
- The use of Heparin by the hospital (a blood thinner) causing a massive brain bleed.
- The administration of high doses of sodium bicarbonate by the hospital, causing edema in the brain and other tissues due to anoxia.
- Excess intake of Creatine supplement and a subsequent reaction thereof to other drugs containing propylene glycol (PEG) and/or aspartame.
In an effort to get to the bottom of Chuck’s death, Diane wrote to a well known toxicologist Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati, PhD asking him to review the case. Dr. Al-Bayati has over 25 years of experience in research, teaching, diagnostic work, and serving as expert witness on many medical-legal cases in the USA and other countries involving children and adults. He did a very comprehensive and lengthy report which, for those that are interested, can be found here meanwhile, below is a sample of his findings:
“Charles (Chuck) Fleming’s acute illness developed on June 12, 2000 induced by the ingestion of toxic doses of creatine monohydrate and high levels of propylene glycol (PEG). Chuck was taking several medications contained PEG that increased creatine bioavability and caused acute renal failure, severe hypophosphatemia, and ketoacidosis…
The bleeding, edema, and necrosis observed in Chuck’s brain were caused by the high doses of heparin and sodium bicarbonate given in the Hospital…
The treating physicians and the medical examiner did not measure formic acid in Chuck’s blood, urine, stomach contents, or tissues…
The commonwealth’s allegation against Diane that she poisoned her husband with methanol is not supported by medical and scientific facts, which support Diane’s innocence…”
More than one victim
Chuck appeared to be a victim of misdiagnosis, laboratory error and possibly negligence on the part of the medical professionals caring for him. The other victims of this farce are primarily Diane Fleming and her 3 children, other family members and many friends.
Despite all the new evidence, the misdemeanours of the prosecution, the possible misdiagnosis of the hospital doctors, the possible wrong medical treatment by the hospital doctors and the lacking and incomplete autopsy by the medical examiner, on the 9th October 2008, the district court denied Diane her habeas corpus petition.
Dr Bayati stated “My review of the clinical evidence and supporting data in this case and Fierro’s autopsy findings indicates that Fierro’s allegations given in this case are not supported by the medical and scientific data as described in this report.”
No parole in Virginia State
As there is no parole in Virginia, Diane is scheduled for release in 2028 when she will be 71 years old! Her request for a new trial has been dismissed. She continues to be optimistic and is a useful member of the prison society, helping her fellow inmates when she can. Because she is an educated woman, she writes letters for other inmates and does all she can to keep their moral up. This is a gentle, selfless woman and despite her own terrible ordeal, she still tries to enhance the lives of others.
A sorry saga
She has become quite ill now but will she ever get out and see her children again? Probably not. There are too many miscreants in this sorry saga and they will all continue 
to close ranks to avoid their shortcomings being exposed at the expense of an innocent woman’s freedom. It appears there is nobody in the Virginia justice system who is willing to step up and fight for Diane’s release. What a sorry state of affairs and a disgrace to the Justice system of Virginia County, USA.
UPDATE – Diane has been released, here is a letter from Diane herself:
Hi All!
This is Diane. I was released on January 26th and am staying with friends, adjusting to changes in technology, and generally decompressing as I try to get back on my feet. The Parole Board deciding to granot me geriatric parole the very first year eligible was undoubtedly due to the overwhelming show of support from people I’ve come to know all over the world. They were also presented with the same evidence of my innocence that was in my petition for an Absolute Pardon and is still before the governor. Please pray now that I will also soon be exonerated.
I’m doing very well and just wanted everyone to know that.
Spread the word!
Sheesh I’m glad to hear you are free! I watched the show and I was like “what is this bullshit!” Total nonsense they put you thru. Free! Yay!
Even with the forensic science technology that we have today which is suppose to help exonerate the innocent and convict the guilty …The wheels of justice seems to move way to slow in correcting mistakes and miscarriages of justice like this case. Why is this the case in our “justice system”? I am so elated that Diane has been released but has her name and reputation been cleared? I truly hope that she will be restored to that end in the very near future. For now I am very happy she has regain her freedom and life. Thanks to all those who supported her thru this unjust ordeal ?.
Thanks for your input Ruby. Diane must be overwhelmed by the support she has had over the years. It is that support which has helped her case. She should be completely exonerated but I’m not holding my breath that she will be, nor do I think she will be compensated for her stress, loss of family and lost years. It is truly disgraceful how she has been treated.
I’m so happy to hear she was released! I was livid after watching her episode on women behind bars. Absolutely no evidence she had anything to do with his death! My boyfriend and I both theorized he was drinking the methadone to get drunk at work! Sickening she was ever found guilty with such circumstantial evidence. Shame on that DA, the jury, and the judge!
Yes, this has been a serious miscarriage of justice. Diane has suffered all those years because of the shortcomings of others. She was made a scapegoat to cover up the negligence of those who were utterly derelict in their duty. What a travesty!
Hi there, I must echo the many voices here in support of Diane. I too just watched the Women Behind Bars episode and am so very glad I was able to find this update, released! What a nightmare, many blessings to Diane.
Thank you for your support. I know Diane is grateful for all the moral support she has received from the general public.
I just saw murder behind bars and had to look up her current status because I did not believe she was guilty at all. So glad to hear she is out and it’s so heartbreaking that she had to go through all this and be separated from her children
Hi there Mallory, yes it’s been a long struggle but we’re hoping she will now get recompense for her lost years, The support Diane gets is welcomed and much appreciated.
I just watched your episode of Women Behind Bars. I am so happy you are now released. To me, it is always off-putting when a jury considers “no emotion” as guilty. That is not a fair assumption. No one knows how you will act in a situation like this. Some people can departmentalize and deal with the situation at hand. Good luck to you!
Hi JM and thanks for your support which I know Diane is very grateful for. As for the ‘no emotion’ problem, I think very few people know that Diane was under strong medication at the time so she could cope with her ordeal. The side effects of this medication – dulling of the emotions!
Of all the stories on Women Behind Bars yours stuck with because you are obviously innocent. I think that you handled the injustice of your incarceration with grace and dignity. I have no doubt that you helped a lot of other women while you were locked up. That being said I’m so glad to hear that you had finally been released ?
Thanks for your comments and good wishes Brenda. Diane is always happy to hear those that support her cause. Hopefully, she will be completely exonerated and compensated for her loss of years, stress, injustice and all the other negatives she has had to endure over those terrible years, through no fault of her own. Those culpable, of course, closed ranks long ago and will never face judicial proceedings.
I just watched the episode of Women Behind Bars and I was absolutely appalled at the outcome. How they found Diane guilty is beyond me. You could tell that she loved her husband. I hope the Governor gives her a pardon. Very VERY happy to hear that she has been released. She did not deserve to be in prison at all. A lot of people on that show, you feel in your heart that they did the crime, but you don’t get that feeling when watching Diane’s segment. Bless her, and I hope she’s loving the time she has with her family now.
Diane is so grateful for all the support she has had over the years. It beggars belief how she was convicted in the first place. I sincerely hope she gains a pardon but I’m not holding my breath! It is obvious that there were many anomalies during the investigation and the trial. This is probably why Diane was convicted. If found innocent, those at fault may have been brought to book. That’s my personal opinion anyway. She was a scapegoat!
I saw Dianne in women behind bars and there was no way she could have done it. No way at all. It’s sad that she had to spend all those years behind bars but I’m glad she is out. I hope the system will not repeat such a mistake.
Thanks for your comments, Diane is so grateful for all the support she’s received from around the world. She thinks this is the reason she was released.
I’m so glad this story has a happy ending! I saw her on “Women Behind Bars” and the whole miscarriage of justice that Diane faced made me want to scream!!! I wanted to do research on any updates to this story, because if she was still imprisoned, I would have started a riot. She seems like such a nice lady and I hope she sees nothing but good things for her and her children.
Thanks for your comment Belle. It truly was an injustice to have this woman behind bars for so many years. She is so grateful for the support given by many all over the world. We are hoping she can now be declared innocent and gain the compensation she has a right to. She has sacrificed much of her life because of an inefficent and corrupt justice system.
In watching Women Behind Bars , I looked at my co-worker after 15 minutes into her interview and said ” there is no freaking way this lady did anything . Polygraph was enough for me . Then I thought of Chucks co-worker . All the other women in these interviews were obviously guilty . But , Diane , omg ! I am sicken by the injustice . God bless you Diane for doing the Lord’s work while serving your time . You touched a lot of lives . Your reward is in Heaven !
Hi Ray, I’m sure Diane will be gratified with your comment. She was imprisoned, as far as I’m concerned, to save the faces of those who were derelict in their duties. She was a scapegoat!
ME too, God Bless Her
Just saw a snapped program on this in new Zealand and am amazed at the injustice of it all.poor woman, railroaded off to prison while an amazing lack of investigation and evidence was taken as fact.so glad to hear she had FINALLY been released. unbelievable.
Thanks for your support Claire. It is such an injustice that Diane, who was obviously innocent, had to spend so much time in prison, missing her family and not being with her. I sincerely hope she is going for compensation. It is obvious that all those to blame closed ranks and Diane was sacrificed to keep their misdemeanours out of the public eye.
I hope and pray that Diane may get the pardon soon so as she can have the freedom of mind as well to enjoy her life with her children,family and friends
Elaine
Hi Elaine and thanks for your kind wishes. I’m sure Diane will appreciate all the support she has had from so many well wishers.
To: MRS DIANE FLEMING I JUST WATCHED YOUR STORY ON WOMEN BEHIND BARS AND IMMEDIATELY TOOK TO THE INTERNET TO SEE WHAT I COULD DO! YOU ARE AMAZING IM SO HAPPY TO SEE THEY FINALLY FREED YOU FROM THIS HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE! I PRAY THAT YOU MAY LIVE YOUR LIFE AT PEACE FINALLY WITH YOUR FAMILY!!! YOU ARE AN INCREDIBLE WOMAN TO HAVE GONE THRU SUCH AN EXPERIENCE IT HAD ME IN TEARS. JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW PEOPLE STILL CARE!!! And if YOU WERE STILL IN THERE I WAS GOING YO WRITE YOU! THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORY!!
This letter was written to Diane Fleming from Laura, after she saw the story on “Women Behind Bars”. Diane is now free after a concerted campaign for her release. She was wrongly imprisoned, despite overwhelming evidence of her innocence. IMHO, this is a blight on the state of Virginia and others should have been prosecuted for not doing their duty in this terrible miscarriage of justice.
Hi All!
This is Diane. I was released on January 26th and am staying with friends, adjusting to changes in technology, and generally decompressing as I try to get back on my feet. The Parole Board deciding to granot me geriatric parole the very first year eligible was undoubtedly due to the overwhelming show of support from people I’ve come to know all over the world. They were also presented with the same evidence of my innocence that was in my petition for an Absolute Pardon and is still before the governor. Please pray now that I will also soon be exonerated.
I’m doing very well and just wanted everyone to know that.
Hi there Diane and thank you so much for writing to me. All those that have researched your case and know what went on, know that you are innocent and I hope you will find the courage to carry on and achieve that exonerated status that is rightfully yours. If you are exonerated, you should be entitled to massive compensation for your loss of years and loss of family life that you have had to endure, I cannot imagine how you have suffered over the years. That will make exoneration difficult as the authorities don’t like to admit to the world that they were wrong and dish out money to boot!
I will update the article I did on your case and put this new information on it. Good luck to you and yours and I hope you can look forward to a long and happy life from this day onwards.
I’m glad she is out I watched her episode women behind bars she was innocent the jury got it wrong again I hope she gets the pardon from the governor
Not only does she need a pardon, she needs compensation for the injustice!
I am the person who discovered the scientific facts behind Chuck Fleming’s death. He died from an overdose of creatine. Creatine is eliminated through the kidneys in low doses, but when the dosage is high, it metabolizes with another pathway, into two metabolites: methylamine and formaldehyde. Methylamine was responsible for the “methanol” false positive, but formaldehyde was responsible for the methanol-like symptoms, since formaldehyde is a metabolite common to both creatine and methanol. Methylamine is electrospatially identical to methanol and that is why it behaved similarly to methanol in the diagnostic test.
Thank you Carol for taking the time to confirm those scientific facts. Creatine obviously had something to do with Chuck’s death. As I understand it, he used tablespoons instead of teaspoons when making it up. It’s a pity this scientific evidence wasn’t available in 2002! Hopefully, the danger of overdosing on Creatine has been highlighted to those that continue to use it?
Has Diane actually been released or has she got a release date do you know. I have asked the Parole Board for this information but they may take a long time to reply, or not reply at all, I don’t know. I suppose it’s a daft question but will she get compensation from the state of Virginia for being wrongly imprisoned?
I have received a reply to my request for official information about Diane Fleming. The email is from and says as follows: “Good morning: Yes, Ms. Fleming has been granted geriatric parole.”
It would have been good to have a little more detail such as the date of her parole, but I am assuming that she is now out of prison and spending time with her family.
Well done Carol, thank goodness for people like you. The haste and lack of intelligence of some juries are terrifying. It is like trial by likeability of the accused. God help anyone who is having a subdued off day.
Diane has been granted geriatric parole
Thank you for this information. I have contacted the Virginia Parole Board for confirmation of the release date so I can officially inform Diane’s supporters in this country. When or if I receive a reply from the Parole Board, I will display it here on this site.
After watching a documentary on this case, I was shocked. I cannot believe this poor woman is still in prison. It makes me sick.
Yes Nicole, it beggars belief that a justice system can be so unjust. I thought British justice was bad enough with how little REAL murderers are sentenced. But everyone knows this woman is innocent but still she languishes in jail. It is a disgrace and dishonours the US justice system and proves just how corrupt it is.
Interesting post, I was a bit confused as to what this has to do with magnesium. So did it conclude that he died from toxins such as aspartame? If that was the case that would never be brought into the light as the industry would get sued millions. It’s too bad what happened to her they didn’t want to admit to their own faults and prosecute an innocent person.
Hi Dawna and thanks for your input. This is one of the few posts I have done that does not directly involve magnesium. I was so outraged by the injustice of this case, I had to share it. As to Chuck’s cause of death, the hospital, medics and those involved in the prosecution all closed ranks, to protect and hide their mistakes no doubt. If aspartame was to blame, you’re right, it would never come to light. Aspartame is one of the biggest money spinners of all time. All you can do is make sure you don’t ingest it which is difficult to do because it’s put into thousands of food and drink products, many do which you don’t know about.
WOW. i feel like this story needs to be a movie, this is crazy. I do believe that much diet soda a day will affect the body somehow and im sure the hospital was happy about the verdict if they actually made a mistake that caused his death. This is a crazy story, had me hooked. very interesting.
Thanks for reading this article Stephanie, it is the first time I’ve done a post like this but this woman is a victim because of the failings of others. The hospital, doctors and medical examiner dealing with this case want it to go away because of the repercussions for them. Diane Fleming is a scapegoat, to cover the misdemeanours and a possible law suit against the hospital and others for the death of her husband. The state of Virginia has let this woman down and you’re right, the story needs to be brought to the public eye, a movie of the TRUE story would be ideal.
Hello Mr. Power, I am Greg Tatum. I was going through very old emails, clearing them out when I ran up on the old email letter I sent to WE TV on 7/29/09 after viewing Diane’s case on Women Behind Bars. I too almost died from improper use of creatine years ago. After doing much more research on the substance I was able to give compelling evidence toward Diane’s inocence. I hoped so hard that my letter would get to the right people. Even if it didn’t I’m so happy to know that, even though it took years, Diane is now free!!! I know we that supported her inocence cannot give her back the time she lost but it’s a joy to know she’s home. This criminal justice system can really be a nightmare at times and in 2020 it’s STILL IN BAD NEED OF OVERHAUL. The email I sent back in 09 is attached as follows;
I PRAY THIS EMAIL REACHES THE PROPER PERSON
Hello WE t.v., my name is Greg Tatum. For the first time today me and my fiance watched your show Women Behind Bars. While watching the stories one by one there was one in particular that caught my eye. It was the story of Mrs. Diane Fleming. This story grabbed my attention not out of sympathy but out of fact. Facts that I believe were not researched properly before this woman was sentenced for poisoning her husband. I too was a user of CREATINE MONOHYDRATE. While watching your show I noticed that her husband was doing the very thing with his creatine supplement that I was doing. LETTING IT SIT IN AN ACIDIC SUBUSTANCE!!!!!!! A few years ago I expereinced horrible side effects of CREATINE THAT IS NOT TAKEN PROPERLY. If you purchase a bottle of creatine and read the label you will find the warning to CONSUME CREATINE AS SOON AS YOU MIX IT. I went through the side effects of severe headaches, vomiting, stomach pain, severe weakness etc…. Symptoms that could be attributed to the FLU. The other thing that got my attention was the fact the investigators only found traces of Methanol in an UNOPENED bottle of washer fluid and THE PRE-MIXED GATORADE / CREATINE DRINKS her husband was consuming. When I had all these symptoms years ago I stopped doing the one thing that I figured caused my problems, I STOPPED TAKING CREATINE. And, low and behold never had those symptoms again. Since then I had dabbled with creatine PROPERLY and have had no more problems. The key word is PROPERLY. After watching the show I imediately did a thorough search on the supplement and I found this statement popping out at me among others
“Creatine monohydrate is most commonly sold as a nutritional supplement in powder form. The powder may be blended with juices or other fluids, and then ingested. Prompt ingestion is important, because creatine is not stable in acidic solutions, such as juices. If creatine is retained in acidic solutions for even relatively short periods of time, most or all of the creatine in this solution converts to creatinine, which does not have the beneficial effects of creatine.”
Here is the link to the entire article.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7109373.html
This article also includes the process of how creatine is made USING METHANOL. Here is the section.
EXAMPLE 1
Large scale quantities of the dicreatine maleate may be made in a batch process in the following manner.
A reactor is charged with 2,400 gallons of anhydrous methanol. With stirring, 781 kilograms (6,845 moles) of maleic acid is added to the methanol. Any suitable food grade maleic acid may be used. Stirring should continue until all of the maleic acid is dissolved.
Thereafter, with continued agitation, creatine monohydrate is added to the methanol/maleic acid mixture. Any suitable food grade creatine monohydrate may be used. One such creatine is available as Catalog No. C-114 from Pfanstiehl Laboratories, Waukegan, Ill. In this embodiment, at least 2050 kg of the creatine monohydrate is added to achieve at least a 2:1 molar ratio of creatine:maleic acid. Once all of the creatine monohydrate has been added, stirring should continue for approximately four (4) hours to allow the materials to react.
The finished product is dicreatine maleate, having two creatine molecules per maleate anion. The finished dicreatine maleate may be separated using crystallization, optionally preceded by distillation to concentrate the product. One skilled in the art will recognize other appropriate separation techniques that may be used to isolate the dicreatine maleate.
The crystallized dicreatine maleate product is filtered from the reaction mixture and collected. The filtrate is washed with anhydrous methanol to remove any byproducts or other impurities. The solid dicreatine maleate product is dried at a suitable temperature. The resulting crystalline material is ground to a free flowing consistency and packaged. If appropriate, suitable flavors and sweeteners may be added. The creatine content of the product is approximately 70% on a weight basis.
Please read this article and do everything in your power to help set Mrs. Flemming free. I don’t know this woman but I believe in my heart that she is innocent. I have no power compared to you all at WE T.V. to help free this woman. But, once you read the attatched article and coupled with my experience with the improper use of creatine I’m sure your hearts will feel the same. Please, I beg you to use your influence to get this case re-opened and see this woman set free.
Here are my home and cell numbers if you have any questions of me. PLEASE HELP THIS WOMAN BECAUSE IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
Home: 703 910-7813
Cell: 501 613-8332
Thank you for your time.
Greg Tatum