Are scams here to stay? An email scam is at the root of this true crime that resulted in one person dying and another spending many years in prison. And neither of them was behind the scam.
A man and his live-in girlfriend had been together ten years when the man received an email out of the blue. The email informed him a distant relative had passed away and left him $30 million. The instructions were to meet an attorney at the nearest International Airport to sign-off on the inheritance to receive the cash. First clue of a scam was nobody dishes out $30 million in cash at an airport.
After receiving what he thought was a life-changing email, the man told his relatives he was breaking up with the girlfriend. This news flash made it back to the girlfriend, who hatched a plan. She felt after ten years she was his common-law wife and deserved a portion of the inheritance. But if he thought he was going to cut her out completely, she’d take it all.
She killed her boyfriend before he could end the relationship. Her weapon of choice was to dose him with antifreeze in his sweet tea and a little in his beer while she was at it.
Friends and relatives saw him fall ill on the day he was to meet the attorney at the airport—who, by the way, was a no-show. The girlfriend disregarded their concerns and said she’d see how he was the next day. The next day, he was in much worse shape. She called 9-1-1. They took him by ambulance to the hospital.
His health declined rapidly. The hospital transferred him to a larger hospital better equipped for his level of distress. The 51-year-old man died two days later.
His friends and relatives told local officers they believed she had poisoned him and why. During a search of his home, officers confiscated a glass that had held iced tea and a partially empty beer bottle that were still in the home three days after she poisoned him. The autopsy results showed he had ingested ethylene glycol—a key component in antifreeze. The same component was found in the tea glass and beer bottle.
During the formal discussion with the girlfriend, officers informed her of what they’d found in the glass and bottle and that the state she lived in did not recognize common-law marriages. They arrested her and held her on a one-million-dollar bond. At the hearing, a county state’s attorney justified the high bond by saying,
“This was an intentional and heinous act.”
Rather than go to trial, she pleaded guilty to intentional murder. The court sentenced the 47-year-old woman to 50 years in prison. They suspended twenty-five years and required her to pay over $3,000 to the family to help with end-of-life expenses. After her release, she will serve ten years on supervised release.
The Investigations Commander released a statement to those who had supplied them with information,
“Thank you to everyone who provided us with information that helped our investigators piece this together.”
Source: Minot Police Dept., Minot Daily News, Law & Crime, CBS News, KX News,
All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.
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