An Ohio mother was sentenced to 40 years in prison after she was captured on camera ambushing her ex-husband and injecting him with a powerful animal tranquilizer during an ugly custody dispute over their children, federal prosecutors said. Has been. federal prosecutors said.
Amanda Hovanek, 37, pleaded guilty this week to poisoning Timothy Hovanek, 36, when he dropped off their three daughters at her Wapakoneta home in 2022.
Newly released footage of the disturbing attack, which was captured on the father’s dashcam camera, shows Hovanek telling the girls he had a “surprise” for them when they got out of the car. the players said,
Just seconds after Hovanek’s own mother took her daughters inside, U.S. State Department researcher Timothy could be heard yelling: “What are you doing? Did you attack me? and “Get away from me… get away from me.”
Clips released after Hovanek’s sentencing show the murdered ex-wife pulling up Timothy’s shirt and struggling with him as he injects her with the poison.
Prosecutors said, “He pulled her back to bring her to the ground, held her neck until her body went limp and she became unconscious and lay in the street.”
“Hovanek stood up, picked up her husband’s cellphone, removed her smartwatch and turned off her vehicle’s engine, at which point the dash camera stopped recording,” the feds said.
Investigators later determined that Timothy had been injected with M99, or etorphine – a semi-synthetic opioid that can be 1,000 to 3,000 times stronger than morphine.
Rebecca Lutzkow, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said, “Hovanek’s violent and deliberate actions were ruthless, calculated, and cruel.”
“Her extreme hatred towards her husband and her complete disregard for the impact his murder would have on their innocent children is beyond comprehension and inexcusable.
“We know that no amount of time can bring back a family’s loved one. “But our hope is that the victims’ families can find some sense of closure as they work hard to recover from this unimaginable and horrific tragedy.”
The deadly saga unfolded as the former couple were embroiled in a messy custody battle over their three daughters.
Prosecutors said Hovenec filed for divorce in 2020, shortly after the family returned home following a two-year stint living in South Africa due to Timothy’s State Department job.
According to a criminal complaint, during her time abroad, Hovanek met and had a relationship with her would-be boyfriend, Anthony Theodorou.
The parents began fighting in court in late 2021 when Hovanek tried to block her ex-husband from seeing their daughters.
Then, in early 2022, a judge ordered Timothy to be allowed to keep the girls for a longer period the following summer, prosecutors said.
According to the complaint, she was murdered before the visitation period could begin.
In the wake of the fatal poisoning, prosecutors said Hovanek initially tried to hide her crimes — but she later admitted to injecting her ex-husband with drugs, wrecking his car and dumping his body in a wooded field near their home. Confessed to burying it in the area.
Authorities initially focused on Timothy after he was reported missing when he failed to check out of a nearby hotel where he was staying.
Police discovered the dashcam video when they found his abandoned car.
Prosecutors said investigators later determined that the substance used in the attack was allegedly obtained by Hovanek’s South African boyfriend.
Theodorou, who was charged as an accessory after the fact, will be sentenced on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Hovanek’s mother, Anita Green, who was also charged as an accessory, was previously sentenced to 10 years in prison.
(TagstoTranslate)US News(T)Child Custody(T)Divorce(T)Murders(T)Ohio(T)Poisoning
