Photo: Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office
An Ohio pleaded guilty to murdering her husband in 2022. The United States Department of Justice said that Amanda Hovanec, 37, pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including distributing a controlled substance that resulted in the death of her husband, Timothy.
Hovanec filed for divorce in 2020 after she became involved in a relationship with another man. The divorce was messy, and at one point, Hovanec refused to allow her ex-husband visitation rights with their children.
However, Hovanec relented and allowed her kids to spend the weekend with Timothy in 2022. After returning the children to Hovanec, Timothy was reported missing.
The police found his abandoned car, which ended up providing a break in the case of his disappearance. The dash camera footage from his car recorded his death. It appeared to show Hovanec injecting him with poison after he dropped off their kids at her home. After he collapsed, she took his cell phone and Apple Watch and then turned off his car.
Hovanec later confessed that she injected her husband with Etorphine, a Schedule I controlled substance used as anesthesia for zoo animals. After he was dead, she disposed of his car and then buried his body in a wooded area.
Hovanec was sentenced to 40 years in prison and ordered to pay over $2 million in restitution to her ex-husband's family.
"Hovanec's violent and intentional actions were cold-blooded, calculated, and cruel. Her extreme malevolence toward her husband and complete disregard for how his murder would affect their innocent children is incomprehensible and unforgiveable," said U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. "We know that no amount of time served can bring back a family's loved one. But our hope is that the victim's family may find some sense of closure as they painstakingly work to heal from this unimaginable and horrific tragedy."