Ohio woman who injected husband with tranquilizer to keep him from seeing their kids is sentenced

AUGLAIZE COUNTY, Ohio (TCN) -- A 37-year-old mother of three will spend four decades in prison for killing her estranged husband with help from her lover and her mother.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced Oct. 1 that a judge sentenced Amanda Hovanec to 40 years after she pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including distributing a controlled substance that killed her husband, Timothy Hovanec, in 2022. The defendant will also have to serve 10 years of supervised release and pay over $2.1 million in restitution.

According to federal prosecutors, Amanda Hovanec and her husband had three children and moved around for his job with the U.S. Department of State. They reportedly relocated to South Africa in 2018 for one of his assignments, where the defendant began a relationship with Anthony Theodorou, a South African citizen.

Amanda Hovanec and her family later returned to the United States, and she filed for divorce in 2020. The U.S. Attorney’s office said Amanda Hovanec "began to deny her husband visitation with their children" the following year "despite a court order to permit it."

Timothy Hovanec was eventually granted visitation in April 2022 after filing multiple contempt motions against his wife, and a judge later ordered that he "become the residential parent and legal custodian of their children for two months that summer, beginning in May."

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Timothy Hovanec took the children for a weekend visitation per a court order, but after returning the kids to his estranged wife, he failed to check out of a local hotel and was reported missing.

Officials reportedly found Timothy Hovanec’s car abandoned in Dayton. The U.S. Attorney’s office said investigators reviewed footage from the vehicle’s dashcam that showed the victim returning the children on April 24, 2022. In it, Amanda Hovanec and her mother, Anita Green, are reportedly seen waiting as Timothy Hovanec walks to a vehicle and says to his kids, "I have a surprise for you inside."

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the children went into the home with Green. Moments later, footage captured Timothy Hovanec allegedly saying, "What the heck are you doing? Did you just assault me?"

Timothy Hovanec reportedly tried to use his cellphone, but his wife pulled on his shirt and knocked the phone away. According to prosecutors, Amanda Hovanec held her husband to the ground and around the neck, and he eventually went unconscious in the driveway. Amanda Hovanec reportedly took her husband’s cellphone and his smart watch, and turned off his car, causing the dashcam to stop recording.

Investigators later learned Amanda Hovanec injected her husband with M-99, which is around "1,000 times more potent than morphine," and is often used by veterinarians and for zoos and wildlife anesthesia. Prosecutors argued Amanda Hovanec "considered killing her husband for at least a year before the murder and had considered alternate means to do so, including hiring a hit man, before settling on injecting him with M-99."

According to NBC News, Hovanec allegedly fatally poisoned her husband to prevent him from seeing their children.

Prosecutors said the defendant initially tried to conceal her crimes, but she eventually admitted that "she injected her husband in the shoulder with 'poison' that she understood would kill him within minutes." Following his death, Hovanec reportedly disposed of her husband’s vehicle and buried his remains in a wooded area.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Theodorou obtained the M-99 Hovanec used to kill her husband and also helped her hide his remains in Ohio. Hovanec’s mother, Green, reportedly knew about her daughter’s plan to kill the victim, and she was charged with accessory after the fact. According to prosecutors, Green drove her daughter, the victim, and Theodorou to the wooded area where Timothy Hovanec was buried, and the hole had been dug prior to the killing.

Theodorou pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import, importation, and distribution of a controlled substance that resulted in death and was sentenced to 18 years in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay over $2.1 million in restitution. Green pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the crimes and received a sentence of 10 years in prison and two years of supervised release.

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