'Selfish' wife ambushed husband with fatal dose of animal tranquilizer during custody exchange of 3 daughters

A 38-year-old pistillate successful Ohio volition apt walk the remainder of her days down bars for killing her husband, ambushing and injecting him with a fatal dose of carnal tranquilizer during a 2022 custody exchange.

Amanda Leigh Hovanec appeared successful Auglaize County Court of Common Pleas past period and pleaded blameworthy to 1 number of aggravated execution successful the decease of 36-year-old Timothy Hovanec, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

As Law&Crime previously reported, Hovanec is already serving 40 years successful a national situation aft pleading blameworthy to aggregate felonies, including organisation of a controlled substance resulting successful death. During her national sentencing hearing, Amanda Hovanec told the tribunal that her husband's execution came down "to maine being selfish."

Amanda Hovanec had 3 daughters with Timothy Hovanec, who was a researcher for the U.S. State Department. As portion of Timothy Hovanec's job, the household moved respective times, including a 2018 stint successful South Africa. While there, Amanda Hovanec developed a narration with a South African national named Anthony Theodorou.

Theodorou and Amanda Hovanec's mother, Anita Green, person besides been convicted of national crimes successful transportation to Timothy Hovanec's execution and are awaiting proceedings successful authorities court.

When the Hovanecs moved backmost to America successful 2020, Amanda Hovanec filed for divorcement and the suspect subsequently denied her ex "visitation with their children contempt a tribunal bid to licence it," national prosecutors antecedently said.

But 2 days earlier the slaying, a justice ordered the unfortunate beryllium fixed two-day custody of the kids and that helium beryllium "the residential genitor of custody and ineligible custodian of the children for the summer, opening connected May 28, 2022 until August 5, 2022."

During Timothy Hovanec's 2 days of custody, Amanda Hovanec concocted the program to inject him with M-99, a cause that is astir a 1000 times much potent than morphine, which prosecutors said is "used successful veterinary medicine for zoo and wildlife anesthesia."

Federal prosecutors filed a sentencing memo stating that the unfortunate was "unloading the children's car seats from his car" erstwhile Amanda Hovanec sneaked up and injected him with the drug. The onslaught was recorded by the victim's dashcam.

"The children entered the residence, followed by Green. Seconds later, the unfortunate was heard saying, 'What the heck are you doing? Did you conscionable battle me?' and then, 'Get distant from maine . . . Get disconnected of me,'" prosecutors wrote successful a quality release. "The unfortunate and Hovanec came into the camera's view, astatine which clip video footage captured her pulling connected her husband's garment arsenic helium tried to usage his cellphone."

"She wrestled with him and yet knocked the telephone retired of his hand. She past pulled connected his backmost to bring him to the ground, holding him astir the cervix until his assemblage went limp and helium became unresponsive, lying connected the driveway," the DOJ added. "Hovanec stood up, picked up her husband's cellphone, removed his astute watch, and turned disconnected his vehicle's engine, astatine which constituent the dash camera stopped recording."

The tranquilizer was shipped to Amanda Hovanec conscionable 1 period earlier by Theodorou, who admittedly dug a shallow sedate the time earlier the slaying.

From there, Amanda Hovanec "put a integrative container implicit [Timothy Hovanec's] caput and assemblage due to the fact that she was acrophobic astir fluids secreting from [Timothy Hovanec's] body" earlier she dumped the victim's remains with the assistance of her co-defendants.

The time aft the murder, Green drove her co-defendants and the victim's assemblage to a pre-dug "burial tract […] adjacent farmland" that Amanda's "grandfather utilized to own" and past picked them up erstwhile they were done, according to tribunal documents.

"Prior to sidesplitting [Timothy Hovanec], Amanda told her mother, Green, that she was going to termination him," prosecutors wrote. "After Amanda killed [Timothy Hovanec], she besides informed her parent that it had been done. Amanda and Theodorou loaded [Timothy Hovanec's] assemblage into the backmost of Amanda's Honda Pilot. Shortly thereafter, Green drove Amanda and Theodorou to wherever they buried the body. Amanda and Theodorou buried [Timothy Hovanec] successful a wooded country located astatine the northwest country of Blank Pike and Wrestle Creek Road successful Auglaize County. Amanda and Theodorou utilized shovels from Green's location to hide the body. Amanda said that Green dropped them disconnected and aboriginal returned to prime her and Theodorou up astatine a predetermined time."

While suspect Hovanec initially claimed that her ex simply near aft dropping disconnected the children, she confessed erstwhile confronted with the video evidence, the feds said.

"Amanda admitted she injected [Timothy Hovanec] successful the enarthrosis portion they were lasting adjacent to his conveyance aft helium dropped disconnected the children," a national affidavit said. "Amanda was not capable to sanction what she injected [Timothy Hovanec] with but referred to it arsenic 'poison' oregon 'drug.' Amanda understood that the cause would termination him wrong minutes."

A day for Amanda Hovanec's sentencing proceeding had not been acceptable arsenic of Monday. However, nether Ohio law, she volition look a mandatory condemnation of beingness successful a authorities correctional installation without the accidental for parole.

Green and Theodorou are inactive facing authorities charges for complicity to aggravated murder. They person a pretrial proceeding scheduled for March 13.

Matt Naham contributed to this report.