A Connecticut woman is accused of trying to kill her estranged husband with antifreeze-laced drinks as the two fought over custody of their child.
Kristen Hogan, 33, was arrested in Ridgefield and charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of interfering with an officer, according to documents released by the Connecticut State Police.
Husband falls ill after drinking wine from fridge
Investigators say Hogan poisoned both wine and iced tea at her husband’s home with ethylene glycol, the toxic main ingredient in antifreeze.
On August 10, her estranged husband (whose name has not been publicly released) drank a small amount of wine from his refrigerator.
Within hours, he began feeling violently ill, waking repeatedly throughout the night to vomit.
The next morning, his condition worsened.
After calling his father for advice, his mother went to check on him and found him “slurring his words, staggering, and vomiting,” the Daily Mail reports. She rushed him to the hospital.
Doctors initially suspected a stroke, but later identified signs of ethylene glycol poisoning.
The man was transferred to intensive care and placed on dialysis for kidney failure.
When questioned, he told doctors he had drunk leftover wine that had been opened several days earlier during a dinner party and then recorked.
Evidence points to tampered wine and suspicious internet searches
The husband later told Ridgefield Police that he believed Hogan had poisoned the wine on August 7; the same day she skipped a scheduled court appearance in their custody case, per Law & Crime.
While he was at court, he received a notification showing that Hogan’s phone had connected to his home Wi-Fi network and uploaded data.
He explained that Hogan, who shared a child with him, still had full access to the home and was the last person there before he became sick.
When police confronted Hogan, she initially denied any involvement.
However, forensic testing confirmed the wine contained ethylene glycol.
Investigators also discovered incriminating searches on her cellphone, including phrases like “potassium cyanide,” “monoethylene glycol,” and “how much of these substances would kill you," according to WBZ News.
Hogan reportedly told detectives she only recognized the word “cyanide” from watching the TV show Psych.
She admitted to buying a bottle of monoethylene glycol in late July but claimed she used it for cleaning carpets at her mother’s house.
Confession: “I just wanted to make him sick”
After further questioning, Hogan allegedly confessed to mixing the toxic chemical into her husband’s wine.
According to the arrest affidavit, she said she “never wanted to kill him but just wanted to make him sick as payback for being mentally abusive.”
She told investigators she didn’t know how much of the chemical she added but admitted pouring an “unknown amount” into a mostly full bottle of red wine.
Detectives later told Hogan that their child might also have been exposed to the poison, a claim she strongly denied.
However, the couple’s child was hospitalized in late September with similar symptoms to the father’s, the New York Post details.
“Hogan stated it was only the wine and the iced tea, and nobody else knew she was tampering with [the victim’s] drinks,” the affidavit said.
Motive was custody and control
The estranged husband told police he believed Hogan’s motive was to gain full ownership of their home and full custody of their child.
Hogan remains in custody on a $1 million bond as the investigation continues.