Woman Accused of Spiking Husband's Wine With Antifreeze

A Connecticut woman faces an attempted murder charge after police say she admitted to slipping antifreeze into her estranged husband's wine bottle, NBC News reports. Kristen Hogan, 33, allegedly confessed to police that she poured ethylene glycol—a toxic chemical found in antifreeze—into her husband's wine, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

The incident unfolded in August, when the unnamed victim hosted family for dinner and then, days later, later drank leftover wine from the gathering, authorities said. After consuming the wine, he became severely ill and was hospitalized with symptoms doctors linked to ethylene glycol poisoning. The man's mother, alerted by a late-night call, reportedly found him disoriented and vomiting before taking him to the hospital. He later told detectives that in between the dinner and the night he became ill, Hogan failed to appear at court on a day he was there in response to a complaint she filed. He said that while he waited for her there, his phone notified him that Hogan's cellphone was at his house.

Investigators traced Hogan's alleged involvement through digital evidence, including a search on her phone about lethal doses of monoethylene glycol just weeks before the incident. When questioned by detectives, Hogan allegedly admitted to poisoning the wine, but claimed she merely wanted to make her husband sick as retaliation for what she described as his mental abuse, not to kill him. She also allegedly admitted to previously putting the same chemicals in his tea. Her estranged husband, however, told detectives he believed Hogan's motive was to get the couple's house and full custody of their child. He told authorities she had access to his home and was the last person there other than him, Fox News reports.

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Hogan's attorney, Mark Sherman, said she intends to plead not guilty and described the charges as "wildly inconsistent with Kristen's reputation as a loving and caring mother." Hogan is being held on a $1 million bond. Her estranged husband was in the hospital for nearly two weeks after the incident, ABC 7 reports.