A paramedic has been accused of murdering his wife by poisoning her with eye drops so he could collect her life insurance.
Joshua Lee Hunsucker allegedly gave his wife Stacy a fatal dose of tetrahydrozoline, which can cause the heart to stop.
The former teacher’s death was ruled a heart attack until her mother told police to investigate a $250,000 (£193,000) insurance payout. She also suspected that Hunsucker was having an affair.
Hunsucker did not give consent for an autopsy after he found his wife dead at home but a blood sample had already been taken as she was a registered organ donor. It showed levels of tetrahydrozoline 30 to 40 times the therapeutic level, a dose that could have killed her as she heart problems and had a pacemaker fitted in 2015.
Hunsucker, 35, is in jail charged with first degree murder.
The Hunsuckers, from Gaston County, North Carolina, who have children aged five and six, were high school sweethearts.
When Mrs Hunsucker, 32, died suddenly in September last year, her husband’s colleagues at a medical centre in Charlotte were shocked to see him ‘unaffected’, they told investigators.
They were also surprised when he got another girlfriend less than six months later.