Ohio Mom Amanda Hovanec Fatally Poisoned Ex-Husband During Custody Battle

An Ohio mother was sentenced to 40 years in prison after she was filmed ambushing her ex-husband and fatally injecting him with a powerful animal tranquilizer during a horrific custody dispute over their children , federal prosecutors said.

Amanda Hovanec, 37, pleaded guilty this week to poisoning Timothy Hovanec, 36, when he arrived to drop off their three daughters at her Wapakoneta home in 2022.

Newly released footage of the disturbing attack, which was captured by the father’s dash cam, showed Hovanec telling the girls she had a “surprise” for them as they got out of the car, federal authorities said.

Just seconds after the girls were led inside by Hovanec’s own mother, Timothy – a US State Department researcher – could be heard shouting: “What the hell are you doing?” Did you just attack me? and “Get away from me… Get away from me.”

The clip, released after Hovanec’s conviction, showed the murderous ex-wife putting on Timothy’s shirt and wrestling with him as she administered the poisonous vaccine.

“She then pulled him onto his back to the ground, holding him around his neck until his body went limp and he was lying unresponsive on the driveway,” prosecutors said.

“Hovanec got up, took her husband’s cell phone, removed her smart watch and turned off the engine of her vehicle, after which the dashboard camera stopped recording,” authorities added.

Investigators later determined that Timothy had been injected with M99, or etorphine, a semi-synthetic opioid that can be 1,000 to 3,000 times more potent than morphine.

“Hovanec’s violent and intentional actions were cold-blooded, calculated and cruel,” said Rebecca Lutzko, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

“Her extreme malice towards her husband and her complete disregard for the consequences of his murder on their innocent children is incomprehensible and unforgivable.

“We know that no sentence served can bring a loved one back to life. But we hope the victim’s family can find some sense of closure as they work hard to heal from this unimaginable and horrific tragedy.

The deadly saga unfolded as the former couple were embroiled in a complicated custody battle over their three daughters.

Hovanec had filed for divorce in 2020, shortly after the family returned from a two-year stay in South Africa because of Timothy’s job at the State Department, prosecutors said.

During their time abroad, Hovanec met and formed a relationship with her future boyfriend, Anthony Theodorou, according to a criminal complaint.

The parents began fighting in court in late 2021 when Hovanec tried to stop her ex-husband from seeing their daughters.

Then, in early 2022, a judge ordered Timothy to be allowed to have the girls for an extended period of time over the next summer, prosecutors said.

He was killed before that visitation period even began, according to the complaint.

Following the fatal poisoning, prosecutors said Hovanec initially tried to cover up his crimes but later confessed to injecting his ex with the drug, getting rid of her car and burying her body in a wooded area near her home.

Authorities first focused on her after Timothy was reported missing after failing to leave the nearby hotel where he was staying.

Cops discovered the dashcam video when they found his abandoned car.

Investigators later determined that the substance used in the attack was believed to have been obtained by Hovanec’s South African boyfriend, prosecutors said.

Theodorou, accused of complicity, is to be sentenced on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Hovanec’s mother, Anita Green, who was also charged with complicity, had already been sentenced to 10 years in prison.