Connecticut Woman Accused of Poisoning Husband’s Wine With Antifreeze Chemical as ‘Payback’ During Custody Battle

RIDGEFIELD, Connecticut — A Connecticut woman is facing attempted murder charges after allegedly poisoning her estranged husband’s wine and iced tea with a chemical commonly used in antifreeze, which police say she purchased weeks before the attack.Custody Battle Turns Toxic

According to Connecticut State Police, 33-year-old Kristen Hogan was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of interfering with an officer after allegedly spiking her husband’s drinks with ethylene glycol, a highly toxic substance used in antifreeze.

Police say Hogan was locked in a contentious custody battle with her estranged husband, with whom she shares a child. Court documents reveal that Hogan had “full, unrestricted access” to the husband’s home, which allowed her to enter and tamper with the drinks while he was away.

The husband told investigators he believed Hogan poisoned his wine on August 7, the day the two were scheduled to appear in family court — but Hogan never showed up. While at court, he received a phone alert indicating that Hogan’s cellphone had connected to his home Wi-Fi, suggesting she was at his residence while he was gone.

Husband Falls Ill After Drinking Spiked Wine

Three days later, on August 10, the victim opened a bottle of wine he had previously stored in his refrigerator. He drank a small amount that evening but soon began vomiting and experiencing severe dizziness and slurred speech overnight.

By early the next morning, his mother rushed him to the hospital after finding him “staggering, slurring his words, and vomiting,” according to the arrest affidavit.

Doctors initially believed the man was suffering from a stroke, but later determined his symptoms were consistent with ethylene glycol poisoning — the same chemical used in automotive antifreeze. He was placed on dialysis and survived.

The victim told police Hogan was the only other person who had been inside his residence before he became ill.

Poisoned Drinks, Google Searches, and a Confession

When questioned by detectives, Hogan initially denied tampering with any drinks, but her story quickly began to unravel. A forensic review of her cellphone revealed internet searches for “potassium cyanide,” “potassium ferricyanide,” “monoethylene glycol,” and phrases like “how much of these substances would kill you.”

At first, Hogan claimed she only recognized the term “cyanide” from the television show Psych. However, she later admitted to purchasing a bottle of monoethylene glycol in July, claiming she had used it to clean her mother’s carpet.

Eventually, Hogan confessed to mixing the chemical into the wine, telling officers she “did not know how much she put in, but it wasn’t much — she just poured it in.”

Police testing later confirmed that both the wine and a bottle of iced tea in the home contained ethylene glycol. Investigators say the tea appeared to have been poisoned on a different date from when the wine was contaminated.

Child Also Fell Ill

Disturbingly, the couple’s shared child was hospitalized in late September with symptoms resembling the father’s — though Hogan denied her child could have ingested any contaminated drink.

“Hogan stated it was only the wine and the iced tea, and nobody else knew she was tampering with [the victim’s] drinks,” police wrote in the affidavit.

Investigators believe Hogan’s motive was twofold: to make her husband sick enough that she would gain full ownership of the home and sole custody of their child.

When asked about her intent, Hogan allegedly told detectives she “never meant to kill him” but wanted to make him sick as “payback for him being mentally abusive.”

Hogan was taken into custody by Connecticut State Police and booked into the Danbury Correctional Facility. She remains held on $1.5 million bond pending trial.

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