Vernal woman charged with secretly drugging husband's drink

A Vernal woman has been charged with secretly putting blood pressure medication in her husband's drink and allegedly telling a friend, "Maybe (he) will die this time."

A Vernal woman has been charged with secretly putting blood pressure medication in her husband's drink and allegedly telling a friend, "Maybe (he) will die this time." (Stefano Ember, Shutterstock)


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VERNAL — A Vernal woman was charged Friday with secretly putting blood pressure medication in her husband's drink, possibly to kill him.

Keri Denise Kelsey, 58, is charged in 8th District Court with surreptitious administration of a substance, a third-degree felony.

On Nov. 30, Kelsey "intentionally crushed up" medication pills and "put them in her husband's alcoholic beverage that he was drinking … while her husband was outside so that he would not know she had done it," according to charging documents.

Police were contacted on Monday after the husband had been in the intensive care unit at Ashely Regional Medical Center for several days. At that time, Kelsey said she had "crushed up trazodone and put it in the victim's drink in an effort to kill him," a police booking affidavit states trazodone is typically used to treat depression.

A witness who confronted Kelsey told officers she said she did this "to help him sleep." But later, when questioned by police, she also admitted to telling a friend afterward, "Maybe (he) will die this time," the affidavit alleges.

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Police & CourtsUtahEastern Utah
Pat Reavy interned with KSL NewsRadio in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL NewsRadio, Deseret News or KSL.com since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.

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