A Missouri woman is facing charges after allegedly using household chemicals to poison her husband's Mountain Dew "on several occasions," authorities said.
Michelle Y. Peters, 47, of Lebanon, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree domestic assault and criminal action, the Laclede County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday. Her husband reported his suspicions to deputies earlier that day.
Peters allegedly told investigators she wanted to get back at her husband, who was not named, because he was not appreciative of the 50th birthday party she threw for him.
Starting around May 1, Peters' husband began to notice the Diet Mountain Dew he kept in his garage refrigerator, which only he consumed, tasted off. He initially ignored the taste and continued drinking it. According to the arrest report, he began noticing symptoms a few weeks later, including sore throat, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting, and he began coughing up thick, brown mucus.
After becoming suspicious, he looked at home security video from the garage, captured earlier this month, which showed Peters taking his bottle of Mountain Dew from the refrigerator, along with a bottle of weed killer, and taking them into the house. A short time later, she returned both items to their places.
When Peters' husband tried to switch the Mountain Dew Bottles, she allegedly tampered with the new ones. Becoming more suspicious, he added an additional camera in the garage to show a view of where the chemicals were stored. Then on Sunday, he watched the video live as his wife brought the soda over to a bottle of insecticide.
The following morning, Peters' husband brought the surveillance videos to the sheriff's office, and said he feared for his life.
He told investigators that when he told his wife he was feeling ill, she allegedly told him it was probably just COVID-19. He also told investigators he was unsure whether she was possibly having an affair, or perhaps just wanted life insurance money.
After being interviewed by the sheriff's office, Peters was arrested and booked into the Laclede County Detention Center with no bond.
--with reporting by TMX
