Dashcam captures mom injecting ex-husband with deadly poison

Terrifying dash camera footage caught a mother ambushing and injecting her State Department researcher ex-husband with a deadly poison amid a heated custody battle.

Amanda Hovanec, 37, was seen waiting with her mother, Anita Green, for her ex-husband, Timothy Hovanec, 36, to arrive with their daughters at her Ohio home on April 24, 2022 when federal prosecutors said she 'ambushed and injected' him with an animal tranquilizer.

Timothy had just been 'given visitation' of his three daughters two days prior, when a judge ruled that he be 'the residential parent of custody and legal custodian of the three children for the summer beginning May 28, 2022 until August 5, 2022,' Law & Crime reports.

Over the next two days, evidence showed that the victim and his daughters spent time together and swam in a Best Western pool, enjoying their time together before Timothy's untimely demise.

As the girls got out of the car on April 24, Hovanec told her children, 'I have a surprise for you inside,' and just moments after the children and Green were inside the residence, Timothy could be heard saying, 'What the heck are you doing? Did you just assault me?' and then 'Get away from me... Get off of me,' federal prosecutors said, citing dash camera footage from his vehicle.

Soon, both husband and wife came into the camera's view, and Hovanec could be seen pulling on her husband's shirt as he tried to grab his cellphone.

'She wrestled with him and eventually knocked the phone out of his hand,' prosecutors said. 'She then pulled on his back to bring him to the ground, holding him around the neck until his body went limp and he became unresponsive, lying on the driveway.'

'Hovanec stood up, picked up her husband's cellphone, removed his smart watch and turned off his vehicle's engine, at which point the dash camera stopped recording.'

Court documents say law enforcement officials later determined the State Department researcher was injected with M-99, also known as etorphine, a substance that is approximately 1,000 times more potent than morphine.

Hovanec obtained the poison a few months prior, when her South African boyfriend, Anthony Theodorou, sent her a vial hidden in a package with jewelry and other items, LimaOhio.com reports. 

The suspect had earlier reached out to Theodorou to see if he could find someone who was willing to kill her husband, and the boyfriend checked in with an acquaintance to see if he knew of any potential hitmen, Special Agent AJ Eilerman testified on Tuesday.

He said Theodorou and his friend were able to identify two hitmen, but they either backed out or disappeared, prompting Hovanec and Theodorou to resort to poison instead.

She then injected her husband with the poison as he was 'unloading the children's car seats from his car' in the driveway, according to a government sentencing brief obtained by Law & Crime. 

Hovanec then 'put a plastic bag' over his head and body 'because she was concerned about fluids secreting' from his body, according to court documents. 

One day later, Green drove Hovanec and Theodorou to dump Timothy's body in a pre-dug grave near farmland that Hovanec's grandfather owned, and returned later to pick them up.

'Prior to killing [Timothy], Amanda told her mother, Green, that she was going to kill him,' a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law & Crime reads. 

'After Amanda killed [Timothy]. she also informed her mother that it had been done.

'Amanda and Theodorou loaded [Timothy's] body into the back of Amanda's Honda Pilot. Shortly thereafter, Green drove Amanda and Theodorou to where they buried the body,' the affidavit continues.

It also claims that Hovanec and Theodorou used shovels from Green's home to bury the body.

A missing person's investigation began when Timothy failed to check out of a nearby Best Western, and his belongings were still inside.

After local law enforcement learned that he worked for the State Department, the FBI was brought in to investigate, prosecutors said.

Over the course of an ensuing investigation, officials found Timothy's car abandoned in Dayton, Ohio, and were able to recover the dash camera footage.

At first, Hovanec claimed that her ex simply left after dropping off their daughters, but confessed when confronted with the video.

'Amanda admitted she injected [Timothy] in the shoulder while they were standing next to his vehicle after he dropped off the children,' an affidavit said.

'Amanda was not able to name what she injected [Timothy] with but referred to it as "poison" or "drug." Amanda understood that the drug would kill [Timothy] within minutes.'

She pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to import a controlled substance, importation of controlled substances, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance that resulted in death. 

'No matter how hard I try to explain my actions, it comes down to me being selfish,' Hovanec acknowledged at her sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

The issues in her relationship with her husband reportedly began after they moved to South Africa in 2018 for her husband's State Department job, and she met Theodorou.

When the Hovanecs returned to the United States in 2020, she filed for divorce and denied Timothy 'visitation with the children despite a court order to permit it,' Law & Crime reports.

The father then filed several contempt motions against Hovanec for denying him visitation of his three girls, and he traveled from Virginia to Ohio for court proceedings so he could see his daughters.

At the sentencing on Tuesday, Timothy's brother, Daniel Hovanec, recounted how he had to tell the girls the horrible news following their father's death. 

'I'm forever haunted with the memory of telling the girls their mother murdered their father,' he said, adding: 'The hardest thing for me is trying to accept that I will never get to make anymore memories with Tim.'

Ronald Stuart, deputy assistant secretary and assistant director of Diplomatic Security for Countermeasures at the State Department, also testified that Timothy's expertise was a vital key in more effective detection and response to security risks to diplomats abroad.

The department was only able to fill the position earlier this year, he testified, demonstrating its difficulty in replacing someone with Timothy's skills and expertise. 

'His ultimate demise has had a negative effect on the safety and security of our diplomats serving abroad,' Stuart said.

Hovanec was ultimately sentenced to 40 years behind bars, followed by a 10-year supervised release. She was also ordered to pay more than $2.1 million in restitution.

Green was also sentenced to 10 years in prison and two years supervised release after pleading guilty to being an accessory to the crime, and Theodoros is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday.