An Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) probe into the suspicious death of a White Hat Officer’s 33-year-old wife has produced answers while also raising new questions, a source in General Eric M. Smith’s office told Real Raw News.
As reported Monday, the officer, having just gotten home from work at Fort Liberty, found his spouse’s lifeless body in the driver’s seat of her car, which was idling in their garage. EMS and staff at Womack Army Medical Center postulated she died of carbon monoxide poisoning, intentionally or accidentally. The husband had an alibi—he was at work the entire day—and was ruled out as a person of interest, and he insisted that his wife wouldn’t have accidentally sat inside an unventilated car inhaling fumes or committed suicide. Meanwhile, CID suspected foul play because the vehicle had no fingerprints where they would typically appear on an often-used vehicle, among other reasons stated in our initial article.
On Tuesday morning investigators received a copy of the wife’s toxicological panel. It revealed she had ingested a significant quantity of Ambien, a sleep aid for which she had a valid prescription, before her death. CID reinterviewed the husband, asking about his wife’s prescription use, and his answers affirmed the wife had been taking Ambien sparingly for insomnia since the sudden death of her mother two years prior.
He gave CID a 30-count prescription bottle filled on March 19; the label instructed the patient to take one tablet at bedtime, if needed, for sleep. The number of pills left in the bottle—four—suggested she had exceeded the recommended dose by a wide margin. If she had swallowed a pill a night since filling the RX, the bottle should have held 28 pills when investigators examined it. The grief-stricken husband was reportedly speechless, saying his wife had filled only two 30-day RXs in the last 12 months and had never “not in a million years” abused drugs.
“That much was true, based on her pharmacy history,” our source said, adding that the husband had worn gloves while placing the bottle in a Ziplock bag for CID.
Asked why CID allowed the husband to handle evidence instead of scouring the home themselves, he said, “Who do you think we are, the feds? This officer just lost his beloved wife. He isn’t a suspect, and they weren’t going to ransack his home for clues. They made a cursory inspection on the first visit and saw no signs of a physical confrontation or forced entry. Now, with the officer’s consent, we’re digging deeper,” and dismissed questions about whether medical staff had considered Anterograde amnesia as a factor.
Ambien side effects are well-documented, with high-dosage users reporting engaging in odd behavior, such as getting into a vehicle and driving 100 miles or more and returning home safely with absolutely no memory of the event.
“They don’t think that’s the cause, and her husband sure doesn’t. The case is open until CID closes it. Until then, they’re not signing off on anything. Yes, there’s a lot going on here. If she was put unconscious and force-fed the pills, why isn’t she bruised? Why no defensive wounds? Could someone have drugged her and then put her in the car to make it look like monoxide poisoning? If so, why didn’t they get rid of the bottle, which, by the way, had only her prints. CID will see the case to its logical conclusion,” our source said.