Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Virginia Man Gets 6 Years For Spiking Mother-In-Law's Coffee With Meth
Police said a neighbor claimed to have heard Jack Price once jokingly suggest that he should “put some meth in her drink,” in reference to his elderly in-law.
A Virginia man has been sentenced to six years in prison for allegedly attempting to kill his 95-year-old mother-in-law by spiking her coffee with methamphetamine, according to reports.
Jack David Price, 56, was sentenced Thursday after prosecutors agreed to drop an attempted first degree murder charge against him in exchange for his guilty plea to drug possession, poisoning and obstruction of justice, according to the News & Advance, a daily newspaper in Lynchburg.
Esther Fortune Price suffered chest pains and vomiting on Dec. 8, 2017 and was admitted to a hospital, where she tested positive for the drug.
The victim’s granddaughter reportedly told police she believed her stepfather, Jack Price, was trying to kill her grandmother, the News & Advance reports.
A six-week investigation led to Jack Price’s arrest, according to the Times Virginian.
Ester Price told police that her son-in-law had visited her at home and made her coffee the morning she fell ill — which was not something he usually did.
When she got sick, he offered to take her to the doctor, she said, though he never did.
Instead, he was found driving around with Ester in his car, claiming he could not get her to the appointment, according to the Times Virginian.
Staff at the doctor's office, meanwhile, said that neither Jack or Ester Price showed up or called in that day.
Police said they also spoke to a neighbor who was friendly with the family, who reportedly claimed Jack Price once mused that he should “put some meth in her drink,” in reference to Ester. When the neighbor told Price that wasn’t funny, he claimed to have only been kidding.
Deputy Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Leslie Fleet said Price was allowed to plea to a lesser charge because the victim was advanced in age and in poor health, according to the Times Virginian.
Although Price was sentenced to 11 years with five months suspended, he will only have to serve six years of the sentence, according to the News & Advance.
He also is subject to three years of probation upon his release, random drug testing and a six-month suspension of his driver’s license.
[Photo: Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority]
