Man Falls Ill After Scammer Tells Wife to Get Rid of Him

A Massachusetts woman is suspected of serving her husband poisoned soup based on text messages she sent to a scammer, whom she thought to be a soap opera star. Roxanne Doucette, 64, is being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, according to a Townsend Police incident report. Her 73-year-old husband reportedly became unresponsive, but ultimately survived, after eating the soup last month, per NBC News. Police uncovered text messages Doucette had exchanged with a scammer posing as actor Thorsten Kaye of The Bold and the Beautiful, to whom she reportedly sent $4,000, per MassLive. "You have to get rid of your husband honey. I need you so much," the individual wrote to Doucette on Dec. 1, according to court documents.

Within hours, Doucette allegedly wrote that she was "making an amazing soup" and "special potion"—"just enough for him." She later told the scammer that her husband wasn't feeling well. "Maybe I can collect life insurance," she allegedly wrote. That same day, Doucette called 911. Her husband, who had a cardiac history, was unresponsive but breathing and was taken to a hospital, per NBC. At the hospital, Doucette's daughter found the text messages her mother had exchanged with the scammer. She told police that her father, upon regaining consciousness, claimed his wife fed him a soup that "tasted bitter." A toxicology report came back negative, according to the report, but the daughter claimed her father was only tested for opioids, cocaine, and alcohol.

Doucette told police she would never harm her husband but she allegedly refused to turn over her devices, then became violent. She allegedly tried to kick an officer in the groin before she was arrested on charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. She has not been charged with attempted murder, though police continue to investigate. Her husband has been granted a restraining order against her. Doucette, now confined at home with GPS monitoring, tells NBC Boston, "It was my dream to meet a soap star." But she says she didn't poison the man she loves "very much" and the couple actually made the soup together on Thanksgiving night. It was nine days old when her husband ate it, which is likely why he became sick, she claims. (More attempted murder stories.)