MONROE — A Monroe woman accused of trying to fatally poison the 70-year-old veterinarian she met online and married appeared in Lafayette County Circuit Court on Thursday.
Amanda Chapin is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide following her September arrest at a Monroe hotel. But the ordeal leading up to Thursday’s hearing began Aug. 21, 2021, when the husband was taken to the SMS Health Monroe Clinic, complaining of breathing issues. That man, a local veteran and veterinarian by trade, later was placed in intensive care in the VA facility and slipped into a coma. His blood reportedly tested positive for barbiturates.
Gary Chapin eventually recovered after being treated at a SMS Monroe Clinic; and at the Middleton VA Hospital.
On March 17, 2022, the pair married at the Lafayette County courthouse, despite the suspicions of his family. “(Victim 1) believed he was just a ‘sugar daddy’ for Amanda,” a criminal complaint said, adding that the relationship was “fairly stormy from the beginning.”
Not long after the wedding ceremony, Amanda Chapin allegedly forged the signature on a power-of-attorney document, and then demanded her husband file a quit-claim on his house, leaving it to her. Then she is alleged to have begun poisoning him with suspected barbiturates.
A number of relatives involved were suspicious of the man’s new wife, who had fantasies of opening a Yoga Studio in Hawaii, according to reports. Chapin awoke from his coma after four days and began to talk to police last August. He alleged that Chapin poisoned him three times earlier that summer, culminating in his waking up in the hospital on Aug. 25.
On Sept. 1, Chapin was found unresponsive in a hotel room in Monroe and was taken to a local hospital. Investigators searched the room and recovered letters addressed to her husband and his family, all denying hurting or trying to kill him over the summer.
“My loving husband, I leave you with all of my love,” she wrote in one letter, recovered after what authorities said was an alleged suicide attempt the hotel room.
Gary Chapin also appeared in court during Thursday’s hearing before Circuit Judge Duane M. Jorgenson, according to court records. She has yet to enter a plea and was not appointed a public defender, at least initially.
She did petition the court for indigency status, although there was no apparent ruling on that, court records indicate. Chapin is scheduled for her next appearance at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Jorgenson’s court room.