MONROE — A woman accused of killing the veterinarian husband she met on the Internet is set for an appearance in Lafayette County Circuit Court on Tuesday, June 13.

Amanda Chapin, 51, is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide following her arrest last September at a Monroe hotel. It’s her first appearance on the murder charge since March 9, when she was arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty.

The crime she is accused of culminated on Aug. 21, 2021, when her new husband, Gary Chapin, 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.

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 family. 

Not long after the wedding, 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, according to a criminal complaint. Then she is alleged to have begun poisoning him with suspected barbiturates that were apparently available due to his job as a veterinarian.

On Sept. 1, Chapin was found unresponsive in a hotel room in Monroe and was taken to a local hospital where he recovered. Investigators seized letters from her room addressed to her husband and his family — all denying hurting or trying to kill him over the summer. 

Green County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Vale has been assigned to the case. He took over for Lafayette County Circuit Judge Duane M. Jorgenson.

If convicted, Chapin faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.