An Indiana man admitted that he tried to kill his wife by drugging her sodas over time, instead of just ending the marriage through a divorce. He has been arrested and was recently sentenced to time in prison for those murder attempts.
The man evidently thought that killing his wife was a better alternative to simply ending their relationship and telling her that he was interested in pursuing a relationship with another woman, who just so happened to be his wife's daughter. Maybe spending time in prison is better than admitting that truth to people.
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The man tried to kill his wife in 2021.
Alfred Ruf, 71, was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to aggravated battery posing a risk of death, according to multiple news outlets. In 2021, Ruf poisoned his wife, causing her to be hospitalized multiple times. The Kansas City Star reported that Ruf was originally charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
He eventually admitted that he was committing a crime.
Ruf's wife first reached out to police in January 2022, after he admitted to her that he had been "spiking" her Coke cans with poison "because he felt bad," according to Fox 59.
The wife told police that she had been hospitalized six times in weeks prior, with "unexplained headaches, drowsiness, diarrhea and more." At the hospital, the woman says she tested positive for MDMA, cocaine, and benzodiazepines, which she claimed she had never taken before.
While at their home, police heard Ruf say that he had gotten an "unknown substance" from his wife's daughter from a previous relationship to put in the Coke. The wife was able to provide a "pill bottle full off-white powdery substance" and well as a can of Coke with "an off-white residue."
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The story gets wild from there.
While his wife was being tested for poison, Ruf told the police that he had been engaging in a sexual relationship with his wife's 31-year-old daughter. He told them that she had been the one telling him to put the substances in her mother's drink.
"Ruf stated that the substance would then make [his wife] go to sleep for approximately 13 hours or so," court documents read. "He stated that he would do this to eventually kill her."
He explained that the daughter and her friend would wait for the wife to fall asleep and then "put on a show" for Ruf. USA Today reported that according to the documents, during the show the women would put on his wife's negligees and then perform "sex acts on each other."
It seems that the women were using Ruf has a way to pull off small crimes.
The outlet reported that Ruf also told police that while he was having sex with either the daughter or her friend, the other would be stealing his wife's personal items. According to court reports, once the daughter found out that their house was being sold, she told Ruf she wanted to "get mom out of the picture and inherit her life insurance policy."
According to Fox 59, Ruf claimed the daughter told him that once they "took care of" her mother, they'd be married.
Ultimately, Ruf began to feel guilty about his actions, which led to his arrest.
Ruf admitted that between September 2021 and December 2021, he poisoned his wife's drink approximately 12 times. While he said he admitted his crimes to his wife, she told police she confronted him and he admitted to "drugging" her so he could have sex with her daughter and her daughter's friend.
According to the court reports, Ruf's wife went to police to report missing items and to tell them her suspicions about being poisoned in the months leading to his arrest.
At the time of Ruf's arrest, police said they were still investigating the daughter and her friend as possible suspects. No additional arrests have been made to this day.
