Pharmacist convicted of killing husband with insulin

Natalie Cochran, a West Virginia pharmacist who killed her husband by poisoning him with insulin, was found guilty of first-degree murder and faces life in prison. Michael Cochran, 38, died in 2019; she didn't want him to find out about her $2m Ponzi scheme.

Natalie Cochran was originally indicted on a first-degree murder charge on Nov. 19, 2021, in her husband's death, CBS affiliate WOWK-TV reported, but prosecutors dropped the charge in order to re-exhume Michael's body for advanced testing by forensic pathologist Dr. Paul Urbie.

The results of that testing showed that Michael Cochran died because nonprescribed insulin was introduced to his body, the station reported. Urbie also concluded Michael's death was a homicide, WOWK-TV reported.

Cochran was already sentenced to 11 years in the Ponzi scheme, in which she pretended to be a government contractor to attract investors in two fake businesses. Among the things she bought with the money was a 1965 Shelby Cobra; unfortunately for her, good taste in classic automobiles is a bad defense to a charge of fraud.

Poisoning appears to be a popular method lately to off an inconvenient partner. In March 2023, Colorado dentist James Toliver Craig was accused of fatally poisoning his wife by putting arsenic in her protein shakes.

In April 2024, Arizona woman Melody Felicano Johnson pleaded guilty to attempting to poison her husband by pouring chlorine into his coffee. And Ina Thea Kenoyer was sentenced to 25 years in prison for poisoning her boyfriend in North Dakota, mistakenly believing he had inherited $30 million.