Spokane County man convicted of killing wife with ice cream laced with hydrocodone
A jury in Spokane County has convicted a man of murdering his wife by lacing her ice cream with a lethal dose of hydrocodone.
David Pettis was convicted Monday of grinding up and mixing the drug into a bowl of ice cream he gave to his wife Peggy Pettis, 64, on June 25, 2018.
Pettis called 911 on June 25, 2018 to say his wife was blue in color and not breathing. Authorities responded to his home in south Spokane County where his 64-year-old wife was declared dead, KXLY-TV reported.
The amount of pain medication was about 10 times what is considered a therapeutic dose, The Spokesman-Review reported. A toxicology report showed multiple drugs in Pettis’ wife system, including Hydrocodone, Trazadone, and Benadryl, but no alcohol, KXLY-TV reported. The amount of Hydrocodone was at a lethal level.
During an interview with detectives, Pettis said his wife took three hydrocodone pills at a time for pain. He said she would grind the pills and add them to a cocktail of ice cream and alcohol because she had a hard time swallowing pills.
Prosecutors said money and a rekindled love interest with a former girlfriend motivated Pettis, 60, to kill his wife.
