New details have emerged after a North Carolina man was accused of poisoning and killing his wife with eye drops years before he allegedly tried to stage his own kidnapping.
After Josh Hunsucker’s wife, Stacy Hunsucker, died in 2018, he was accused of fatally poisoning her by putting lethal doses of eyedrops in her drinks over the course of several weeks.
He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretense in connection to Stacy’s death in December 2019.
He was out on bond in 2023 when prosecutors say he intimidated and harassed his late wife’s parents, according to ABC 7 Chicago. Hunsucker has since been accused of staging his own kidnapping with the use of zip ties in 2023 and accusing his in-laws of injecting him with an unknown substance.
Additionally, Hunsucker was accused of trying to poison his own daughter by using the same substance that killed his wife. After he allegedly exposed his daughter to the substance, she reportedly started to experience several medical conditions.
Prosecutors said that the state had great concern for the safety of Hunsucker’s kids and Stacy’s parents, according to court documents viewed by the outlet.
During a court hearing on Monday, April 6, a judge revoked Hunsucker’s bond and sent him back to jail. Hunsucker also pleaded not guilty to all of the charges he’s facing during the court appearance.
Additionally, the recent hearing saw prosecutors announce that some of the charges Hunsucker is facing will be tried separately. They also added that the trial for Stacy’s murder case could possibly start on September 8.
Prosecutors said they believe Hunsucker poisoned his wife so that he could collect her life insurance money, and they accused him of trying to do the same with his and Stacy’s 11-year-old daughter.
Back in December 2019, it was revealed that a family friend set up a GoFundMe campaign to help Stacy amid her ongoing health struggles that began in February 2013.
After she died, Hunsucker allegedly refused to allow an autopsy to be performed on Stacy and said he did not want her to be “to be cut up,” according to an affidavit viewed by ABC News.
However, investigators discovered that Stacy was an organ donor for Lifeshare Donor Center and they obtained a blood sample that had been preserved. The sample was tested and they found a high level of Tetrahydrozoline in her system, which was about 30 to 40 times higher than the therapeutic level.
“That medicine has a dramatic effect on your heart and would cause heart stoppage or heart failure,” North Carolina state attorney Jordan Green said during a 2019 hearing.
The affidavit stated that Hunsucker told police at least four different versions as to what he was doing before he found that Stacy was not breathing, while his work as a paramedic also hinted at his alleged involvement in the death.
“Josh Hunsucker is a flight paramedic for Medcenter Air for which his training and experience would certainly provide a thorough understanding of various types of medication and how those medications could react in the body,” the affidavit stated. “Additionally, his employment provides access to non-controlled substances which do not require logging or inventory control.”
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