Mass. woman suspected of poisoning husband with soup after push from soap opera scammer

A Massachusetts woman is suspected of trying to poison her husband with tainted soup after a person posing as a soap opera star online told her to get rid of him, according to police records.

A Townsend Police Department incident report said Roxanne Doucette, 64, is being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, using poison. The report listed Doucette’s husband as the alleged victim and her 40-year-old daughter as a witness.

Doucette has not been charged in connection with the poisoning allegations, but the accusations are spelled out in police and court documents that allege Doucette messaged a person online who posed as actor Thorsten Kaye, one of the stars of daytime soap “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

On Dec. 1, "Kaye" told Doucette: “You have to get rid of your husband honey. I need you so much,” court documents said.

Doucette stated that she needed to do some thinking, the filings said.

Later that day at 2:34 p.m., Doucette messaged the profile: “Making an amazing soup. Special potion. He will be hungry when he gets back. Just enough for him.”

About two hours later she sent another message saying: “Hubby got back not feeling well. Maybe I can collect life insurance.” "Kaye" responded: “Honey when will that be?” and Doucette replied, “Don’t know,” according to the court documents.

Just after 5 p.m. that same day, Doucette called 911 for her 73-year-old husband. The report said he was unresponsive but breathing with a cardiac history and he was transported to Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer.

At the hospital, Doucette's daughter became suspicious.

The daughter contacted Ayer police saying she believed her mother poisoned her father and had been chatting with the fake soap opera profile who scammed her into giving them money, the filings said.

The daughter went through the messages on her mother’s phone and took screenshots, and came upon the messages about the soup.

When Doucette's husband regained consciousness, the daughter asked him about what happened on Dec. 1, and he said his wife made him soup but that it wasn’t very good. “He stated that it tasted bitter,” court documents said.

The hospital did a toxicology test on him, but it came back negative, court documents said. The daughter told officers that the test seemed to only test for opioids, cocaine, and alcohol and not other substances.

When police spoke to Doucette, she became aggressive.

Doucette said that she thought she was talking to a star, “and that she had always wanted to meet a star,” court documents said. She told NBC Boston that she ended up wiring about $4,000 to the scammer.

She stated that she would never harm her husband in any way and she loves him very, very much.

When an officer said they were going to seize her phone and tablet for the messages between her and "Kaye," she said she would not allow the officer to do so. She repeatedly refused despite warnings that she could be arrested, according to the filings.

When two officers attempted to take her into custody she resisted, kicked at one officer with her boot in the officer's groin area. Ultimately, two officers were able to get her in handcuffs and her phone and tablet were eventually seized.

She was arrested by Ayer police for intimidating a police officer, resisting arrest, and assaulting and beating a police officer.

However, she has not been charged in connection with the poisoning allegation.

Court documents show that she was arraigned on Dec. 4 and released on the condition that she have no contact with her daughter or husband, ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and follow up treatment, and be confined to a home with GPS monitoring.

Doucette denied the poisoning allegations, telling NBC Boston: "I absolutely did not poison him whatsoever. We’ve been married 45 years. I love my husband.”

“I love you very much and I want you to come home. I did not hurt you,” she said in a message directed to her husband, who filed a restraining order against her that was granted Dec. 4.

Police are working with the Middlesex County District Attorney's office to determine if they’ll bring any more charges against her.