Court Documents: 71-Year-Old Man Conspired to Drug Wife’s Soda So He Could Marry Her Daughter

Alfred W. Ruf
Richmond Police Department
Amy Furr

A 71-year-old man in Wayne County, Indiana, conspired to poison his wife’s Coca-Cola with drugs so she would die and he could marry her daughter, per court documents.

On Monday in the county’s court, Alfred W. Ruf pleaded guilty to aggravated battery posing a risk of death, Fox 59 reported. A conspiracy to commit murder charge was dismissed.

Officials sentenced the man to four years behind bars and several more on probation.

“The charges against Ruf stem from several 2021 incidents where his wife was hospitalized and tested positive for several illegal drugs she said she did not take,” the outlet reported. “Ruf reportedly admitted to police he was poisoning her in an attempt to kill her and marry her daughter.”

The victim claimed she had tested positive for MDMA — also known as ecstasy — cocaine — an addictive drug made from the coca plant — and benzodiazepines — drugs that produce sedation.

During the investigation, Ruf reportedly said he had been “spiking” his wife’s beverage with a substance her daughter gave to him. He later reportedly confessed to the crime. The Fox 59 article continued:

Ruf allegedly told police how his wife’s daughter from a previous marriage had given him a pill bottle with a white powder inside around three months ago. The daughter — who[m] Ruf admitted he had been having sex with — reportedly told him to put the powder into his wife’s drink.

The man also reportedly told officials that the daughter and her friend told him to put the powder into the victim’s Coke can and let her fall asleep. During that time, he and one of the women would have intercourse while the other woman would allegedly steal his wife’s belongings.

The daughter allegedly told the man they should target her mother so they could get their hands on a life insurance policy. Ruf later apparently admitted to his wife that he had been poisoning her slowly.

Before her husband’s arrest, the victim had been in contact with law enforcement due to her missing belongings and because she believed she was being drugged.

“At the time of Ruf’s arrest in Jan. 2022, local police said that they were still investigating two other suspects connected to the case. However, no arrests have been made,” the Fox 59 report said.

Similarly, in February, a Texas attorney who put abortion drugs into his wife’s beverages was sentenced to 180 days in jail and ten years on probation, Breitbart News reported.

Mason Herring was initially charged with felony assault to induce abortion. However, “His wife, Catherine Herring, told the court six months in jail is not long enough. She added that their now one-year-old daughter, who is their third child together, was born ten weeks premature, has developmental delays, and attends therapy eight times a week,” the report said.

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