Husband feared ‘for his life’ as wife spiked his soda with Roundup, Missouri cops say

A Missouri woman repeatedly spiked her husband’s Mountain Dew with Roundup weed killer, saying he did not show appreciation for the birthday party she threw for him, according to deputies.

The husband told Laclede County Sheriff’s Office deputies he became “afraid for his life” when he made the startling discovery at their Lebanon home, according to court documents.

He first noticed in May that the 2-liter bottles of Diet Mountain Dew he kept in his garage refrigerator “tasted weird,” but he drank them anyway, the sheriff’s office said.

“After a couple of weeks, he started having symptoms of a sore throat, coughing up brown/yellow thick mucus, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting,” authorities said in the probable cause statement.

When he realized the 2-liter bottles “tasted different” from a smaller bottle he drank out of, he reviewed video footage from his garage, the sheriff’s office said. Video showed his wife, 47-year-old Michelle Peters, take the soda bottle and Roundup bottle into the house, according to deputies.

The video did not show Peters mix the two, as she would conceal herself from the view, authorities said.

Even when the husband put new, unopened bottles in the refrigerator, he noticed they were eventually tampered — to the point where the Roundup bottle in the garage was nearly empty, according to the sheriff.

Peters was brought in for questioning June 24. She initially told deputies she mixed Mountain Dew and Roundup “to use as a weed killer that she saw on Pinterest,” according to the sheriff.

She eventually admitted to purposefully spiking the drinks due to “relationship issues” she was having with her husband, court documents show.

“Michelle said she was mad at (her husband) because she had thrown him a 50th birthday and he was not appreciative,” the sheriff’s office said.

Roundup contains glyphosate, an ingredient that can be harmful if a large amount is swallowed, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. It can cause nausea and vomiting and has been associated with respiratory effects, the agency said.

Peters was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action, court records show. She pleaded not guilty and is due in court July 2.

Lebanon is about a 55-mile drive northeast from Springfield.

This story was originally published June 26, 2024 at 5:55 AM with the headline "Husband feared ‘for his life’ as wife spiked his soda with Roundup, Missouri cops say."