West Virginia pharmacist convicted in poisoning death of her husband

A West Virginia pharmacist already serving a federal prison sentence in a fraud case was convicted Wednesday in state court for killing her husband.

Jurors found Natalie Cochran guilty of first-degree murder in Raleigh County Circuit Court, CBS affiliate WDTV reported. The jury now must determine whether Cochran would be eligible for parole after serving 15 years. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Cochran’s husband, Michael Cochran, 38, died in February 2019. Prosecutors said Natalie Cochran poisoned him with insulin so that he wouldn’t find out about a $2 million Ponzi scheme that she admitted to operating from 2017 to 2019.

Natalie Cochran was originally indicted on a first-degree murder charge on Nov. 19, 2021, in her husband’s death, CBS affiliate WOWK-TV reported, but prosecutors dropped the charge in order to re-exhume Michael’s body for advanced testing by forensic pathologist Dr. Paul Urbie.

The results of that testing showed that Michael Cochran died because nonprescribed insulin was introduced to his body, the station reported. Urbie also concluded Michael’s death was a homicide, WOWK-TV reported.

Natalie Cochran was sentenced in March 2021 to 11 years for pretending to be a government contractor and defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. Federal prosecutors said she tricked investors into thinking she owned two successful businesses with government contracts. Authorities said she never invested the money, instead using some of it to buy a 1965 Shelby Cobra classic car, two properties and jewelry.

Several people in recent months have been accused of using poison to kill their spouse or partner in the U.S.

Last October, a North Dakota woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the poisoning death of her boyfriend.

In October 2023, a poison specialist and former medical resident at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota was charged with fatally poisoning his wife, a 32-year-old pharmacist who died in August.

In May 2023, the author of a children’s book on grief was accused of killing her husband by poisoning him with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in Utah. And, in March 2023, a Colorado dentist was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder after police say he laced his wife’s pre-workout shakes with arsenic and cyanide.