An Ohio woman, Amanda Hovanec, 37, of Wapakoneta, has been handed a lengthy 40-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges including the distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Hovanec faces a decade of supervised release and a hefty restitution of over $2 million.
Documents unveil a complicated domestic situation where the Hovanecs were going through divorce proceedings and custody battles involving their three children, which seemed to spiral out of control. Timothy Hovanec, the victim of this heinous crime, had moved with his family numerous times for his job, including a stint in South Africa. It was during their time there that Amanda struck up an affair with Anthony Theodorou and later attempted to prevent her husband from seeing their children despite court orders to the contrary. A judge eventually ruled in favor of the father, leading to a fateful visitation in April 2022 that would ultimately culminate in his murder.
In a chilling turn of events, law enforcement officials discovered evidence that Amanda Hovanec had attacked her husband upon his return from one of these required visitations. Video footage from the husband's dash camera caught her physically assailing him after he had dropped off the children, leading to her confession of injecting him with a lethal dose of M-99, a controlled substance vastly more potent than morphine. Amanda Hovanec's mother, Anita Green, and her South African boyfriend, Theodorou, were both implicated in the crime, with Green driving the co-conspirators to dispose of the victim's body and Theodorou having supplied the M-99.
"Hovanec’s violent and intentional actions were cold-blooded, calculated, and cruel. Her extreme malevolence toward her husband and complete disregard for how his murder would affect their innocent children is incomprehensible and unforgivable," U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko was quoted as saying, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. As the legal proceedings draw to a close, with Hovanec and Green sentenced, the focus now shifts to Theodorou, whose sentencing has been postponed tomorrow.
This case was a collaborative effort in the investigation involving the FBI Cleveland Division, Lima Resident Agency, the Auglaize County Sheriff's Office, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), and the Lucas County Coroner’s Office.
