Joe Andriano
Wendi Andriano murdered her terminally ill husband Joe by poisoning him with sodium azide and then bludgeoning him. She claimed self-defense. She was sentenced to death.
On October 8, 2000, Wendi Andriano called 911 saying her husband Joe had attacked her in their Ahwatukee, Phoenix apartment. When police arrived, they found Joe dead with massive head injuries from a bar stool.
Joe Andriano, 33, had been terminally ill with cancer. Investigation revealed Wendi had ordered sodium azide—a chemical poison—from the internet and had been administering it to Joe in his drinks.
When the sodium azide didn't kill him fast enough, Wendi struck him with a bar stool and stabbed him with a knife. She then staged the scene to look like self-defense.
Wendi Andriano was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 2004. She remains on Arizona's death row.
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