<p>This is an awful story. Autumn Klein, MD, PhD, died in April of cyanide poisoning.<br>
She specialized in neurological disorders during pregnancy, and at age 41 she was already an authority in the field.</p>
<p>Her husband, a researcher in ALS and other disorders, has just been arrested for her murder. They have a 6-year-old child, who is now in the custody of Dr. Klein’s parents. Apparently there are no siblings. They were trying to conceive another child.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine the burden this child will grow up with, if it turns out that her father murdered her mother. And her grandparents must be at least in their 60’s.</p>
<p>If he did all those things that are claimed in the criminal complaint, then you have to wonder how he thought he’d get away with it. I’ve read that he: (1) gave her some sort of home-made energy drink (supposedly with the cyanide in it) to increase fertility; (2) ordered cyanide for his university lab, the only time he ever ordered his own supplies, and kept it in a safe to which only he and one other person had access (and he did not use cyanide in his research); (3) told the paramedics to take his wife to a low-level hospital over a mile from their house when the university hospital, with a trauma center, was half a mile away; (4) tried to prevent an autopsy; (5) had his wife’s body cremated quickly. He was a PhD research scientist. You’d think he wouldn’t be that stupid?</p>
<p>I was in Pittsburgh soon after this happened visiting family and it was all over the news. The husband was very much older than her, 64 to her 41, and had 2 adult children (male and female) so the little girl does have much older half siblings. The parents of Autumn Klein may even be in their seventies (can’t remember exactly) and live in Maryland. The arrest is not surprising. A suicide possibility was briefly floated but that didn’t seem to make sense. Very sad.</p>
<p>Insurance companies are very suspicious and very careful. I strongly doubt it has been paid to him – if there was such a policy and if he was the beneficiary.</p>
<p>I’d be surprised if she didn’t have an insurance policy through the hospital, and normally a spouse would be the beneficiary. But it sounds like he was under suspicion soon after her death.</p>
<p>I don’t know how he thought he could get away with it. I read the entire police affidavit, which is online. Unless the 10 witnesses are lying, he might as well have painted a huge red arrow on himself.</p>
<p>What is is with these docs? Power over life and death going to their heads?</p>
<p>Two more doctors murdering doctors. You’d think with their medical expertise, they would be able not to get caught–although there may be many out there who haven’t. </p>
<p>This one is a doozie because the poisoned husband lingered in the hospital before dying. He told his doctors he thought his chemist wife had poisoned him and they ordered a psych consult. It wasn’t until he was very near death that they figured out he was right and by then it was too late.</p>
<p>Wow. I’m not big on lawsuits, but this one seems to scream for one, especially if hospital personnel did not even do any testing after he voiced his concerns.</p>
<p>We had a client in our shelter that was on Snapped. Didn’t realize it until after she left. </p>
<p>My heart breaks for this 6 year old. I can’t imagine that money was a factor given their careers (though I could very well be wrong). Sigh. Just get a divorce…</p>
<p>No. I know which episode it is though. I have actually never seen Snapped. She shot her husband in cold blood and was acquitted when she made up a story about something he did.
She claimed she was in our shelter doing “research” and that’s why she was asked to leave. She made a lot of other very strange claims, too. She had severe mental illness problems which apparently were triggered by the murder and trial (as far as we can tell).</p>
:(</p>