West Virginia pharmacist Natalie Cochran, already in prison for fraud, was convicted of murdering her husband. The Raleigh County Circuit Court jury found her guilty of first-degree murder. Now the jury must decide whether Cochran will be eligible for parole after 15 years. The maximum sentence is life in prison. Michael Cochran, 38, died in February 2019. Prosecutors say Natalie Cochran poisoned him with insulin to prevent him from uncovering a $2 million “Ponzi scheme” she ran from 2017 to 2019.
Forensic examination results showed that Michael Cochran died because insulin, which was never prescribed to him, was introduced into his body. Forensic pathologist Dr. Paolo Urbie, who conducted the test, concluded it was a homicide. During the trial, more details emerged about the dynamics of the incident. As People reports, on the day Michael Cochran died, Natalie told a group of friends that her husband was not feeling well. When the friends urged her to take him to the hospital for a visit, she replied that she would let him “sleep” instead. Her husband died after five days.
Cochran had been sentenced in March 2021 to 11 years for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars by pretending to be a government contractor. According to federal prosecutors’ reconstruction, the woman duped investors out of millions of dollars by making them think she owned two successful companies with government contracts. Authorities said she never invested the money, and used some of it to buy a 1965 Shelby Cobra classic car, two properties and jewelry.
