Michael Evans, a doctor with the American Institute of Toxicology, told the jury in Hope Schreiner's first-degree murder trial Monday that her husband had 255 nanograms of the prescription medication per milliliter of blood in his body, the equivalent of about seven 10-milligram pills.
He estimated the pills were likely consumed at about 8 a.m. on June 2, 2004, the day of the murder. Witnesses testified last week that Hope Schreiner admitted she tried to poison her husband by putting sleeping pills in his coffee.
And Dr. Timothy Shafer, the regional medical examiner who was also the Schreiner's family physician, testified Monday afternoon that Robert Schreiner told him in April 2004 that he had stopped taking the sleeping medication. His last refill, according to pharmacy records, was in September 2003, Shafer said.
Vermont State Police Sgt. Robert McCarthy testified last week that seven Ambien pills were unaccounted for from a bottle prescribed to Hope Schreiner and filled on May 20, 2004.
This link also has her photo.
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story of the affair
Hope Schreiner, 73, became intimate with a man named Don in early 2004 because her husband, Robert Schreiner, was not attentive, Striet testified.
She also said she asked how her adopted father wound up beaten to death in their driveway along Robin Hill Road home in Townshend on June 2, 2004, and did not receive a definite answer from her mother.
"She looked right through me and said, 'I can't tell you,'" Striet told the jury Wednesday morning. "That actually did tell me something."
But under heavy cross-examination, Striet also revealed that she did not comfort her mother following Robert Schreiner's death and engaged in a legal battle with her two brothers over her adopted father's estate.
Striet said she believed the estate should be handled by an outside person "because of the circumstances." She also stated she asked her brothers to reimburse her for travel costs to attend the funeral and that Windham County prosecutors paid for her to travel to Vermont to testify in the trial.