Geneva Woman Charged With Murdering Husband With Poison

(CBS) -- Authorities say a Geneva woman drugged her husband by slipping something into his drink in their home.

As CBS 2's Audrina Bigos reports the victim is being remembered as a devout man of faith.

"My heart is broken, many of our hearts are broken because we lost a dear friend," said Pastor Dan Vis of North Aurora Seventh Day Adventist Church.

In service on Sunday, a special tribute to Eduardo Gutierrez, known as Ed by his church family at North Aurora Seventh Day Adventist.

"He had his faults, but there is one thing Ed was passionate about and that was the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ," said Pastor Vis.

A cross with his name on it now lies outside his Geneva home where he lived for more than 20 years. The lights are still on inside the home, but his widow is in jail.

Julia Gutierrez is charged with first-degree murder after authorities say she poisoned her husband by mixing a sedative Temazepam into his smoothie. Authorities say he drank it unknowingly and died.

"You'd have to take intake thousands of milligrams of this drug for it to be fatal," said Riley Drugs pharmacist Melissa Lee.

At its highest dosage, the pills, mostly used to treat insomnia, are about 30 milligrams filled with powder, easy to mix in a drink.

"You'd have to take hundreds of thousands of these to even become fatal," Lee said.

Ed's body was discovered Thursday night when someone outside the house called Geneva requesting a well-being check.

His wife was also found taken to the hospital to be treated and later charged.

Gutierrez remains in custody at the Kane County Jail. If convicted, she could face 20 to 60 years in prison.

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