From left, Amanda Hovanec, Anita Green and Anthony Theodorou were all sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Toledo.

FROM THE LIMA NEWS

TOLEDO — Amanda Hovanec will spend the next four decades in federal prison for crimes linked to the 2022 death of her estranged husband, Timothy Hovanec, in Auglaize County, a crime that U.S. District Court Judge James Knepp II said was “as bad a crime as I have seen or could have imagined.”

The 40-year prison sentence came after a six-hour sentencing hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo, during which investigators took the stand to recount the details of the crime, and family members and a co-worker offered victim impact statements clarifying the devastation of Hovanec’s actions on April 24, 2022. On that day, according to court records, she injected the victim in his shoulder with a controlled substance, etorphine, also known as M99. The drug is typically used as an animal tranquilizer, but it is lethal when given to humans.

The crime stemmed from divorce proceedings and a child custody battle between Hovanec and the victim. According to court records and corroborated by testimony Tuesday from FBI Special Agent A.J. Eilerman, Amanda Hovanec had made the decision to have her estranged husband killed. In a relationship with Anthony Theodorou, a man Amanda had met while she and her husband were in Pretoria, South Africa, due to her husband’s work as a researcher for the U.S. Department of State, Amanda reached out to Theodorou to see if he could find someone willing to kill her husband.

During testimony Tuesday, Eilerman outlined how Theodorou had checked with an acquaintance to see if he knew of a potential hitman. Two potential hitmen were found but then either backed out or disappeared.

To get the drug from South Africa to the United States, Theodorou, at Amanda Hovenec’s suggestion, according to testimony, hid the vial in with jewelry and other items he then shipped in February 2022 from South Africa to Amanda, who was living with her mother, Anita Green, in rural Auglaize County.

Prior to his death, Hovanec had traveled to Wapakoneta from his home in Virginia to attend a custody hearing. He then took his and Amanda’s three daughters for the weekend before returning them to Amanda at 7 p.m. April 24.

According to dashcam footage from Timothy’s vehicle, once the children rushed inside with Green, a scuffle could be heard on the audio as he said, “Did you just assault me?” and “Get away from me!” He then exited the vehicle and could be seen on the camera footage as Amanda came up to him from behind and struggled with him, getting him down to the ground until he stopped moving.

The Wapakoneta Police Department was alerted to Hovanec’s disappearance due to his belongings still being in the hotel room at the Best Western Inn where he was staying. Once it was discovered that he worked for the U.S. government, the FBI was brought in to help investigate.

Timothy’s vehicle was soon located near Highland Park in Dayton with its license plates removed. Once the dash cam footage was discovered, investigators soon confronted Amanda Hovanec, Green and Theodorou, who was in the United States at the time. It was discovered that Amanda had decided to kill her estranged husband that Friday, with Green driving her to find a wooded area near the intersection of Blank Pike and Wrestle Creek Road that was once owned by Amanda’s grandfather. Amanda and Theodorou then dug a grave in the woods on April 23, the day before the murder, according to testimony from Theodorou during Green’s sentencing hearing and according to a statement from Amanda issued in September. After Timothy Hovanec’s death that Sunday evening, Amanda and Theodorou then loaded the body in her vehicle, with Green then driving them to the woods to bury the body.

Speaking at the sentencing, Timothy Hovanec’s mother, brother and uncle spoke about the devastation the death caused for the family, focusing on the effect on the three children.

“I’m forever haunted with the memory of telling the girls their mother murdered their father,” Daniel Hovanec, Timothy’s younger brother, said. “The hardest thing for me is trying to accept that I will never get to make any more memories with Tim.”

Sentenced on federal charges of conspiracy to import a controlled substance, importation of a controlled substance, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute of a controlled substance and distribution of a controlled substance that resulted in death, Hovanec’s hands could be seen trembling as she read her statement through tears.

“I wish I could explain to you why I did what I did,” she said. “No matter how hard I try to explain my actions, it comes down to me being selfish.”

Green sentenced to 10 years

Anita Green’s sentencing hearing followed her daughter’s, and after an equally lengthy period of testimony and arguments from both the prosecution and the defense, Green was sentenced to 121 months in prison, the maximum recommended sentence for her charge of accessory after the fact given her lack of a prior criminal history.

Despite having pled guilty to the charge a year ago, Theodorou’s testimony seemed credible enough to Judge Knepp as to convince him that Green had not sufficiently taken responsibility for her part in the incident, one that may have been larger than originally believed.

The change centered around Green’s knowledge of and complicity with her daughter’s plans to kill Hovanec. While original testimony to both investigators and to the court suggested that Green only took Amanda and Theodorou to the burial site that Sunday evening, Theodorou testified that she took the two of them to the area the previous night to pre-dig the 2-foot-deep grave several yards inside the dense woods. The original plan, Theodorou said, was to place Hovanec’s body in a pond on the other side of the road that Green knew was going to be filled in with dirt, but that idea was overrruled.

“We decided to dig the hole that evening,” Theodorou said on the stand.

Green would then drive by the site, which was less than 10 minutes from her residence, every hour on the hour to see if they were ready to be picked up. All cell phones were left at the residence to avoid any location tracking, Theodorou said.

“I’m left with the inescapable conclusion that she helped facilitate a murder, not just after the fact,” Knepp said.

Sparking at the sentencing, Green said there has not been a day since the incident that she does not shed tears over what happened.

“I pray for Tim’s family every day,”she said. “And that comes with tears and that comes with shame and trying to overcome guilt.”

Timothy Hovanec’s mother and brother also gave victim statements at the hearing.

“Anita had an opportunity before and after to do the right thing or even to do nothing,” Daniel Hovanec said. “She chose to take this action.”

Also speaking g at the hearing were Jill Barber and Holly Green, two of Green’s other daughters. Instead of coming to her defense, however, they both requested the maximum sentence, describing their mother as a liar and a manipulative narcissist.

“I know with every fiber of my being she was involved,” Holly Green said. “She can’t be trusted to be let out.”

Due to the second hearing ending after 9:30 p.m., Theodorou’s sentencing was moved to 9 a.m. Thursday.