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Woman accused of giving husband lethal sherry enema
By RICHARD STEWART
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
HOUSTON -- Investigators say a woman caused her husband's death by giving him a sherry enema, leading to alcohol poisoning.
The enema caused his blood alcohol level to soar to 0.47 percent -- almost six times the legal intoxication limit in Texas, a toxicology report showed.
Tammy Jean Warner, 42, was indicted on a charge of negligent homicide. She is also charged with burning the will of her husband, Michael Warner, a month before his death on May 21.
Michael Warner, a 58-year-old machine shop owner, had a long history of alcoholism but couldn't ingest alcohol by mouth because of painful medical problems with his throat, said Lake Jackson, Texas, police detective Robert Turner. The enema was a way he could become intoxicated without drinking alcohol, Turner said.
"I heard of this kind of thing in mortuary school in 1970, but this is the first time I've ever heard of someone actually doing it," Turner said.
Turner said police think Warner gave her husband at least two large bottles of sherry, which is stronger than wine, in the enema.
"We're not talking about little bottles here," Turner said, "These were at least 1.5-liter bottles."
Turner said police don't know if the victim had ever become intoxicated in that manner before the lethal incident.
Tammy Warner told police that she found her husband dead in their bed. Turner said she admitted giving him the sherry enema, but not to causing his death.
"A person drinking alcohol will usually pass out before getting a lethal dose," Turner said.
"But if you're getting it through an enema, you can pass out and still be ingesting more alcohol."
Tammy Warner surrendered to Lake Jackson police Monday and was released on $30,000 bond. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Neither Turner nor Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne would comment on the charge related to the will.
The indictment said providing Michael Warner with alcohol and destroying the will constituted a "criminal episode."
Although Michael Warner may have agreed initially to the enema as a way to become intoxicated, Yenne said, "he was not a willing participant in something that would cause his death."
"He knew that it was very dangerous for him to have any form of alcohol and she knew it was very dangerous for him to have alcohol," Yenne said.
The couple's neighbors said they were surprised Wednesday to learn of the indictment.
John Criswell, 24, said the widow had mostly been away from the modest brown frame house at the end of the street since her husband died.
"She said she was scared to stay there by herself alone," Criswell said. "She said she'd been having trouble with his family."
The couple had been married about two years, police said.
"She asked me to keep an eye on the place," Criswell said. He said he last saw her about three weeks ago.
