Ryan Donohue always believed the “bad stuff” would catch up with his mother.
Last month, Donohue learned that his mom, Sarah Hartsfield, had been indicted on a murder charge in the death of her husband, nearly five years after she killed another romantic partner in a shooting that was deemed justified at the time.
“It’s unreal seeing my mom in that jumpsuit now,” Donohue, 22, said in his first interview since the indictment on Feb. 3. “I’ve waited for it my whole life.”
Sarah Hartsfield was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Joseph Hartsfield, 46. Her fifth husband died in January, more than a week after he was hospitalized near Houston. His cause of death hasn’t been released. He may have had too much insulin in his system, an affidavit in support of a search warrant says.
Sarah Hartsfield has pleaded not guilty and is being held in lieu of $4.5 million bond. Her lawyer didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment; he has previously said Hartsfield maintains her innocence “and will assist in the investigation of her husband’s untimely death.”
More on murder suspect Sarah Hartsfield
Authorities haven’t identified a possible motive.
In Facebook messages shared with NBC News, Hartsfield complained to a friend about her husband’s “financial irresponsibility” and said she had “nothing left.”
Years earlier, in 2018, Hartsfield fatally shot a man her son said she had been engaged to, and officials ruled that she did so in self-defense. But six days after Hartsfield’s arrest this winter, a Minnesota prosecutor announced that he was re-examining the death of the fiancé, David Bragg.
Growing up with Hartsfield
Hartsfield, 48, has been married five times since the mid-1990s. Her children — Donohue and his three sisters — are from her third and longest marriage. According to Donohue, a postal worker, his family has followed a grim path that includes allegations of abuse and doomed relationships, two deaths and…
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