Alleged eye drop murder. A divorce attorney accused of murder. Plus, criminal investigations at sea.

Dateline NBC

This episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly explores multiple high-profile cases, including the alleged poisoning murder of Stacey Hunsucker

Key takeaways

• Stacey Hunsucker's death was linked to tetrahydrozoline, a chemical found in eye drops, present at 30-40 times therapeutic levels in her blood.
• Joshua Hunsucker faces multiple charges including murder and witness intimidation despite pleading not guilty.

Main topics

• Eye drop murder in North Carolina
• Divorce attorney charged with client's murder

Notable quotes

You know, we only need the bad guy to mess up once.

Conclusion

Despite claims of a 'perfect crime' on water or through subtle means l

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Stay informed with the NBC News app. Speaker 7 (0:32) Major developments out of the White House. Speaker 5 (0:34) Read, watch, and listen throughout your day. And now, unlock even more with an NBC News subscription. Get deeper reporting and exclusive articles. Plus, more insight, analysis, and content only for subscribers. When you really look inside these numbers... It's more context and clarity from the reporters you trust. Download the NBC News app now and subscribe for more. Speaker 1 (1:01) Good morning. It's the start of another workday for the Dateline team. Speaker 7 (1:05) There's like zero shell casings. There's no Speaker 1 (1:07) footprints. There's no tire tracks. Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. Speaker 7 (1:12) Was there any other suspects? They Speaker 1 (1:15) did find one witness. That's the latest on that. Speaker 1 (1:19) Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's September 17th, and here's what's on our docket. In Cleveland, Ohio, courtroom battles upend the murder trial of a divorce attorney accused of fatally stabbing his own client, nurse and mom of four, Aliza Sherman. Speaker 3 (1:36) So, things have gotten a little bit heated. In Speaker 1 (1:39) Dateline Roundup. Five months after the singer David was charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, her family is now accusing his mother and managers of failing to protect her. And we'll bring you the latest on the new controversy surrounding the Lindsay Clancy holdout juror. Speaker 4 (1:57) According to NBC Boston's reporting, last year, the juror's nephew filed a restraining order Speaker 1 (2:02) against him. Plus, crimes don't just happen on land. What happens when there's a murder at sea? A Coast Guard special agent gives us the lowdown. Speaker 8 (2:10) It's not like a crime that happens at your local bank or grocery store or local house. The boat is the scene and it moves. Speaker 1 (2:18) But before all that, there is a case out of North Carolina we want to tell you about involving a former paramedic who's facing one of the most bizarre set of charges I think I've ever seen. Speaker 1 (2:31) In September of 2018, the sudden death of 32-year-old North Carolina preschool teacher Stacey Hunsucker left her two daughters without a mother and her husband Joshua without a wife. On the first anniversary of her death, he posted a tribute to her on Facebook. NBC affiliate WCNC covered the story. He described Stacey as an awesome Speaker 7 (2:52) mother and how he and their two daughters choose to live happily because that's what she would want. Speaker 1 (2:57) Three months after that post, Joshua, a paramedic at the time, was arrested and charged with Stacey's murder. Prosecutors allege he poisoned her with tetrahydrozoline, a chemical found in eye drops. Joshua Hunsucker has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Jury selection was set to begin in his trial last week, but a judge ruled the trial should be postponed. Here to bring us up to speed on the reason for the delay and on some other unique... charges Speaker 6 (3:27) Hunsucker is facing is Dateline producer Marissa Meyer. Marissa, thank you for being here. Speaker 2 (3:32) Thank you so much for having me. Speaker 6 (3:34) Marissa, start by giving us some background on the couple at the heart of this case. Speaker 2 (3:38) So Stacey was, as you said, a young mom. She had worked at a preschool in Charlotte, North Carolina. And according to her obituary, she was an active member of her church. And her husband, Joshua, or Josh, who's now 41, He was working as a flight paramedic, providing emergency medical care to patients transported by helicopter. The couple had been married for eight years, and they had two young daughters together. Take Speaker 1 (4:07) us back to September 23, 2018, the day Stacey died. Marissa, what happened? Speaker 2 (4:13) So what we know of that day really comes from the probable cause affidavit. And Hunsucker found his wife not breathing in their home, and she ended up dying from cardiac arrest. There was no autopsy, her Joshua's request, and Stacey's remains were cremated. It's important to note, Stacey had been having a number of health problems in the years before her death, including problems with her heart. According to a GoFundMe campaign started by one of her friends, Stacey had been having issues since the birth of the couple's first daughter in 2013. Speaker 6 (4:51) Marissa, when did police start to suspect that Stacey's death was not from natural causes and that something more sinister might have happened? Speaker 2 (4:59) So interestingly, the investigation actually began within the North Carolina Department of Insurance. And a spokesperson for that office told NBC News that After Stacey's death, Stacey's mother contacted them, and she said she was suspicious of the circumstances surrounding Stacey's death and of the fact that Hunsucker received over $200,000 from two life insurance policies belonging to Stacey. So that's when the North Carolina Department of Insurance decided to start investigating. So Speaker 6 (5:32) what did they uncover, the investigators? Speaker 2 (5:34) Well, remember, there was no autopsy. So investigators didn't have a body to examine or exhume. But what they did have was some of Stacey's blood. According to the probable cause affidavit, Stacey had been an organ donor. And prior to her cremation, a sample of her blood had been preserved, as is the normal process of possible organ donation. And the affidavit states that the blood sample was sent to a lab for testing and came back positive for a chemical called tetrahydrozoline, which is found in eye drops. And according to this document, Stacey had 30 to 40 times the therapeutic dose in her system. Speaker 6 (6:15) We've seen this chemical come up in Dateline stories before. What does it do to the body, Marissa, when it's ingested? Speaker 2 (6:21) It seems just to... It has a nasty host of symptoms. It can cause vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, seizing, and even cardiac arrest. Speaker 6 (6:32) After that chemical was found in Stacey's blood, insurance investigators sat down with Joshua Hunsucker to get his side of the story. What did he say? Speaker 2 (6:40) That's right. And this wasn't the first time he'd talked to investigators, but according to the affidavit, the stories he'd given the police and insurance companies had not been consistent. And an attorney for the North Carolina Office of Insurance said at a preliminary hearing that while Hunsucker didn't confess anything to insurance investigators during that interview, he allegedly gave them probable cause to arrest him. Speaker 6 (7:05) Hunsucker was arrested in late 2019. That was over a year after Stacey died. He was charged with first-degree murder, insurance fraud, and obtaining property by false pretenses. He has pleaded. not guilty to those charges, as we mentioned. Has Hunsucker's legal team given any hints about how they plan to defend him? Speaker 2 (7:25) So that's the thing. We know that from the very beginning of this case, Hunsucker's defense team has argued that they would strenuously oppose the allegations. They pointed out Hunsucker had no criminal record. And in fact, he was released on bond a few days after his arrest. At a hearing in 2023, according to the local newspaper, the Gaston Gazette, Hunsucker's defense asked to do their own testing on that blood sample. But we don't know what happened with that or whether it was even tested. And what makes it hard to know much more about the defense and a lot of aspects of this case is that a judge has imposed a gag order. And so the attorneys really can't divulge anything about the case. Speaker 6 (8:10) Hunsucker was released on bond. But as we mentioned when we started this segment, that was not the end of his legal troubles. There are a whole bunch of strange twists that we're about to talk about. Let us know about the first one. Speaker 2 (8:25) So in 2021, he's out on bond and Hunsucker gets arrested again, this time on an arson charge. And prosecutors allege that back in 2019, he started a fire on a medical helicopter during a flight. Speaker 6 (8:40) We should say the prosecutor is not connecting that with Stacey's murder in any way, alleged murder. This is a separate case, right? Speaker 2 (8:49) Yeah. Yes, yes. It happened after the alleged murder, about a month before his arrest, and he has pleaded not guilty in that case. Speaker 6 (8:58) Hunsucker hit the headlines again in 2023 when prosecutors accused Speaker 1 (9:02) him of faking his own kidnapping? Speaker 2 (9:05) Yeah, that's right. Prosecutors say Hunsucker called 911 with a disturbing story that he'd stopped to change a flat tire and was assaulted. And he'd had his hands zip-tied and was then injected with an unknown substance. And the person who he suggested was behind it was none other than Stacey's father. And according to prosecutors, this just wasn't true, and the whole kidnapping was staged. Speaker 6 (9:33) Do prosecutors have a theory about why Joshua would want to frame Stacey's Speaker 2 (9:37) dad? Well, according to the state, Hunsucker has engaged in a pattern of harassment against Stacey's parents for some time. They say staging the kidnapping was part of that. According to local reporters, prosecutors argued in a motion