LIMA, Ohio — Amanda Hovanec, 37, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison on Tuesday for the 2022 murder of her ex-husband, Timothy Hovanec, amid a bitter custody dispute. Prosecutors said Hovanec ambushed and injected her ex-husband with animal tranquilizer during a custody exchange on April 24, 2022, killing him.
Hovanec, who had initiated a relationship with a South African man she met during a family move in 2018, admitted at her sentencing that “it comes down to me being selfish.” She had filed for divorce upon returning to the U.S. in 2020 and had been denying her ex-husband visitation rights despite a court order.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio detailed that the crime was planned in conjunction with Hovanec’s mother, Anita Green, and her boyfriend, Anthony Theodorou, who was involved in the plot from South Africa.
Court records indicate that tensions had escalated in the Hovanecs’ visitation dispute. Timothy Hovanec, 36, had traveled from Virginia to Ohio in April 2022 for court proceedings to see his three daughters. Although a hearing did not go as planned, a judge ordered on April 22 that he be given visitation rights for two days, and custody of the children during the summer.
Instead of the scheduled handoff, Amanda Hovanec poisoned her ex-husband, leading to his death. She was arrested shortly after, and both Green and Theodorou have also been charged in connection with the case.
