Accused of poisoning wife with fentanyl, California man faces homicide, arson, fraud charges
Detectives on Wednesday arrested an Elk Grove man accused of secretly putting fentanyl in his wife’s food before the woman died in January from being poisoned with the synthetic opioid.
Glennis Douglas Smith, 48, was arrested on suspicion of homicide in the death of his wife, 49-year-old Jennifer Ann Smith-Floyd, the Elk Grove Police Department announced Thursday in a news release.
The husband, who remains in custody at the Sacramento County Jail, also faces felony charges of arson and insurance fraud in a separate criminal case. Police said Smith burned the couple’s travel trailer in an insurance fraud scheme.
The couple had been married for five years but had been living apart for several months before the wife’s death, according to the Police Department.
On the morning of Jan. 12, Smith called 911 to report his wife was unconscious and not breathing. Medics and police officers arrived at the couple’s home, where the husband had been predominately living. Authorities provided medical aid, but Smith-Floyd was pronounced dead.
Detectives investigated the woman’s death. An autopsy found fentanyl in Smith-Floyd’s system. Police said the detectives determined Smith had “intentionally put fentanyl” in his wife’s food on two occasions without her knowledge, and the second instance proved fatal on Jan. 12.
Authorities say fentanyl can come in pills, powder and vape pens, and 2 milligrams can provide a lethal dose. The synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
A few months after the wife’s death, the couple’s travel trailer was found burned at a self-storage business. Arson investigators with the Cosumnes Fire Department, along with Elk Grove police, determined that Smith was responsible for setting the fire that burned the couple’s trailer.
The detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Smith and took him into custody Wednesday in Elk Grove.
Investigators asked anyone with information relevant to this investigation to call the Police Department’s Investigations Bureau at 916-478-8060.
