Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 5

Florida Woman Charged With Attempted Murder of 69-Year-Old Man After Alleged Benzodiazepine Poisoning

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 5

Florida Woman Charged With Attempted Murder of 69-Year-Old Man After Alleged Benzodiazepine Poisoning

Q: What secrets did the tampered home security system hide moments before a toxic dose of laced whiskey was served?

What the tampered security system may have concealed has not been publicly established. Investigators have said only that someone interfered with the 69-year-old man’s home security system and that he saw Samantha Adams in the part of the house where it was located shortly before he drank the whiskey deputies say was laced with benzodiazepines. Based on the arrest affidavit and sheriff’s statements, the likely significance is evidentiary: disabling or altering the system could have prevented cameras, logs or alerts from capturing key moments inside the home, including Adams going into the kitchen with her purse, preparing or switching the drinks, moving through the house, or any conduct tied to the later extortion demand and alleged poisoning. That suspected concealment appears to be why she also faces a tampering-with-evidence charge. Authorities have not publicly released what specific footage, timestamps, alarm records or device settings were lost or changed, so any more definite claim about what the system “hid” would be speculative. What is clear is that detectives view the tampering as part of the same sequence of events that ended with the man hospitalized for benzodiazepine poisoning after consuming a small glass of what appeared to be whiskey. Investigators are also examining whether similar episodes happened on earlier occasions, after the victim reported becoming suddenly drowsy or passing out following drinks with Adams at her Orlando residence.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 5

Samantha Adams, 39, was arrested Aug. 27 and charged with attempted murder after Polk County deputies said she drugged a 69-year-old man she met on a dating app and later tried to extort $1,000.
Investigators said the Aug. 17 incident followed an argument over a vehicle the man had bought for her; at his home, Adams allegedly gave him a shot of suspected whiskey laced with benzodiazepines before he became ill while driving.
Hospital tests found benzodiazepine poisoning, metabolic encephalopathy, dehydration and acute kidney injury after the man was found unconscious and taken to the ER; deputies said his regular medications did not include benzodiazepines.
The man told investigators he had become unusually drowsy after seeing Adams earlier in August as well, and court records linked her to a prior Lake County case involving a woman using the name "Nala" to target an elderly man.
Adams remained jailed without bond as of Sept. 2 and also faces resisting, prostitution, evidence-tampering and five drug-related charges as deputies said the investigation is still expanding.