Alfred Ruf, 71, was sentenced to four years in prison after confessing to poisoning his wife by spiking her Coca-Cola drinks with cocaine and other drugs.
Jonathan LimehouseUSA TODAY
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An Indiana man admitted to putting a poisonous "off-white powdery substance" into his wife's Coca-Cola so he could kill her and marry her daughter, according to state court records.
Alfred Ruf, 71, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in July for trying to poison his wife. He was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison and five years of probation, Indiana court records show.
Ruf told officers in January 2022 that he had been "spiking" his wife's drinks over the last few months with a substance given to him by his wife's daughter, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by USA TODAY.
Ruf's wife, who called the Wayne County Sheriff's Department and told them about her husband's actions, gave the responding deputy a pill bottle that contained the unknown powdery substance, the affidavit says. She also gave the deputy a Coca-Cola aluminum can that she drank and cut open. At the bottom of the can was an "off-white residue," the document continued.
Another deputy took Ruf's wife to a hospital where she tested positive for having MDMA, cocaine and Benzodiazepines (Benzo's) in her blood and urine, according to the affidavit. She denied using the drugs, the document says.
"Once the state changed the nature of the offense, he took responsibility for what he did wrong," John Lawrence Tompkins, Ruf's defense attorney, told USA TODAY on Tuesday. "That's the appropriate thing to do."
Alfred Ruf confessed to putting drugs in Coca-Cola to 'kill Lisa'
When deputies interviewed a then-69-year-old Ruf at the sheriff's office in January 2022, he told them that he was sexually involved with his wife's 31-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, the affidavit says. He then explained that his wife's daughter gave him the pill bottle with the powdery substance in September 2021 and instructed him to put it in her mother's drink, the court document continued.
Ruf was the only person charged in connection with the crimes.
Ruf told the deputies that the drug co*cktail would make his wife go to sleep for "13 hours or so," the affidavit says. He also confessed that he put the drugs in the drink to "eventually kill (her)," according to the document.
The daughter and her female friend would call and tell Ruf to give the drugs to his wife, he told the deputies, per the affidavit.
"Alfred would then sprinkle some of the white powder in (his wife's) Coca-Cola can and then wait for her to fall asleep," the affidavit says. "(The women) would then come to Alfred's residence and put more of an unknown substance in (Ruf's wife's) drink and have her drink it."
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Victim's daughter would put on a 'show' for Alfred Ruf
Once Ruf's wife was asleep, her daughter and her daughter's friend would put on a "show" for Ruf, according to the affidavit. The show involved the two women putting on Ruf's wife's negligees and then performing "sex acts on each other," the court document continues.
Ruf also told authorities that while he was having sex with his wife's daughter or her friend, one of the women would steal some of his wife's personal items. He also admitted to paying the women to perform sex acts, the affidavit says.
The victim's daughter told Ruf she wanted to "get mom out of the picture" once she found out they were selling their home, according to the affidavit. The victim's daughter also mentioned a life insurance policy to Ruf that her mother had in place, the court document says.
Alfred Ruf confessed drugging because he 'felt bad'
Ruf confirmed to deputies that he gave his wife the powdery substance 12 times from September through December 2021, the affidavit says. He also told deputies the victim's daughter said she and Ruf would get married after they "took care" of his wife, according to the court filing.
Although Ruf acknowledged that he knew the drugs would eventually kill his wife, he also said he gave her the substance just so her daughter and her daughter's friend could come over and have sex with him, according to the affidavit.
Ruf came clean to his wife because he "felt bad," he told deputies, per the affidavit. He also detailed taking his wife to the hospital six times due to the symptoms she was having from the drug co*cktail, including bad headaches, drowsiness, diarrhea and lightheadedness, according to the court filing.
