N.Y. Woman Found Guilty of Killing Spouse with Antifreeze for Insurance

March 30, 2007

A New York woman was convicted this week of murdering her husband of 20 years by slipping him a fatal dose of antifreeze in a drink.

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Jurors deliberated less than three hours before convicting Marguerite Bork of second-degree murder. Bork, who denies killing her husband, faces 25 years to life in prison when she is sentenced May 9.

Prosecutors said Bork, 62, of Ava, killed Terrance Bork to collect on his life insurance policy after finding out that he was having an affair with a friend and was planning to leave her.

"The writing was on the wall,'' prosecutor Laurie Lisi said. "Terrance Bork was leaving her, the love of her life. He's not going to leave her high and dry. "

Prosecutors said Marguerite Bork put the odorless, sweet-tasting antifreeze in a drink on Sept. 19, 2005, while the couple was visiting at Terrance's mother's house. Terrance, a mail carrier, was rushed to a hospital the next morning and died.

Jurors heard from several life insurance company employees who testified that Marguerite Bork withdrew roughly $100,000 from her husband's death benefits within a year after he died. She was entitled to receive up to $342,000, according to testimony.

During the trial, defense attorney Donald Gerace raised questions about whether Terrance Bork was depressed about his deteriorating physical condition and drank antifreeze to commit suicide. He had unexplained dizzy spells, headaches, fell down and had pain throughout his body for several years until he died.

"Suicide is certainly, certainly, a very real possibility in this case,'' he said.

Earler in the week, a Georgia woman was sentenced to life in prison for using antifreeze to poison her boyfriend in 2001. Lynn Turner, of Cumming, Ga., already was serving a life sentence imposed in 2004 for poisoning her husband with antifreeze in 1995.