Viswa Vanapalli
An airman’s move to Texas was followed by a whirlwind romance and a marriage. However, he was also the victim of a brutal murder not too long after shifting base there. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Tranquilized By Love’ delves into Michael Severance’s brutal slaying and how a lengthy investigation led the authorities to his unexpected killer.
Michael Severance Died of Poisoning
Michael grew up in Maine, and after high school, he joined the Air Force just like his father. A successful career ensued, with him rising to the rank of a staff sergeant and being deployed on five tours. At the time of the incident, he reported to the Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas. The 24-year-old met Wendi in 2003, and the couple quickly had a son together. They married in September 2004 and settled into a life together in San Angelo, Texas, close to Wendi’s veterinary clinic.
The couple was supposed to fly out to Maine on January 16, 2005, but Wendi called Michael’s parents to say she couldn’t find him anywhere. He was reported missing soon after, and a rigorous search ensued. However, it wasn’t until March 2005 that Michael’s body was found. The remains were located in a pond on a remote ranch on the city’s outskirts. He had been poisoned with animal tranquilizers and then stabbed 41 times postmortem. Furthermore, Michael’s body was weighed down by tires, cinderblocks, and other vehicle parts to make sure it stayed at the bottom.
Michael Severance Was Killed By His Wife
Wendi told the police that she had last seen her husband the day before, sometime during the afternoon. During the interview, she also made some unsettling statements about his behavior leading up to his disappearance. She said that he had gotten increasingly unsatisfied with his job and thought about leaving and going to Canada. However, his phone and wallet were still at home, and his family thought it was uncharacteristic of him to leave abruptly.
The authorities also learned that Wendi’s family didn’t like Michael at all, and there was a lot of tension between him and his mother-in-law. However, nothing tied her to his disappearance, bringing the case to a halt. However, in February 2005, the authorities placed a tracking device on Wendi’s car to keep track of her movements. They’d noticed that she had been visiting a remote ranch and was often even stopping by a stock pond over there.
The seemingly suspicious behavior was worth checking out, and the detectives questioned Wendi about the ranch. She claimed to have a horse there that she took care of. Then, Wendi’s search history on the computer at her clinic showed that she looked up “decomposition of a body in water” and polygraph tests. When the authorities went to secure the ranch after the interview, they saw Wendi there trying to access the area before she was asked to leave.
Later on, Wendi’s brother called the police with some information. He talked about Michael’s body being in one of the ponds at the ranch. According to what Wendi told her family, she had found Michael dead in her bed and believed one of her family members was responsible. Wanting to protect them, she moved the body to the pond. However, Wendi had access to phenobarbital and pentobarbital, the tranquilizers found in Michael’s system. Furthermore, while records at her clinic claimed a dog was administered phenobarbital, the animal’s owner denied that.
The fact Wendi had even tied cinderblocks to Michael’s feet before dumping his body in the pond didn’t help her case either, resulting in the authories arresting her for murder without wasting any time. She was subsequently charged with one count of first-degree murder as well as two counts of tampering with evidence, only for to plead no contest. Therefore, in 2006, with her motive being unknown, she was formally sentenced to 25 years in prison.
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