Shraman Mitra
Reports mention that Joseph Hartsfield was in an unhappy marriage with his wife, Sarah Hartsfield, and was even planning on divorcing her shortly before his death. In fact, people who knew the couple insisted that they were always involved in altercations, and the former would reportedly spend more time at work just to be away from his wife. ‘Dateline: Along Came Sarah’ chronicles how Joseph suddenly passed away due to insulin complications and how the investigation found her responsible for the death.
Who is Sarah Hartsfield?
Interestingly, Sarah Hartsfield had gone through four marriages before meeting Joseph, who eventually became her fifth husband. However, people who knew her mentioned that before meeting him, she was a different person who was quite popular in the community and on social media. On top of it, readers would be interested to know that Sarah is an army veteran who actively served in the armed forces from the late 1990s to 2017. Although she remained in the army reserves between 1998 and 2007, she was an experienced Motor Transport Operator and an intelligence analyst.
Moreover, Sarah was deployed to Iraq from November 2007 to August 2008. A soldier who served with her in the foreign country insisted that she felt like the former was a loving mother of four who was highly devoted to her duty. Yet, little did people know that a tragedy in January 2023 would end up with her suspected of murder. On January 7, 2023, Sarah was sleeping with Joseph in their Chambers County, Texas, home when she realized her husband was struggling with health issues. He had been fighting against unstable blood sugar for a long time, and she mentioned that an app on her phone informed her that the level had dropped too low.
Hence, Sarah immediately got out of bed and poured a glass of juice for her husband. Although reports claim that Joseph was conscious enough to drink some of the juice, the situation worsened, and he soon fell unresponsive. That was when Sarah tried to feed Joseph some jam in a last-ditch attempt to stabilize his blood sugar. Nevertheless, she called 911 almost an hour after he fell unconscious, and first responders could do nothing but shift him to a nearby hospital. Subsequently, Joseph remained brain-dead for eight days before passing away from insulin complications on January 15 while still under medical care.
When the police began investigating Joseph’s death, they learned that no matter what the doctors did, they could not stabilize his blood sugar, which kept dropping. While this was highly unnatural, a thorough search of the victim’s house revealed several Epipens lying on his side of the bed. Using all those Epipens at once would result in a drastic drop in blood sugar, and the police suspected that Sarah had overdosed her husband on insulin.
In the meantime, detectives learned about Joseph and Sarah’s rocky relationship and how the former had planned on divorcing her shortly before the tragedy. Besides, the victim’s loved ones stated how the latter kept her husband away from his family and refused to let him interact with them daily. It also did not take long for investigators to find out how a few days before the shocking death, Joseph opened a new bank account in his name and asked one of his friends to take him in as he did not want to stay with his wife any longer.
Thus, putting two and together, the police were convinced about Sarah’s involvement in Joseph’s death. This suspicion was further strengthened when one of her ex-husbands spoke up and claimed he was lucky to get out of the marriage alive. Hence, law enforcement officers took Sarah Hartsfield into custody without wasting time and charged her with Joseph’s murder.
Sarah Hartsfield Awaiting Trial in Chambers County Jail
Interestingly, this wasn’t Sarah’s first tryst with the law, as she was arrested on March 11, 1996, and charged with the assault of her second husband. Although the charges were dropped a week later, she was also responsible for shooting her former fiancé, David Bragg, to death in 2018. Still, readers should note that Sarah was never charged with the 2018 killing as it was reportedly done in self-defense.
Nevertheless, when arrested for Joseph’s murder, Sarah insisted on her innocence and claimed she was not involved with the homicide in any way. However, one of her ex-husbands and Joseph’s family mentioned they were not surprised by the arrest. Nevertheless, Sarah is yet to be produced in court and currently remains at the Chambers County jail on a $5 million bond. On top of it, reports mention that she has pled not guilty to the charges against her and is hoping to clear her name.
Read More: Where Are Sarah Jean Hartsfield’s Ex-Husbands Now?
