Sartaj Singh
Directed by Corbin Timbrook, ‘Stepmom From Hell’ centers on Izzy, who begins to suspect that her new stepmother has something to do with her father’s declining health and the increasing losses of his business. When Izzy’s father—head of the Thompson realty group—gets married to a seemingly sweet middle-aged Catherine, the family celebrates the joyous occasion. However, he soon falls ill and seems to exhibit signs of an early onset of dementia.
Catherine appears to swoop in and take over much of the business’ oversight while assigning inadequate care to her ailing husband. When Izzy begins to uncover shady events and transactions taking place at her father’s firm, she enters a dangerous web of lies and manipulation. The alarming actions seen in the film, along with how far one is willing to go for greed, lead to questions about any real-life counterparts of the Lifetime thriller.
Stepmom From Hell: A Fictional Story About a Malign and Scheming Stepmother
A creation of writers Hamish Briggs, Daniel Kautz, and Nathanael Lirio, ‘Stepmom From Hell’ is an imaginative story about an evil stepmother stealing from and endangering her new husband. Despite its fictional nature, there is a real-life case that seems to bear a lot of resemblance to the film’s tale. This is the case of Amanda Chapin, a 51-year-old Wisconsin woman who was accused of poisoning her husband to steal his assets.
Veterinarian Gary Chapin married Amanda in March 2022, and she became a stepmother to his adult children. However, shortly after they tied the knot, Amanda reportedly began demanding that Gary amend his house deed so that she would gain possession if he were to pass away. A quitclaim deed that would authorize the transfer of the house to her was approved, and things seemed to take a turn for the worse. Soon afterward, Amanda allegedly began poisoning Gary’s coffee with barbiturates, a euthanasia drug that the veterinarian would use in his practice for animals. She reportedly poisoned her new husband three times between July and August 2022.
The Narrative Seemingly Draws Parallels to the Case of Amanda Chapin
With the third poisoning on August 21, 2022, Gary fell into a coma, with his son and relatives having no clue as to what had happened. Amanda is also said to have forged one of his children’s signatures on a power-of-attorney document, likely aimed at seizing his assets after his passing. However, Gary miraculously awoke four days later and told detectives that Amanda had poisoned his coffee multiple times. His blood work showed barbiturates in his system, and Gary’s son filed a restraining order against Amanda on his father’s behalf while the poisoned veterinarian filed for divorce.
Amanda was taken into custody and initially pleaded not guilty in March 2023 to a charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. However, her charge was amended later and she pleaded no contest to a single charge of first-degree recklessly endangering safety in June 2024. In July, the 51-year-old was sentenced to 3 years in prison as well as 3 years of extended supervision. Like in Lifetime’s ‘Stepmom From Hell,’ Amanda appeared to begin harming her husband shortly after their marriage, supposedly for financial gain.
Amanda reportedly poisoned her husband and forged signatures to this end, leaving her stepchildren to piece together what was going on. As of today, she is held behind bars in the Wisconsin State Prison system. In another parallel to the film, her stepchild seemed to realize that foul play was involved and took steps to safeguard their father from further harm. While ‘Stepmom From Hell’ is a completely fictional tale, there are real-life cases with stories somewhat similar to the story.
Read More: Lifetime’s Stepmom From Hell: Exploring All Filming Locations and Cast Details
