According to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Alfred Ruf allegedly acknowledged to “giving [the victim] an unknown substance knowing it would eventually kill her” when they visited the 51-year-old victim’s house on January 3, 2022, and she said she was “being poisoned by her husband.”
Authorities stated that “the victim was hospitalized several times in 2021, believed to be a result of the poisoning,” and that they also had “two other persons of interest” in connection with a murder conspiracy that was at the time being investigated but not brought to trial.
Although the identities of those “persons of interest” were not disclosed by the authorities, the victim’s daughter and her friend were cited frequently in 2022 reports of the shocking accusations made against Ruf.
Ruf allegedly admitted to adding a chemical to his wife’s Coca-Cola several times over the course of several months in 2021. Her daughter and the friend allegedly suggested it and offered to “put on a show” for him when the victim slept off.
The victim reportedly tested positive for cocaine, benzodiazepines, and MDMA (commonly known as Ecstasy and Molly) in a hospital following the last-straw event that resulted in Ruf’s arrest, when he apparently confessed to his wife about the poisoning attempts.
Ruf reportedly told a news outlet that he had been “spiking” his wife’s drinks with a “unknown substance” that her daughter had given him. He said that this had happened about a dozen times, and that each time, the victim was asleep when his stepdaughter and the friend visited.
Additionally, it is said that he acknowledged having an affair with the victim’s daughter, that she and her friend would “put on a show,” that he would cover the cost of sex acts, and that the daughter had suggested removing “mom from the picture” in order to receive life insurance proceeds.
It’s also possible that he thought the victim’s daughter might want to wed him when his wife passed away. In the end, Ruf allegedly told his wife about the poisonings “because he felt bad.”
However, it appears that no charges were brought against possible co-conspirators, and Ruf ultimately avoided having to enter a guilty plea to the most serious accusation of murder conspiracy.
Instead, Ruf entered a guilty plea to aggravated battery by “knowingly or intentionally inflict[ing] injury on a person that creates a substantial risk of death,” according to the judgment and sentencing document in the case.
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The 71-year-old will serve four years in prison, with an additional five years suspended if he misbehaves or breaks any of the probationary rules.
Out all those prerequisites, only one was marked as completed.The judge listed Ruf’s marital status as one of the aggravating factors, noting that he “should have known or knew that the victim was a person with a disability,” that he was “aware” of her “vulnerabilities,” and that there were “other non-violent ways” Ruf “could have extracted himself from the turbulent relationship” but chose not to.
However, the judge noted that Ruf had “no history of delinquency or criminal activity,” that the assault “was a result of circumstances unlikely to recur,” that he is “unlikely to commit another crime” and that his incarceration “will result in undue hardship to the defendant due to health concerns,” and that he is “likely to respond affirmatively to probation or short-term imprisonment.”
To his considerable credit, Drake continued, Ruf “expressed genuine remorse” and complied with authorities.
