Background: The Rogers County Sheriff”s Office in Claremore, Oklahoma (Google Maps). Inset: Naomi Austin (Rogers County Sheriff’s Office).
In a disturbing case out of Oklahoma, a 73-year-old woman has been accused of attempting to murder her husband by deliberately cutting off his oxygen supply. Authorities allege that Naomi Austin not only unplugged the life-sustaining equipment but also urged her husband to “just die.”
Facing charges of “solicitation for murder” and “abuse or exploitation by a caretaker,” Austin was taken into custody by the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office. Jail records indicate she was arrested late on a Saturday and subsequently booked into the Rogers County Detention Center the following morning.
The alarming situation came to light when Austin’s 77-year-old husband managed to call for assistance, informing authorities that his wife had disconnected his oxygen and physically restrained him from reconnecting it. This distressing account was reported by CBS affiliate KOTV, based in Tulsa.
Shockingly, this was not an isolated incident. Earlier in October, emergency services, including a firefighter, were reportedly summoned to the couple’s Claremore home due to a similar complaint about the husband’s oxygen being cut off.
Despite Austin’s claims that her husband was not in his right mind, investigators found compelling evidence in the arrest affidavit that seemed to support the husband’s allegations. The affidavit suggested that Austin had harbored sinister thoughts about her husband’s wellbeing for a considerable time.
Text messages purportedly sent by Austin and shared with deputies by a family realtor revealed a troubling sentiment. “I hate [victim],” one message allegedly stated, with another ominously declaring, “He needs to die soon.” The realtor further disclosed that during a summer phone conversation, Austin had inquired whether they would assist in “facilitating” her husband’s death.
Following Austin’s arrest, Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said he had “no enjoyment putting anybody that age in jail,” per KOTV. “But in the interest of his health and the crimes that she’s committed, it was the thing to do.”
He added: “I think in more ways than one, we were able to show easily, beyond any reasonable doubt, that this lady wanted her husband dead.”
The jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Austin has a court date scheduled for Nov. 12. She is being held on no bond.
Claremore is located in eastern Oklahoma about 30 miles northeast of Tulsa.
