THOMASVILLE, GA – A Georgia woman will serve a life sentence following her conviction for the murder of her husband, achieved through poisoning with antifreeze. Torrii Federick, 45, was handed the sentence after a jury found her guilty of malice murder, offering her the possibility of parole.

The conviction comes over a year after her husband, Phil Federick, 40, died on September 5, 2021. Authorities determined the cause of his death was poisoning by ethylene glycol, a substance commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid.

During the investigation, one of the couple’s children disclosed in an early interview with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that Torrii Federick had given her husband a specially prepared cocktail. Both children, daughter Phil’Nesia Federick and son Phil Federick Jr., were teenagers when their father passed away. Though they took the stand in defense of their mother, earlier statements suggested they harbored doubts about her innocence.

Phil’Nesia, now 20, reversed her earlier statements concerning her father’s health prior to his illness and said she did not recall providing additional details to the GBI a year after his death. Similarly, Phil Jr. recanted a prior statement that described his mother handing a sports bottle containing the fatal cocktail to his father. He watched his father drink from the bottle while watching TV together the night he fell ill.

During his testimony, Phil Jr., visibly uneasy, stated that he had only said what he thought the GBI wanted to hear. He attributed this to feeling angry at his mother for moving on romantically after his father’s death. He noted that he never actually witnessed the cocktail being made and that the sports bottle was never found.

Defense attorney Karla Walker argued that Phil Federick consumed the antifreeze on his own accord, suggesting he ended his own life. She pointed out that he was “isolated and wearing a mask” the day he fell ill.

However, suspicions of ethylene glycol poisoning arose once Phil was hospitalized, prompting notification of the authorities. Despite receiving medical care, he succumbed to his condition a week later. A statement from the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office concluded that after a two-year investigation, Torrii Federick had delivered the lethal drink to her husband.

On March 27, the jury returned a verdict of malice murder. With her conviction, Torrii Federick’s life sentence includes the possibility of parole, marking the end of a complex investigation and trial.