From Pretoria to Ohio — the dark journey of an animal tranquilliser murder plot

A failed appeal against their sentences by two US women convicted of a 2022 murder using an animal tranquilliser has unmasked further details about the case’s South African links.

Amanda Hovanec was in a romantic relationship with Anthony Theodorou, of Pretoria, who, according to a US court finding last week, approached three potential hitmen in South Africa for her.

The third provided Theodorou with the powerful animal tranquilliser etorphine, which he shipped to the US at Hovanec’s instruction.

On April 24, 2022, Amanda Hovanec injected her estranged husband, Timothy Hovanec, with the etorphine.

(Timothy Hovanec will now be referred to by his first name so as not to confuse him with his wife.)

‘1,000 times more potent than morphine’

Also known as M99, etorphine, used to immobilise large, wild animals, is strictly regulated. Poachers are known to use it on rhinos.

US authorities said, “The investigation determined that the victim was injected with M99… [a] controlled substance approximately 1,000 times more potent than morphine…

“According to court records, Hovanec considered killing her husband for at least a year before the murder and had considered alternate means to do so, including hiring a hitman, before settling on injecting him with M99.”

Theodorou and Hovanec faced criminal charges in the US, including for the importation of a controlled substance and conspiracy with the intent to distribute a controlled substance. Hovanec’s mother, Anita Green, was charged with being an accessory after the fact.

In 2024, Theodorou was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment.

Hovanec received a 40-year sentence, and Green was sentenced to 10 years. They appealed against the sentences, but on Friday, 13 February, the US Court of Appeals found against them.

Aggravated murder and more legal action

Even though Hovanec and Green have been sentenced, they face more legal issues.

In the Auglaize County Court of Common Pleas, Hovanec also faces charges of aggravated murder and, along with Green, complicity to aggravated murder.

She initially pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, but last month changed her plea to guilty.

Both pleaded not guilty to complicity to aggravated murder. A pretrial hearing will be held next month.

Trio of ‘hitmen’

The appeal court’s finding against Hovanec reveals more details about what happened in South Africa in the run-up to Timothy’s killing.

He had worked for the US Department of State, and in 2018, his job led to him, Hovanec and their three children moving to South Africa.

The following year, Hovanec began a relationship with Theodorou.

In 2022, Hovanec, her husband and their children returned to the US.

“Despite this, Hovanec and Theodorou continued their romantic relationship,” the court found.

“Hovanec subsequently filed for divorce from [her husband].”

Read more: ‘Audio hallucinations’, ‘psychological symptoms’ crop up in Pretoria accused’s US animal tranquiliser death case

During the divorce and custody proceedings, Hovanec and her children lived with her mother, Green, in Ohio.

Hovanec claimed her husband had abused their children, but law enforcement found no proof of this.

“After she filed for divorce, Hovanec asked Theodorou if he knew someone who could kill [Timothy],” the court found.

“At Hovanec’s direction, Theodorou contacted potential hitmen in South Africa to see if they would be willing to kill [Timothy].

“The first potential hitman ultimately backed out, and the second disappeared after Theodorou paid him R50,000.

“Theodorou contacted a third potential hitman, at the direction of Hovanec, who ultimately sold him etorphine, a large-animal tranquilliser.”

Hovanec had met this person in South Africa.

It is not clear what happened to the trio of potential hitmen.

‘What the heck are you doing?’

After Theodorou acquired the etorphine, an international courier service told him that he could not ship a liquid internationally.

This resulted in Hovanec advising him to conceal the etorphine.

After shipping the tranquiliser to the US, Theodorou travelled to Ohio in April 2022 and stayed there with Hovanec and Green.

A plan targeting Timothy was devised.

The court found: “Green showed Hovanec a pond that Green ‘knew was going to be filled in with soil’.

“At dinner that night, Theodorou, Green and Hovanec discussed where they should bury [Timothy]. Theodorou stated that it ‘wasn’t a good idea to put him in the pond’, so they decided to bury [him] in the woods.”

Read more: Pretoria man faces charges in US for ‘lethal animal tranquilliser’ death case

On 24 April 2022, Timothy dropped the children off at Green’s home after they visited him.

The children got out of the car, and Green ushered them into the house.

According to a previous press statement about Hovanec’s sentencing, she was heard telling the children, “I have a surprise for you inside.”

A few seconds later, once the children were inside the home with Green, Timothy was heard saying, “What the heck are you doing? Did you just assault me? Get away from me. Get off of me.”

Dashcam evidence

Hovanec scuffled with Timothy, tried to knock his phone out of his hand, and wrestled him to the ground.

“Once [he] stopped moving, she removed his watch and turned the car off,” the court found.

“Hovanec had killed [Timothy] by injecting him with a syringe filled with etorphine.”

Inside his car was a dashboard camera, which captured some of what happened.

The dashcam also captured Hovanec and Theodorou discussing that they should wipe down Timothy’s car, and Hovanec stopping to throw his belongings in trash cans.

When the police confronted her with this, Hovanec admitted to killing Timothy.

“Theodorou showed investigators the wooded area where [Timothy] was buried in a grave,” the court found. DM