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New records reveal family of woman accused of fatally poisoning man under investigation

5 years 9 months 3 weeks ago Tuesday, June 05 2018 Jun 5, 2018 June 05, 2018 1:11 PM June 05, 2018 in Crime
Source: WBRZ

UPDATE: Law enforcement records indicate that Meshell Hale's adult daughter and the daughter's partner have been under investigation in the murder of Hale's husband Arthur Noflin in New Orleans.

Hale has been arrested in what police say is the poisoning death of Damian Skipper in Baton Rouge, a man she referred to as her husband.

Skipper's 2015 death was initially thought to have been caused by a heart attack. Investigators now say that he was poisoned with barium acetate.

Noflin was killed and his car set ablaze in New Orleans in 2016. Hale reported him missing several days later, saying she had last seen them at their home on Stoney Creek Avenue.

After Noflin's death, New Orleans Police discussed their investigation with East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office. In the months after his death, sheriff's deputies worked with NOPD on searches of the Noflin Home on Stoney Creek Avenue and at the house on East Riveroaks Drive where Nina Alexander, partner of Hale's daughter Dominique Hale, lived.

The searches came nearly a year before the April 2017 exhumation of Skipper's body. The exhumation and re-examination caused Skipper's death to be reclassified as a homicide.

At Alexander's home, investigators found dozens of prescription medications, from antibiotics to opioids. They also seized a phone, a computer and paperwork from cars, the garage and the master bedroom.

At the Stoney Creek home, investigators seized more computers, phones and documents regarding both Noflin and Skipper.

No one has been arrested in Noflin's death. Meshell Hale has been accused of second-degree murder in Skipper's death.

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BATON ROUGE – A woman has been arrested on murder charges after authorities said she poisoned two men – both of whom she claimed were her husbands.

At least one of the men died as a result of the poisoning, authorities said, and the second died later but had been sick from poisoning.

Meshell Hale was arrested Tuesday, authorities said, almost a week after WBRZ first reported on the warrant filed for her arrest.

In East Baton Rouge, Hale was wanted on second-degree murder charges for the 2015 death of Damian Skipper. Hale, authorities wrote in the warrant first obtained by the WBRZ Investigative Unit, used barium acetate to kill Skipper. Barium acetate is a powerful poison and has been used in high-profile murders in other areas.

Authorities said Hale researched the method and they found evidence in the search history of her electronic devices.

Skipper died in June 2015. His body was exhumed and autopsied and his death was labeled a homicide from poisoning after investigators in New Orleans began investigating the alleged poisoning of another man, Arthur Noflin, who had also been sick with similar symptoms.

Hale claimed to be married to Skipper but, according to investigators, was documented to be married to Noflin. Hale was also the sole beneficiary of Noflin's $750,000 insurance policy.

Noflin was found dead in March 2016.

As WBRZ.com reported first last week, Skipper died after being discharged from the hospital since doctors thought he had a virus. An autopsy was not performed immediately because his cause of death was labeled as a heart attack by the hospital. 

Hale was arrested in Baton Rouge Tuesday, police said. Her bond is set at $150,000.

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Follow the publisher of this post on Twitter: @treyschmaltz

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