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Newlywed wife charged with killing husband with Rx drugs

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TBO.com

Published: September 25, 2009

Lorraine Kerst

They never made it to their one-month anniversary.

Deputies on Thursday arrested a Lakeland woman they say gave her newlywed husband a fatal dose of narcotic painkillers.

In the 23 days Lorraine Kerst was married to Kenneth Kerst, authorities say, she took patches of a synthetic opiate, Fentanyl, from her husband's aunt's home and gave them to her addiction-battling husband.

Lorraine Kerst found her husband dead with a prescription patch in his mouth at their home on Jubilee Lane on Feb. 23. She told deputies she was trying to help his chronic pain.

According to an autopsy, Kenneth Kerst died from "Fentanyl intoxication."

Kenneth Kerst's aunt, Louise Meeks, told deputies she gave Lorraine Kerst three or four patches to give to her husband a few days before his death. Meeks has cancer and is treated with a morphine pump and Fentanyl.

Meeks asked Lorraine Kerst to give Kenneth Kerst the patches because they're "dangerous," according to the arrest affidavit.

Lorraine Kerst is being held at the Polk County Jail without bail on charges of third-degree murder and delivering a controlled substance. Meeks was charged with sale and delivery of a controlled substance.

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