Woman accused of trying to kill husband with Visine

SPRINGFIELD — A 40-year-old southwest Missouri woman is accused of trying to kill her husband by spiking his tea with a half bottle of Visine eyedrops.

Greene County deputies said Tonia Peterson of Fair Grove was jailed Thursday night on $100,000 bond on a first-degree assault charge. She was arrested late Wednesday after a co-worker told Greene County deputies that Peterson told her about the plot to kill her husband.

A probable cause statement said the husband, Cecil Peterson, told investigators he'd been having stomach problems for the past two months.

The statement said poison control experts told a detective that ingesting too much Visine would lead to a coma and other "serious symptoms."

Authorities say Peterson researched other means of killing her husband when the first attempt didn't work.