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Jan Sochalski, a retired nurse charged with second-degree murder in the asphyxiation death of her husband at a Daytona Beach, Florida, hospital, died before trial, leaving the allegation untested in court.

Henry Sochalski, 64, was a retired Trenton, New Jersey, police officer. Jan Sochalski, 61, was a retired nurse. The couple lived in Palm Coast, Florida. Henry underwent elective back surgery at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach in April 2016.

Henry went into respiratory and cardiac arrest after the surgery on April 9, 2016, and remained under hospital care. Jan complained about his care. According to police, she threatened on April 28 to get her husband's firearm and "shoot the people on the seventh floor."

On May 19, 2016, a nurse told investigators she entered Henry's room and found Jan lying across his chest, with one hand around his chest and the other across his mouth and nose. A second nurse said Jan appeared to be pinching his nose. Henry died shortly afterward. Investigators said the medical examiner determined that he died from asphyxia involving the mouth, nose and trachea.

The Daytona Beach Police Department investigated. An initial autopsy was conducted on May 20, 2016, but the results were not returned until August 17.

During a recorded interview on August 29, 2016, Jan said she had been lying on her husband. She said a mask or the way she lay on him could have caused the red mark on his face and denied smothering him. She offered to take a lie detector test. Detectives challenged her account, citing differences between her statements earlier and later in the interview. She was arrested that day, charged with second-degree murder and booked into the Volusia County Jail.

Jan continued to deny killing her husband and was never tried. On May 25, 2017, a deputy conducting a wellness check found her dead, slumped over a chair on the back porch of her Palm Coast home. She was 62. Police said her death was not believed to be suspicious. The case ended with her death. She was never convicted of any offence, and the allegation that she smothered her husband was never tested at trial.

The video is a police interview-room recording running about 63 minutes. It presents the interview itself and begins with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

[chris]

Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.