Joann Curley's Tortuous Murder Plot

I had known about the story regarding Joann Curley for a while prior to watching the episode of Forensic Files centering on it. It's another fascinating "women who kill" story, mainly due to how ruthless and cold-blooded Joann was in her sinister quest, not to mention how she turned villainous so quickly into the marriage. Here's the story:

Joann Marie Chopack was born on September 23, 1963. She met Robert "Bobby" Curley some time in 1990, and it was in August of that year that the couple became husband and wife. For Joann, this was her second marriage; her first resulted in the birth of her daughter, Angela, but Joann's first husband died in a car accident. Bobby's happiness and gratitude were so immense to the point where on their wedding day, he informed his new wife that she would be the beneficiary of his insurance policy, which was worth $300,000, while Angela would be a secondary beneficiary.

In October 1990, just six weeks into her marriage, Joann turned heel by planning to kill Bobby for not only the insurance payout, but to prevent him from spending $1.7 million that she had won in a lawsuit. Joann's method was poisoning, first by lacing Bobby's meals and drinks with rat poison, doing so for several months. At first, Joann only used a small amount, but out of sheer impatience and greed, the villainess increased the dose, and later used thallium in her scheme. By May of 1991, Bobby began to feel ill and had been in some pain due to his wife's actions, but hadn't known that Joann was the cause.

Bobby ended up hospitalized in September 1991, and on the 26th day of that exact month, he began to show improvement in his health. On that exact day, however, the evil Joann served Bobby a pizza and iced tea, lacing the latter with a large amount of thallium before serving it to her husband, resulting in Bobby becoming immensely ill once again. By this time, Bobby had figured out that Joann was trying to kill him and informed a nurse about his suspicions while begging for help, but unfortunately, Bobby fatally succumbed to the poisoning on the following day--September 27. Bobby Curley was only 32 years of age.

Joann benefitted financially and avoided suspicion for five years, which was how long the investigation took. Even with strands of Bobby's hair proving that he was killed via thallium poisoning, it was originally believed that a co-worker was pranking him, but the large amount and lengthy time of the poisoning ended up leading back to one person: Joann Curley. On December 12, 1996, just over five years after Bobby Curley's death, Joann was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Originally, Joann faced the death penalty, but Bobby Curley's family decided that all they wanted was closure and decided not to pursue execution. Joann decided to plead guilty to third-degree murder, and confessed to poisoning her husband for the insurance money. The trial also included a revelation that a small amount of thallium was in both Joann and Angela's systems, leading to Joann facing accusations that she poisoned herself and her own daughter to ward suspicion away from herself, but Joann denied that claim. Joann was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1997, and had been denied parole at every turn. On December 12, 2016, Joann was released after serving her sentence.

As I stated before, Joann was ruthless and very cold-blooded in her quest to eliminate her husband. What I can't help but be amazed by was that Joann began her evil plot just six weeks into her marriage--six weeks! That's how truly fiendish she was, even more so due to the fact that Bobby suffered for nearly a year at the hands of his twisted wife. In addition, the family of Bobby Curley had no concrete answers regarding their loved one's death for five years. That, in itself, is tortuous. Yet despite being solely responsible for tormenting so many people, Joann Curley only lost two decades of her life, and is a free woman before reaching the age of 60.

It is not my place, or anyone else's for that matter, to judge who should and shouldn't get plea deals. My place is to discuss a true crime story that absolutely fascinated me as a long-time enthusiast, and Joann Curley's notorious tale is quite amazing. Joann was an immensely lethal villainess, there's absolutely no doubt about that.