Doctor-Husband Tries To Poison Wife Of 14 Years

A Tennessee woman has been granted an emergency protective order against her doctor-husband of 14 years after tests showed a toxic substance was placed in her coffee, police said.

Liesa Hill filled the protective order Aug. 3 against her husband, 51-year-old Hal Hill, who is an infectious disease doctor. In the order, Liesa Hill says she suffered from a mysterious illness "for several months," and "In March of this year, I found my husband putting an unidentified substance in my morning coffee."

"She wasn't sure, she suspected in March, at which time she followed her instincts and called the police," Liesa Hill's attorney, Christina Mincy,said. Investigators say they're not sure who put the substance in the coffee. Hal Hill has not returned calls to his cellphone and his office had no comment

Liesa Hill says she lived in fear for five months at the couple's LookoutMountain, Tenn., home. Investigators secretly took samplesof the coffee her husband deliveredto her bedside every morning for tests. Last week, the lab results showed "extreme levels" of barium,a heavy metal that's poisonous andcauses flu-like symptoms.

"When we got the lab results back, no one was more surprised than Liesa, that her fear had been confirmed, and it was actually possible that her husband was trying to do her great harm," Mincysaid.

Police told Hill that her previous health issues are consistent with heavy-metal poisoning. No chargeshave been filed at this point, but HalHill is not allowed near their home, police said. The couple have two children. "This is and will be a slow and methodical investigation," Chief Randy Bowden of the Lookout Mountain Police Department said.