Woman accused of killing husband in hospital found dead, deputies say

Husband died of suffocation, report says

PALM COAST, Fla. – A Palm Coast woman accused of killing her husband in his hospital bed last year died Thursday, Flagler County deputies said.

Jan Sochalski, 62, was found dead inside her home on Ethan Allen Drive and is believed to have died of natural causes, according to deputies.

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Deputies said Sochalski had an extensive medical history and do not suspect foul play to be a factor in her death.

Daytona Beach police said Sochalski, a retired nurse who stuck by her husband's bedside for months until his death last May, pressed the button on the pain-medication machine he was hooked up to 264 times in eights hours, according to an arrest report. Daytona Beach police said the button should only have been pressed six times an hour.

"The only thing I can think of is, she's going in front of her real judge and jury right now," Sheriff Mike Chitwood said. "She's answering to a much higher authority than the courts here on Earth.”

Police said Henry Sochalski suffocated, and investigators also said a nurse saw what appeared to be Sochalski pinching the victim's nose.

"He just went in there for back surgery, and he was not expected to succumb to those injuries," Jimmie Flynt, of Daytona Beach Police Department, said.

Sochalski was arrested last August and her trial was scheduled to begin in August.