A lot of women wish for their partners to demonstrate their love with grand gestures, like cooking them dinner, doing the dishes, bringing home flowers - all that jazz.
But for one woman in Texas - who was initially delighted when her husband began rustling her up some breakfast in bed for - her wish soon came back to haunt her, after she discovered he'd been poisoning her.
Back in 2022, Catherine Herring, 39, found out her husband Mason had been exchanging intimate texts with a female colleague.
Advert
Upon being confronted, an ashamed Mason told his pregnant wife - with whom he already shared two children - that he needed time to focus on himself, called time on their relationship, and moved out of their family home altogether.
Alarm bells had already starting ringing for Catherine, however, after her husband expressed his disappointment when she announced she was expecting a third child.
But out of the blue, lawyer Mason suddenly made a U-turn by claiming he wanted to spend spring break with his estranged wife and their children.
It even looked as though their marriage could be reaching a turning point - until the day when he brought her a biscuit and glass of water when she lay in bed.
Advert
Catherine later told press that Mason was acting strange and was being rather forceful with his meal, asking her to finish the food and drink before he headed into the office.
She told the Daily Beast: "He starts urging me, like, 'Chug it, I need to go', and he kind of had anger in his voice."
It was only when inspecting the glass of water more closely, however, that she realised the liquid was cloudy.
Advert
According to the indictment from the court case that followed, Catherine started suffering severe stomach cramps, explosive diarrhea and profuse vaginal bleeding within minutes of Mason leaving for work.
She was rushed to hospital, but continued bleeding for several days.
"I just wanted desperately to be wrong. I wanted there to be another explanation, because this is your husband who you love and adore and have children with," she admitted.
Advert
"But my instinct was, 'Something’s wrong, I need to protect myself'," she added. "And I just need to make sure he doesn’t know I’m onto him. Because I really felt like that was the only way I could collect evidence."
Over the next few weeks, Catherine was repeatedly handed drinks from Mason containing an 'unknown substance', according to court documents.
After her husband then requested a formal separation, Catherine got in touch with a private investigator, giving him the samples of the liquid he'd collected.
Laboratory testing revealed that Mason's drinks had contained misoprostol, a chemical commonly used to induce an abortion.
Advert
Catherine also discovered 'opened blister packs' labeled as 'Cyrux' in the bin, finding that these packets contained a 'Mexican pharmacy version of the American drug Cytotec,' - used to prevent stomach ulcers but containing misoprostol.
After setting up hidden cameras and seeing Mason pouring white powder into cranberry juice - which he later tried to hand to her - she contacted the police.
A month later, Mason was arrested and charged with assault to induce abortion and assault on a pregnant person.
Earlier this month, he accepted the deal, pled guilty to one count of injury to a child under 15, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
He was also banned from seeing their youngest daughter, who was born prematurely - and now suffers developmental delays - three months after his arrest
Catherine's daughter is forced to eat using a feeding tube and meets with physical, occupational and speech therapists each week.
"I do not believe that 180 days is justice for attempting to kill your child seven separate times," Catherine said in court.
"For two years, my husband has overtly denied this assault, and I'm grateful today that he has finally admitted to his guilt."
Topics: Crime, True Crime, US News, News, Pregnancy, Parenting
Rhianna Benson