Howland husband killer Marie Poling dies in prison

A Trumbull County woman who was sentenced to prison after the 1988 killing of her husband has died ahead of her upcoming parole hearing.

The Trumbull Co. Prosecutor's Office received notice from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections of Marie Poling's death on May 20.

Poling was given a life sentence after killing her husband, Richard Poling.

66-year-old Poling died at the Marysville Reformatory for Women for the 1988 shooting death of her husband, who was shot in the head while sleeping on the couch inside their home.

Watkins said Poling got her lover to help get rid of the body, including chopping Richard's head off, and transporting the body parts near Washington, Pa. 

Trumbull Co. Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said, "Cold-blooded hardly describes her... metaphorically speaking, she had antifreeze running through her veins.”

He tried the Poling case in 1988 along with former assistant prosecutor and former Warren Municipal Judge Thomas Gysegem. Watkins has opposed Poling’s release from prison in 1990, 2005, 2010, 2014, 2019, and in 202. Poling was scheduled to go before the parole board again in August.

No cause of death was given in her death.