Michael Boswell is accused of poisoning his girlfriend with acetaminophen-laced peppermint tea before he allegedly shot her last week, according to court documents available Monday.
New details have emerged in the case of the Yacolt man charged with first-degree attempted murder of his girlfriend of three years, Jessica Fix.
Boswell, 29, will be arraigned on the charge Nov. 29.
According to a search warrant affidavit filed with the court, doctors treating Fix for a gunshot wound discovered her liver was failing because of “very high levels of acetaminophen, or Tylenol, and that Jessica denied taking any Tylenol or related medications.”
In a follow-up investigation, detectives questioned the 25-year-old Fix about the acetaminophen. She said she never took Tylenol; her parents, whom Fix lives with, backed up her story, according to court documents.
She said she remembered Boswell prepared her a cup of peppermint tea before she fell asleep the morning of Nov. 14, after a late-night shift at work. The tea was sweetened, she said, and the ceramic mug did not contain a tea bag.
“Jessica said that it was possible Michael might have used the mortar and pestle to mix something up,” sheriff’s Detective Kevin Harper wrote in a search warrant affidavit.
After falling asleep, she said she awoke feeling nauseous. She also had stomach cramps, and vomited. After falling back asleep, she woke to a head injury. Boswell was holding a revolver toward his head. Reports indicated that he had laid next to her, holding the gun in his left hand.
“I meant to shoot myself and I shot you,” he said, according to court documents. “I can’t even kill myself right.”
Fix drove herself from the house at 17605 N.E. Lucia Falls Road in Yacolt, where the couple lives with Fix’s parents, to the Battle Ground Fred Meyer store. There, a friend took her to the hospital. Her condition Monday wasn’t available; a sheriff’s sergeant has said her injuries don’t appear to be life-threatening.
Possible motive
Questioned about a possible motive, Fix told investigators that she had asked Boswell to move out of her parent’s house recently and that she wanted to break up, according to court documents. A dancer at a Portland strip club, Fix said she had met someone new through work, which Boswell was upset about.
“Jessica said that they have not really argued, but that Michael had jealousy issues about men she meets and associates with,” Harper wrote in the affidavit.
Boswell had reportedly fled Georgia because of outstanding warrants and was living in Idaho when he met Fix while playing “World of Warcraft” on the Internet. He moved into her parents’ house two and a half years ago, court affidavits said.
He is being held in the Clark County Jail on a no-bail hold because of the Georgia warrants.
Laura McVicker: www.twitter.com/col_courts; www.facebook.com/reportermcvicker; laura.mcvicker@columbian.com; 360-735-4516.
