Suburban death poses a mystery
Husband denies role in poisoning

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 29, 2008

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — Maureen Steeves started what seemed like a normal day in suburbia cooking and doing laundry while her estranged husband ran errands and took their two teenage sons to a high school football game.

This undated file photo provided by the Suffolk County, N.Y., Police Department shows David Steeves, who is charged with second-degree murder after allegedly putting cyanide in his estranged wife's coffee. Authorities say Steeves is gay and didn't want to see Maureen Steeves dating anyone else now that their marriage had fallen apart. Prosecutors have also suggested the instructions for how to kill his wife may have come from an electronic copy of "The Mujahideen Poisons Handbook," which was found on the suspect's laptop computer. (AP Photo/Suffolk County Police Department, File)

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Later, she was found unconscious in the kitchen. And three days after that, David Steeves took the boys to England on one-way tickets.

Maureen Steeves died at the end of October of cyanide poisoning. Prosecutors say her husband had laced her coffee with it.

Authorities say David Steeves didn’t want to see his wife dating anyone.

David Steeves, 43, was charged with second-degree murder. He has denied allegations.

Steeves’ attorney, Joseph Hanshe, says Steeves had confided in his wife five years ago that he might be gay, but never acted on his impulses.

By buying one-way tickets to England with his children, the British-born man was seeking consolation from relatives, Hanshe says. He returned a week later and was arrested.