Tanya Roxanna Schmalz pleaded guilty to the Attempted Murder of her estranged ex-husband, Jonathan Schmalz. Judge Charles Bailey sentenced Schmalz to 90 months in prison. Chief Deputy District Attorney Bracken McKey prosecuted the case against Schmalz.
Hillsboro Police first began investigating Schmalz in November of 2018 when they got a call from a concerned citizen. That caller reported that her friend, later identified as Schmalz, had talked about killing her estranged ex-husband. The friend said Schmalz planned to spray a can of Rush—a substance known to have a euphoric and disorienting effect— onto the victim’s face then inject him with a syringe of cold insulin. Schmalz believed the substances would kill the man.
Police met with the caller and found her story to be credible. Detective Anthony Johnson soon took over the investigation and applied for a court order allowing the friend to wear a body wire. The friend then captured Schmalz on tape discussing the planned murder of her ex-husband. When officers arrested Schmalz they found a can of Rush and a full syringe of insulin.
Over the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Schmalz made a similar attempt on the victim’s life in 2016. In that instance, she laced a bottle of alcohol with an unknown substance and gave it to him. He was later found by Hillsboro Police wandering incoherently in and out of traffic on a busy street. He was taken to the hospital at the time.
In addition to her prison sentence, Schmalz will also undergo three years of post-prison supervision. She will be transferred to the Oregon Department of Corrections to begin serving her sentence.