Nurse Wife Claims She Was Hugging Her Unresponsive Husband When Staff Found Her Hand Over His Nose

Watch this police interrogation with intense raw interrogation from the interrogation room as police conduct a full interrogation of a suspect. This raw interrogation footage captures every moment of the suspect interview, complete with deception detection techniques, and criminal psychology in true JCS style interrogation. The Background Henry “Butch” Sochalski Jr., 64, was a retired Trenton, New Jersey, patrol officer (about 25 years on the force, retired in 2003). Jan Sochalski, then 61, was his wife and a retired nurse with more than 40 years of experience. They had been married about 44 years. They lived at 71 Ethan Allen Drive in Palm Coast, Florida, after moving from Mercer County, New Jersey, around 2003. Henry had elective back surgery at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach (surgery reported as April 7, 2016; a similar procedure had been done in February). He was expected to recover and was on patient-controlled pain medication. Police alleged Jan was dissatisfied with his care after he became unresponsive. She asked staff for medication that would “decrease his respiratory status” and was told that would amount to killing him. She denied any intent to kill him and said she only wanted to be close to him. The Crime On April 9, 2016, Henry went into respiratory and cardiac arrest and remained unresponsive. He was later moved to comfort/palliative care. Staff reported the pain-medication button had been pressed 264 times in an eight-hour period, against an expected maximum of about six times an hour. A lockout on the pump prevented extra doses from being delivered. Nurses said they had told Jan to stop pressing it. On April 28 or 29, police were called after Jan threatened to get her husband’s firearm and “shoot the people on the seventh floor.” She calmed down and was not arrested. On May 18 she signed a do-not-resuscitate order. That day, staff said she would not let nurses into the room and asked for saline, which was not given. On the morning of May 19, 2016, heart monitors alerted staff. Nurses reported finding Jan lying across Henry, with a hand over his mouth and nose, the tracheostomy collar or oxygen displaced, and the bed flattened from about a 45-degree angle. One nurse said it looked as if she was pinching his nose. His nose was purple; a nurse who had checked him earlier said it had looked normal. He was pronounced dead at about 8:30 a.m. The medical examiner later ruled the death a homicide by asphyxia from occlusion of the mouth, nose, and tracheotomy, with bleeding inside the upper lip. The Investigation Daytona Beach police opened the case after staff called them. An autopsy was done May 20; the homicide ruling was reported to investigators on August 17. Jan told police she flattened the bed, moved a humidifier from his throat because his breathing was slowing, and hugged his head and neck because she “wanted to be close to him.” She said she had no intent to suffocate him and did nothing that caused his death. On August 18 she called the medical examiner’s office and asked whether Henry had been brain dead, saying she wanted to be sure she had “made the right decision.” She was arrested on August 29, 2016, and charged with second-degree murder. Bond was initially denied, then set at $250,000; court records cited in later reporting said she posted $50,000 bail in September 2016. Conviction and Sentencing There was no trial, verdict, or sentence. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for July 10, 2017. On May 25, 2017, Flagler County deputies found Jan Sochalski, then 62, dead at her Palm Coast home during a wellness check requested by her daughter. Deputies reported nothing suspicious; foul play was not suspected, and she had an extensive medical history. The murder charge ended with her death. true crime,law and crime network,interrogation,interrogation analysis,red thread interrogations,interrogation jcs inspired,interrogation jcs style,interrogation psychology,interrogation psychology jcs inspired,new interrogations 2026,interrogation breakdown,police interrogation psychology,bodycam,interview,case analysis,bodycam footage,crime investigation,police interrogation,suspect interview,int,interrogations 2026,interrogation videos,jcs true crime