Woman accused of murdering her 5th husband, investigation into death of her ex-fiancé to be reopened

A woman who was just indicted in Texas for the murder of her fifth husband may soon have to answer further questions about the shooting death of her ex-fiancé in Minnesota several years ago.

On January 7, Sarah Hartsfield, 48, of Beach City, Texas, called 911 and said that her husband was in medical distress. Joseph Hartsfield, 46, was soon rushed to a hospital in Houston where he remained in a coma until his death eight days later.

But police soon afterward began to consider his illness "suspicious" and claimed that Sarah Hartsfield's statements to them did not match up with the evidence. Joseph suffered from diabetes, and his insulin levels had been "extremely high" for at least four hours before Sarah ever called for help, police said. They added that she must have ignored Joseph's glucose monitor, which had likely sounded the alarm about his insulin levels for hours.

Chambers County District Attorney Cheryl Lieck said that while Joseph was in the hospital, Sarah "would not allow his family to see him while he was in a vegetative state to say goodbye" and that "things just started progressing rapidly in our investigation where a lot of information wasn't adding up."

On February 3, Sarah Hartsfield was indicted for Joseph's murder. Reports indicate that Sarah Hartsfield remains in custody on $5 million bond.

Now, police 1,300 miles away in Garfield, Minnesota, have announced that they have since reopened an investigation into the 2018 shooting death of Sarah Hartsfield's ex-fiancé, David Bragg. At that time, Sarah Hartsfield was known as Sarah Donohue and was engaged to Bragg. Sometime in 2018, she had called police to report that she had shot Bragg to death because he had "discharged a handgun at her" during a domestic violence incident.

When police examined the scene, they claimed that the trajectory of a bullet that struck a wall in the residence indicated that Bragg had been shooting at Sarah. A report claimed that the shooting had been done in self-defense, and the case was closed. Sarah was never charged.

Main: Sarah Hartsfield | Top: Joseph Hartsfield | Bottom: David Bragg

She still has not been charged in connection to that shooting, and a spokesperson for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office did not confirm that the case has been reopened on account of Sarah's recent murder indictment. Instead, the spokesperson said only that the "investigation is considered ‘active’ again because we are following-up on new information that the Sheriff’s Office received."

In addition to Donohue and Hartsfield, Sarah has had at least four other last names — Smith, Knoernschild, Traxler, and George — and all of her marriages have been "short-lived," Lieck stated. Sarah had been married to Joseph Hartsfield less than a year when he died.

At the time of her engagement to Bragg, she is believed to have been between husband number three and husband number four. None of the exes who spoke with reporters seemed surprised that Sarah wound up behind bars facing serious charges.

"I was honestly surprised to get out of my marriage alive," said Sarah's first husband, Titus Knoernschild. "Because I was in the Army, I had a $200,000 life insurance on myself at the time. I was very concerned I would end up dead so she could get the money."

"I am glad she has finally been caught for who she is," Knoernschild stated later. "I'm just sorry another person had to die to get her caught."

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