SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) – A veterinarian has been indicted on a murder charge alleging she killed her husband with a drug used to euthanize animals.

Wendi Mae Davidson was accused of killing Air Force Staff Sgt. Michael Leslie Severance by “introducing toxic levels of a substance or substances” into his body, according to court records obtained by the San Angelo Standard-Times.

A Tom Green County grand jury indicted Davidson on Tuesday on a murder count and two of tampering with or fabricating evidence. She is free on $200,000 bond.

Severance, a native of Lee, Maine, was stationed at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene and served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Police said Davidson told her brother she found her husband dead Jan. 15 and hid his body, fearing a family member had killed him. She reported him missing the next day and filed for divorce the following day.

Police found Severance’s body March 6 tied to cinder blocks at the bottom of a West Texas stock tank. Toxicology tests on his body found high levels of pentobarbital, a drug that can be used to euthanize animals.

Tuesday’s indictment came without a final autopsy report, which is being performed by the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office. Police said further charges could come against Davidson, depending on the autopsy results.

Police searched Davidson’s clinic, Advanced Animal Care, and found records that showed she had administered phenobarbital to a dog. However, the dog’s owner said the dog never received a phenobarbital injection.

The indictment came just before the grand jury’s six-month term was set to expire at the end of May, said Allison Palmer, assistant prosecutor for the 51st Judicial District spanning Tom Green, Coke, Irion, Sterling and Schleicher counties.

“This grand jury’s term was nearing a close,” she said. “We did need to finish.”

She said a judge will schedule an initial pretrial hearing within the next six weeks.

Davidson’s attorney, Tom Davidson, said his client passed key parts of a lie detector test, including questions such as “Did you kill your husband?” and, “Do you know who did?” The two are not related.

A relative expressed relief at the indictment. “It’s a step in the right direction,” Michael Severance’s father, Leslie Severance of Lee, told the newspaper. “There’s still a lot of questions.”

AP-ES-05-27-05 0604EDT

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