Judge gives nurse 15 years

Don Hoard had a feeling his ex-wife was going to try to kill him.

They'd gone through a bitter divorce, and she'd lost at every turn. He had full custody of their son and she owed him tens of thousands of dollars in child support, legal fees and property.

Ann Hoard often ended their phone conversations with the warning, "There's going to be trouble."

The debts had driven Mrs. Hoard into bankruptcy. In February 2004, she filed yet another court motion - her fifth - seeking to modify the custody order. She lost.

The next month, Mr. Hoard showed up at her house in Laurel one evening to pick up their son, then 7. The...