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Mom 'Wanted Affection' So She Poisoned Baby's Dad with Visine Drops

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on August 21, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Thurman Nesbitt III is likely seeing red after police arrested his girlfriend, the mother of his child, for allegedly poisoning him with Visine eye drops.

But Vickie Jo Mills, 33, of Ayr Twp., Pa., "never meant to kill" Nesbitt, 45, a police affidavit states, according to ABC News. Instead, she "only wanted him to pay more attention to her."

Now the mother is getting national media attention for her alleged poisoning, which took place in drips, literally, over more than three years, police say.

Vicki Jo Mills' alleged Visine poisoning victim Thurman Nesbitt kept seeking medical treatment for symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and bleeding problems, ABC News reports.

Blood tests eventually revealed an extremely high level of a substance called tetrahydrozoline, a chemical used in eye drops that can cause harmful symptoms, according to the National Institutes of Health.

When questioned by police, Mills allegedly confessed to putting Visine drops in Nesbitt's drinking water at least 10 times over the past three years, according to ABC. Mills now faces 10 counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault, and reckless endangerment.

Prosecutors likely won't need eye drops to see these charges stick. In general, a simple assault requires only an attempt to physically harm someone. An aggravated assault requires the use of a weapon; whether Visine eye drops fit the definition may be one possible issue for Mills' criminal defense lawyer to pursue.

Vickie Jo Mills is free on $75,000 bail and is set to appear in court Monday for her alleged Visine poisoning. If convicted on all 30 charges, she could be seeing the inside of a jail cell for the rest of her life, according to ABC News.

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