Lutz Man Arrested for Helping Wife Commit Suicide

A Lutz man was arrested last week after he told a detective that he helped his wife kill herself and had planned to kill himself, too, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

The dead body of Teresa Baldwin, 54, was discovered at a home on Laurel Ridge Drive by her family Friday, Oct. 14.

A Pasco County Sheriff's detective arrived and saw her body in the backyard. It was on a blanket, covered by another blanket, lying next to an air conditioner from the house.

There were hoses, equipped with gauges, connected to the home's air conditioner. The hoses were lying next to Teresa Baldwin's head.

“Based on the scene, the victim had inhaled freon from the air conditioning unit, resulting in her death,” according to the detective’s affidavit.

Her husband wasn’t home when the family arrived to find the dead body. He was located nearby after several hours.

According to the affidavit, he told the detective that he and his wife had planned to commit suicide together by inhaling freon from the unit.

He said he hooked up the hoses and gauges to the air conditioner and laid on the blanket with his wife. She opened the valve on the hoses, the man told the detective. 

Arrested was James Baldwin, an air conditioning repairman. Baldwin, 56, was charged with assisting self-murder. He was not at the home when the family arrived to find the body but was located hours later nearby. He is now in a hospital, said sheriff’s office spokesman Kevin Doll.

The incident is still under investigation, Doll said. No further information is being released at this time.