Cellphone data contradicts Sarah Hartsfield’s claim she was asleep as husband’s blood sugar dropped, detective testifies
Cellphone data challenge Sarah Hartsfield's claim of being asleep during her husband's critical insulin overdose.
The lead investigator in the Sarah Hartsfield murder case says what she found on Sarah’s phone does not match the story she told about the hours leading up to her husband’s insulin overdose.
Former Chambers County Sheriff’s Office Detective Skyler Rocz testified Tuesday on the seventh day of the insulin murder trial that data pulled from Sarah’s iPhone showed she was awake, active, and using multiple apps during the time she told investigators she was “asleep on narcotic pain medication.”
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According to Rocz, Apple movement data showed that between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2023, Hartsfield’s phone recorded anywhere from 9 to 124 steps per hour, including activity on banking, grocery, and social media apps.
During that same period, prosecutors say her husband, Joseph Hartsfield, was experiencing dangerously low blood sugar levels that left him unable to help himself.
Rocz told jurors that the only hour with no movement recorded on Sarah’s phone was between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., the time she claimed she found Joseph unresponsive and called 911.
“Each hour that the defendant alleged to be asleep, there was anywhere between 9 and 124 steps taken,” Rocz testified. “It was not consistent with her statements.”
The detective said Sarah’s phone activity also revealed she had accessed apps for HEB, Facebook, USAA Banking, and several job sites in the morning when she told police she was asleep.
Detective Rocz said Sarah also sent emails, texts, and even videos that morning, including one video showing her husband snoring, which she sent to her daughter around 12:20 p.m., shortly before calling 911.
Prosecutors say Joseph’s blood sugar alarms had been going off for hours before that call, and medical experts testified he would have needed help well before emergency crews were contacted.
Detective Rocz also testified about data showing that in the 5:00 a.m. hour, a screenshot from Joseph’s phone containing his Apple “Legacy Contact” key, which would allow someone access to all his Apple data after death, was sent to Sarah’s phone and saved by her. Investigators believe Sarah sent that to herself.
Sarah has pleaded not guilty to murdering her husband by insulin overdose.
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