Reports: Alleged killer died of overdose

The Green Valley man accused of killing his paralyzed wife at a New Mexico truck stop died of a prescription drug overdose, Pima County coroner and Sheriff’s reports said.

David Taub, 63, was found dead in his Villages of Green Valley home Feb. 15 after officers responded to a check-welfare request from Taub’s sister, who began to worry when Taub didn’t return her phone calls, sheriff’s reports said.

Officers found Taub’s badly decomposed body lying in a hospital bed in the living room of the locked West Rio Moctezuma house, an unsigned note titled “My Wish and My Will” nearby, detailing the handling of the estate he had shared with Sherry Taub, 60, his wife of 37 years.

The note read: “I wish the sell of this house, my three cars, motor home and all of me and Sherry’s possessions, half to the Family Life Ministries, Randy Carlson, president, and half to ... my sister,” according to reports. Taub then gave the address of his sister and of Family Life Ministries, which is located in Tucson.

The note was undated, but neighbors say they last saw Taub three days before authorities found his body, reports said.

Coroners from the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death a result of intoxication from mixing methadone, a drug used for the treatment of heroin dependency and chronic pain, with diazepam, known commonly as Valium.

Taub had attempted suicide in mid-October, the day he was charged with the Oct. 4 murder of wife, Sherry. He was found unconscious in his hotel room with two suicide notes, syringes and vials of a drug used to control epileptic seizures, reports said.

In January he was released on $50,000 bond — lowered from $100,000 — and was to stand trial May 5 in New Mexico state court in Las Cruces.

When asked if it was safe for Taub — who was on suicide watch while held at the Dona Ana County Detention Center — to be released on bail, his attorney, Jose Coronado, said, “That’s a good question.”

“I’m no doctor, but I didn’t think he would do anything like this. He seemed to be in control of his facilities, and for a while he had a third party (Taub’s sister) watching him.”

Taub had told police he found his wife beaten and strangled in their RV outside a Lordsburg, N.M., truck stop, but he drove 120 miles from Lordsburg to Las Cruces before reporting the incident.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, though court reports state that he later confessed to the killing.

Details from the sheriff’s report, first requested after Taub’s death, were released last week to the Green Valley News. The coroner’s report was released April 8.

jrichardson@gvnew.com | 547-9726