Tamara Ragsdale has spent months telling people that it was her brother's psychiatric medications that caused him to kill his wife, but now she says someone is threatening her life because of it.

Her brother, David Ragsdale is awaiting trial on a charge of aggravated murder in the shooting death of his wife, Kristy. Tamara has said her brother's brain chemistry had been altered by a cocktail of psychiatric medications he was on, including antidepressants, testosterone, Ritalin and Valium.

Tamara said her boyfriend received several threatening e-mails last week while the couple was out of town. The sender of the anonymous e-mails threatened to kill her if she continued to defend her brother, and threatened to kill the boyfriend if he did not stop associating with Tamara, she said. Tamara also said her car windows were broken several weeks ago.

The FBI is investigating the threats, Tamara said.

Tamara said the threats came after news outlets reported that attorneys who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against David Ragsdale on behalf of his two young children filed a motion in court disputing Tamara's right or ability to serve as her brother's legal counsel, though she has power of attorney for him. Tamara had recently signed a response in the case after her brother fired his defense attorney. He is now being represented by public defenders.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.

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