Inset: Amber D. Snow (Winnishiek County Jail). Background: The Winnishiek County Sheriff’s Office (Google Maps).
A 36-year-old woman in Iowa is accused of dosing a family-size tray of lasagna with a controlled substance and delivering it to the family of a pregnant woman, hoping the victim would suffer a miscarriage.
Amber Dena Snow was taken into custody this week and charged with two counts each of administering harmful substances to an adult and administering harmful substances to a juvenile, as well as one count each of attempted nonconsensual termination of a pregnancy and controlled substance violation, all of which are felonies, court records show.
According to a news release from the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office, deputies in early January responded to a report regarding “a family-size pan of lasagna that had allegedly been laced with a controlled substance.” Sheriff’s detectives, with assistance from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Decorah Police Department, and the Winneshiek County Attorney’s Office, opened an investigation into the claim.
Authorities obtained and executed several warrants in connection with the “lengthy” probe, the sheriff’s office said. The investigation allegedly revealed that Snow and an unnamed woman were “co-conspirators who laced the lasagna with a controlled substance.”
Both women were detained and brought in for questioning, and authorities said they were soon able to unravel the duo’s plan.
“The investigation identified electronic communications and search history on the defendants’ accounts and phones from before and after the lasagna was prepared and delivered to another family on Dec. 28, 2025,” the release states. “During the investigation, it was determined that delivery of the tainted lasagna was intended to cause a miscarriage to a pregnancy of a woman in the family that received the lasagna.”
Snow’s alleged co-conspirator has not been charged.
Police noted that the pregnant victim had “no knowledge” of what was allegedly in the lasagna and did not consent to the controlled substance being included in the food.
The lasagna was sent to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Criminalistics Laboratory for testing, where authorities confirmed the presence of oxycodone.
The Des Moines Register reported that Snow shares custody of her juvenile child with an individual related to the pregnant victim. The juvenile was reportedly aware of Snow’s plan to give the drug-laced lasagna to the pregnant victim and was opposed to the scheme.
Based on the collected evidence, Snow was taken into custody on Tuesday and processed at the Winneshiek County Jail. She is currently being held in custody on a $100,000 cash-only bond, records show.
In addition to the felony charges, Snow is facing one count of child endangerment — knowingly acting in a manner that created a substantial risk to a child or minor’s physical, mental, or emotional health or safety, which is an aggravated misdemeanor.
The defendant is currently scheduled to appear in court for her preliminary hearing on March 23.
