Investigators say a months-long relationship involving paid sex and a purchased vehicle culminated in a hospital-treated benzodiazepine overdose.
HAINES CITY, Fla. — A financial relationship that began after two people met online and eventually included paid sex, a vehicle and requests for money is now at the center of an attempted murder case in Central Florida, where authorities say Samantha Adams secretly drugged a 69-year-old man after an argument over a car he had purchased for her.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has described money as a central feature of the case against Adams, a 39-year-old Orlando woman whom the man initially knew only as “Nala.” Judd said the pair had been seeing each other for about two to three months after meeting through a dating app and that the relationship involved payment for sex. As their contact continued, investigators said, the man bought Adams a vehicle. By Aug. 17, he and Adams were arguing about it, setting the stage for the encounter that later sent him to a hospital.
Reports citing court records say the man had decided he wanted the vehicle returned because he could not continue to afford it. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has publicly confirmed an argument involving the vehicle but has not said that dissatisfaction with the type of car was itself an established motive for the alleged poisoning. That distinction matters because some accounts have described the dispute as being about Adams disliking the vehicle. The primary law enforcement account establishes that a vehicle dispute occurred; it does not by itself prove why Adams allegedly administered a drug.
According to the man’s statement to investigators, Adams went into the kitchen at his Haines City home after the argument while carrying her purse. She returned with whiskey. The man drank from the glass she gave him, authorities said, and the encounter became sexual. He alleged that Adams then stopped and told him he would have to pay $1,000 to continue. He refused. Adams left the home, according to the sheriff’s office. The man later became severely impaired, lost consciousness and was transported for medical treatment.
At the hospital, medical staff determined that he had suffered a benzodiazepine overdose. Benzodiazepines are a class of prescription drugs that includes medications commonly used to treat anxiety and other conditions. The man told investigators that he did not take benzodiazepines. Detectives concluded that the substance had been intentionally put into his drink, the sheriff’s office said. Adams is now charged with attempted second-degree murder, although the state will have to prove both the alleged administration of the drug and the required criminal intent in court.
The Aug. 17 incident was not the first time the man said he had unexpectedly become impaired after drinking with Adams. Once investigators began questioning him, he described multiple earlier episodes at her residence in Orange County. During one, he said he consumed a small amount of alcohol and became unsteady enough to fall. During another, he said he passed out in his vehicle after leaving. He also told detectives he became groggy after an Aug. 15 visit and backed into another vehicle. Judd later identified that vehicle as belonging to an Osceola County sheriff’s deputy.
Those episodes added a second dimension to investigators’ financial theory. Authorities are not simply alleging that an argument over money was followed by a single unexplained overdose; they say the victim described a recurring pattern of sudden impairment during a relationship in which money and material requests played an increasing role. Judd said Adams’ requests became more significant the longer the two knew each other. The sheriff has also publicly said investigators believe Adams was motivated by money, though the publicly released evidence does not provide a complete accounting of payments, gifts or transfers between the pair.
That gap is important in assessing what has been alleged and what has actually been established. The public record reviewed for this article does not include bank statements, messages documenting every financial request or evidence showing that Adams expected to inherit or directly obtain the man’s property if he died. Authorities have instead pointed to the paid nature of the relationship, the vehicle, the alleged $1,000 demand and the circumstances surrounding the overdose. Those facts form the financial context cited by the sheriff, but prosecutors will ultimately have to present admissible evidence to support the attempted murder accusation.
There was also a potential evidence issue inside the victim’s home. Detectives said someone had tampered with his security system. The man reported seeing Adams in the portion of the house where that system was located, according to the sheriff’s office. Officials have not released a detailed technical account of the alleged tampering or said whether recordings were erased. Adams was charged with tampering with evidence, making that part of the case legally significant even though the public has not been shown the underlying digital or physical evidence.
The man went to the sheriff’s office on Aug. 20, three days after the overdose. Detectives identified the woman he knew as “Nala” as Samantha Adams and spent the next week building the case. On Aug. 27, authorities arranged for Adams to meet the man at Posner Park, a shopping center in Davenport. Detectives moved in when she arrived and took her into custody. The sheriff’s office said deputies found several prescription medications with her, including controlled substances and a bottle issued to someone else.
Authorities said the bottle contained 19 hydrocodone-acetaminophen pills. Deputies also reported finding 2.5 oxycodone hydrochloride pills, nine sertraline pills, part of an Adderall pill and part of an alprazolam pill. Alprazolam, commonly sold as Xanax, is a benzodiazepine. However, officials have not publicly said that laboratory testing tied the partial alprazolam pill seized during Adams’ arrest to the drug detected in the victim’s body. The possession evidence and the poisoning allegation are related parts of the investigation but should not be treated as scientifically identical without that forensic link.
Adams was charged with possession of oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam, in addition to attempted second-degree murder and evidence tampering. The sheriff’s office also announced misdemeanor counts of resisting without violence, possession of drug paraphernalia, possessing a new legend drug without a prescription and offering to commit prostitution. Judd has called Adams a “black widow,” a description he used while warning that detectives think there could be other people with similar experiences.
The sheriff’s rhetoric has been direct. He said Adams tried to kill, overdose and extort the man and asserted that investigators viewed money as her motivation. Those are law enforcement allegations rather than findings by a judge or jury. The attempted murder charge does not establish that Adams committed the offense, and the publicly released material does not include her account of the Aug. 17 meeting or a response from an attorney challenging the sheriff’s version of events. She is entitled to the presumption of innocence throughout the criminal proceedings.
Detectives are also examining whether the financial relationship and alleged drugging extended beyond the Haines City victim. The sheriff’s office said the man believed Adams may have poisoned him at least three earlier times. Law&Crime reported from the arrest affidavit that investigators had spoken to another man who described similar experiences. Officials have not announced a second attempted murder count or said that another person has been medically confirmed as having been drugged by Adams. Judd has nevertheless encouraged the possibility of additional reports by publicly warning of other potential victims.
Seen as a whole, the allegations describe an escalation rather than a single dispute over a car. Authorities say the two first established a paid relationship, continued seeing each other for several months, exchanged money or benefits significant enough for the man to buy a vehicle, then argued when he sought its return. Hours later, according to investigators, the man consumed a drink supplied by Adams, rejected another alleged request for money and eventually lost consciousness from a benzodiazepine overdose. Prosecutors will have to show which parts of that progression demonstrate criminal intent rather than merely provide background to the encounter.
Early coverage listed a Sept. 29 court date, but that date has passed, and the sources reviewed for this report did not establish a later verified disposition of the case. Adams was jailed after her Aug. 27 arrest. The sheriff’s office has continued to frame the investigation as potentially broader than one victim, while the charges publicly announced against Adams remain allegations awaiting resolution in court.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.