Russell Obremski: A Killer's Luck

Over Valentine's Day weekend in 1994, Obremski took his girlfriend to a motel in the coastal town of Florence, Oregon, and proposed marriage. He stopped taking the Antabuse just in case she accepted his proposal. When she said yes, he went across the street and bought a two bottles of beer, and they toasted their good fortune and rosy future.

The beer made him violently ill. He was sick in the bathroom all night long, thanks to the residual Antabuse still in his system.

At the next meeting with his parole officer, Obremski admitted his alcohol consumption, a parole violation. The general punishment for such a violation is a 27-day jail sentence in the nearest county facility.

But "drinking for one type of offender might not be as serious an offense as it would be for another," parole board member Diane Middle said. Both Medford victims were murdered while Obremski was on a drug and alcohol binge. This, then, was a more serious infraction than Russell had expected. The episode of 48 Hours aired on March 9.

Obremski was fired from his job immediately afterward.