Something Bad Happened

Some couples should not be together. The couple in this true crime is a prime example.

They met on a dating website. He was a 55-year-old surgeon. She was a 42-year-old who owned and operated a massage therapy business. They dated for one year before she and her three children from a previous marriage moved in with her boyfriend. Then they lived together for two years. After being together in a committed relationship for three years, everything changed after an impulsive wedding ceremony in Las Vegas.

Three weeks after the ‘wedding’ the doctor met with a divorce attorney. As the couple discussed their separation, she wanted the house—he didn’t want to pay alimony. Terms for the divorce were in limbo. The marriage lasted five months.

Before their last day together, she had filed police reports of physical abuse. She rescinded a restraining order and chose not to follow through with charges. Her husband had agreed to couples counseling. Two weeks later, she was dead.

At his trial, he testified that they’d fought. She’d thrown a glass at him, she’d screamed obscenities, and he snapped. He grabbed her by the neck and didn’t let go. They both fell to the floor and the next thing he knew—per his testimony—she was unresponsive. He panicked. Then he put her body in their pond. In his defense, he said he hadn’t intended to kill her.

The victim’s daughter, who was a teenager at the time of her mother’s death, recalled the night her mother had died and said,

“I woke up in the middle of the night, looked down the stairs and saw [her stepfather], instantly knowing something bad had happened.”

An assistant district attorney who helped present the evidence stated the doctor hadn’t called for emergency services and hadn’t tried to resuscitate her.

A jury found him guilty of manslaughter rather than first-degree murder. The court sentenced him to between 12-and-16 years in prison with credit for time served. He’d been in jail awaiting trial for five years.

Source: People, Court TV, Law & Crime

All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.