Husband ‘watched his wife’s life leave her body’ after taking her to the ceIIar, placing her head in the utiIity basin, and holding her there until she drowned, then claimed she took her own life; sentenced

Chicago, IL – According to the court documents, the 68-year-old defendant, later identified as MichaeI, was sentenced last week to more than four decades behind bars after he killed his long time partner only to claim the woman committed a suicide. Prosecutors claim the defendant took his 60-year-old wife, Nanncy, to the basement and then killed her by drowning her in the utiIity basin. 

The DA’s office released a statement, asking for a harsh prison sentence, which stated that the defendant submerged the victim’s head in a basin only to held her there and ‘watch the woman’s life leave her body’. The defendant must serve 45 years before he will be released. He was sentenced after jury found him guilty of first-degree murder earlier this year. 

The investigation process began in November 2019 after the 911 caller told the dispatcher that his wife of more than 40 years took her own life by drowning herself. The man claimed that he attempted to save the woman’s live by performing CPR for several minutes. After he was unsuccessful, he called the authorities to report the fatal incident. 

First responders found the woman with her head in the basin. She was pronounced dead at the scene, court records say. During the investigation process, authorities discovered that the woman was in fact killed. The medical examiner told investigators that the woman had injuries consistent with someone holding her underwater. The 68-year-old husband was taken into custody one month after the murder, but his case ended in several mistrials.