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A Missouri jury has found a St. Louis man guilty of first-degree murder after he admitted on the stand that hekilled his pregnant wifein a rage.
Beau Rothwell, 31, has been found guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and abandonment of a corpse.
Rothwell said he went into a “red haze” and hit Jennifer in the head with a mallet. As she stumbled towards the garage door, he said he followed her and hit her again.
“I believe I cracked her skull,” he testified, according to theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch. “She fell unconscious and fell down the stairs.” He said he did not plan to kill Jennifer, who was six weeks pregnant.
Beau Rothwell.AP/Shutterstock/St. Louis County Police Department
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After the killing, Rothwell testified that he dumped her naked body in the woods about an hour away from his home. He cleaned the house with bleach and discarded evidence in a dumpster near the highway.
Rothwell then reported Jennifer missing. When police found blood- and bleach-soaked carpeting in the couple’s suburban home, he was arrested. He then led police to her body.
During trial, prosecutors portrayed Beau Rothwell as a meticulous planner who plotted to kill his wife.
The defense said that the killing was unplanned, and asked jurors to acquit Rothwell of first-degree murder, but find him guilty of abandoning her corpse, evidence tampering and voluntary manslaughter.
Rothwell will be sentenced in July. He faces life in prison without the chance of parole.
source: people.com
