According to WISTV and HLN the estranged husband of a woman that disappeared two years ago has admitted to her homicide and accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
The man, C.W., 42, led police to the spot he had buried J.W., 39 at the time of her death, in exchange to pleading guilty to second-degree murder as opposed to a charge of first-degree murder.
The case has been considered to be one of the most high-profile homicide cases in the history of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
J.W., who had triplets with C.W. while they were married, was last seen on June 1, 2011 at C.W.'s home. She had allegedly gone to meet him just after meeting with her divorce attorney.
Though J.W.'s body had not been located a year ago, that was when C.W. was formally charged with her murder. He was due in court for the start of his trial this September.
Chris Limbaugh, the prosecuting attorney, told reporters that the plea deal – offered to C.W. several months ago – requires that he be sentenced to a 20-year prison term. Limbaugh said that J.W.'s family supported the plea deal.
Angel Woodruff, the assistant prosecutor, said that C.W.'s attorney contacted their office three weeks ago to discuss the plea. Once the plea was accepted C.W. told authorities where they would find J.W.'s remains. According to police, she was located on an island near the Mississippi River in Alexander County, Illinois. She had been buried in a hole six-foot deep in the ground.
On June 6 Cape Girardeau County Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis asked C.W. to confirm the statement he had already given to police on June 3. The judge specified that C.W. was to acknowledge, in court, that he had beaten J.W. and choked her to death with his forearm against her neck.
C.W. answered the judge by saying, "I did that. We got into an argument and I lost my temper…I caused her death."
However, officials believe that J.W.'s murder was intentional and premeditated. The plan included C.W. telling J.W. that one of her boys was waiting for her in his home. The boy, instead, was with C.W.'s girlfriend in her home. C.W. also admitted to placing J.W.'s body in a trash container before driving her body to Illinois, then onto a boat before he finally buried her – in a hole he had dug the day before.
Lt. D.J., with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's office, said, "He [C.W.] did admit that he dug the hole…his cell phone records confirm that he flew over the area after he dug the hole. We know that he sent a lot of text messages to her [J.W] that seemed specially geared to getting her to lower her guard. I believe he had a plan in place."
Though the family would have preferred that C.W. had a lengthier prison sentence, Limbaugh felt that they would have never found J.W.'s burial spot without the plea deal.
J.W.'s father, S.R., commented, "In my opinion (C.W.) didn't get what he deserved, but he did deserve everything he got."
Negotiating a plea deal is one part of the sentencing process. Contact a criminal defense attorney to help you with every part of your defense.
