Local police say a man in Missouri admitted to strangling his wife to death while she was in a hospital bed because he couldn’t take care of her and couldn’t pay her medical bills. He is now being charged with murder.
A witness told the Independence Police Department (IPD) that a woman had “suspicious injuries” on May 3 in the critical care unit of a hospital in Jackson County, Missouri. An off-duty officer from the IPD went to the hospital to investigate. It was announced that the victim was dead the next morning.
Ronnie Wiggs, the victim’s husband, was “heard by medical staff stating, ‘I did it, I killed her, I choked her,'” according to court papers.
It was announced online on Saturday that Wiggs, of Independence, Missouri, is being charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his wife.
As of Sunday night, authorities did not say how old Wiggs was or give any information about the victim.
Police questioned Wiggs, and he “admitted that he had killed the victim by choking her and covering her mouth and nose to keep her from screaming,” according to court papers.
Wiggs told police that he killed his wife and then left the hospital. He said that a family friend picked him up and took him back to the hospital, where staff found his wife not responding.
“The defendant advised he had attempted to kill the victim two other times while the victim was hospitalized,” the court documents read.
“The defendant advised he last attempted to kill the victim while the victim was at a rehabilitation facility for her medical issues. He advised at that time he tried to choke her but could not follow through with it. The defendant advised the victim woke up and told him not to do that again. The defendant advised he was going to try to kill the victim another time, but he did not get the opportunity due to the fact the victim was hooked up to several monitors at the hospital. The defendant advised he was depressed and killed the victim because he could not take care of her anymore and he could not pay the medical bills that had been acquired.”
According to court records, an unnamed witness told police that the victim was his mother and that she was in the hospital to get a new port for her dialysis. On May 3, around 7:30 p.m., hospital staff said the person was “alert and oriented.” But when hospital staff checked on them again about an hour later, they quickly sent out a “Code Blue.”
The offender told the son and a nurse that he killed his wife while they were in the hospital room, the son told the police. “The defendant said he choked the victim.”
The bond for Wiggs’ arrest is $250,000.
