Re: Man Convicted Ten Years After Murder Of His Wife

Bo Raxo wrote:

He tried to lay off the blame on their two year old son. And almost got away with it, but he ignored a few crucial details. At the time of her death, she was pregnant with another man's child, providing all the motive a jury needed to hear.


Bo Raxo

Doesn't look from the article like she was pregnant at the time of the murder -- the child she had with another man was eight months old. At least that what it says below:

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8958289p-8873843c.html

A Glennallen jury on Thursday found a man guilty of killing his wife 10 years ago -- a death that the convicted man had originally blamed on his 2-year-old son.

After a monthlong trial, Derek Sawyer was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting of his wife, Gretchen Sawyer.

At the time of the slaying, Derek Sawyer, then 23, told Alaska State Troopers that the couple's young son must have picked up the gun from the kitchen table and brought it into the couple's bedroom. He told investigators the gun must have gone off accidentally and killed the 20-year-old mother, according to the original charges filed by prosecutors.

Derek Sawyer said he heard the bang of the gun while he was in the shower and rushed to find his wife already dead from a gunshot to the face.

Troopers in February charged Derek Sawyer with the July 1997 shooting after cold case unit investigators re-visited the case. Investigators said there were flaws in the husband's version of events, including the absence of water on the bathroom floor when troopers arrived, something they would have expected had he jumped out of the shower to respond to the gunshot.

Derek Sawyer also told investigators that he was showering after just having had sex with his wife, but an autopsy on his wife found no evidence of that.

Blood spatters at the scene, including some inside the gun, also indicated that blood should have also been on the shooter. Troopers found no blood on the boy and said only Derek Sawyer had recently bathed.

Troopers also questioned whether a 2-year-old could pull the trigger on the .357-caliber revolver.

Derek Sawyer was unhappy with his marriage and feared Gretchen would leave with their children, the original charges said. The couple often fought, friends told troopers back in 1997.

A big source of tension was the paternity of their second child, an 8-month-old girl who was also in the home at the time of the shooting. After Gretchen Sawyer died, a paternity test proved the girl was not Derek's.

[...]

See? "their second child, an 8-month-old girl"-- not a fetus. But the mitive you ascribed to the man still makes sence.
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Man Convicted Ten Years After Murder Of His Wife
    ... murder -- the child she had with another man was eight months old. ... A Glennallen jury on Thursday found a man guilty of killing his wife 10 ... Derek Sawyer was found guilty of first-degree ... Troopers that the couple's young son must have picked up the gun from the ...
    (alt.true-crime)
  • Man Convicted Ten Years After Murder Of His Wife
    ... He tried to lay off the blame on their two year old son. ... A Glennallen jury on Thursday found a man guilty of killing his wife 10 ... Derek Sawyer was found guilty of first-degree ... Troopers in February charged Derek Sawyer with the July 1997 shooting after ...
    (alt.true-crime)