SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP) — Originally charged with murder in the hot tub death of his wife, a Springfield, Ore., man has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Judge Charles Carlson sentenced William Wiggins on Monday to 10 years in prison. KVAL-TV says Wiggins will be in his early 70s at the end of that sentence.
The man told Springfield police last March that his 62-year-old wife Andrea Wiggins drowned in the family hot tub. She was an assistant dean at the University of Oregon’s College of Education.
Capt. David Lewis says investigators checked the man’s body for clues and found what they felt were defensive wounds, which made them doubt his story. He was arrested five months after the death.
An autopsy by the state medical examiner’s office found Andrea Wiggins died of strangulation and drowning.
