A California doctor who claimed more than seven years ago that his wife died from an accidental fall down a flight of stairs has been convicted of her murder.
Eric Scott Sills, 58, was convicted by a jury Tuesday of one count of second-degree murder for strangling his wife, Susann Sills, 45, then placing her body at the bottom of the stairs of their San Clemente home in November 2016, prosecutors said.
He faces up to 15 years to life in prison when he is sentenced in March.
“Think about how evil you are – not only to kill your wife but to make it look like she fell down the stairs,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
“It took calculated planning to commit this crime, and worst of all, he cruelly and selfishly killed the mother of their children, who are now left without their parents,” he said of their then 12-year-old twins.
“Dr. Sills has sworn to care for the sick and injured and her chosen profession as a fertility doctor helps bring so much joy to her patients,” the DA said.
Dr. Eric Scott Sills, 58, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2016 strangulation death of his wife. MediaNews Group via Getty Images
“But the woman he vowed to love in sickness and in health was strangled to death by his own hand.”
Sills had called 911 on Nov. 13, 2016, claiming that he awoke to find the lifeless body of his wife of 10 years after she “apparently fell down the stairs,” prosecutors said.
Susann Sills, 45, was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in her San Clemente home in November 2016.
He was arrested for killing her more than two years later after it was confirmed she had died from strangulation, not from a fall.
Traces of blood were also found on the walls and curtains in her daughter’s bedroom, where the woman was sleeping because of a migraine.
“A clump of her hair was also found in the room, indicating that there had been an intense struggle between the couple,” the DA’s office said.
The Sillses have been married for more than 10 years and work together at the Center for Advanced Genetics, a fertility clinic in Carlsbad.
Eric Scott Sills, a fertility doctor, was arrested in April 2019 in connection with his wife’s murder.
The couple had twins, a boy and a girl.
A motive remains unclear, but prosecutors said during the trial that the couple was having domestic problems, and that Susann had texted her husband that she “wanted out,” the Orange County Register reported.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors Susann felt trapped in her marriage and wanted out. MediaNews Group via Getty Images Sills’ attorney, Jack Earley (left), argued that Susann had been taking painkillers for migraines, which could have caused her to become disorientated. MediaNews Group via Getty Images
“He was upset, upset, felt trapped and felt like he killed her,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors. “He told her in this text, ‘You killed me, don’t you see?'”
Sills’ defense attorney, Jack Earley, argued that Susann Sills had been taking painkillers and not eating, which could have caused her to become disoriented and cause her to fall.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
