Beau Rothwell, a suburban St. Louis man was found guilty of murder for killing his wife when she was six weeks pregnant in 2019.
Rothwell, 31, was found guilty this week of having murdered Jennifer Rothwell, 28, on Nov. 11, 2019, as well as tampering with evidence and abandoning a corpse, KMOV reports.
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Though he’s not officially scheduled to be sentenced until July 8, his first-degree murder conviction means life behind bars without the possibility of parole, according to the outlet.
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“He deliberated [about killing Jennifer] in July [2019]; talked about the pros and cons,” Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Smith said in closing arguments, according to KMOV. “Deliberated in October; ‘wait and see if she has a miscarriage or something.’ He deliberated when he got the weapon; when he drew it back, when he brought it down on her head. He deliberated when he did it again.”
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Rothwell’s lawyers conceded he tampered with evidenced and abandoned his wife’s body, but argued that he had not planned to kill her with a mallet, as had happened.
“She was struck with such unbelievable force … more than once,” said Smith. “It fractured her skull. Her head was smashed open to where you can see her brain. What does he do? Takes a trash bag and puts it over her head.”
Rothwell’s lawyer Charles Barbeiro claimed the prosecution had not shared all the Facebook communications between his client and Rothwell’s girlfriend, alleging that if Jennifer Rothwell did not suffer a miscarriage, Rothwell intended to tell her he was having an affair and ask for a divorce.
“These options didn’t say to kill anybody,” argued Barbeiro, according to KMOV. “Panic set in and he didn’t make the right choices. He was thinking second to second. … There’s no evidence that he ever wanted to kill his wife.”
Before her death, Jennifer Rothwell went online to search, “what to do if your husband is upset you are pregnant.”
She was reported missing by her husband on Nov. 12, 2019 and her remains were found about a week later.
Source: nydailynews
