VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — An elderly man who pleaded guilty in January to killing his wife is facing more than a decade in prison.
Richard Wayne Woltz, 75, was sentenced to 12 years and eight months in prison on June 4 for second-degree murder. Woltz was arrested last year after authorities found his wife dead in their home in January 2018.
The Office of the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney said in a news release Woltz used his 5Star Urgent Response medical alert device to call for help on Jan. 8, 2018.
Responding Virginia Beach EMS and firefighters found Woltz had a self-inflicted laceration to his throat. Police were called after emergency responders found a body on the floor covered in a towel.
Woltz told authorities, “She’s been dead a couple of days,” “I killed her,” and “She went crazy.” Mrs. Woltz was 75 and was watching TV when she was killed by her husband, the news release said.
Mrs. Woltz had five stab wounds in the chest, two stab wounds in the neck and 15 stab wounds on the head. She also had six “blunt force injuries to her head, multiple contusions over the head and neck, and a laceration on her finger,” according to the release.
Richard Woltz told police his wife was “better off dead” because she was “basically losing her mind” and was “in great pain.”
Woltz had planned on killing himself after his wife was dead, but he told police he activated the medical alert device because he “didn’t do a very good job of killing himself.”