A man is facing a second-degree murder charge after he allegedly killed his wife at Centerpoint Hospital in Independence, Missouri, because he could not afford her medical bills. (Google Maps)
A husband is charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly killed his wife at a Missouri hospital while she was getting a new port for dialysis.
According to a probable cause statement, staff at the Centerpoint Medical Center told detectives with the Independence Police Department that the woman was alert around 7:30 Friday. But when they checked on her about an hour later, she was unconscious. A “code blue” was initiated and she was taken to the intensive care unit. She had no pulse nor brain activity.
Hospital staff noticed she had “suspicious injuries,” specifically redness around her neck and a fresh wound on her throat, the affidavit said. Staff then contacted the woman’s husband, Ronnie Wiggs, about her condition but he said he didn’t have a vehicle to get to the hospital. They called the victim’s son who said he would pick up Wiggs and take him to the hospital.
While in the hospital room, Wiggs allegedly told his the victim’s son and a nurse that he had killed his wife. He allegedly said “I did it, I killed her, I choked her.” Cops took him into custody. In an interview with detectives he admitted to killing the victim by choking her and covering her mouth to prevent her from screaming, the affidavit said. After killing her, he left the hospital, Wiggs told cops.
Wiggs allegedly said he had previously tried to kill his wife on two other occasions. The first time he started but he couldn’t bring himself to carry through with the killing, detectives wrote. His wife woke up and told him not to do that again. The second time he didn’t do it because his wife was connected to several monitors.
“The defendant advised he was depressed and killed the victim because he could not take care of her anymore and he could not pay the medical bills that had been acquired” detectives wrote.
Doctors pronounced her dead around 8:30 a.m. Saturday. The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office charged Wiggs with second-degree murder on Saturday. He is at the Jackson County Jail on a $250,000 bond.