Is it just me?
On another note: Fire up "old Sparky," we have a winner!
Don't most life insurance policies have a 1 or 2 year period where they won't pay off just so the incentive of offing your spouse isn't quite so available?
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12400657.htm
EXCERPT
''Detectives developed new information that led to his arrest,'' Juan DelCastillo, a Miami-Dade police spokesman, said Tuesday.
The evidence came from a civil case. In July, Trapaga's mother, Myriam Benitez, sued Escoto for the $900,000 Escoto was in line to receive from his wife's life insurance policy. The money had been held in an escrow account.
Benitez won the case against Escoto Aug. 9. Escoto withdrew all claims to the money, making it available to Trapaga's estate, court records show.
Benitez's lawyers say it was Escoto's five and a half hours of testimony in the civil trial that may have provided police with the evidence they were looking for.
''He had a lot of inconsistencies in his story,'' said Jorge Barron, an attorney for Trapaga's family.
Among them:
Escoto testified that on the day of the murder the couple were returning from a one-night stay at the Miami Executive Motel and partying at the nearby club La Covacha when they got into a heated argument.
He said the couple arrived at their Miami Beach apartment around 5 a.m, but Trapaga stormed off by herself.
The new groom then told lawyers he called Trapaga's mother at 5:25 a.m. to tell her about the couple's argument and to find out if she knew of Trapaga's whereabouts. He said Trapaga had taken her car. At the civil trial, attorneys for Benitez poked holes in that story.
''We found a couple who operates a lunch truck in the area,'' said Rene Palomino Jr., another attorney for Trapaga's family. ``They open their cart every day at the same time -- 5 in the morning -- and the only people they saw around that time were the garbage collectors.''
Phone records also showed Escoto and Cerrillo, at the time his ex-girlfriend, exchanged several phone calls the morning of the murder.
Escoto said he was checking on her daughter, who had been sick for a week. However, police found a witness who said the little girl had been fine.
The Miami-Dade coroner's office also said Trapaga's death occurred between 3 and 5 a.m. Escoto was unable to provide an alibi for his whereabouts during those hours.
Escoto's lawyer, Miguel Manuel de la O, did not return repeated phone calls Tuesday.
Trapaga's body was found around 6 a.m., along the 7200 block of Northwest 70th Street, about 10 minutes away from the hotel where he said they had spent the final night of Trapaga's life.
Trapaga and Escoto met in February 2002, while Trapaga was a student at La Belle Beauty School. They moved into a Miami Beach efficiency by July and eloped that October.
Stephan said her family never liked Escoto. ``The first time I met him, I shook his hand, and I wanted to wipe my hands right after.''
CRIMINAL RECORD
According to police records, Escoto has a criminal record dating back to February 1995, when he was charged with robbing a Walgreen's off Bird Road and Southwest 87th Avenue. He also faced charges of carrying a concealed weapon and fleeing from police.
ping
I knew Wendy personally. She was an amazing girl. Some information you may not have known about her is that her father passed away when she was very young in an airplane accident(the reason for the large amount of money that she DID have...and could easily attain). She had been previously married as well. She was deeply in love with her new husband as well. This girl was so sweet, so full of life...it wasn't fair that he took her life....she was only 21.
Agreed.
But it would be just as tragic if she was not pretty.