A male Missourian strangled his hospitalized wife last Friday because he was depressed and could not pay his wife’s medical bills, prosecutors alleged last Saturday.
Ronnie Wiggs allegedly “told police he killed the victim, who had come to the hospital for a new port for dialysis,” a statement from the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office read. “He said he choked her and covering [sic] her nose and mouth to keep her from screaming.”
Wiggs faces a second-degree murder charge and is held on a $250,000 bond, according to the prosecutor’s statement.
Wiggs choked his wife till she lost consciousness and then he left the hospital, the Independence Police Department (IPD) alleged in a statement. “Staff found the victim unresponsive and started lifesaving measures. They were able to get a pulse and transported the victim to the ICU. The victim ultimately passed away,” the IPD’s statement revealed.
Wiggs allegedly owned up both at the hospital and during an interview with the IPD, according to the police statement. (RELATED: Police Say Man Killed Wife, Three Sons In Apparent Murder-Suicide)
Man charged with murder after allegedly choking wife to death at Independence hospital https://t.co/ONk6ZP2wPV
— The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) May 5, 2024
Wiggs’ wife allegedly had been found unresponsive at about 8:30 p.m. Friday and had been moved into intensive care upon regaining her pulse. An hour before, she was “alert and oriented,” according to the IPD’s probable cause statement as published by the Kansas City Star.
The hospital staff dialed Wiggs to inform him of his wife’s unresponsiveness. Wiggs, having already left the hospital before the phone call, replied that “his vehicle was inoperable,” the statement further alleged. The hospital staff then contacted the victim’s son, who then came with Wiggs to the hospital. While in the hospital room, Wiggs allegedly confessed, “I did it, I killed her, I choked her,” the statement revealed.
The hospital staff also spotted injuries on the victim’s neck and in the victim’s throat that could not have resulted from their resuscitation efforts and reported the alleged fatal assault to the police. Wiggs was arrested. The hospital staff discontinued lifesaving measures as the victim showed no brain activity.
Wiggs told the IPD in an interview that he had attempted to choke his wife twice before while she was hospitalized, the statement alleged. On one such attempt, while his wife was hospitalized at a rehabilitation facility, Wiggs allegedly could not sustain the act as his wife “woke up and told him not to do that again,” according to the statement. In another instance, the several monitors to which Wiggs’ wife was hooked allegedly disincentivized Wiggs from choking her.
Wiggs allegedly also told the IPD that ” 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,” according to the statement.
Wiggs’ wife was declared dead last Saturday morning, the statement noted.
The Daily Caller contacted the Independence Police Department (IPD) regarding the probable cause statement published by the Kansas City Star. The IPD confirmed and approved the statement for use.