A former Navy sailor was ordered to serve 16 years to life behind bars after he killed his wife and froze her body back in 2014.
Matthew Sullivan was found guilty of second-degree murder but firmly insisted on his innocence, telling the court that some defense witnesses who did not show up, could have changed the verdict.
Prosecutors said that in 2014, Sullivan stabbed his wife Elizabeth to death while their children were at home before cleaning the scene.
He hid the body inside a freezer for two years telling people that Elizabeth had left them behind before ultimately dumping her remains in the San Diego Bay as he moved out of town.
However, the body was soon discovered. Detectives said that Sullivan murdered Elizabeth when she threatened to leave him, take their children, and $1,000 with her.
“The jury verdict and the evidence at trial made it clear that Matthews Sullivan brutally murdered his wife, methodically cleaned up the messy murder site, and then hid the body for years,” Superior Court Judge Albert Harutunian said.
“He almost got away with it, but his final attempt to hide the body at the bottom of the bay failed.”
