SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (TCD) — A 58-year-old Orange County doctor was sentenced last week for killing his wife in 2016 and staging it to look like an accident.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced a judge sentenced E. Scott Sills to 15 years to life in prison for strangling Susann Sills and leaving her body at the bottom of their staircase. He was convicted of second-degree murder in December.
According to the district attorney’s office, on Nov. 13, 2016, Scott Sills called 911 to report he found his wife’s body on the ground and believed she fell down the stairs to her death. Evidence, however, reportedly proved otherwise. Susann Sills was sleeping in another bedroom due to a migraine, and investigators discovered blood and some of her hair in the room. The statement said there were signs of a “violent struggle between the couple.”
One year after she was found dead, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Coroner Division concluded Susann Sills’ manner of death was homicide. Scott Sills was arrested and charged in April 2019.
According to KTLA-TV, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker said at the trial that not long before she was killed, Susann Sills texted Scott Sills, saying she “wants out” of their marriage.
Walker said, “She is frustrated, upset, feels trapped and feels like he is killing her. She tells him in these texts, ‘You are killing me, don’t you see?'”
Susann Sills co-founded the Carlsbad-based Center for Advanced Genetics, where Scott Sills served as the medical director.
District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the sentencing announcement, “Mr. Sills not only killed his wife but he went one step further and tried to cover up his horrific crime. His actions have irreparably torn apart his family as his children have to grapple with the immeasurable pain of losing their mother at the hands of their father. This was the ultimate betrayal by their father and now he will spend his remaining days in state prison.”
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