Another Murder For Life Insurance
By Associated Press - July 17, 2005RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) _ A woman convicted of killing her husband in 2000 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Mary Wheeler, 51, was convicted in May and sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge Patrick Magers.
She was arrested last year in connection with the Dec. 15, 2000, death of William Wheeler, who was found fully clothed at the bottom of a swimming pool in Hemet. Detectives said her 56-year-old husband had been beaten and strangled.
Mary Wheeler filed several lawsuits because life insurance benefits from policies on her husband were never paid. Company officials said they would not pay her because she was named as a suspect in the case.
Wheeler forged a store receipt to fool investigators into thinking she was shopping in Temecula the day of the murder, and called one of the insurance companies at least nine times to make sure a $250,000 policy was in place shortly before the death, according to a probation report. She had been married at least five times: two other previous husbands also died, the report states.
On her seized computer, the words "strangulation" and "drowning" had been researched, the probation report added.
Her defense attorney said he was disappointed at the outcome of the case, and said there were other people who could have committed the murder.
William Wheeler, a psychologist, had directed the Behavioral Health Services department at Hemet Valley Medical Center. He had lived in Hemet for 11 years. | 
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