Husband Unable to Pay Medical Bills Kills Wife in Her Hospital Bed: Police

A Missouri man is charged with murder after he admitted to strangling his wife to death while she was lying in lay in a hospital bed because he couldn't take care of her and was unable to afford her medical bills, according to local police.

An off-duty officer with the Independence Police Department (IPD) responded on May 3 to the intensive care unit at a hospital in Jackson County, Missouri, where a witness reported "suspicious injuries" on a woman, according to the probable cause statement. The victim was pronounced deceased the following morning.

The victim's husband, Ronnie Wiggs, was "heard by medical staff stating, 'I did it, I killed her, I choked her,'" the court documents state.

Wiggs, of Independence, Missouri, is facing a second-degree murder charge in connection to the death of his wife, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in an online statement on Saturday.

Wiggs' age and details about the victim were not released as of Sunday night.

Newsweek reached out via email on Sunday night to representatives of the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office and the IPD for comment and an update. It was unclear at the time of publication whether Wiggs had retained an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

While being questioned by police, Wiggs "admitted that he had killed the victim by choking her and covering her mouth and nose to keep her from screaming," according to court documents.

Wiggs told police that after killing his wife, he left the hospital and said a family member picked him up and took him back to the hospital after staff found the woman
unresponsive, the court documents state.

"The defendant advised he had attempted to kill the victim two other times while the victim was hospitalized," the court documents read. "The defendant advised he last attempted to kill the victim while the victim was at a rehabilitation facility for her medical issues. He advised at that time he tried to choke her but could not follow through with it. The defendant advised the victim woke up and told him not to do that again. The defendant advised he was going to try to kill the victim another time, but he did not get the opportunity due to the fact the victim was hooked up to several monitors at the hospital. The defendant advised 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."

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An unidentified witness told police that the victim was his mother and said that she was admitted to the hospital to get a new port for her dialysis, according to the court documents. Around 7:30 p.m. on May 3 hospital staff said the victim was "alert and oriented." However, when checked on by hospital staff again roughly an hour later, a "Code Blue" was immediately initiated.

The son told authorities that "while in the hospital room, the defendant told him and a nurse that he killed his wife. The defendant advised he had choked the victim."

Wiggs is being held in custody on a $250,000 bond.