Love of his Life

Any vacation you go on should be fun and hopefully rejuvenating—a respite from the work grind. People go on cruises to be pampered.

A Caribbean cruise vacation for a 50-year-old, well-liked, college professor and her longtime boyfriend wasn’t fun, rejuvenating, nor was she pampered.

The first night on the ship, she fell to her death from their 13th deck balcony. Of course, the authorities considered her boyfriend a suspect; he proclaimed his innocence.

For months after her death, the boyfriend posted on social media how much he missed her and how she was the “love of his life.” He posted that his days without her were becoming more difficult.

Twelve months after her death, the boyfriend pleaded guilty to second degree murder with malice aforethought.

Here’s what happened: She didn't go overboard. On the first night of the cruise, the couple argued. The argument escalated. The boyfriend grabbed his girlfriend by her neck and squeezed his hands tight. As he strangled her, he pushed her off their 13th floor deck balcony. She fell to the 11th floor deck, where she died from blunt force trauma.

A Chief U.S. District Judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison, five years of post-release supervision, and pay over $8,000 to the victim’s family.

Be sure to email me if you hear of a true-crime you think would be good in a book. I’ll research it, share it and possibly use it in one of my novels.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, The Washington Post, The Stylus