Missouri man sentenced for killing wife and leaving body in freezer for 4 years

WEBSTER COUNTY, Mo. (TCD) -- A 59-year-old man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing his wife and leaving her body in a storage unit freezer for years.

According to KYTV-TV, Larry Dinwiddie pleaded guilty in November to second-degree murder. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped the charge of abandoning a corpse. His wife Cynthia Dinwiddie’s body was located in an abandoned storage unit freezer in Marshfield and reportedly had been in there since 2015. Detectives reportedly took Larry Dinwiddie into custody following a sting operation. He never reported her missing.

KYTV reports Dinwiddie said he beat his wife with a claw hammer and choked her until she died. His family, however, said Cynthia abused him verbally, mentally, and physically. Webster County Prosecutor Ben Berkstresser noted "the evidence and occurrence of severe abuse. It went the unusual way which was a female against a male in this case."

According to The Associated Press, which cites a probable cause affidavit, Larry said Cynthia was an "abusive alcoholic" and threw a hammer at him one time.

Larry allegedly "didn’t know what to do with her body," so he put her in the storage unit freezer. Employees at the storage facility reportedly found the body because Larry fell behind on his payments and the freezer shut off, The Associated Press reports.

During his sentencing hearing, Larry said, "What I did was totally wrong. I had no right to do what I did. Like I said before, it wasn’t me. Anybody that knows me knows I’m not a violent person. I’m not here to hurt anyone. What I did was horrific."

According to KYTV, he must serve 20 years before he is eligible for release.

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