WJJQ LOCAL NEWS
Minocqua man sentenced to life

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Minocqua man who admitted to killing his wife received a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole.

Judge Mark Mangerson sentenced 41 year old William Schmidt yesterday, Schmidt will be eligible for extended supervision in 30 years. He entered an agreement to plead guilty to first degree intentional homicide on in September. In exchange prosecutors dropped the charge of hiding a corpse.

Schmidt's attorney attempted to have the sentencing moved to a different court, but Schmidt told his attorney during a recess that he wanted to be sentenced then.

He apologized to both the judge and his wife's family before he was sentenced, saying he planned on spending the rest of his life with her.

Schmidt admitted killing his wife in their Minocqua home in June 2010 then hiding her body in a bedroom closet. Police found the body during a welfare check after her parents said they hadn't heard from her for days.

Schmidt confessed the murder to his mother before turning himself into police in Sheboygan Falls.

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