A woman in the US has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing her husband with a pitchfork and then burying his body in manure.
Charlene Mess, from Attica, New York, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in April 2015 to killing her husband Douglas Mess.
It is understood that Charlene was arguing with her husband of 30 years on their dairy farm when she proceeded to hit him with a pitchfork.
It is reported that she then shot him in the head with a rifle inside a barn on the farm. Last week, the court heard that she then tied-up her husband’s hands and feet with baling wire.
Mess then used a cart to move the body to another part of the barn before using another machine from the farm to move the body to the slurry pit.
According to reports, the farmer was reported missing from the farm by one of the couple’s sons after he failed to show up for work. Following a seven-hour search, which included Mess, the body was found in the slurry pit.
The District Attorney on the case, Donald O’Geen, was quoted in The Batavian saying that the defendant (Mess) had difficulty putting animals down, yet she had no issue with taking a human life.
“The District Attorney’s Office asked for a 25-year sentence for the cold, calculated killing of Douglas Mess.
“The sentence was what we had hoped for. It was a horrific crime. Charlene went through extensive measures to hide the body intentionally to get rid of it quickly.”
