Husband Sentenced after KILLING CANCER-STRICKEN WIFE with Flower Pot One Week After Divorce Filing
Andrew Wilhoite has been sentenced to 30 years in jail for striking and killing his cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth “Nikki” Wilhoite with a large cement flower pot and then dumping her body in a stream near his Indiana home, just one week after she filed for divorce.
Notably, while facing the allegations, Wilhoite sought and advanced in a Republican primary election for a township board position in Indiana. He eventually withdrew, according to the Associated Press.
This April, a jury convicted Wilhoite guilty of voluntary manslaughter after failing to unanimously convict him of murder, which prosecutors had initially charged him with.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, on March 26, 2022, authorities discovered Elizabeth Wilhoite’s body buried in three feet of water in a creek near the couple’s house in Lebanon, Indiana. She was 41 years old when she died, and she had just finished chemotherapy for cancer.
Her coworkers reported her missing just one day before police discovered her body.
Prosecutors say the Lebanon man was inebriated when he yelled at his wife. According to investigators, Elizabeth Wilhoite discovered he was cheating, which sparked the fatal altercation.
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He informed police after his arrest that she had begun to attack him, and he then escorted her out of their home. Wilhoite stated that his wife charged him at some point, and he grabbed the cement flower pot and smacked her in the face.
He allegedly informed investigators that she did not move or talk after that, so he collected her body, placed it in his truck, and drove to the stream to dispose of it.
The couple had children together, while Wilhoite had two from his previous marriage. Before her death, the pair had been married for 12 years. Court documents show that Elizabeth Wilhoite filed for divorce on March 17, less than ten days before her body was discovered.
According to the Lebanon Reporter, a friend of Elizabeth Wilhoite testified that the woman had a bad connection with her husband’s oldest daughter and loathed her.
According to the site, during a jailhouse phone call after his arrest, Andrew Wilhoite informed a friend that his wife was “going after” his eldest daughter on the night of the conflict.
Despite telling his friend that he was concerned about his daughter’s safety, cops heard nothing about it during the original interrogation. Wilhoite was reportedly interviewed by officers for two hours the day following his wife’s death, but he never mentioned what he told his friend on the jail call.
Police said they discovered a copy of the divorce file in the same truck that Andrwe Wilhoite used to dispose of his wife’s remains. A state police detective also testified that he discovered Elizabeth Wilhoite’s blood in the truck’s bed, but it was covered up by bags of animal feed.
At trial, his lawyers said Wilhoite acted in self-defense, and Elizabeth Wilhoite scratched her husband on various areas of his body, including his neck, shoulder, chest, and arms. Evidence presented at trial revealed that his DNA was also found under her nails.
Police never found the pot that the man used to strike his wife, but they did discover a replica on the couple’s porch. It weighed just about thirty pounds.