alice uden, 75, sentenced to life in prison for killing ... · watch how he’s grown recommended...

Sign InDigital Subscribers

f t p i y

Bobbi Kristina Brown: What The Latest Medical Developments Really Mean

Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys Introduce Son Genesis Ali

MOST WATCHED

David Beckham on His Kids: 'I'm Literally an Uber Driver Now' (VIDEO)

PEOPLE PREMIUM

The Style Top 5: Cara Delevingne Gets Handsy with Her BFFs and More

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS 08/26/2014 AT 05:25 PM EDT

A judge in Wyoming sentenced a 75-year-old Missouri

woman to life in prison on Monday for killing her husband

with a rifle in the mid-1970s and throwing his body down the

shaft of an abandoned gold mine, where it remained for

nearly 40 years.

Defendant Alice Uden wore wire glasses, a court-supplied

hearing aid and a blue suit, and sat quietly in her wheelchair

before speaking at the hearing. She sobbed gently as she

addressed the court about the death of her third husband,

Viola Davis Had a Strange Fan Encounter in a Restroom

ADVERTISEMENT

Alice Uden, 75, Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Husband 40 Years Ago

562S HARES

Alice Uden

MIRANDA GRUBBS/THE WYOMING TRIBUNE EAGLE/AP

The Bachelorette's Ashley and JP Rosenbaum Share Exclusive Photos of 4-Month-Old Son

Happy Birthday, Christian Bale! Watch How He’s Grown

Recommended by

of 6Alice Uden, 75, Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Husband 40 Years Ago - Crime &...

2/27/2015http://www.people.com/article/alice-uden-sentenced-life-prison-killing-husband

"I've tried to atone for it," Uden said. "I wish that I never

would have met him so that none of this ever would have

happened. He was a very frightening man."

Jurors in Cheyenne, Wyoming, didn't buy Uden's argument

that she shot Holtz in the head to defend her toddler

daughter from him. In May, they found her guilty of second-

degree murder.

'A Cold, Calculated Murder'

Uden killed Holtz in late 1974 or early 1975 in Cheyenne,

where he was living with her and her 2-year-old daughter.

Uden testified that she shot him with a rifle after he flew into

a rage over the girl's crying and was inches away from

attacking her in bed.

Laramie County District Court Judge Steven Sharpe said he

considered possible mitigating factors, including Uden's lack

of prior criminal history.

"This was very much a cold, calculated murder," Sharpe

said. "The jury heard all of the evidence that was before the

court and the jury rejected the defense that it was self-

defense."

District Attorney Scott Homar argued the killing was a

thoughtful, deliberate act that rid Uden of Holtz.

"Her way out was to take Mr. Holtz's life while he was

sleeping and then dispose of it in a way that it wouldn't be

found for 39 ½ years," Homar said.

Married Killers

Police arrested Uden and her fourth and current husband,

Gerald Uden, 72, both of Chadwick, Missouri, last fall in

southwest Missouri, accusing them of killing former spouses

in separate attacks.

Gerald Uden has pleaded guilty to killing his ex-wife and her

two sons in central Wyoming in 1980. Prosecutors have not

drawn any link between the two cases.

At her trial, Alice Uden testified that she removed Christmas

decorations from a large cardboard barrel and put Holtz's

body inside. She wrestled the barrel into her trunk, she said,

and dumped the barrel in an abandoned gold mine on a

ranch between Cheyenne and Laramie.

Khloé's Booty Fan Base Grows & 9 More Celeb Quotes This Week

Recommended by

SPONSORED BY ANSWERS.COM

Trouble In Paradise: 15 Doomed Celeb Couples

SPONSORED BY TWC CENTRAL

MEET DAKOTA JOHNSON, the 25-year-old Hollywood royalty at the…



mother told him decades ago that she had shot Holtz while

he was asleep.

After previous, unsuccessful attempts to find Holtz's remains

in the mine filled with the carcasses of cattle and other ranch

animals, investigators last summer dug deeper in the vertical

shaft and finally excavated Holtz's remains.

The jury declined to find Uden guilty of premeditated, first-

degree murder, which would have carried a mandatory life

sentence. The jury also declined to convict her of a less-

serious charge of manslaughter.

Uden's attorney, Donald Miller, urged the judge to sentence

Uden to probation because the now-grown daughter, Erica

Prunty, has cancer and has been given six months to live.

He also highlighted the psychiatric history of Holtz, who met

Uden, a former nurse, while she was working in the

psychiatric unit at a Veterans Administration hospital in

Sheridan.

"His behavior was unpredictable. He was irritable, he was

hostile, he was explosive. He had no incentive to change,"

Miller told the courtroom.

A Family Vanishes

Prosecutors in the case against Gerald Uden said the bodies

of 32-year-old Virginia Uden, and her two sons, 11-year-old

Richard Uden and 10-year-old Reagan Uden, have yet to be

found.

Gerald Uden told a Fremont County courtroom in November

that he shot each of them with a rifle not far from his home,

one after the other, and dumped their bodies in an

abandoned mine.

Months later, he said, he retrieved the bodies and sank them

in Fremont Lake in western Wyoming. Investigators briefly

searched the deep lake for the bodies and say they plan a

more comprehensive search soon, reports The Daily

Ranger.

Jurors at Alice Uden's trial were prohibited from hearing

about Gerald Uden's case.

Want more stories like this?

NBCNEWS.COM

Little Can Be Done For Bobbi Kristina Brown

VH1.COM

Kris Jenner May Become A Mom For The 7th Time

VANITYFAIR.COM

Why Edward Snowden' s Girlfriend Was Onstage at the Oscars

NEWSER.COM

'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' Star Passes Away

TODAY.COM

Former 'Biggest Loser' Contestant Dies at 38

TODAY.COM

Tracy Morgan Is In Worse Shape Than We Thought

The Style Top 5: SJP, Katy, and More

FROM OUR PARTNERS

Mark, Margot, Hugh and More!

We're Settling #TheDress Debate Once & for All



Enter email address SIGN ME UP

Share this story: 365 VOTES

152 15 12 61 125

Lupita Nyong'o's Oscars Dress Reportedly Returned to Los Angeles Hotel

VIDEO: Would Host Chris Harrison Ever Be The Bachelor?

Couple Married 67 Years Die Together Holding Hands

Texts from Last Night: #TheDress Edition

AROUND THE WEB

Recommended by

You Asked, We Found: Bella Thorne's Cat-Face Phone Case!

Milan Fashion Week: Salma Brings Spring to the Runways

From Dusk Till Dawn Star Eiza González Is the New Face of Neutrogena!

Cha-Ching! The World's Most Outrageously Expensive Foods

Bobbi Kristina & Nick: Their Love in Photos

Sign up for our

newsletter and other

special offers

enter email address GO

YOUR DAILY SCOOP

10 Wild Kardashian Moments You Might Have Forgotten

TWC CENTRAL

Dancing with the Stars Cast Announced

AARP

Andy Griffith’s Widow to Raze His Home

INTERESTICLE

10 Most Beautiful Animals You Probably Didn’t Know Exist

POUNDWISHES

These 10 Dog Breeds Are Extremely Unsafe

ANSWERS.COM

11 Cute Child Stars Who Look Totally Different - And Not In A…

THE LATEST



• Exclusive Photos! Kelly

Clarkson's Baby Girl

• Oscars: Parties, Gowns, and

Behind-the-Scenes Photos

• New Details on Bobbi Kristina

Pick up your copy on newsstands

Get instant access to the

Digital Magazine

SUBSCRIBE

77 Comments

• •

Jillinda •

Oh my God, the woman could pass for 97!!! She used that tired old sob story, I

am a VICTIM!!!! I was abuse by my ex- , I panicked and shot him to protect my

kids. SHE BLEW HER HUSBAND'S FREAKING HEAD WITH A RIFLE!!!!!

BOOM!!!! THAT'll TEACH THE BASTRD!!!! Then she blew the gunsmoke in the

air. YEAH!!!! I BLEW HIS HEAD OFF!!!! Miss Skull face would have gotten the

chair 40 years ago, and thirty years before that she would have gotten the

hangman's noose. She's a horrible, evil person who will pay for crimes. she is

going to burn in hell. She is an evil sadist monster. Thanks be to the jury and

judge. Life in prison. She can rot away in prison and then burn in hell.

• •

Jello •

It was planned by both. They deserve the maximum until their death which may

not be to far ahead.

• •

tina •

No sympathy for this woman. It's no coincidence that she ended up with a man

that would murder his wife and his two innocent children. She knew what he did

and it didn't bother her because she's as cold hearted as him. Birds of a feather...

• •

Starwatcher2014 •

Is that some kind of sick coincidence that she meets her future husband that had

not only killed his wife but her two children as well. How sick!!!

• •

Tabbi •

Isn't there a statute of limitations for murder?!

• •

Tommysgirl21165 •

Nope

• •

rose •

No, no statute of limitations for murder. As it should be.

• •

say it... •

It's ok, don't worry about the justice system here settling the case as your special

jesus can burn her in that torture chamber you people like to celebrate in that old

book you read on sundays

• •

rose •

Whoa. You have issues. Why do you care about OTHER people's

religious beliefs? Why does it affect you so much?

• •

MollySummerville •

So disturbing. Killing your husband and get away with it for 40 years....and then

marry someone who's done the same thing to his ex-wife and children!!!!

JUST FOR YOU

Why Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Kirstie Alley Aren't Speaking

Chris Pratt Flashed Amy Poehler?! Hear His Take – And See Her Reaction

The Bachelorette's Andi & Josh Are Moving In Together



'Supergirl' Snags Dean Cain & Helen Slater For 'Mystery Roles'

Check Out Two New Clips

From 'Game of

Thrones' (VIDEO)

'Boardwalk Empire's Jack

Huston Could Be Our New

'Crow'

Jennifer Lawrence Shuts Down 'Terrible Rumor' About On-Set Fight

Kelly Osbourne Quits 'Fashion

Police'

New 'Game Of Thrones'

Poster Confirms One Big Story

FROM OUR PARTNERS

SUBSCRIBE

Print Magazine

All Access

Digital Plus

V.I.P.

Buy a Gift Box

Give a Gift

Buy Current Issue

Customer Service

ADVERTISE WITH US

Online and In Print

LEARN MORE

Sweepstakes

PEOPLE Apps

PEOPLE Premium

RSS

Sitemap

Contact Us

Privacy Policy

Your California Privacy Rights

Terms of Service

Ad Choices

CONNECT

Facebook

Twitter

Google Plus

Instagram

Pinterest

Tumblr

Foursquare

PEOPLE News Great Ideas

StyleWatch Pets

Moms & Babies All

Enter email address

Sign up for our newsletter and other special offers

SIGN ME UP

SEE ALL NEWSLETTERS

Copyright © 2015 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.



alice uden, 75, sentenced to life in prison for killing ... · watch how he’s grown recommended...

Documents