Husband gets life for killing wife for insurance
Associated Press
11/06/09 10:10 PM PST
RIVERSIDE, CALIF. — A debt-ridden Riverside County man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing his wife in an effort to collect $1.3 million from life insurance policies.
A Superior Court judge sentenced Kelle Lee Jarka Friday after he was convicted in September of first-degree murder for financial gain for killing Isabelle Jarka, his wife of 20 years.
Prosecutors say the 41-year-old Murrieta man was "drowning in debt" and took out several life insurance policies on his wife of 20 years in the weeks before her death. She was bludgeoned to death beside their infant son's crib in April 2008.
Jarka told the judge he was innocent and still grieving for his wife, but his wife's two sisters said he was a "monster" and an "animal" who deserved the full sentence.
___
Information from: The Press-Enterprise, http://www.pe.com
