A Florida man was found guilty this week of killing his wife, hiding her body in the woods, and later telling police she was “in heaven” when they asked where she was.
Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Steven Henderson sentenced Timothy A. Upthegrove to life in prison after a Brevard County jury found him guilty on one count each of first-degree premeditated murder, tampering with evidence, and failure to report a death, Law&Crime reported.
Lori Upthegrove, 51, was reported missing on December 19, 2017, as CrimeOnline reported. Five days later, Titusville police announced Timothy Upthegrove with second-degree murder after he provided officers with information that allowed them to locate his wife’s body.
Lori Upthegrove’s car was found the day after she was reported missing at a Days Inn in Titusville with what appearaed to be blood spatter on several spots on the outside, Law&Crime said. Inside, police said, they found “a significant amount of blood evidence.”
They found Timothy Upthegrove staying a the motel with lacerations and abrasions covering his hands, arms, and knees. Investigators further found blood-soaked women’s clothing and bloody towels in a dumpster on the motel’s property.
When they searched the Upthegrove’s house, they found “significant amounts of pooling and blood spatter along with evidence that someone made an attempt to clean up the blood evidence” in the garage.
“Several items were located in the garage to include an axe stained with blood evidence, a hammer stained with blood evidence, and a hair clip found on the ground in the area of where most of the blood was concentrated,” police wrote in an affidavit.
Upthegrove told police that he had been in the garage and that he knew there was blood there. He also admitted he threw the towels and clothing into the dumpster at the Days Inn.
“Timothy stated during an interview that Lori was in heaven and that things ‘got out of control’ between them while at the residence,” police wrote in the affidavit. “This argument would have occurred near the garage.”
Ultimately, he admitted he killed his wife and told investigators where to find her body.
It still took the jury nine hours to find him guilty.
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[Featured image: Lori Upthegrove and Timothy Upthegrove/Titusville Police Department]
