Richard Pierce (Booking Photo)
DOOR COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Richard Pierce, who was convicted in 2022 for the 1975 murder of his wife, Carol Jean, died in prison last month.
Pierce was charged in 2018. After a trial, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison plus three years for her death. Her body was never found.
Pierce, 86, died at Dodge Correctional Institution Oct. 24, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections confirmed.
He was scheduled to return to court Dec. 3 for a post-conviction motion, arguing he didn’t get a fair trial.
Also still pending is a claim for a “Civil Judgment for Unpaid Restitution or Court Ordered Financial Obligations,” court records show.
The couple was planning to move from Sturgeon Bay to Cheboygan, Michigan, around the time Carol Jean Pierce disappeared, investigators say. Richard Pierce claims his wife left him, but prosecutors say he told different versions of the story to various people.
Prosecutors said Richard Pierce benefited from Carol Jean Pierce’s death with “a pension unencumbered by a wife; most of the important belongings of their marriage; land and a home in Michigan; a new girlfriend weeks after Carol Jean’s disappearance, as well as the benefit of Carol Jean’s silence.”
Comments