Husband Found Dead Wife Charged For Removing Plug n Undoing Paddle

A couple, who had both been married before and were living in Poughkeepsie, met in 2013.

Graswald moved in with Mr Viafore soon after and the couple became engaged within months.

The woman accused of sabotaging her fiance's kayak on New York's Hudson River told an investigator she removed its plug and manipulated his paddle, a court has heard.

Vincent Viafore died on 19 April 2015 after his boat capsized during a trip on the river with partner Angelika Graswald.

A call to the emergency services from Graswald, 36, recorded her pleas for help.

She told a 911 operator: "Oh my God. I'm in a red kayak, but he fell in, I couldn't swim to him. I couldn't paddle to him. He's getting farther and farther away from me. He's going to drown. Please call somebody."

A boat was sent out immediately but, while Graswald was rescued from the choppy waters, there was no trace of her fiance.

His body was not recovered from the icy river until May 2015.

Graswald, originally from Latvia who arrived in US in 2000 to work as a nanny, was not initially charged over 46-year-old Mr Viafore's death.

But detectives later became suspicious after comments they allege she made to them.

She was subsequently charged on 30 April 2015 with second-degree murder - she denies the charge and insists his death was accidental.

After a long delay, the case is now being heard at Orange County Court and, on Monday, a local police officer told the court how Graswald had seemed calm and emotionless at the time of her rescue.

State police senior investigator Aniello Moscato also told the court that Graswald had told another investigator about removing the plug and undoing the paddle.

Detectives say a motive for killing him is a life insurance policy taken out some months before and in which she is named as a beneficiary. 

They allege she said she was relieved he was dead.

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