He is said to have hit her with a ‘gallon-size cement flower pot’
A farmer in the US has been formally charged with the murder of his wife who had recently finished her final session of chemotherapy.
After seeking a divorce, Elizabeth ‘Nikki’ Wilhoite, 41, was allegedly killed by her husband, Andrew Wilhoite, 39. According to a probable-cause affidavit, Andrew – from Lebanon, Indiana – had been having an affair whilst his wife was undergoing chemotherapy.
On March 26, Elizabeth’s body was found “partially submerged in approximately three feet of water” after Andrew allegedly “hit her with a blunt object” that was also described as a “gallon-size cement flower pot” by the Boone County Indiana Sheriff’s Office.
Andrew had allegedly moved the body to a nearby creek, which police found after Elizabeth didn’t show up to work.
Just a week before, Elizabeth had finished her final round of chemo, which her husband celebrated on Facebook.
Alongside a happy picture of her, he wrote: “This lady just finished her last round of chemo today … very proud of you.”
Longtime friend Mary Smith told reporters that Elizabeth had just finished up with her “fight to stay alive.”
“To have it end like this, it’s just a tragedy that no one should have to go through. It just shouldn’t be that way,” she told WRTV. “Why? What happened to just make [Andrew] lose control?”
Andrew admitted his affair to Indiana Police and claimed Elizabeth “had taken the news hard.” Still, he thought they could work things out until Elizabeth handed him a “legal notification of separation.”
The same day Andrew posted the celebration on Facebook (March 18), his wife was submitting her petition for legal separation.
“Andrew stated that he refused to sign the documents without his own attorney reviewing it,” the affidavit said.
Andrew told law enforcement that during a heated argument over the separation, Elizabeth began “physically striking” him.
“He picked up a cement, gallon-sized flower pot that had dirt in it and struck Elizabeth in the face”, the affidavit detailed.
Andrew is now being held at the Boone County Jail where he faces a preliminary charge of first-degree murder.
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