The woman who admitted to causing her fiancé’s drowning death during a kayak trip in the Hudson River in New York was sentenced to up to four years in prison on Wednesday.
The Poughkeepsie Journal reported that Angelika Graswald, 37, has been jailed since April 30, 2015, and will be given time served. Graswald’s lawyer revealed to the Daily Freeman that time served means his client could be paroled by late December.
As part of a plea deal, Graswald admitted to causing Vincent Viafore’s drowning death by removing the plug from his kayak on April 19, 2015. She also confessed to being aware that a locking clip on his paddle was missing, that he wasn’t wearing a life vest, and that the waters were dangerously cold on the day in question.
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Viafore’s body was recovered from the Hudson River on May 23, 2015. Graswald was arrested in April after the plug missing from Viafore’s kayak was located in her car, according to the Daily Freeman.
Authorities suspected that Graswald’s motivation to kill Viafore, 46, was his $250,000 life insurance policy.
Graswald originally faced second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges in connection with her fiancé’s death. She agreed to plead guilty to criminally negligent homicide in July—weeks before a murder trial was set to begin.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler previously claimed that the plea agreement was constructed with “extensive consultation with the victim’s family.”
ORIGINAL Story: Breaking: Woman pleads guilty in fiancé’s kayak death in Hudson River
Though Graswald was finally held accountable for Viafore’s death, the slain man’s family doesn’t believe that justice was served. Following sentencing, Graswald’s attorney read a statement from her where she claimed that she never intentionally killed anyone.
“Four years for taking someone’s life? No way,” his mother, Mary Ann Viafore, told WCBS.
“My son was a good man and everybody loved him and we miss him very much. I don’t ever want to see her again if I don’t have to.”
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