A jury in Lee County, Florida, on Wednesday returned a verdict of guilty against Mark Sievers, charged with first degree murder in the death of his wife, beloved physician Dr Teresa Sievers.
The jury began deliberations shortly after 2 p.m. and announced they’d reached a verdict about 4 hours later, Naples News reported. The penalty phase begins next week. Sievers could face the death penalty.
According to police, Sievers was the mastermind behind his wife’s murder. He’s accused of recruiting childhood friend, 51-year-old Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., to help carry out the gruesome crime. Wright is accused of recruiting Jimmy Rodgers, 51, a former jail cellmate, to help him.
On June 28, 2015, as Teresa returned home from a trip to Connecticut, she was bludgeoned to death with a hammer inside her Bonita Springs, Florida, home. Authorities said the murder was planned in advance. Mark and their two children remained behind in Connecticut as Teresa came home for work.
Mark Sievers, 51, did not testify in his defense, according to WINK, instead telling the judge, when asked if he would testify, “No, but I’d like to go home.”
Sievers, who was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, was unhappy in his marriage, as reportedly evidenced inside Teresa’s journal, according to Naples News Days. Sievers also had money issues, while his wife had a $4 million life insurance policy, prosecutors previously said.
A few months after the murder, authorities arrested Wright and Rodgers. While both men initially denied any involvement, Wright eventually confessed in 2016 and took a plea deal for second-degree murder. He agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Sievers was arrested several months after the State Attorney released documents in December 2015, accusing him of hiring his co-defendants to kill his wife. Prosecutors said the motive was money from Teresa’s insurance policy.
Rodgers, who faced trial earlier this year, was convicted of second-degree murder and trespassing in October. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for December.
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Feature Photo: Teresa Sievers, Mark Sievers/Handout; Police Handout]
