Man denies killing, dismembering wife

April 20, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A man charged with murdering his wife and cutting up her body testified Monday that he did not kill his wife or dismember her body and doesn’t know who did.

John Strutz, 31, was the final witness in his Cincinnati trial. Strutz repeatedly testified under questioning by both the defense and prosecution that he didn’t know how 28-year-old Kristan Strutz died.

Kristan Strutz’s torso was found wrapped in trash bags in a garbage can outside of the couple’s Delhi Township home a day after she had been reported missing Aug. 15.

“I didn’t kill Kristan or have anything to do with her dismemberment,” Strutz said on the witness stand Monday.

A deputy coroner testified during the trial that the cause of death could not be determined, but that the death was ruled a homicide, partly because of the effort to get rid of the body parts.

Judge John West, who is hearing the case without a jury at Strutz’s request, acquitted Strutz on Monday of one of the two counts of murder against him. Defense attorney William Mathews II had asked the judge to acquit his client of all charges, saying the state based its case “entirely on circumstantial evidence.”

Strutz was acquitted of the charge that alleged he killed his wife while committing or attempting to commit another felony — felonious assault. He still faces the other murder charge and charges of tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.

Strutz testified that he thought his wife was out shopping the day she disappeared. He also testified that he saw a blond woman running to a pickup truck parked near his house when police brought him home after questioning him about his wife’s disappearance.

Police did not find the torso in the couple’s garbage can until later that day.

Closing arguments in the trial are scheduled for today.