WHEELS OF JUSTICE

Utah Man Arrested for Murder 28 Years After Claiming Wife Died by Suicide

Keith Klingenberg, who was found covered in his wife’s blood, told police that she had slashed her own throat.

A Utah man was charged Wednesday with the first-degree murder of his wife, nearly three decades after she died, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office Said. On June 11, 1995, Keith Klingenberg, now 68, called 911 and reported that his wife, Bernadean, had slashed her own throat. Klingenberg was found at the couple’s home with blood marks on his chest, hands, legs, ankles, and his clothes, according to charging documents. He told police that he’d been out of the house playing softball, and had come back to find Bernadean on their bed with two knives lying next to her. A medical examiner later determined that Bernadean had died at least an hour before Klingenberg called 911, even though he told dispatchers that she’d died while paramedics were on their way. The examiner ruled the manner of death at the time as “undetermined.” The case was reopened by investigators as a possible homicide in 2016. Charging documents state that Bernadean’s daughter told investigators that her mother had told her the night before her death that she planned to leave Klingenberg.