http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/13829441/detail.htmlDenver Man Gets 44 Years For Killing WifePOSTED: 8:48 am MDT August 6, 2007
UPDATED: 3:20 pm MDT August 6, 2007
DENVER -- A Denver man accused of killing his wife and throwing her body in the trash was sentenced to 44 years in prison Monday.
Family members said the sentence was just.
"It will take a long time to heal. This is a step in that healing process," said Dell Rogers, a family spokesman. "But it's going to take a long time before we can truly move on with our lives."
Frank Schilt pleaded guilty to reduced charges in May in the February 2006 disappearance of Teresa Schilt. He had been charged with first-degree murder.
Prosecutors dropped that charge, and one of attempted murder, in exchange for the plea. Authorities had said earlier that Schilt also tried to kill the couple's teenage daughter.
Authorities have said that Schilt told detectives that his wife struck her head on the headboard of their bed after pushing her while the two were having an argument.
He later said he put his wife's body in the back of his car, picked up his 15-year-old daughter and took her to dance class, telling her that her mother was not feeling well and finally dumped her body in a trash bin.
Schilt was arrested in Arkansas in the middle of an apparent suicide attempt. He confessed in court following his arrest that he killed his wife and dumped her in a trash bin.
Teresa Schilt's body has never been found.
Schilt was originally charged with first-degree murder as well as attempted first-degree murder for allegedly poisoning his 15-year-old daughter with carbon monoxide. Authorities said he was trying to kill himself by carbon monoxide poisoning when both were home.
Prosecutors dropped those charges in exchange for his guilty plea.
Schilt has also been ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution to cover health care costs for his daughter, said district attorney's spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough.
In court, prosecutors Schilt showed no emotion.
"He's one of the coldest, iciest defendents we've ever seen," said Chief Deputy D.A. Kerri Lombardi. "He has shown zero remorse throughout the entire process... and so I think he deserves every minute of the sentence he got and more."
But his older daughter, Amy Schilt, said their family is just trying to find closure.
"In the end, my hope is that he heals as well as the rest of us heal," she said.
Copyright 2007 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
