Susan Wright met Jeff Wright when she was 21 and he was 29. She had just graduated from high school and was working as a dancer to support herself. With the money she got, she started a nursing course, but ran into financial difficulties and decided to work in a beauty salon.
Jeff, on the other hand, led a life of excess, marked by the consumption of alcohol and drugs. At the age of 30, he tired of this life and decided he wanted to build a family. When he met Susan, he felt she would be his wife, and a few months later she became pregnant. In 1998, the couple married in a small ceremony in Houston and had a son, Bradley.
Perfect life?
Apparently, the couple had a perfect life and were even expecting their second child. However, Jeff was still addicted to cocaine and often lost control, taking his anger out on Susan and the children. He was abusive and violent whenever he was under the influence of drugs. Susan begged him to get help, but Jeff refused to change.
On January 13, 2003, during a fight, Jeff sexually abused Susan and threatened to kill her. Later, he assaulted Bradley, which led to another argument. It’s not known exactly what happened next, but what was discovered was terrifying.
The last straw
According to the prosecution, Susan had reached her limit after years of abuse and frustration. After putting the children to bed, she lured Jeff into the bedroom, where she tied him up with promises of an intimate moment. But instead, she unleashed all her pent-up anger. Using a knife, Susan stabbed Jeff almost 200 times.
The body was buried in the backyard of the house, in a hole that Jeff himself had dug to install a fountain. The crime was only discovered when the family’s dog started digging at the site and unearthed part of Jeff’s body.
Legitimate defense?
During the trial, the prosecution argued that Susan was not a victim of abuse, but a calculating woman who killed Jeff to collect the 200,000 dollar life insurance policy. In her defense, Susan claimed self-defense, saying that Jeff had attacked her with a knife that day.
She claimed that, during the confrontation, she couldn’t stop stabbing him for fear that he would kill her. The jury, however, sided with the prosecution and Susan was convicted of murder, receiving a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Years later, an ex-fiancée of Jeff’s testified that she had also suffered abuse at his hands, which led to Susan’s sentence being reduced. She was released on parole in December 2020, after serving 17 years. Since then, Susan has kept a low profile, away from the media spotlight.
