A chef from the US, who confessed to the police that he boiled his wife’s body, has received a sentence of 15 years to life for second-degree murder.
In a surprising development, however, he informed a judge that the tale, which could resemble a horror film’s plot, was fabricated.
During his sentencing hearing, David Viens delivered a disoriented, 45-minute discourse, stating that when police interrogated him two years after his wife went missing, he was experiencing hallucinations and had concocted the narrative about cooking his wife.
“I loved my wife. I didn’t cook my wife,” Viens asserted.
“I’d like the opportunity to testify.”
At 49 years old, Viens was found guilty last September of murdering his 39-year-old wife, Dawn Viens, in 2009. Her remains have never been discovered.
In their search for proof of a cooked body, police nearly demolished the restaurant that Viens and his spouse managed, yet uncovered nothing.
David Viens claimed that the account he provided to the authorities emerged after he underwent surgery for injuries sustained from jumping off a cliff. He had multiple broken bones and had been confined to a wheelchair since then.
“I’m hallucinating the whole time I’m there,” he remarked about the police interview.
“I’d been on an operating table for 12 hours.”
Officials reported that Viens jumped off the cliff upon realizing he was a suspect in the investigation.
In the recorded interrogation presented during the trial, Viens recounted that he had argued with his wife of 17 years, bound her hands and feet, and covered her mouth with duct tape before going to bed. When he woke up, he claimed she was dead.
He told police he then spent four days cooking her body to eliminate the evidence.
Superior Court Judge Rand Rubin remarked that within two weeks of his wife’s disappearance, Viens had already moved a new girlfriend into his home and resumed his life.