Wife Guilty in Grisly Slaying of Husband

Omaima Nelson, an Egyptian-born woman who said she killed and dismembered her husband because she could no longer endure his sexual and physical abuse, was convicted Tuesday of second-degree murder in one of Orange County’s most grisly slayings.

Despite feeling pity for Nelson, the jury did not entirely believe her assertions about her relationship with pilot William Nelson, 56, who was slain in November, 1991, and butchered in the Costa Mesa apartment the newlyweds shared, the jury foreman said after the verdict.

The Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated six days before acquitting Nelson, 26, of first-degree murder, concluding that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the slaying was premeditated, despite the extensive mutilation of the body, foreman Famous Hooks, 35, of Fountain Valley said.

Jurors were disturbed by evidence presented during the trial, which included tales of bondage sex games, decapitation, castration and even an allegation of cannibalism, said Hooks, who spoke on behalf of the other jurors.

“All I want to do right now is go home and go to bed,” said Hooks, who added that jurors will have a difficult time forgetting the evidence photos of dismembered body parts. “You had to see the pictures (of the victim). The pictures were bad enough.”

Omaima Nelson, who wept after the verdicts were read, was also convicted of assaulting another man in an unrelated case.

Jurors determined that she used a knife in the attack on her husband and used a gun in the assault on Robert Hannson, a former boyfriend. That will add time to her sentence.

Omaima Nelson was acquitted of false imprisonment and attempting to rob Hannson in November, 1990, after tying him up.

Nelson faces a maximum penalty of 28 years to life in prison when she is sentenced Feb. 26, including 18 years to life in prison for the slaying and 10 years in prison for assaulting Hannson.