Man Who Killed Sick Wife Gets Prison

A man who believed his wife was terminally ill with cancer and shot her to death to relieve her pain was sentenced Friday to at least two years in prison.

An autopsy had revealed that she died cancer-free.

Vernal “Bob” Ohlrich, 77, had pleaded no contest to manslaughter and was sentenced to between two years and 3 1/3 years. He will be eligible for parole in a year. He could have been sentenced to 20 years.

Ohlrich told the judge that he killed his wife of 57 years in October because a doctor had diagnosed her with colon cancer.

“She had pain, pain, pain,” he wept. “She wanted to die.”

Prosecutors did not dispute that Mrs. Ohlrich was in a lot of pain, but they argued that it may have been from a back injury.

An autopsy of 74-year-old Phyllis Ohlrich’s body found she did not have cancer when she was killed. Ohlrich’s attorney disputed the autopsy results during the sentencing hearing but showed no medical evidence.

Dr. Timothy Sullivan, who treated Mrs. Ohlrich before her death, said all of his examinations showed the woman was suffering from colon cancer. However, he said he could not disagree with an autopsy that found no evidence of disease.

Dr. Matthias Okoye, the pathologist who performed Mrs. Ohlrich’s autopsy, said he even asked for a second opinion about not detecting cancer.

“I have no doubt in my mind there was no cancer in her body at that time,” said Okoye.

Monica Merrkatz, a nurse who was on duty the day Mrs. Ohlrich was killed, testified that Mrs. Ohlrich was in pain, but it was not constant. Merrkatz said Mrs. Ohlrich never told her she wanted to die.

After shooting his wife, Ohlrich laid the gun on a nurses’ counter and told one of them to check on Mrs. Ohlrich. He said he had put the gun to his own temple after shooting his wife, but it jammed.

The couple’s only daughter, Annette, said she thought her father performed an unselfish act and “is not a criminal.”

“He’s stronger than I am,” she said.