Man Is Jailed in Deaths of Two Wives 31 Years Apart
A 58-year-old Santee man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing his wife in October -- and his first wife in San Bernardino in 1973.
Both women were shot to death at their homes, officials said. The September 1973 death of Somsri New, 29, was ruled an accident after an investigation by San Bernardino officials.
But an investigation into the death was reopened after Phyllis New, 59, the wife of William Peter New, was found dead in their mobile home Oct. 15.
New told San Diego County authorities that he had gone to the pharmacy to get his wife some headache medicine. When he returned at 3 a.m., he told investigators, he found the front door open and his wife dead in their bed.
The investigation into the two deaths involved law enforcement agencies from both counties.
William and Phyllis New had been married 28 years. She worked as a workers’ compensation claim adjuster, and he was unemployed. After living in Los Angeles for two decades, the couple moved to Santee, a suburb of San Diego.
William New is being held in the San Diego County Jail pending his arraignment. Authorities declined to say what evidence led them to charge New.
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