Richard Pierce (Booking Photo)
STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A dead man’s appeal to overturn his conviction for the 1975 murder of his wife was denied Tuesday.
Richard Pierce was convicted in April 2022 for the death of Carol Jean Pierce. Her body was never found. Pierce was serving a life prison term when he died Oct. 24 at the Dodge Correctional Institution.
Despite his death, the post-conviction proceedings continued on defense claims he didn’t get a fair trial due to certain evidence allowed to be presented to the jury. At a hearing Tuesday, Judge David Weber denied all of the motions, court records show.
The couple was planning to move from Sturgeon Bay to Cheboygan, Michigan, around the time Carol Jean Pierce disappeared, investigators say. Richard Pierce claims his wife left him, but prosecutors say he told different versions of the story to various people.
Prosecutors said Richard Pierce benefited from Carol Jean Pierce’s death with “a pension unencumbered by a wife; most of the important belongings of their marriage; land and a home in Michigan; a new girlfriend weeks after Carol Jean’s disappearance, as well as the benefit of Carol Jean’s silence.”
A murder conviction without a body is rare, but not unprecedented. Ronald Rickman was convicted in Brown County in 1991 for the 1981 disappearance and death of his wife, Yvonne. In 2021, James Prokopovitz was convicted for the 2013 disappearance and death of his wife, Victoria. In Dane County, Gary Homberg was convicted in 1989 for the 1983 disappearance and death of his wife, Ruth.
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