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Minocqua man to be sentenced in wife's killing

Posted October 19, 2011 12:00 am

Associated Press

RHINELANDER, Wis. — An Oneida County man convicted of killing his wife last year is due to be sentenced.

Forty-one-year-old William Schmidt of Minocqua pleaded guilty in September to first-degree intentional homicide. A WSAW-TV report (http://bit.ly/nGTcXp ) says prosecutors dropped a charge of hiding a corpse.

The homicide conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison. However, the judge Wednesday will have the option to allow a parole date.

The body of 44-year-old Lori Schmidt was found wrapped in a blanket in a bedroom closet at the couple's home in June 2010. An autopsy did not determine an exact cause of death.

Authorities allege the couple quarreled about sex, money and their home before Lori Schmidt's body was found.

A message left with William Schmidt's defense attorney Wednesday morning was not immediately returned.

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