NEW WIFE, SAME METHOD...
WHEN William New called police to tell them that his wife was dead, he thought he had a solid story. It was 04h02 on the morning of October 15, 2004.
“Oh my God,” he told the 911-operator on the other end of the phone. “I was just gone for a little while. I drove to Rite Aid [a pharmacy] to get her some migraine medicine. I was gone maybe 30 minutes.” He sounded distraught. New claimed he had an idea about what had happened. “Somebody broke into my house,” he said. “My wife’s really hurt. She’s bleeding.”
Less than two years later he was standing in a San Diego courtroom receiving a life sentence for double homicide. A jury found him guilty not only of murdering his wife Phyllis but also his first wife, Somsri New, in 1973. The similarity between both deaths was astounding – both women were shot in the head, while they were sleeping. Detective Pat Gardner investigated the death of Phyllis - the third Mrs New, who came after the second Mrs New was divorced. “The husband had supposedly left his house to get his wife some medication,” the detective says. “And when he returned to his home he found that somebody had broken into his home and murdered his wife during the 30 minutes while he was gone.” Gardner spoke to the paramedics that
