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California fertility doctor Dr. Eric Scott Sills has been found guilty of killing his wife, Susann Sills, in November 2016. The conviction came about seven years after the horrific murder of the 45-year-old woman, and the doctor has been charged with one count of second-degree murder.
The victim was also his business partner, and according to the Los Angeles Times, they used to run a fertility clinic in Carlsbad.
On Tuesday, December 19, 2023, a jury found Sills guilty of strangulating his wife to death in their house. The couple resided with their 12-year-old children at their house in San Clemente. Prosecutors couldn't confirm a motive behind the killing but claimed that the couple was going through a rough patch in their marriage.
Dr. Eric Scott Sills has been convicted of fatally strangulating his wife, who was also the co-founder of his fertility clinic
The murder case of 45-year-old Susann Sills has finally concluded after her husband, Dr. Eric Scott Sills, was found guilty on Tuesday, December 19. A jury convicted him of one count of second-degree murder.
Seven years ago, when that incident came to light, Dr. Eric claimed that his wife fell down the stairs in an accident. The Los Angeles Times mentioned the events that occurred in the case happened in 2016.
On November 13, 2016, the fertility doctor called the cops and reported that he had found his wife unconscious by the staircase. A recording of Eric's conversation with the authorities was played at the Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. The doctor was heard saying:
"We’ve got a patient here who’s fallen off the stairs and I don’t have a pulse. I think she tripped because it was dark."
Police arrived and found the 45-year-old dead. An investigation began immediately. It took cops more than two years to arrest and charge Eric Scott Sills for his wife's murder.
The victim's cause of death was determined to be strangulation by two expert pathologists. According to the Los Angeles Times, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors:
"This man killed his wife and hid it, and he hid it pretty well, because it took a while to bring him to justice... People do not know what is going on in the privacy of relationships."
The New York Post reported that, at the time of the incident, the couple had been married for about ten years. Authorities later claimed that they discovered bloodstains on the walls and curtains in her daughter's room. Susann was reportedly resting there because of a migraine. Dr. Eric Scott Sills and his wife ran the Center for Advanced Genetics when the horrific murder took place.
The victim allegedly wanted to get out of the relationship, as reported by KTLA. Prosecutors presented evidence showing that the injuries that the victim sustained in the face and neck didn't match those one could get during an accidental fall. The DA's Office mentioned:
"A clump of her hair also was found in the room, indicating that there had been a violent struggle between the couple."
The couple was reportedly having friction in their marriage
According to Deputy Dist. Atty. Jennifer Walker, the convicted doctor fought with his wife, which later turned violent. Sills ended up killing his wife by strangulating her, however, he couldn't dispose of the body since the kids were home. Thus, Dr. Eric Scott Sills decided to stage an accident and claim that she fell off the staircase on her own.
Walker added that when emergency personnel were on the way that day in 2016, instead of trying to save his wife's life, Sills was engaged in looking for his pulse oximeter. On the 911 call, he was heard saying:
"Oh Lord, where is my pulse ox?"
According to prosecutors, amid this chaos, Sills had no time to clean up the crime site. Thus, authorities found bloodstains in the curtains. The defense team, however, said that the blood stain happened due to a separate injury that was unrelated to any physical altercation between the husband and wife.
Dr. Eric Scott Sills' defense attorney, Jack Earley, tried to convince the jurors that there could be alternate reasoning behind Susann's death. According to Earley, Susann had consumed the benzodiazepine Valium and the opioid painkiller tramadol for her migraine. She also didn't eat well, thus leading to a state of disorientation.
Earley added that this could be the reason that she lost her balance and fell off the stairs, causing death. While the couple's son, Eric, initially testified, saying that they were fighting shortly before her death, he changed his statement later.
Authorities recovered messages shared between Susann and Eric Scott Sills. In one of the messages, Susann wrote:
"I will never be free, ever. You are killing me, don’t you see?... I just want out."
Dr. Eric could face 15 years of life behind bars. His sentencing hearing has been set for March 15, 2024.
