Ex-Cop From Long Island Killed Wife, Stayed Home With Body: Officials

A retired cop from Long Island killed his wife in their upstate home last week, and then spent several days with the body, according to authorities.

A sheriff's deputy looking into the welfare of 65-year-old Kathleen Wilkinson found her body Sunday on a bedroom floor in her home in Malta, 20 miles north of Albany, Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III said.

She was killed during a domestic dispute last week with her husband, Charles Wilkinson, a retired Nassau County police officer, Murphy said. The man spent the weekend in the house with the body and let the deputy in after police received calls from her acquaintances saying they hadn't heard from her for several days, the prosecutor said.

Friends of the woman had gone to the home, but Charles Wilkinson wouldn't let them in, Murphy said.

Information on the time and cause of death won't be determined until after an autopsy is conducted Monday afternoon, he said.

Wilkinson was charged with second-degree murder and was being held in the county jail without bail. Murphy said he didn't know whether Wilkinson had a lawyer.

Wilkinson retired after 13 years with the Nassau County Police Department. The couple had lived in Malta for about 10 years and have two adult children who live in the Boston area, Murphy said.

The couple lived in a tidy suburban development a few miles south of Saratoga Springs. Neighbors spoke highly of them and said they weren't aware of any domestic issues, Murphy said.

"We're very lucky to have very few murders," he said. "Certainly it's very disturbing to have it happen in a very quiet neighborhood."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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