Michigan woman again gets life sentence for fiery death of husband nearly 20 years ago

PAW PAW, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan woman accused of setting her husband on fire then driving a van over his burning body was sentenced to life in prison Monday for murder after failing to convince a jury for the second time that she wasn’t responsible.

Since Todd Stermer’s death nearly 20 years ago, Linda Stermer has been imprisoned then released while winning an appeal and getting a new trial. But now she’s back in custody with a no-parole sentence.

“Murder is by it’s nature a monstrous deed,” Van Buren County Judge Kathleen Brickley said. “But the one you’ve committed is more gruesome than most. I cannot fathom the suffering he endured in his last moments of life.”

Prosecutors alleged Stermer doused her husband with gasoline and set him on fire in 2007, a day after he learned she was having an extramarital affair. Stermer insisted it was an accident, telling insurance investigators that Todd had an oil lamp and candles burning in the house.

She was first convicted in 2010. But a federal appeals court in 2020 granted her a new trial, saying her rights were violated when her attorney didn’t do enough to counter the arson theme described by prosecutors.

One of the judges on the three-judge panel strongly disagreed and said an accident wasn’t plausible. All that was missing, Judge Jeffrey Sutton said at the time, “was a film of the mariticide.”

Stermer, 60, stuck to her claim of innocence Monday.

“While I stand before you, innocent and wrongfully convicted, I’m prepared for the battle ahead,” she said.