Wife who murdered her husband, chopped up his body, hiding the remains in containers and pretended he was alive for six months gets life
- Marcia Eubank, of Ohio, in December 2018 pleaded guilty to murder with a firearm, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse
- She will become eligible for parole after serving 20 years in prison for the murder of her husband, Howard Eubank, 54, in 2017
- Investigators said Marcia shot her husband of 25 years in the head, cut up his body and hid remains in bins scattered around the house
- She confessed to the grisly crime six months later, after her son discovered a maggot-covered bin containing some of his dad's body parts
- Marcia claimed her husband was abusive, but family members said the wife was the aggressor
An Ohio woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder and dismemberment of her husband, who she claimed was abusive.
Marcia Eubank, 50, of Coventry Township, learned her fate on Friday, after pleading guilty to murder with a firearm, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse on December 21, 2018.
Investigators said Marcia shot her husband, 54-year-old Howard Eubank, several times in the head inside their Akron-area home on June 13, 2017, chopped up his body and then scattered his remains around the house in storage containers.
Marcia Eubank, of Ohio, on Friday was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2017 killing and dismemberment of her husband
Eubank (left) was arrested in December 2017, six months after she shot dead Howard Eubank (right) and chopped up his corpse
The wife confessed in December, six months after the grisly crime, when her son, also named Howard, stumbled upon a bin containing some of his father's body parts.
On December 9, 2017, the younger Howard Eubank had forgotten his keys and climbed through a window of the house when he spotted the crate covered in flies and maggots and opened it, Cleveland.com reported after Marcia's arrest.
The son texted his mother who allegedly admitted that she killed his father in June.
Marcia was arrested that same day in a parking lot outside a business near the house.
Jonathon Eubank, another of Howard's sons and Marcia's stepson, told ABC Newsthat she went to great lengths to keep the murder a secret. He claimed that his stepmother told everyone that Howard had left her and went to Texas.
‘We all thought it was odd and strange that he would just up and leave, but it never crossed our mind that she would actually murder him,’ Jonathon said.
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Bins containing Howard Eubank's body were discovered by his son inside the family's Coventry Township, Ohio, home
He told the outlet that the last time he had talked to his father was a month before the crime. The two had discussed how excited they were for Jonathon's August wedding.
‘And then in the middle of June, we get a message saying that he left my stepmom and went to Texas,’ he said. ‘My oldest brother got a text message from my dad off his phone saying he’s in Texas and he’s fine.’
In the months after the death, Jonathon said posts would appear on his father's Facebook page letting everyone know he was OK. He now knows the posts were written by his stepmother.
‘Periodically, there would be posts on his Facebook,’ he told ABC. ‘One was to Marcia saying he had missed her. That was one of the last Facebook posts that we had seen from his account.’
An attorney for Marcia alleged that she was physically and emotionally abused by her husband during her nearly 25 year marriage.
Marcia allegedly told her and Howard's sons that he had left her and went to Texas
However, court records show that the couple's relatives told investigators it was Marcia who was often verbally abusive towards her spouse, and that they never saw Howard hit her.
When given a chance to speak at her sentencing hearing Friday, a stone-face Marcia Eubank read a very brief prepared statement, in which she said she takes full responsibility for her her actions on the day of her husband's killing and dismemberment.
'I would like to say I'm truly remorseful for what happened. Truly know that what I did was wrong and I'm very sorry,' she told the presiding judge.
As part of the plea deal, the prosecution agreed to drop an aggravated murder charge against Marcia, reported Cleveland 19. The 50-year-old woman will become eligible for parole after 20 years of incarceration.
