Calif. Doctor Strangled Wife, Then Staged Scene as a Fall After Becoming Angry About Photo She'd Posted

E. Scott Sills was found guilty of second degree murder in the death of his wife and business partner Susann Sills

A California fertility doctor was found guilty of murdering his wife and then staging the scene so it looked like an accident.

E. Scott Sills, 58, was convicted of one count of second-degree murder Tuesday in an Orange County courtroom in connection with the death of his 45-year-old wife Susann Sills.

Susann, a mother of twins, was found dead from what Sills initially said he believed was a fall in the early morning hours of November 13, 2016. Sills allegedly told deputies that he woke up to find Susann dead at the bottom of the stairs of the couple’s San Clemente home.

Prosecutors didn’t believe his claim and argued that Susann was strangled. They pointed to blood stains discovered on the wall and curtains in their daughter’s bedroom, where Susann had been sleeping because of a migraine.

“This man killed his wife and hid it, and he hid it pretty well, because it took a while to bring him to justice,” Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Walker alleged Sills killed his wife during an argument and then staged her murder as a fall down the stairs, the Times reported.

Text messages between the couple also showed strains in their relationship, the Times reported.

“I will never be free, ever,” she texted, per the Times . “You are killing me, don’t you see? ... I just want out.”

An alleged point of contention between the couple was a topless photo Susann posted online after she lost a bet, prosecutors alleged, according to the Times.

“Is that the reason he killed her? I don’t know,” Walker said in court, adding that maybe “he is done with her embarrassing him.”

Sills' defense attorney Jack Earley told jurors that Susann may have lost her footing on the stairs because in the days prior to her death she had been suffering from a migraine, hadn’t eaten and was on Valium and the pain medication tramadol, per the Times.

The couple worked together at the Center for Advanced Genetics, a Carlsbad, Calif., IVF & infertility clinic. Susann co-founded the clinic and Sills was the medical director.

According to the company’s website, Sills graduated from Cornell University in 1998 and is a board-certified physician and author with expertise in IVF, surrogacy and fertility surgery.

The website says Sills is also a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, American College of Surgery and the Royal College of Physicians (Ireland) and has authored numerous books including Fighting at the Fertility Front: A Navigational Guide to Infertility for U.S. Military, Veterans & Their Partners.

“He is among an elite group of experts who has published scholarly articles with both a Member of the United States Congress and a Member of the UK Parliament,” his company website reads.

According to an obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Susann was born in Philadelphia and was a graduate of South Fork High School in Florida. She attended George Mason University and received her MBA in International Studies from the University of Miami in 2000.

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Sills was charged in 2019 with her murder.

“Dr. Sills was sworn to care for the sick and injured and his chosen profession as a fertility doctor helped bring so much joy to his patients, but the woman he vowed to love in sickness and health was strangled to death by his own hands,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer after the verdict. “Think of how diabolical you have to be — not only to kill your wife but to make it look like she had fallen down the stairs. It took calculated planning to commit this crime, and worst of all, he ruthlessly and selfishly murdered the mother of their children, who now are left without their parents.”

Sills faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 15.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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