William Argie, 49, was convicted of killing wife Maureen Argie, 41. The charges were first-degree murder, and falsification of physical evidence.
Prosecutors said he strangled her to death at their home in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on April 4, 2019 because he blamed her for all his self-inflicted personal problems. It was William Argie’s fault that he faced increasing debts amid a gambling addiction, fell behind on car payments to the point of facing repossession, and could not hold down a job, but instead, this narcissist took it all out on his wife, according to the state. Friends testified that he repeatedly said he wanted to kill Maureen. One of them, Jim Timbas, said that Argie asked him to kill Maureen for half of the life insurance money on her. Timbas said he refused.
Damning testimony: a friend said that murder defendant Bill Argie asked him to help kill his wife Maureen Argie. #AllegedWifeStrangler pic.twitter.com/iGUcUVpkUB
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) December 2, 2021
According to a friend, Bill Argie wanted his wife’s death to look like a suicide. #AllegedWifeStrangler pic.twitter.com/eyZXvgNOpt
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) December 2, 2021
Meanwhile, Maureen was planning a new life, authorities said. She intended on leaving her husband to live with their children.
“He would not let Maureen win,” prosecutor Peter Hinckley said of William Argie in closings on Monday. “He could not let her be free and happy.”
William Argie tried to die by suicide after murder, then fled to a casino, where he was found the next day, authorities said.
He took the stand Friday, insisting he found Maureen hanging in their bedroom.
“Suicides are unpredictable,” his attorney Julia Nye said in closings on Monday. “That’s what makes them so tragic.”
Understated but passive aggressive, William Argie butted heads with Hinckley over this version of events on Friday, however. The prosecutor confronted him for failing to call 911.
“What would 911 do, sir?” Argie said.
He admitted to taking his wife’s car and cell phone, but denied stealing her debit card. This card was used at a Dunkin Donuts on the way to the casino, and to get a hotel room at the casino, authorities said.
Maureen Argie never showed a hint of suicide, Hinckley said. There was no suicidal talk, behavior or the like, he said. She had a support system, including close friends and family, a job she had for a long time, and, of course, her children, whom she would never leave, according to Hinckley. Though she was depressed, it was because Maureen had to deal with an emotionally abusive spouse, a gambling addict who was bleeding the family dry financially, the prosecutor said.
William Argie voiced displeasure with his legal team in court Monday morning, saying they failed to get certain evidence introduced. He personally requested a mistrial. Judge Marguerite Wageling declined to consider this. She told him he would have to go pro se and commit to representing himself before she formally reviewed the request. She considered his attorneys to be competent. Argie declined to fire his lawyers, but he said he felt there was prejudice in the case.
[Screenshot via Law&Crime Network]
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