She was killed by a blow to the head, just like in Poe’s story. But this time there was no black cat to give it away. It musy have been the use of “a plastic container”, not available to Poe’s narrator.
A pretty chilling story. The man reported that his wife was despondent over the death of their child (then 25) by drowning, and that she left a typed note. Her locked car was found in a nearby parking lot, but police found no evidence of “foul play”. He got away with it for 27 years, and died undiscovered.
It makes you wonder if it was a really good false wall or some really bad police work at the time.
Imagine living with that secret in your basement for so long. Since he’s escaped justice, I hope at the very least that this gruesome concealment preyed on his mind. It would be karmic, too, if his home and his neighborhood decayed around him over the ensuing years, while he stood by, unable to renovate or sell.
But a man capable of living with the corpse of someone he murdered was probably beyond being emotionally affected by any form of punishment, trivial or serious.