Cook man, 73, charged with killing wife, keeping her corpse in home for a week
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A 73-year-old Cook man remains in jail without bond after state police accused him of spending a week inside his home with the corpse of his wife, who was shot twice in the back.
Troopers discovered the body on Tuesday, when a relative requested a welfare check for Sandra Montjar, 76, at the couple’s residence along Route 711, south of Ligonier.
Shane Del Montjar met a trooper at the door and “admitted killing his wife on Oct. 13,” Trooper James McKenzie wrote in court documents. Montjar led Trooper Jesse Niehenke into another room where he pointed to her body “wrapped in a blanket, a plastic bag and carpet,” McKenzie reported.
“He told us he was despondent over his wife’s health. She apparently had a medical condition for awhile,” Trooper Stephen Limani said. “He decided to alleviate her pain and retrieved a handgun from the bedroom and shot and killed her.”
On Oct. 13, Montjar said his wife had a coughing spell and he went to retrieve her a glass of water, McKenzie reported.
“He went to get her a glass of water and he heard a thud when she fell off the living room couch to the floor. He turned around and went back, but she had gotten herself back on the couch, but was still coughing,” McKenzie wrote. “(Montjar) stated he made a spur of the moment decision that ‘I have to do this.’”
He walked to a bedroom nightstand and retrieved a .25-caliber handgun. After returning to the living room, he “shot her twice in the back,” McKenzie said.
Montjar was arraigned on charges of abuse of a corpse, criminal homicide, first degree murder and tampering with evidence. He is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison.
Montjar told investigators that he didn’t disclose his wife’s death to anyone and stayed with her “the last week to get his affairs in order,” Limani said.
According to Limani, Montjar told investigators that he intended to set their home on fire with both he and his wife inside.
No one answered the door at a neighbor’s home Wednesday.
The couple was believed to have been married for more than 25 years, according to authorities.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled Oct. 30.