Man calls 911 to report wife’s mysterious death, cops say. Years later, he’s charged

A mom died 28 years ago, and police closed the case. Now her husband has been charged, Utah officials said.

On June 11, 1995, Bernadean Klingenberg was found dead in her West Valley City home, according to a May 24 news release by the Salt Lake County District Attorney. Her husband, Keith Klingenberg, told officials he found her and called 911.

Klingenberg told dispatchers his wife “had taken her own life by slashing her own throat,” the news release said.

First responders got to the couple’s home seven minutes after the 911 call was made, according to KSL. After investigating, they concluded the woman died at least an hour before the 911 call was made.

The 68-year-old told dispatchers he had been playing softball on the day his wife died, according to ABC 4. He said he “found his wife upstairs with two knives next to her” when he got home, the news outlet reported.

The case was closed at the time and ruled as “undetermined” before being reopened in 2016, according to the release.

The woman’s daughter spoke to police in 1995 and again in 2018, telling them “her mother wasn’t suicidal,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The night before her death, the woman told her daughter she planned to leave her husband, officials told the news outlet.

Blood splatter analysts found the scene to be more consistent with “a clean-up” than a suicide, officials told ABC 4.

“The defendant stabbed his wife multiple times, cut her throat and modified the crime scene to make it appear as if his wife had committed suicide,” prosecutors said in charging documents obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune.

The District Attorney’s office filed a first-degree felony murder charge against Klingenberg for the death of his wife, the news release said.

Officials ask anyone with information about the Bernadean Klingenberg’s death to call 801-965-5200, according to the release.

West Valley City is about 10 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

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