Serving time for her husband's murder, Virginia Hayden pleads to Social Security fraud
In a murder case that has had its fair share of drama, there was some drama when Virginia Hayden appeared in federal court Tuesday afternoon to plead guilty to a charge related to Social Security fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s office and her attorney, Craig Kauzlarich, had negotiated a plea deal. Hayden would plead guilty to a single count of something called “conversion of government funds” – a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison – and in return the government would drop the remaining 14 charges included in the indictment.
Hayden, in September, had pleaded no contest to third-degree murder in the killing of her husband, Thomas Hayden, who disappeared in the fall of 2011, and was sentenced to 6 to 20 years in state prison. The government alleged that she had continued to collect her husband’s Social Security payments – totaling $113,471 between 2011 and 2017.
Hayden was scheduled to appear in court to enter her guilty plea on Tuesday. Two U.S. Marshals wheeled her into Courtroom No. 2 in the federal building in Harrisburg. At 71, the grandmother was in a wheelchair, her hands cuffed in her lap. She wore blue prison scrubs, the uniform at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, her formerly feathered blonde hair now long and hanging lankly, framing her ruddy face.
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Previously:Killed, mutilated and hidden: Woman sentenced to prison in husband's 2011 death
U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher Conner asked her whether she understood what was happening. She said she did. He informed her of her rights, including the right to a jury trial, and told her that by pleading guilty, she was waiving that right. She said she understood.
Then, when the judge asked whether she intended to change her plea to guilty, she paused. She began to weep, covering her eyes with her hands.
“This is very hard for me,” she croaked with a slight southern drawl. “I guess I will take the plea.”
The judge told her she had to be sure, that “I guess” does not sound sure. If she wasn’t sure, the judge said he would end the hearing and schedule the case for trial.
He gave her some time to speak with her attorney. It appeared that Hayden had changed her mind about pleading guilty to the charge. After a few minutes of discussion, Kauzlarich told the judge they were ready to proceed.
The judge asked if she was willing to waive her right to a jury trial and plead guilty.
“Yes, sir,” Hayden said.
“Are you absolutely certain of that?” the judge asked her.
Hayden replied, "Yes, sir.”
It was another twist in a case that has had more twists than a mountain road.
The case began in January 2012 when a vacuum-sealed plastic bag – a FoodSaver bag – was found by the banks of a creek along Schoolhouse Road in Dover Township. The bag contained a piece of scalp and bloody bedding.
The evidence sat for five years. In 2017, Thomas Hayden’s daughter, Kim Via, called police to check on her father, whom she hadn't heard from in 11 years. Every time she tried to call him and talk to him, she said, Virginia Hayden would not permit it.
Hayden gave police several different explanations for her husband’s absence. Police investigated and found that she had told neighbors different stories. They also found she bought a handgun not long before Thomas Hayden disappeared and discussed methods to dispose of bodies with her grandson. One method was to feed it to pigs.
The case unfolded from there. In April 2019, she was charged with the murder of her husband. Forensic examiners had determined that Thomas Hayden was shot in the head as he lay in bed.
When she was about to stand trial for the murder last September, the trial was derailed when a last-minute witness stepped forward. The witness was a sheriff’s deputy, who, while driving her and other prisoners to jail after she was arrested, overheard her say, “I killed my husband” to another prisoner.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Ford recited an abbreviated version of the facts of the case, including that Hayden pleaded no contest to third-degree murder.
As part of the plea deal, any sentence she would receive for the Social Security charge would run concurrent with her murder sentence. The judge also mentioned that any sentence would run at the top of the sentencing guidelines, her previous conviction contributing to that.
The judge ordered a presentence evaluation and scheduled sentencing for July 5.
Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at mike@ydr.com.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Virginia Hayden pleads guilty to Social Security fraud
