Woman who killed 'sexually demanding' fiancé by sabotaging his kayak released from jail

Angelika Graswald pleaded guilty to negligent homicide charge

Angelika Graswald has been released from jail (Allyse Pulliam/Times Herald-Record/AP)

A woman who admitted to causing her fiancée’s death by taking a plug out of his kayak after getting fed up with his “sexual demands”, has been released from prison.

The authorities grew suspicious of the bride-to-be Angelika Graswald after she posted videos of herself doing cartwheels on social media shortly after her fiancée's death.

Forty-six-year-old Vincent Viafore, from Poughkeepsie, drowned while kayaking on the rough waters of the Hudson River on 19 April 2015. Investigators said his boat had sunk after Graswald had removed a drain plug, while the prosecution suggested that she had stood to benefit from his $250,000 life insurance policy. They also accused her of pushing away a paddle that may have saved him and waiting some time before calling for help.

Viafore’s death was originally classed as an accident, but investigators grew suspicious of Graswald, 37, after her online activity sparked their interest. Not long before her arrest, her posts included seemingly carefree images of herself and Viafore, of herself kayaking and doing acrobatics and a video of herself driving to a yacht club.

In footage of her 2015 interrogation, which lasted more than 11 hours, Graswald said: “I wanted him dead and now he’s gone.”

Her lawyer Richard Portale told ABC News in 2015 that her statement was not a confession. “She denied killing him, so it is important to distinguish between what they are calling a confession is really just an interrogation.” The news channel also said that kayaking experts told them removing the plug “would not cause it to capsize.”

The prosecution said Graswald, who is originally from Latvia, told authorities she had “felt happiness and relief” when she saw her fiancée enter the water, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal. But defence lawyer Portale, attributed her comments to a “language barrier” and said there was reason to believe her statements were coerced.

Investigator Dennis DeQuarto, had said in a 2016 hearing that she had said she felt "trapped" in the relationship, according to the New York Times.

Originally charged with second-degree murder by the Orange County District Attorney, which Graswald denied, she later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. In November, she was sentenced to between 16 months and four years in prison, but was released just weeks later as she had already spent time in jail since her arrest in 2015.

Following her sentencing, defence lawyer Richard Portale read out a statement to the media on Graswald’s behalf. Speaking in November 2017, he described Viafore as a “bright light”. He then read out Graswald's statement, which said: “Never would I have imagined waking up one day and finding myself behind bars, charged with murdering the man I love. This entire process has been incredibly difficult for me. I love Vince very much and miss him terribly.”

The statement added:“I am not a murderer; I have said that from the very beginning, if I could do anything to bring Vince back. I would.”

Upon her release in late December, her lawyer said that Graswald was keen to reconnect with her family in a "meaningful way", and to begin the “difficult” process of “reconstructing her life”.

She was released to a halfway house at the end of December. She could ultimately face deportation to Latvia prosecutors warned.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.