A Warren County jury has found a Hamilton Township man charged with killing his newlywed wife guilty of murder, but not guilty of aggravated murder. The 12 member jury returned the verdict after more than 22 hours of deliberating in the murder trial of 28-year-old Ryan Widmer. 9News has confirmed that Widmer has also been sentenced, on the same night the jury handed down the verdict. He will serve 15 years to life in prison, and will be eligible for parole in 15 years. Ryan’s wife, 24-year-old Sarah Widmer, died on Aug. 11, 2008. Ryan said he was downstairs watching television and came upstairs to find his wife unresponsive in their bathtub. Prosecutors argue Ryan killed his wife of four months inside their home. The jury heard vastly conflicting testimony over the last seven days, including expert forensic witnesses for the defense saying that aggressive CPR or life-saving efforts could have caused the autopsy injuries seen on Sarah.
Experts for the prosecution argued earlier in the trial that Sarah had injuries that were too severe to have been caused by CPR. Prosecutors repeatedly pointed to the Widmer bathtub to say that evidence of several handprints showed that someone had fallen or been pushed and moved around the tub. They also said evidence showed someone had wiped down the bathtub, possibly to remove evidence of a struggle. The first responders said Sarah's hair was damp, but her body was dry, even though they were told she had fallen asleep in the bathtub.
Warren County Coroner Russell Uptegrove said he believed Sarah's injuries indicate there was a violent struggle before she drowned. He discounted the defense’s contention that CPR could have caused those injuries. Uptegrove said he found water in Sarah's lungs, scalp and forehead wounds as well as a four inch hemorrhage under the front of her neck and chest. The defense argued during the trial that marks found on Sarah’s body were from emergency crews performing CPR.
Dr. David Smile, a Tri-State emergency room doctor, said this week that most of Sarah's injuries could have been caused by CPR efforts to save her life, not by her husband trying to kill her. Dr. Smile said that resuscitation efforts can easily cause injuries like lip wounds, broken teeth and severe neck bruising. Dr. Smile also addressed the notion that Sarah may have been a victim of sudden death syndrome. He said sudden death without any obvious factors like heart disease, stroke or seizure kills an average of 300,000 Americans a year. The ER specialist estimates 1 percent to 2 percent of those deaths happen to people under 35 years old. He also said sudden death syndrome strikes as many as two to three young people in Ohio every month. They are often cases where a follow-up autopsy can find no obvious cause of death.
Dr. Werner Spitz, a nationally known pathologist who performed his own autopsy on Sarah, said this week he saw no evidence of a violent struggle before she died. During cross examination, Dr. Spitz told prosecutors he was being paid $5,000 a day for his work in helping with Ryan’s defense. Prosecutors also challenged some of the forensic theories that Dr. Spitz has written about in his books on forensic pathology.
Earlier in the trial, Dr. Charles Jeffrey Lee, a forensic doctor and deputy coroner in Ohio, said he found strong evidence that Sarah may have been strangled before she died in the bathtub. Dr. Lee said he thinks Sarah's deep muscle injuries in her neck are a sign she was strangled before she drowned. Dr. Lee explained to jurors how he suspects Sarah sustained the injuries deep in the neck muscles in front of her voice box. "Definitely a blunt force injury, it looks like someone may have grabbed the neck with a right hand." Dr. Lee said.
The defense argued throughout the trial that Sarah often fell asleep, sometimes in the bathtub. Dr. Aneesa Marie Das, an Ohio State sleep researcher, testified last week it would have been virtually impossible for Sarah to fall asleep in a bathtub and drown Dr. Das said natural reflexes would have, on at least three occasions, caused Sarah to wake up, even out of a deep sleep.
The 9-1-1 dispatcher who took Ryan’s call the night Sarah died described Ryan as calm during an emergency. "Usually, I can't get anything out of them. It's hard enough to get an address out of them let alone any other information. Usually they don't listen to you try to give instructions of what to do. It seemed that he was rather calm, I would say," Ron Kronenberger said. When Kronenberger asked how long his wife was in the bathtub, Ryan said, "She was in here for at least 15 minutes, half hour or something like that. I was downstairs watching TV. She falls asleep in the tub all the time." Ryan told Kronenberger that he took his wife out of the bathtub.
Testimony also revealed details of the couple's relationship. Sarah's mother Ruthann Steward cried as she took the stand and described her final moments with her daughter. "Ryan called me in the ambulance, but I thought he said she fell and she needed me," she recalled. "I thought she was, she was still alive, so the nurse let me talk to her and say good-bye." Steward also testified that Ryan didn't like Sarah spending money. That he'd watch her credit card accounts online and call her as soon as a purchase was made and question if it was necessary. Sarah worked as a dental hygienist. Her boss, Dr. John Becker, testified that in July Sarah inquired about life insurance, but she never took out a policy. Becker testified that Sarah told him Ryan was pressuring her to get it done. The dentist also said Sarah had complained about her husband's drinking and smoking.
Warren County Deputy Steve Bishop, the first officer on the scene after Ryan called for help. Deputy Bishop said he found Sarah and Ryan dry to the touch while he was helping to give Sarah CPR. Sarah’s friend, Amy Karabaic, testified last week that she never noticed the two of them fighting or arguing and that she didn’t believe Ryan ever Abused Sarah. Karabaic said she talked to Sarah just hours before she died. “We talked briefly and she said that she had a headache and that the back of her neck was hurting,” Karabaic said. Overall, Karabaic didn’t notice anything unusual about her last conversation with Sarah before she died.
| 
