Former Independence, Mo. firefighter Shon Pernice was sentenced today to the maximum term for the voluntary manslaughter of his wife.
Authorities expect they will never be able to find the body.
Pernice briefly told a Clay County Circuit Court Judge at Liberty, Missouri he was sorry for, as he put it, “the act “ committed in January of 2009.
Pernice could have gotten as few as 5 years in prison. Fifteen was maximum.
Pernice had told the court he struck his wife, Renee and she fell down stairs. Pernice said he believed he fall killed her. And he arranged for her dead body to be picked up as trash, taken to a landfill in Shawnee, Kansas.
Prosecutors said there was no way Renee Pernice’s remains could ever be recovered and the Deffenbaugh landfill is her final resting place.
Clay County Prosecutor Dan White said he was satisfied with the sentence, although he wished the law allowed Pernice to serve more time.