APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. — An Apache Junction has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife in 2020.
Carl Hansen, 33, was sentenced last week in Pinal County Superior Court after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder.
The defendant initially told police that he found his wife, 29-year-old Kassondra Maloney, deceased at the couple's residence near Ironwood Drive and Lost Dutchman Boulevard.
But an autopsy determined Maloney had died from blunt force trauma.
Investigators concluded that Hansen had repeatedly struck the victim's head with a cane, according to the Pinal County Attorney's Office.
According to the victim's obituary, Kassondra was a mother of six kids who enjoyed learning new things and dreamed of becoming a teacher.
"She was a talented lover of music. She mastered the art of flute and piccolo and long dreamed of teaching music in schools," the obituary states.
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