Woman receives life sentence for husband's slaying

<p>A woman has received a life sentence in prison for killing her husband and burying his body in their backyard.</p><p>Chief Superior Court Judge Sidney Nation sentenced Elizabeth "Libby" Lathbury to life plus five years plus five years on charges of malice murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another person and false statement in connection with the death of her husband, George Dubois Lathbury.</p><p>Nation accepted a guilty but mentally ill plea from the 53-year-old and followed the sentencing recommendation that had been agreed upon by District Attorney Richard Read and defense attorney Paul Stalcup.</p><p>Stalcup said he believed the mental evaluation "speaks for itself."</p><p>Nation said the evaluation provided a factual basis for entering a guilty but mentally ill plea was appropriate.</p><p>Lathbury will be eligible for parole because she had no prior criminal record.</p><p>She was charged with shooting her husband three times in the head while he slept during the early morning hours of July 5 and then concealing his body in the makeshift grave in the backyard of the couple's Boar Tusk Road residence.</p><p>A cadaver dog found George Lathbury's body wrapped in a tarp and duct tape on July 28.</p><p>Lathbury initially told authorities her husband had left on his own because of a dispute over financial matters, but as investigators began examining the case, they suspected that she was not being truthful in her statements and that foul play was involved.</p><p>She disappeared after she was questioned by Rockdale County Sheriffs Office investigators and before a search warrant could be obtained.</p><p>After the body was discovered authorities said she became the prime suspect. A lookout was placed on her and the 1995 Chevy Blazer she was believed to be driving.</p><p>On Sept. 7, units of the Phenix City Police Department in Alabama arrested her after they responded to a suspicious vehicle call in the parking lot of an apartment complex and found Lathbury sitting in the Blazer.</p><p>Authorities said Lathbury never denied killing her husband and in a bizarre story said she did so because she did not want to have him embarrassed or possibly arrested as a result of financial problems.</p><p>While Lathbury was working as a bookkeeper, she had embezzled more than $2 million from an employer and reportedly funneled that money into her husbands business without his knowledge. The company did not seek criminal charges against Lathbury, but as financial problems continued to mount, she said she did not want her husband to be caught up in the difficulty and subsequently killed him.</p><p>"Ms. Lathbury gave a full confession and said she killed her husband to save him from embarrassment and shame," said Read.</p><p>"From the very beginning, she never denied what she did," said Stalcup. "What psychological snap caused her to do this is perhaps something none of us will ever know."</p><p>Jonathan Lathbury, the victims brother, said the long-term effect of the crime will never be completely removed.</p><p>"The ripples our family will feel from this will be something we will have to live with for the rest of our lives," he said.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc500)</p>