Murder most foul: stunned, stuffed, and drenched in acid

Life imitates Gothic horror: a chemist killed her husband by plunging him into a vat of hydrochloric acid.  This short CNN story packs a lot of creepiness into a few words.  There's the classic pulp horror in the crime:

Prosecutors said Schuster and her former lab assistant, James Fagone, first immobilized Timothy Schuster with a stun gun and a chloroform-soaked rag. Then they bound his hands and feet, dumped his body headfirst into a barrel while he was still breathing and poured hydrochloric acid on him... [emphasis added]

One has to imagine the discovery scene.  Passive voice conceals much, here:

Just days after Timothy Schuster was reported missing, his half-dissolved remains -- intact from only the belt buckle down -- were found inside a 55-gallon barrel concealed in a storage unit his wife had rented.

Then there's the family horror:

Kristin Schuster, the couple's adult daughter, told the judge that she felt safer knowing her mother would be behind bars.

"I've been living for five years not knowing if I would have to worry for my own safety," she said. "In your quest to become a dominating power freak, you became your own demon. You have hurt me for so many years and probably smiled inside, but look who's smiling now."

(thanks to peg-leg-less Cranky Prof)

Comments

[Steve B]

Sounds much like a James Ellroy novel.

[Ruben]

In this case, I'd say life imitates EC - the only things missing are Jack Kamen's illustrations, and the strangled cry of "Good Lord!" uttered by the officer discovering the remains.

[Bryan Alexander]

Could well be, Steve B. Move the locale to southern California... add an anthropomorphic mouse, say...

Exactly, Ruben! A Crypt Keeper sarcastic comment, too.

[Andy Havens]

"Look who's smiling now..." by far the creepiest line in this sad tale.