A Cass County jury has found Matthew Stubbendieck guilty of assisted suicide in connection with the death of his girlfriend last year.
Stubbendieck was arrested in October 2017, accused of assisting in the death of Alicia Wilemon-Sullivan. Her body was found in a wooded area near Weeping Water last August.
During the investigation Stubbendieck contacted deputies and told them Alicia suffered from Stage 4 cancer. Stubbendieck told authorities she said she, "couldn't live another minute."
Stubbendieck told investigators that he had promised Alicia he wouldn't contact anyone for "five or six months" but he contacted the Sheriff’s Department and said, "this is destroying my family."
Autopsy results and medical records ultimately showed no signs of cancer. As the case went to trial this week the defense argued that Stubbendieck was caught in a web of Wilemon-Sullivan's lies. They say he loved her so much he would have done anything to help her feel better.
Investigator Doug Durkan read text message evidence from Wilemon-Sullivan. “’Guess I just wanted to die in your arms because that's the only peace I know or thought,’” Durkan read in court.
But prosecutors said any one of Stubbendieck's acts the day of her death should be sufficient to warrant a guilty verdict. They say he did nothing after she slashed her wrists and lay bleeding in a wooded area.