A 76-year-old Connecticut woman was found dead at her home on Wednesday, hours before she set to be sentenced for killing her husband and hiding his body for months while continuing to collect his paychecks.
State police said they responded to Linda Bigazzi's Burlington home for a welfare check around 10:37 a.m. Wednesday. Troopers found Bigazzi unresponsive and are investigating her "untimely death."
Her lawyer, Patrick Tomasiewicz, said her death was unexpected.
“We were honored to be her legal counsel and did our very best to defend her in a complex case for the past six years,” he said in a statement. “She was a very independent woman who was always in control of her own destiny.”
In March, Bigazzi pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection to the death of her husband, Dr. Pierluigi Bigazzi, 84.
The State's Attorney's Office said Linda Bigazzi was accused of killing her husband at their home on Smith Lane in 2017.
According to police, Linda Bigazzi wrote that she and her husband got into a fight after she told him repairs were needed to their home’s backyard deck. She wrote that he came at her with a hammer and she managed to wrestle it away from him during a lengthy struggle, authorities said.
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“I hit him just swinging the hammer in any direction + then he was quiet — for a few seconds + then he stopped breathing,” she wrote, according to investigators. “I just wanted to slow him down. I sat on the floor by the kitchen cabinets across from the stove — next to him for a long time.”
Pierluigi Bigazzi was found dead, wrapped in garbage bags and hidden under a tarp in his home on Feb. 5, 2018, after UConn staff who had not been able to reach him contacted authorities to request a welfare check, according to police.
Police believe he had been dead for several months before his body was found. The medical examiner said he had died from blunt trauma to his head.
It’s not clear exactly how long Bigazzi was dead before police found his body, but neighbors said they had not seen him for around six months and investigators said he could have been killed at any time between June 13, 2017, and Feb. 5, 2018.
His death was ruled a homicide and his wife was arrested days after the body was found.
Pierluigi Bigazzi was a faculty member at the University of Connecticut’s medical school for more than 40 years. He was an internist by training and he specialized in immunology research. He was previously an educator on pathology and oncology.
Investigators determined that Pierluigi Bigazzi's paychecks were being deposited into the couple’s joint checking account from the time of his death until his body was discovered.
UConn said in March 2018 that Linda Bigazzi had repaid the university $50,000 through her attorney.
