Husband killed his hospitalized wife while she was waiting for dialysis because he couldn’t afford her medical bills

• Ronnie Wiggs admitted killing his wife in hospital
• He told detectives in Kansas that he couldn’t afford their bills
• He covered her mouth and nose while she lay in a hospital bed

A Kansas man charged with murdering his hospitalized wife admitted to police he couldn’t afford her medical bills.

Ronnie Wiggs, a 75-year-old from Independence, Kansas, appeared in court Monday on a charge of second-degree murder and was referred to the public defender’s office. Bail was set at $250,000.

On Friday, his wife was at Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence getting a new connection for her dialysis when staff responded to a Code Blue because she was unresponsive.

While doctors managed to restore a pulse, she was considered brain dead and they made preparations for organ removal that day. She officially died on Saturday.

After she was declared brain dead, Wiggs left the hospital but confessed to the murder after the woman’s son brought him back to her.

“I did it, I killed her, I strangled her,” he is reported to have said.

After his arrest, Wiggs told investigators that he covered his wife’s nose and mouth to prevent her from breathing and screaming, adding that he was depressed and unable to cope with care and mounting bills for her to deal with his wife’s treatment.

This wasn’t the first time Wiggs allegedly tried to kill his wife. He admitted trying to kill her while she was in a rehabilitation center, but she woke up and told him never to do that again.

He also admitted trying to kill his wife while she was in hospital, but said it was not possible because she was hooked up to too many monitors.

Ronnie faces 10 to 30 years in prison or even life in prison with the possibility of parole.

He has to go back to prison on Thursday, where his release on bail will be reviewed.