Woman found dead hours before sentencing for killing husband died by suicide, medical examiner says

FARMINGTON, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut woman found dead at her home last month only hours before she was to be sentenced for killing her husband died by suicide, the state chief medical examiner said Monday.

Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi, 76, was found at her home in Burlington on July 24 shortly after 10:30 a.m. when police officers went there for a welfare check.

She was to be sentenced at 2 p.m. that day for the 2017 death of her husband, Pierluigi Bigazzi, a professor of laboratory science and pathology at UConn Health. Police said she hid his body for months in their basement while continuing to collect his paychecks.

Kosuda-Bigazzi, who was free after posting more than $1.5 million for bail, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and larceny in March and agreed to a 13-year prison sentence in a plea deal.

According to writings found in her house, she said she killed her husband with a hammer in self-defense.

State troopers found her husband’s body in their basement in February 2018 during a wellness check requested by UConn Health staff. The medical examiner said he had died from blunt trauma to his head. Investigators believe he was killed in July 2017.

An internal investigation by UConn resulted in the disciplining of a school medical official who was supposed to monitor Pierluigi Bigazzi’s work but had no contact with him in the months before his body was found.

Kosuda-Bigazzi’s lawyer, Patrick Tomasiewicz, did not immediately return a message Monday. He previously said her death was unexpected and that “she was a very independent woman who was always in control of her own destiny.”

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Editor’s Note: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.