A pig farmer from Iowa convicted of murdering his wife with a corn rake

A pig farmer from Iowa was convicted of first degree murder this week as part of the killing by a corn rake of his wife, allegedly having an affair.

Todd M. Mullis, 43, was convicted Monday of the murder of Amy Mullis last November on their farm about 40 km west of Dubuque.

The jurors delivered their verdict after about seven and a half hours of deliberations spread over two days.

Prosecutors have accused Todd Mullis of wanting to kill his wife for four years and complaining of having an affair with him. He was afraid of losing his farm if she divorced.

This claim was confirmed by Jerry Frasher, who said during the trial that he was having an affair with Amy Mullis.

"I know she was not happy," said Frasher, head of hog production. "She said that she felt like a slave or hostage in the vicinity. She said that she was missing [to leave Todd]. Once, she said she never found out [about the affair]she would disappear.

The authorities initially reported that Amy had fallen and landed on the corn rake.

Todd told the investigators that the couple's son found Amy impaled on the four-armed rake, which he had removed before driving her to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

But in December, an autopsy revealed that the woman had six perforation wounds, not four, and that her death had been described as homicide.

The police also revealed that Todd had searched online for disturbing subjects, including "organs in the body", "murders of unfaithful women" and "what happened to deceiving spouses of the historic Aztec tribes".

During the trial, Todd's lawyer suggested to Amy to surprise someone in the farm shed, forcing him to impale him in the back while Todd was working in a nearby barn.

The jury is clearly on the side of the prosecution.

The conviction for first degree murder forces Todd to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

With post son