DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A 57-year-old Sellersville man is on his way to state prison for 22 to 44 years after pleading guilty to killing his wife and dismembering her body.
Stephen Capaldi pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and four other charges, including abuse of a corpse, in a deal with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office that spares him a life sentence.
Capaldi killed his wife, 52-year-old Beth Capaldi, by strangling her and smothering her with a pillow while she slept in their bed. He then cut up her body and disposed of her remains in a dumpster in Lansdale and on Hog Island, Tinicum Township, near the airport.
The deal with prosecutors was for 20 to 40 years in prison because he led investigators to most of his wife’s remains.
Bucks County judge Charissa Laller told Capaldi she was reluctant to accept the deal, accusing Capaldi of “acting like a terrorist” by using his wife’s remains to negotiate a lesser sentence. Laller called him a coward for killing a woman while she slept, and a monster for lying to their daughter, accusing his wife of having an affair after she disappeared.
Related
Judge Laller did accept the deal, but she added another two to four years for the obstruction and abuse of a corpse.
Capaldi declined his chance to speak on his own behalf at sentencing, but when Laller asked him what possessed him to act like such a monster, he said he didn’t know and he was sorry.
Capaldi is not to have contact with his daughter unless she reaches out to him. Capaldi’s daughter told the court Oct. 10, 2022, is the day she lost both her parents. She said her mother was her best friend, and her father is the source of all the pain she’s living with daily.