Dr. Charles Friedgood, a Great Neck heart surgeon who was convicted of murdering his wife in 1976, has died at the age of 99, according to published accounts.
Friedgood’s daughter Esther Zaretsky confirmed her father died on May 19, 2018, in West Palm Beach, Fla., according to an article in the New York Times.
Friedgood’s wife Sophie suffered a stroke at the age of 33 and became invalid. Friedgood injected his ailing wife with Demerol, an opioid pain medication 15 years later – on June 18, 1975.
After serving 31 years in prison, Friedgood was released from behind bars in December 2007, the Times reported. At 89 years old, the Times said Friedgood was the state correctional system’s oldest inmate at the time.
Friedgood’s wife was found dead by a maid in the couple’s 18-room home in Great Neck around 1 p.m.
The Times reported Friedgood signed his wife’s death certificate himself and took the body out of state for an immediate burial, as is customary in the Jewish religion.
Five weeks after his wife’s death, Friedgood was arrested at the John F. Kennedy International Airport with more than $450,000 of his wife’s cash, jewelry, and negotiable bonds, the Times reported.
Prosecutors said Friedgood was on his way to Europe to meet with his mistress, with whom he had two children.
After a trial that spanned 13 weeks, a Nassau County jury convicted Friedgood on a second-degree murder charge for his wife’s death on Dec. 15, 1976.
On Jan. 26, 1977, Friedgood was sentenced to 25 years-to-life, the maximum sentence for a second-degree murder charge at the time.
The sentencing also included second-degree grand larceny charges.
Friedgood appeared before the Parole Board on Nov. 6, 2007, prior to his release from prison a month later.
According to minutes obtained by the Times, Friedgood told the board, “I can’t even at this time believe that I would do such a stupid thing, and it’s lust for another woman, greed for money,” he said, according to the minutes. “I can assure you I’d never repeat such a crime.”
Friedgood survived 11 years after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Friedgood was born on Oct. 3, 1918, in Toledo, Ohio according to the Times. He studied at the University of Michigan Medical School and served as an Army medic during World War II, the Times reported.
According to findagrave.com, his tombstone, located in West Palm Beach, reads “DOCTOR PAPA SON” and the epitaph reads “PEACE AT LAST”.
Efforts to reach members of Friedgood’s family were unavailing.
