Docs: Husband plotted murder of Fla. doctor killed with hammer
BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. --New court documents released in the murder of popular Florida doctor Teresa Sievers allege the woman's husband plotted her death as their marriage dissolved amid affairs and financial troubles, reports CBS affiliate WINK. Also among the revelations in the more than 1,000 pages of new information released Tuesday -- the couple had five life insurance policies on each other totaling more than $4.4 million.
The documents, released by the Lee County State Attorney's office and obtained by the station, reveal gruesome new information about the woman's bludgeoning death inside her southwest Florida home in June. They also detail evidence against two men allegedly hired to kill her -- Curtis Wayne Wright, 47, and Jimmy Ray Rodgers, 25, both of Missouri. Her husband, Mark Sievers, who investigators allege "had direct involvement in the planning and execution" of the crime, has not been charged.
Mark Sievers' lawyer, Lee Hollander, told 48 Hours' Crimesider his client denies any involvement in the murder, but Hollander said he hadn't seen the new documents and couldn't comment on them.
Wright, who is reportedly Mark Sievers' childhood friend, and Rodgers, face second-degree murder charges in the case.
Teresa Sievers, 46, was discovered beaten to death with a hammer June 29 inside her Bonita Springs home. She was found with 17 scalp lacerations and multiple skull fractures, reports the station, citing a police probable cause affidavit.
Investigators allege the grisly crime scene was staged to look like a burglary, according to WINK.
Using rental car GPS records, detectives say they were able to track the movements of the two men charged in the case -- Wright and Rodgers -- near the time of the murder. According to the station, on June 27, Wright drove from his home in Missouri and picked up Rodgers -- about a half an hour away, also in Missouri -- and the two drove to the Bonita Springs home, more than 1,000 miles away.
They say Teresa Seivers was still away at a family gathering in Connecticut. The two were reportedly seen on camera at a local WalMart buying items including flushable wet wipes, 30 gallon trash bags, a lock pick set, black shoes, water shoes and black towels, the documents said.
The evening of June 28, according to the documents, Mark Sievers called Teresa Seivers' mother, Bonnie -- who was at the Bonita Springs home caring for the family pets while her daughter was away -- and asked her to leave the house alarm de-activated because his wife was expected to arrive later that night.
Detectives believe Sievers was murdered after she returned home. Neighbors heard screams coming from the home between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., reports the station. A family friend discovered her body that day.
After the murder, detectives say Wright and Rodgers returned to Missouri, reports the station -- but Wright later returned to attend Teresa Sievers' funeral.
Investigators say they spoke to Rodgers' girlfriend, who said Rodgers told her Wright was hired to kill Teresa Sievers for insurance money, and that Wright was to pay Rodgers $10,000 to help.
"This murder was committed in expectation of Wright getting paid an undisclosed amount of money from Mark Sievers and then in turn, he was to pay Rodgers $10,000 for his involvement," detectives reportedly said in court documents.
The girlfriend said that when she spoke to Rodgers about the murder, she wondered aloud if the woman had been shot to death. According to the court documents, she said Rodgers laughed, and said no, that he had "killed her with a hammer."
Investigators said they found evidence of Wright and Mark Sievers having been in contact using "burner" phones, disposable cell phones, since May.
Investigators believe the killing may be related to the couple's financial problems, reports the station. The IRS filed a federal tax lien against the two after they failed to pay more than $32,000 in income taxes in 2013, the documents said. According to the station, Mark Sievers told detectives the couple often lived month to month and didn't have a lot of financial stability.
Mark Sievers allegedly told detectives the couple both had affairs outside of their marriage and had experimented with "swinging" with other couples, but said he didn't believe any of his wife's other partners would harm her.
Five neighbors reportedly told police they heard the couple arguing. Mark Sievers reportedly told detectives that he was considering divorcing his wife, and a family friend told authorities Teresa Sievers was thinking about divorcing her husband.
Rodgers is serving six months in federal prison for a probation violation in an unrelated gun case. Wright was arrested in August in Missouri and has since been extradited to Florida.
