An AU alumnus was convicted on Jan. 16 of murdering his 91-year-old socialite wife, according to a report by NBC 4.
Albrecht Muth was found guilty of strangling and beating his wife Viola Drath in 2011 in their Georgetown townhouse, according to the report. Muth graduated with his bachelor’s degree from AU in 1991, the Eagle previously reported.
Muth did not appear in person during the six-day trial but instead communicated via video conference, the first time that the defendant has not appeared in court in a D.C. Superior Court. Doctors had proclaimed him unfit to stand trial in person because of poor health caused by self-inflicted hunger strikes, according to a report by the Washington Post.
The two were married for 20 years, and Muth was said to have acted more as a companion to Drath than a husband. However, prosecutors said he was also abusive and controlling, according to the Washington Post.
Muth denies murdering his wife, insteading blaming the tragedy on an Iranian hit job, according to NBC 4.
