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Woman Who Sabotaged Fiance’s Kayak Had Been ‘Growing Tired Of His Sex Demands’
She also wanted his insurance money.
New details have been released about the motives of Angelika Graswald, the bride-to-be who was convicted of negligent homicide in the 2015 drowning death of her fiance Vincent Viafore.
Police released details about an 11-hour interview with police, in which Graswald revealed why she sabotaged Viafore’s kayak. According to the Daily Mail, Graswald was allegedly sick of Viafore’s “sex demands.”
Graswald, 37, who was released on parole from jail just six weeks after entering it, claimed that she and Viafore, 46, fought often about his requests for threesomes and other sexual adventures.
“I wanted to be free,” she told police.
Another motive behind the murder was not sexual in nature: it was the $250,000 that Graswald wanted from her fiance’s life insurance policies.
After pleading guilty to negligent homicide, Graswald was sentenced to 1⅓ to 4 years in state prison in 2017.
In April 2015, Graswald and Viafore shared drinks in Poughkeepsie, New York before kayaking on the Hudson River. Viafore’s boat capsized and his body was found weeks later. It seemed like an accident at first. Police grew increasingly suspicious, however, of the Latvia-born Graswald after she posted images of herself, including a video of her doing cartwheels, after Viafore’s death. She also posted jovial images from the kayaking excursion.
Graswald also gave conflicting statements about her partner’s death during a police interrogation, according to the Washington Post. Eventually she confessed. The Associated Press reports Graswald admitted during one interrogation that she had removed a plug from the kayak. According to the Daily Mail, she told police that her intention was for him to die.
“I wanted him dead, and now he’s gone and I’m fine with it,” she said during that interrogation but in a statement later read in court by Graswald’s lawyer she said, “I loved Vince very much and miss him terribly. I don’t believe I was treated fairly. This entire process was incredibly one-sided and unjust.”
In an interview with 20/20, she claimed innocence. She said she didn't do anything to kill him and that rather he drowned in an accident.
Viafore’s family was also unhappy with the court system in this case. They believe that Graswald should have to serve more time. She will be spending less than two years in a halfway house before a judge has to decide whether or not she will be deported.
[Photo: New York State Police]
