Woman Murders Husband So He Won't Find Out They Owe $1.7 Million To IRS

Murders A-Z is a collection of true crime stories that take an in-depth look at both little-known and famous murders throughout history. 

On May 17, 2005, two days before her 15th wedding anniversary, Amy Bosley was being interviewed by Kentucky police about the murder of her husband, Bill Bosley, who was shot to death after a supposed home invasion. Though investigators originally set out on a massive manhunt for the crazed killer, they ended up finding the murder suspect a little closer to the Bosley home.

Amy Bosley (née Pape) was born in 1967 and raised in the small town of Alexandria, Kentucky. She was the only child of working class family, and she didn’t come from a lot of money. Amy had dreams of a bigger life, and she studied hard to graduate high school as a top student in 1986. She then began taking business administration classes at the local community college. The 17-year- old worked at a local diner to support herself. One of her regulars was a man named Bob Bosley, a 23-year-old ambitious small business owner. When he was barely out of his teens, he had started his own chimney sweeping business. After years of working 12- and 14-hour days, Bob started hiring more employees and expanding into roofing work. He made a lot of money very quickly, and he invested his earnings in more than 20 rental properties.

The rest, according to Oxygen’s “Snapped,” he spent on “toys,” which he often flaunted. He bought cars, guns, an airplane and a large boat on Lake Cumberland. Bob worked hard and played even harder, and he was known for throwing ragers down on the lake.

Prosecutor Jack Porter told “Snapped,” “There’s a lot of skinny-dipping and things of that nature, you know, both men and women.”

Soon after Bob met Amy at the restaurant, they went down to his boat. She knew Bob was going places and wanted to be a part of it.

“She was being just as wild as he was. She was taking her top off just like every other woman was down there on the boat," Porter told “Snapped.” 

The couple dated for four years before they got married in 1990, which was the same year Amy also became the bookkeeper and office manager for Bob’s business. Prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass told “Snapped” that Bob didn’t want to be cooped up in the office doing paperwork. He wanted to be “out of the roofs with his crew. He wanted to be cleaning the chimneys, do whatever needed to be done to make sure the job was done right.”

With Amy by his side, the business continued to grow and succeed. In 1996, she gave birth to a daughter, and in 1999, she had a son. Amy was known as an incredibly caring mother and focused entirely on her children.

After 10 years together, their relationship changed. Instead of partying on the lake, Amy wanted to be involved with the kids and school. Bob worked hard on his business, and he wasn’t always available to spend the weekends with his family. According to “Snapped,” he’d still often go down to his boat to relax with friends. Rumors circulated that there were often other women going to the lake with Bob and that the couple may have had an open marriage.

Even though their relationship was unconventional to most, the two prospered. By the time Bob was 40 and Amy was 36, the couple began building a mega home with their fortune. They started construction on a castle-inspired home with stained glass, turrets and even a gargoyle. While their mansion was being built, they moved to one of the rental properties, a log cabin in the woods south of town.

In the early morning of May 17, 2005, police receive a 911 call from the Bosley residence. The caller Amy, who told the dispatcher her husband was struggling with an intruder who had broken into their home. The first call disconnected, and when Amy called the dispatcher back, her husband had apparently been shot by the unidentified man:

911: Is he in the house now?

Amy Bosley: He just left but he shot my husband!  Oh my God! He shot my husband!

911: He shot your husband?

Amy: Yes! Oh my God!

When police got to the scene, Amy told officers, “Oh he was shot, he was shot.” She explained that someone had broken the back window, and Bob got out of bed and intervened. The killer then shot him and escaped out the back door. The patrolman went past Amy into the bedroom to check on Bob, who was already dead. According to ABC News, he had been shot seven times.

Officers then checked on the kids to make sure they were OK, and then they tried to console Amy, calm her down, and take her first recorded statement:

Amy: (Wailing) Oh my God!

Cop: You didn’t see who it was or nothing?

Amy: It was so dark, and he stunk.. like it was a really awful smell… And, at first I didn’t realize what was going on, you know?

Cop: When he went out the back door did you see anything else?

Amy: All I know is I saw him heading towards the kitchen, and I was just thinking, “Oh my God.” Oh my God! I think I’m going to throw up.

To the first officers on the scene, Amy’s story seemed to add up. The Bosleys' cabin was in shambles, drawers had been ransacked, the back door was broken in and shattered glass was everywhere. As more officers converged on the crime scene, helicopters searched the woods for the suspect who fled out the back.

The more the police investigated, however, the more unusual the crime scene seemed. According to “Snapped,” everything was a little too perfect.

Officer David Fickenscher said, “Made for TV crime scene is the way I coined it, and, uh, it just didn’t fit the, fit the crime. Pills had been taken out of the bottles and dumped on the floor, there was money laying on the floor, drawers were open.”

Given the wild sexual history of both Bob and Amy, investigators first thought that maybe the intruder was an angry husband or lover. During their investigation, police also found graphic photographs of Bob with other women, and they were able to confirm at least one extramarital affair, according to ABC News.

The K9 team noted that they had left footprints all over the dewey grass around the back of the house, but none had been there when they arrived. Amy’s sister picked up the kids, and Amy went to the police station. She was emotionally distraught, nauseous and recounted the same story through tears.

The investigation took an interesting turn when detectives found four shell casings in the bottom of a washing machine full of clothes and water and detergent. If the intruder was running from the crime scene, it was unlikely that he’d try to pick up his casings and wash them. Investigators sent the casings to the lab and released Amy for the time being.

The crime scene appeared to be staged, but the shooting lacked a motive. Then, IRS agents showed up at police headquarters, and they were interested in the murder as well. Accoring to “Snapped,” the IRS had been investigating Bob not only for failure to pay taxes, but also for not reporting business income for years. He owed the government $1.7 million.

A month earlier, the IRS had visited Amy’s office and subpoenaed office records. According to the IRS agents, after following up many times, Amy never sent the records. On the day before the murder, IRS agents called Amy and demanded to speak to Bob.

According to officer David Fickenscher, “Amy said, ‘Well just a minute.’ So, a person got on the phone with the IRS agent pretending to be Bob Bosley. It was described to us by the agent as a woman trying to sound like a man.”

In turn, the agent demanded a meeting the following morning, May 17. There was no question that in the morning, Bob was going to find out the financial situation of the company. Investigators dug deeper into the company and found a disturbing image of her management. Amy had the mail held at a post office that no one but her could access. She kept all financial records far away from Bob and even had all calls made to his cell phone forwarded to her.

Investigators suspected that Amy had been using the money to fund their extravagant lifestyle and didn’t want to have Bob find out and divorce her and possibly lose the kids. Nine days after the murder, the forensic report matched the shell casings to the caliber of weapon that killed Bob.

They also determined Bob had been killed lying down with his back toward the perpetrator, while Amy had claimed the person was face-to-face with Bob. The following day, investigators arrested Amy and charged her in connection with the murder.

On September 21, 2006, Amy’s trial began. The prosecution was planning on calling two witnesses — Amy’s own children — to testify to the fact that they heard gunshots before they heard any sounds of the supposed break-in, like glass breaking.

This was incredibly damning evidence, but it would also be incredibly traumatic for a 6-year-old and 9-year-old to testify in court against their mother.

In the interest of protecting their grandchildren, Bob’s parents asked the prosecutor to cut Amy a deal. She was offered 20 years in the hopes she would take it and not have the kids testify. The final decision was up to Amy, and on September 24, she pleaded guilty in exchange for the minimum sentence of 20 years, according to ABC News. Amy Bosley will be eligible for parole in 2022. Bob’s parents have full custody of the Bosleys’ two children.

[Photo: Mug shot]