PORTAGE, Wis. (WKOW) -- A Columbia County jury found a Pardeeville man guilty of first-degree intentional homicide in his longtime girlfriend's death.
A judge convicted Larry Manthe, 80, in the 2022 death of Alice Langer, 76, after the jury deliberated for a total of nearly 14 hours on Thursday and Friday.
The trial lasted for five days, including deliberations.
Langer was found on Oct. 6, 2022 in the shower of the home where she and Manthe lived with a handgun on her lap and a gunshot wound to the left side of her head.
Her death was originally ruled a suicide until the medical examiner said the gunpowder burns on her body discovered during the autopsy was not normally seen in suicides.
Prosecutors argued Manthe staged Langer's death. His DNA was found on the gun and ammunition.
A first-degree intentional homicide conviction comes with an automatic life in prison sentence in the state of Wisconsin. A judge will decide at sentencing if Manthe will ever be eligible to apply for extended supervision.
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