For more than two decades, Jack Potter had deceived people to believe that his dead wife, whose cut legs were found in a garbage container in San Diego ranch in 2003, was still alive, prosecutors say.
On Friday, one of the most disturbing cold cases in the region concluded when Jack Potter, 72, was sentenced to 15 years to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife, Laurie Potter.
Potter declared himself guilty of second degree murder and admitted to having scared his 54 -year -old wife until death in February, prosecutors said.
Laurie Potter, whose legs were found in a garbage container in 2003.
(San Diego County Sheriff)
For almost 20 years, prosecutors say, Potter lived great and benefited from Laurie's death as he intended to be alive. He opened fraudulently credit cards in his name and used a Family Court to sell his home in fear and bowling the profits, prosecutors said.
He met a new girlfriend in a Striptease club and gave him a SUV Hummer and a ski boat, leased an apartment and gave him a credit card with a $ 30,000 limit, prosecutors said. The bride shared her wife's name.
Potter expressed remorse during the audience on Friday, apologizing and saying that he loved his wife.
“I let my emotions overcome me that time,” he said. “I don't know why. It just happened and I'm sorry.”
A maintenance worker at the Country Hills Apartment Complex at Rancho San Diego had discovered Laurie's legs in October 2003, but the police could not identify it and the case was unsolved.
That was until 2020, when the new DNA research techniques led to an advance in the disturbing case of cold. The detectives directed the DNA of the crime scene through a national database and coincided with a distant relative.
Then, the detectives progressively asked closest relatives to share their DNA until, 20 people and six months later, they arrived at the adult laurie son. Their exhibition allowed them to identify Laurie and a later investigation threw evidence that connected her husband with the crime, according to a 2021 press release from the San Diego County Sheriff's office.
When Potter was arrested in 2021, Laurie's family, although he did not know his whereabouts, thought he was still alive, according to the Sheriff's office.
It was never reported as missing and without genetic evidence, the same technology used to identify the murderer of Golden State and dozens of cold cases, this murder would probably have been unsolved, said the sheriff's office in the press release.
Laurie's son, John Carlson, said during the Potter Judgment Hearing that he had lost contact with his mother, but had tried to contact her and renew her relationship.
Carlson said Potter told him that his mother “just wanted to be alone, which unfortunately believed. And this really hurts to this day.”
Laurie's case marked the first time that the San Diego County Sheriff's office tried to identify a murder victim using the investigation genealogy.
“This case is a marked reminder that the search for justice never stops,” San Diego Dist. Atty. Summer Stephan said in a statement on Friday. “And neither the pain of those who lose someone for violence. Today we honor Laurie's memory and we are with his family in his long -awaited moment of justice.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
