A former U.S. Marine pleaded guilty on Monday to the second-degree murder of his wife on the night of their seven-year wedding anniversary.
Superior Court Judge Phyllis Gorham sentenced William Keith Waters, 49, of Castle Hayne, to a minimum of 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Emma Kay Humbles Waters, 56.
Emma Waters was killed Nov. 29, 2011.
After the plea, Betty Humbles Brown, Emma Waters’ mother, addressed William Waters in court.
“I come to you today as a brokenhearted mother. That I brought Kay into this world and you took her life. Why was it so necessary that you so brutally beat her that we couldn’t even open the casket at her funeral because she was so swollen and so bruised? Both wrists were broken—she couldn’t protect herself. Then, you stabbed her in the neck.
“Then you said, ‘If I had meant to do it, I would have done a better job.’ I don’t think you could have done a better job. I feel a hatred towards you. I feel sympathy, hurt and brokenhearted,” Brown said.
District Attorney Ben David said Waters was physically abusive to his late wife throughout their marriage, and he was convicted of strangling her in 2009.
Assistant District Attorney Lillian Salcines Bright said Waters said several times he intended to kill his wife, and he would probably use a knife.
The night of her murder, Emma Waters had planned to leave her husband for good.
New Hanover County Chief Public Defender Jenifer Harjo said William Waters suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and a dissociative disorder that causes him to black out. Harjo reaffirmed his long history of mental health disorders and substance abuse to the court.
“He acknowledges that he is 100 percent responsible,” Harjo said. “He said he is very sorry for what has happened…and she didn’t deserve it. He doesn’t know exactly what happened. He knows that he did something horrible. That he did something wrong…that it shouldn’t have happened,” Harjo said.
“While many men make a vow to love and protect, this defendant did not,” David said.
This case illustrates domestic violence has more than one victim, David said.
David said this sentencing is going to protect not only the community, but the “wake” of victims William Waters left in his path.
“Long before we hear about these cases, long before we have the responsibility of speaking for those who are now absent, there are tragedies that are being played out in the homes of this community.
“And so the cycle of abuse can be broken through reporting and through punishment, or it can tragically end after the abuse can no longer take place because the victim is no longer with us,” David said.
David said the second-degree conviction indicates proof of malice.
“There are some cases that leave a lot of questions more than they do have answers. There was no question about what this defendant did and that’s because of the outstanding investigation that we had, literally from the moment officers arrived until today,” David said.
For the victims in this case, David said there may never be closure. But from a legal perspective, “We have closure today,” David said.
