A Gwinnett man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday for the 2011 murder of his wife, officials said.
Matthew Leili took two days to report his wife missing after her mysterious 2011 dissapearance.
He took another two days before filing for divorce on the grounds that 44-year-old Dominique Leili deserted her family.
She had not been seen for more than a week when family and friends gathered to search for her in July 2011. Minutes after beginning the search, a co-worker discovered a decomposed body under a piles of leaves in the neighborhood where the couple have lived nearly 12 years.
The trial started Monday and finished Friday with a conviction and life sentence.
Judge Randy Rich sentenced Leili of malice, aggravated assault and three counts of eavesdropping, Chief Assistant District Attorney Dan W. Mayfield said in a statement.
Detectives always suspected Leili in the death of his wife, but four years passed before the "right evidence" to file charges emerged.
“It was just the right combination of software and personnel in 2014 and they were able to get things off of that computer that they never were before,” Cpl. Jake Smith said. “We always had some evidence. We just didn’t have enough.”
Smith said the right forensic examiner and the right software finally enabled police to recover evidence from a seized computer that made detectives comfortable they had evidence to charge Leili with murdering his wife in 2011.
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