BOONE COUNTY, Ind. – A Boone County man who was convicted of killing his wife learned his punishment this week.
On Tuesday, a judge sentenced Andrew Wilhoite to 30 years in the Indiana Department of Correction for the death of Elizabeth “Nikki” Wilhoite. He was given credit for time served.
In April, a jury convicted Wilhoite of voluntary manslaughter. He had been charged with murder, but jurors struggled to come to a unanimous decision and eventually agreed that Wilhoite acted under “sudden heat.”
That led to a voluntary manslaughter verdict. While the 30-year sentence is the maximum under the law, a murder conviction would’ve meant a more severe sentence.
Wilhoite killed his wife in March 2022, about a week after she’d filed for divorce. Wilhoite told police his wife had gotten drunk, leading to a fight between them.
Nikki Wilhoite learned her husband had an affair, sparking the argument. Wilhoite said his wife started hitting him and he threw her out the front door of their home. He then claimed she charged at him, prompting him to hit her in the face with a heavy cement flowerpot.
She wasn’t moving or making any sounds after that, Wilhoite said. He put her in a truck and drove to a nearby creek to hide the body.
An autopsy found Nikki Wilhoite died from blunt force trauma to the head. She was battling cancer and had recently finished chemotherapy treatments before her death.
