Husband found guilty of murdering his wife with antifreeze in 1998 for the second time after retrial

A Wisconsin man who was found guilty of poisoning his wife with antifreeze and smothering her in 1998 was found guilty yet again by a jury in his retrial. 

A Kenosha County jury found Mark Jensen, 63, guilty of first degree homicide on Wednesday in the killing of his wife, Julie, nearly 15 years after he was first found guilty. 

Jensen was the prime suspect in the 1998 murder after police found a letter from Julie saying that her husband had been behaving suspiciously following a brief affair she had and that he should be officers’ first suspect if anything happens to her. 

While the letter was not allowed into the court during the retrial, the jury still came to the same conclusion it did in 2008 after the three-and-a-half week trial. 

Mark Jensen, 63, was found guilty of first degree homicide on Wednesday in the killing of his wife, Julie, who was poisoned and smothered to death in 1998

Although Julie's death was thought to be a suicide, letters revealed her suspicions against her husband and pleaded that police should investigate him if anything happens to her

Although Julie’s death was thought to be a suicide, letters revealed her suspicions against her husband and pleaded that police should investigate him if anything happens to her

Special prosecutor Robert Jambois, who led the prosecution in the original trial and was at the Jensen home on the night of Julie’s murder, read the slain mother-of-two’s letter on Wednesday that led investigators to her husband. 

‘I pray I’m wrong and nothing happens. I’m suspicious of Mark’s suspicious behaviors,’ Jambois said reading the November 1998 letter. ‘If anything happens to me, he would be my first suspect.

‘Our relationship has deteriorated to the plight; superficial. I know he’s never forgiven me for the brief affair I had with that creep seven years ago.’ 

Prosecutors argued that Jensen killed his wife to make room for his mistress and that he searched the Internet for ways to make her death look like a suicide. 

They said Jensen poisoned her with anti-freeze, drugged her, and then killed her through asphyxiation inside their Pleasant Prairie home.  

Jambois characterized Jensen as a ‘blabbermouth’ and commended the jury for its decision, adding that he was proud to have worked on both trials. 

‘I didn’t know at that time it was going to take a third of my life to put Mark Jensen away. But it was worth it,’ Jambois told reporters. ‘And I would do it again if the opportunity or necessity arose.’ 

Following the verdict, Kenosha County Deputy District Attorney Carli McNeil said: ‘The defendant stole Julie away from her children, and her children away from her.’ 

Jensen’s defense opted not to speak with reporters after the retrial. 

Police found Julie dead in her home in Pleasant Prairie, where she lived with husband Jensen and their two sons. Prosecutors said Jensen poisoned her with anti-freeze, drugged her, and then killed her through asphyxiation

Police found Julie dead in her home in Pleasant Prairie, where she lived with husband Jensen and their two sons. Prosecutors said Jensen poisoned her with anti-freeze, drugged her, and then killed her through asphyxiation

Jensen did not have much of a reaction when the jury found him guilty on Wednesday

Jensen did not have much of a reaction when the jury found him guilty on Wednesday

Julie's brother, Larry Griffin, shared pictures of his late sister and said his family wanted to see justice for her and the letter sharing her final thoughts

Julie’s brother, Larry Griffin, shared pictures of his late sister and said his family wanted to see justice for her and the letter sharing her final thoughts 

As the judge read the jury’s verdict on Wednesday, Jensen kept a straight face and reacted with little emotion. 

More emotional were Julie’s family, including brother Larry Griffin who said they wanted to make sure his sister’s killer remained behind bars. 

‘We’re following through on Julie’s words, desperate words that she wrote on November 21st, 1998. If anything happens to me, he would be my first suspect,’ he told Fox 6. 

He added that he hoped Julie’s story could help victims of domestic abuse seek help. 

Larry hoped that Julie's story could inspire victims of domestic abuse to seek help

Larry hoped that Julie’s story could inspire victims of domestic abuse to seek help

Jambois said all the family wanted was Julie back and to tell their story, which was muddied when Jensen and the defense argued that she was suicidal and tried to frame him for murder. 

‘The tragedy of Julie Jensen is she can’t escape gaslighting even in death, even after all this time,’ McNeill told reporters. 

Jensen is scheduled to appear at a sentencing hearing on April 14. He faces life in prison without parole. 

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