The ‘kayak killer’ who caused her fiancé to drown by pulling the plug on his canoe in 2015 is trying to win half of his life insurance policy despite being convicted for his death.
Angelika Graswald was freed from prison in December, two years after watching her 46-year-old fiancé Vincent Viafore being swept away by choppy waters on New York’s Hudson River.
She pulled a drain plug out from his kayak and pushed a paddle away from him as he got into choppy waters.
Last year, the 37-year-old pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and she was sentenced to up to four years in prison.
Graswald, a Latvian immigrant, was released six weeks after her conviction based on the two-and-a-half years she spent behind bars waiting for her trial.
Angelika Graswald, pictured pleading guilty to killing her fiancé in July, is now trying to land $500,000 of his estate
Angelika pulled the drain plug out of her fiance Vincent Viafore’s kayak during a trip on the Hudson River in New York in 2015. She wanted him dead because she had grown tired of his incessant sex demands, it was claimed
Now, Vincent’s shocked family say she is trying to land $500,000 from his life insurance policy.
Because she was never convicted of murder, she may still be able to get the money unless Vincent’s family can prove that she ‘recklessly’, as opposed to accidentally, caused his death.
‘It’s been a nightmare for the last almost three years. She doesn’t deserve the money. She caused his death!’ Vincent’s mother Mary Ann told The New York Post.
‘Of course she was reckless. She removed the cap, and the kayak filled up and he went in the river.
‘And then she did something to the paddle,’
When Vincent died, his fiancée was named as the beneficiary of half of his life insurance policy.
Graswald pulled out the drain plug on her fiance’s kayak (pictured) which caused it to fill up with water. She also pushed away a paddle which he could have used to save himself
Viafore’s body was pulled from the river a month after he was reported missing by his fiance. By the time he was taken out, she had already been charged with his death
As soon as she was released in December, the woman’s lawyer Richard Portale took her for a steak dinner. He says she is within her rights to claim the life insurance policy
The total sum she would receive in the event of his death was $491,531. His mother and sister were listed as the beneficiaries of the other half.
They are appealing to a judge to side with them and issue an order which stops her from claiming the money.
Graswald’s attorneys told the court she was within her rights to ask for the money.
‘Ms. Graswald would be entirely within her rights if she chooses to lay claim to any and all of Mr. Viafore’s death benefits,’ Richard Portale, her attorney, said in a letter.
He could not be reached on Thursday morning.
After her release in December, Portale whisked Graswald out of jail and to an upscale restaurant where she ate steak and drank wine.
She was still wearing her prison trousers when she was released. She is now in a half-way house.
Prosecutors used Graswald’s social media posts as proof that she was happy her partner had died. In the days after his death, she posted happy videos and selfies
It is not clear how long the pair had been together when he died. Graswald is a Latvian immigrant and Viafore’s family are from New York
During the course of her prosecution, police uncovered diary entries she had made before Vincent’s death where she complained about his sex requests.
Vincent’s distraught mother Mary Ann is fighting Graswald’s attempts to get the money
They also pointed to selfies she posted on social media, days after he was killed, which they said proved she was happy he had died.
She maintains that his death was an accident and that she has been treated unfairly.
‘I loved Vince very much and miss him terribly.’
‘I don’t believe I was treated fairly.
‘This entire process was incredibly one-sided and unjust,’ she said in a statement which was read by her lawyer after she was released.
Had she been convicted of murder, Graswald would have been prevented from claiming the money under the slayer law which stops murderers profiting from their crimes by way of inheritance.