American Bluebeard: Tim Boczkowski, 63, who was convicted of strangling two of his wives in two states in the 90s, could be released from a North Carolina prison
A convicted killer who strangled two of his wives in two states could be released from a North Carolina prison, potentially cutting short his life sentence after more than 22 years.
North Carolina’s parole commission said Wednesday it was collecting information ahead of a decision on whether to release Tim Boczkowski.
He also faces a separate life sentence in Pennsylvania, and North Carolina state prison officials said he would be sent there if he is paroled in North Carolina after a hearing, which could come as early as next month.
The commission weighs when to release inmates whose crimes were committed before October 1994, after which parole was eliminated.
Boczkowski, 63, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 for killing his first wife while the couple lived in Greensboro. Elaine Boczkowski was found dead in a bath tub in 1990.
Boczkowski killed his first wife, Elaine (left), in North Carolina in 1990. He then killed his second wife, Maryanne (right), in Pennsylvania in 1994
He was charged in North Carolina only after being charged with murder for the 1994 death of his second wife in Ross, Pennsylvania. Maryann Boczkowski was discovered in a hot tub at their suburban Pittsburgh home.
In each case, Boczkowski had taken out a large life insurance policy on his spouse.
Boczkowski was sentenced to death in 1999 for strangling Maryann, but that was thrown out by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2004 because prosecutors violated a judge’s order and allowed Boczkowski to be extradited to North Carolina.
Prosecutors then used his North Carolina murder conviction to qualify him for the death penalty in Pennsylvania.
Boczkowski was resentenced in Pennsylvania to a second life sentence.
The North Carolina parole commission offered no details Wednesday about how long their examination would take or when a decision was possible. The commission annually reviews all offenders eligible for parole.
Elaine, aged 34 (pictured above on her wedding day with her groom, Tim), was found dead in the bathtub in the Greensboro apartment she shared with her husband and their three kids
Tim was charged with murdering Elaine (left) only after being charged with murder for the 1994 death of his second wife, Maryanne (right), who was found dead in a hot tub
Boczkowski worked as a denture maker in Pittsburgh and ran a miniature golf course and ice cream shop in Greensboro with his first wife.
On November 4, 1990, the 34-year-old Elaine Boczkowski was found dead in the bathtub in the apartment she shared with her husband and their three children, then aged five, six and nine.
Tim told police he heard a noise in the bathroom that night and went to investigate, which led him to discover Elaine submerged in the tub, according to an article published in the Greensboro News & Record in December 1994.
Boczkowski, 35 years old at the time, claimed his wife, who was a devout Catholic, had consumed too much alcohol at a church event they had attended that night.
But blood tests showed the victim had no alcohol in her system and an examination of the crime scene indicated the tub had no water in it on the night of the woman’s death.
An autopsy showed that Elaine had bruises on her head and body, multiple crack ribs, vomit in her lungs and lines across her chest and abdomen, apparently from being pressed against the edge of the tub.
Boczkowski was sentenced to death in 1999 (pictured in court at the time) for killing Maryann, but that was thrown out by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2004
At the time, the medical examiner could not determine the woman’s cause and manner of death.
Boczkowski soon relocated to Pennsylvania with his two sons and a daughter, and in 1993 married Maryann Boczkowski.
Then on November 7, 1994 – just days after the fourth anniversary of his first wife’s death – Boczkowski’s new wife was found dead in the outdoor hot tub at their home in Allegheny County.
Tim told police he and Maryanne had gotten into an argument about her alleged drinking problem and that the last time he saw her alive, she was sitting in the hot tub alone sipping wine.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in a 2007 article that the 35-year-old Maryanne’s body was covered in some 50 bruises, most of them on her face and neck.
Police made note that Tim had scratchea on his neck and back, and that as his wife’s lifeless body was being taken to an awaiting ambulance, he remarked to an officer: ‘I hope they don’t try to put this on me.’
After Tim was charged with murder in his second wife’s killing in Pennsylvania, authorities in North Carolina reopened Elaine Boczkowski’s case and brought separate murder charges in connection to the woman’s 1990 death, which was determined to have been caused by asphyxiation.
Statements provided by Elaine and Tim’s children were said to have played an important role in charging him with murder in North Carolina.
Todd Boczkowski, who was five years old in 1990, reportedly witnessed his father holding down his mother in the bathtub the night she died.