Yvonne Helen Cortis (pictured) pleaded guilty on Friday to beating her husband and dog to death with a metal rod in 2015
A Michigan woman pleaded guilty on Friday to beating her husband and their dog to death with a metal rod in 2015.
Yvonne Helen Cortis, was arrested on November 30, 2015, for beating her husband Gregory Cortis and their 11-year-old Labrador retriever to death.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Yvonne Cortis called 911 after the horrific incident and told police that both her husband and dog were ‘no longer suffering’.
She told investigators that her husband and the dog were both sick and she ‘was putting them out of their misery’.
The family said Gregory Cortis had Alzheimer’s disease.
When police arrived to the scene, they found Gregory Cortis still alive but with his ear sliced and a large gash on his head.
The family’s dog was also found alive, but unresponsive.
Two weeks later, on December 12, 2015, 68-year-old Gregory Cortis died.
In 2016, an autopsy concluded that he died from blunt force trauma with complications and ruled it a homicide, according to Freep.
At the time Yvonne Cortis (pictured in court on Friday) told investigators that her husband and the dog were both sick and she ‘was putting them out of their misery’. The family said Gregory Cortis had Alzheimer’s disease
When the dog was found, it was taken to the Veterinary Care Specialists of Milford. But in January 2016, it died from its injuries.
On Friday, Yvonne Cortis, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and killing/torturing an animal. She will be sentenced on January 3, 2018.
She faces up to life in prison for second-degree murder and four years and/or a $5,000 fine for animal torture.
Cortis’ lawyer was able to get prosecutors to agree to a plea deal, which is why she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
‘We were preparing to go to trial and were approached by the defense in the last few days or so about wanting to enter a plea,’ Paul Walton, chief assistant in the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, told Freep.
Walton said after speaking with the victim’s family and police, he agreed to accept the plea of second-degree murder.
On Friday, Yvonne Cortis (left and right, in court on Friday), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and killing/torturing an animal. She will be sentenced on January 3, 2018