Docs: Lebanon man hit wife in the face with flowerpot, dumped body over bridge
LEBANON, Ind. (WISH) — Investigators say a Lebanon man admitted to hitting his wife in the face with a flowerpot made of cement, then dumped her body off a bridge and into a creek.
Andrew Wilhoite, 39, has been charged for the murder of 41-year-old Elizabeth “Nikki” Wilhoite.
Investigators say they were contacted on March 25 after Nikki didn’t show up to work. Deputies with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office went to the couple’s rural Lebanon home to conduct a welfare check.
Deputies say they arrived and were met by couple’s kids. Andrew later pulled up on a tractor, told deputies his wife was missing and said “they had a pretty good fight last night,” according to court documents.
According to online court records, Nikki had filed for divorce on March 17. According to court documents, Andrew told investigators that Nikki learned he was having an affair.
Investigators also spoke with Nikki’s father, Tom Richards. Richards said that Nikki had tried calling him repeatedly late in the evening on March 24. He said each time he tried to answer, she had already hung up. Richards also told a deputy that he thought Andrew might’ve harmed his daughter.
“Tom said that he knew that they had pigs and maybe he (Andrew) did something to Elizabeth,” court documents state.
Investigators searched the house, discovering blood on the bed sheets and pillow in the master bathroom.
Andrew later went to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office to be interviewed further. He told investigators the blood in the bedroom was his. He then asked for a lawyer.
After his attorney showed up, he told investigators that he “he wished to make a statement and that he would show investigators where Elizabeth’s body was,” according to court documents.
He said the couple got into a fight and he physically threw her out the front door of the house. He said she then charged at him. When she did, he said he picked up a “cement, gallon-sized flowerpot that had dirt in it” and hit her in the face, according to court documents.
He said he then picked up her body, put in his pickup truck and threw her body over a bridge and into a creek.
He then traveled with investigators to a bridge over Ross Creek near county roads 400 East and 350 North.
Her body was found in the water along the southern bank.
Wilhoite was charged with one count of murder. His initial hearing is set for Tuesday morning.
