Woman gets 20 years for fatal stabbing in motel room

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – A northern Indiana woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to stabbing a man to death in his South Bend motel room.

WNDU-TV reports that Teri Rigley had pleaded guilty in January to voluntary manslaughter in last year’s fatal stabbing of Edward Pierce. She was sentenced Wednesday by a St. Joseph County judge to the sentence called for under her plea agreement.

South Bend police officers found Pierce dead last August in a pool of blood in his room at the Shirley Motel, where he had been staying for five years.

The South Bend Tribune reports a probable cause affidavit states that surveillance video showed Rigley was the only person who entered or exited Pierce’s room before his death.