Uxoricide
Encyclopedia
Uxoricide is murder of one's wife. It can refer to the act itself or the man who carries it out.
Known or suspected uxoricides
- Cambyses II of Persia married two of his sisters and installed the younger as queen consortQueen consortA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
of EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. During his insanityInsanityInsanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
, he murdered her for weeping for their brother Smerdis, whom Cambyses had murderedFratricideFratricide is the act of a person killing his or her brother....
. - Ptolemy XI of Egypt had his wife and stepmother, Berenice III, murdered nineteen days after their wedding in 80 BC. Afterwards, Ptolemy was lynched by the citizens of AlexandriaAlexandriaAlexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, with whom Berenice was very popular. - Herod the GreatHerod the GreatHerod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
had his second wife, Mariamne I strangled for suspected adultery, though she was innocent of the charges. According to JosephusJosephusTitus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
, regret over this act almost caused Herod to go insane. - Roman EmperorRoman EmperorThe Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
TiberiusTiberiusTiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
probably had his second wife, JuliaJulia the ElderJulia the Elder , known to her contemporaries as Julia Caesaris filia or Julia Augusti filia was the daughter and only biological child of Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire. Augustus subsequently adopted several male members of his close family as sons...
, starvedStarvationStarvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
to death in 14 AD, while she was in exile on Pandataria. Their marriage was unhappy, and he had been publicly embarrassed by her adulteryAdulteryAdultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
years earlier. Her alleged paramour, Sempronius Gracchus, was executed around the same time on Tiberius’s orders. - Roman EmperorRoman EmperorThe Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
NeroNeroNero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
ordered the death of his first wife, OctaviaClaudia OctaviaClaudia Octavia was an Empress of Rome. She was a great-niece of the Emperor Tiberius, paternal first cousin of the Emperor Caligula, daughter of the Emperor Claudius, and stepsister and first wife of the Emperor Nero...
, soon after divorcing her in 62 AD. He also reportedly kicked his second wife, Poppaea SabinaPoppaea SabinaPoppaea Sabina and sometimes referred to as Poppaea Sabina the Younger to differentiate her from her mother of the same name, was a Roman Empress as the second wife of the Emperor Nero. Prior to this she was the wife of the future Emperor Otho...
, to death in 65 AD after an argument. - King Henry VIIIHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
of EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
had two of his six wives executed: Anne BoleynAnne BoleynAnne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
on probably false charges of adulteryAdulteryAdultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, treasonTreasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
and incestIncestIncest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, and Catherine HowardCatherine HowardCatherine Howard , also spelled Katherine, Katheryn or Kathryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....
on the probably true charge of adulteryAdulteryAdultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
. - George Forster murdered his wife and child by drowning them in Paddington Canal, London: he was hanged at NewgateNewgateNewgate at the west end of Newgate Street was one of the historic seven gates of London Wall round the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. From it a Roman road led west to Silchester...
on 18 January 1803. - Edward William PritchardEdward William PritchardDr Edward William Pritchard was an English doctor who was convicted of murdering his wife and mother-in-law by poisoning. He was also suspected of a third murder, of a servant, but was never tried for it. He was the last person to be publicly executed in Glasgow.-Early years:Pritchard was born in...
(1825-1865) was an EnglishEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
doctor who was convicted of murdering his wife and mother-in-law by poisoning. He was the last person to be publicly executed in GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. - The Reverend John Selby WatsonJohn Selby WatsonThe Reverend John Selby Watson was a British classical translator and murderer. He was sentenced to death in 1872 for killing his wife, but a public outcry led to his sentence being reduced to life imprisonment...
(1804-1884) was sentenced to death in 1872 for killing his wife, but a public outcry led to his sentence being reduced to life imprisonment. The case is notable for Watson's use of a plea of insanity as his defence. - William Henry BuryWilliam Henry BuryWilliam Henry Bury was executed in Dundee, Scotland, for the murder of his wife Ellen in 1889, shortly after the height of the Whitechapel murders in London that were attributed to the unidentified serial killer "Jack the Ripper". Bury's previous abode near Whitechapel, and certain similarities...
(1859-1889) was executed in Dundee, Scotland, for the murder of his wife Ellen in 1889. He was suspected by some of being Jack the RipperJack the Ripper"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
. - Dr CrippenHawley Harvey CrippenHawley Harvey Crippen , usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopathic physician hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, on November 23, 1910, for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen...
(1862-1910) was an American homeopathicHomeopathyHomeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, England, on 23 November 1910, for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen. - George Joseph SmithGeorge Joseph SmithGeorge Joseph Smith was an English serial killer and bigamist. In 1915 he was convicted and subsequently hanged for the slayings of three women, the case becoming known as the "Brides in the Bath Murders". As well as being widely reported in the media, the case was a significant case in the...
(1872-1915), the "Brides in the Bath Murderer", was convicted and subsequently hanged for drowning three women, all of whom he had bigamously married, between 1908 and 1914. - Herbert Rowse ArmstrongHerbert Rowse ArmstrongHerbert Rowse Armstrong TD. MA. was an English solicitor and convicted murderer, the only solicitor in the history of the United Kingdom to have been hanged for murder...
(1869-1922), a solicitor in Hay-on-WyeHay-on-WyeHay-on-Wye , often described as "the town of books", is a small market town and community in Powys, Wales.-Location:The town lies on the east bank of the River Wye and is within the Brecon Beacons National Park, just north of the Black Mountains...
, was hanged for the murder of his wife by arsenicArsenicArsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
poisoning. - Dr Buck RuxtonBuck RuxtonDr Buck Ruxton , also known as Buktyar Rustomji Ratanji Hakim, was a Parsi doctor and murderer, involved in one of the United Kingdom's most publicised murder cases of the 1930s, which gripped the nation at the time...
(1899-1936) murdered and dismembered his wife in Lancaster, England in 1935. - John Reginald Halliday ChristieJohn Reginald Halliday ChristieJohn Reginald Halliday Christie , born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and '50s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London...
(1899-1953), an English serial killerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
active in the 1940s and 1950s murdered at least seven women including his wife Ethel in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting HillNotting HillNotting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
, London. - Charles WhitmanCharles WhitmanCharles Joseph Whitman was a student at the University of Texas at Austin and a former Marine who killed 16 people and wounded 32 others during a shooting rampage on and around the university's campus on August 1, 1966....
killed his mother and wife before going on his killing spree at the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
that killed 14 people and wounded 31 others, as part of a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the University's 32-story administrative building on August 1, 1966. He was eventually shot and killed by Austin police. - John Emil List murdered his three children, mother and his wife on 9 November, 1971. He was a fugitive for 18 years. He was apprehended on 1 June, 1989 after an episode of "America's Most WantedAmerica's Most WantedAmerica's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...
" was broadcast. On 1 May, 1990 he was sentenced to 5 life terms in prison. - Bradford BishopBradford BishopWilliam Bradford "Brad" Bishop, Jr. was a United States Foreign Service officer who has been a fugitive from justice since allegedly murdering five members of his family in 1976.-Known biography:...
murdered his three children, mother, and his wife in 1976. He was tried for homicide and sentenced in absentiaIn absentiaIn absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
, and has been the subject of TV shows such as America's Most WantedAmerica's Most WantedAmerica's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...
and Unsolved MysteriesUnsolved MysteriesUnsolved Mysteries is an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until 2002, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
. Bishop remains an international fugitive. - Philosopher Louis AlthusserLouis AlthusserLouis Pierre Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....
strangled his wife to death on 16 November 1980. He was not tried, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and was instead committed to a psychiatric hospital. He was discharged in 1983. - Actor Robert BlakeRobert Blake (actor)Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
was found not guilty of the 2001 murder of his wife Bonnie Lee BakleyBonnie Lee BakleyBonnie Lee Bakley was the wife of actor Robert Blake.-Early life:Bonny Lee Bakley was born in Morristown, New Jersey to arborist Edward J. Bakley and his wife, Marjorie Lois Bakley. Bakley had three other siblings: Margerry Lisa Bakley, Joe Bakley, and her half-brother Peter Carlyon from her...
, but was found liable for her wrongful death in a 2005 civil suit filed by her children from previous marriages. - Scott PetersonScott PetersonScott Lee Peterson , an American, was convicted of murdering his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child in Modesto, California, in 2002. Peterson's arrest and subsequent trial dominated the American news media until 2005, when he was sentenced to death by lethal injection...
murdered his pregnant wife Laci PetersonLaci PetersonLaci Denise Peterson was an American woman who was the subject of a highly discussed murder case after she went missing while seven and a half months pregnant with her first child. Peterson was reportedly last seen alive on December 24, 2002...
in 2002. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005. - Mark Hacking murdered his pregnant wife Lori HackingLori HackingLori Kay Soares Hacking was a Salt Lake City, Utah, woman who was killed by her husband, Mark Hacking, in 2004. She was reported missing by her husband, and the search earned national attention before her husband confessed to the crime.-Biography:Lori was the adopted daughter of Thelma and Herald...
in 2004. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2005. - Joe O'Reilly was convicted in 2007 of the murder of his wife Rachel at their home in Co. Dublin, IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, in October 2004. With the crime (Rachel O'Reilly had been bludgeoned to death with an exercise barbell) having been the focus of considerable national attention, an ostensibly grieving O'Reilly appeared (along with his mother-in-law) on an episode of the Late Late Show during the weeks that followed. It was not until some months later that police attention gradually began to focus on O'Reilly, with mobile phone records (he had claimed to have been at work, 30 miles away, at the time of his wife's death) eventually being used to secure his conviction. Not to be confused with Senator Joe O'ReillyJoe O'ReillyJoe O'Reilly is an Irish Fine Gael politician. A former Senator, he was elected at the general election in February 2011 as a Teachta Dála for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency.Born in Cootehill, County Cavan, he was educated at St...
, an Irish Fine GaelFine GaelFine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...
politician. - On 10 October, 2006, Hans ReiserHans ReiserHans Thomas Reiser is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer. He is the creator and primary developer of the ReiserFS computer file system, which is contained within the Linux kernel, as well as its attempted successor, Reiser4. In 2004 he founded Namesys, a...
was arrested and subsequently convicted of the murder of his wife, Nina Reiser. - Jesse AndersonJesse AndersonJesse Michael Anderson was an American criminal who was murdered in prison, along with infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver.-Early life:...
- Neil EntwistleNeil EntwistleNeil Entwistle is an English man convicted of murdering his American wife, Rachel, and their infant daughter Lillian on 20 January 2006 in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, US.-Early life:...
- Charles StuartCharles Stuart (murderer)Charles "Chuck" Stuart was a man from Reading, Massachusetts who murdered his pregnant wife and inflamed racial tensions in the Boston area by concocting a fictitious African-American assailant.-Murders:...
- Mark WingerMark WingerMark Winger, a former Springfield, Illinois nuclear power-plant technician, was convicted in 2002 of murdering his wife, Donnah Winger, and Roger Harrington , in 1995....
Uxoricide in fiction
- In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, uxoricide is a central plot point.
- Ingmar BergmanIngmar BergmanErnst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
's last film he directed, Fanny and AlexanderFanny and AlexanderFanny and Alexander is a 1982 Swedish fantasy drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was originally conceived as a four-part TV movie and cut in that version, spanning 312 minutes. A 188-minute version was created later for cinematic release, although this version was in fact the...
. - The titular character in William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's play OthelloOthelloThe Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
murders his wife DesdemonaDesdemona (Othello)Desdemona is a character in William Shakespeare's play Othello . Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a man several years her senior. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the...
, under the false belief that she had committed adulteryAdulteryAdultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
; similarly, Posthumus attempts to kill his wife Imogen in CymbelineCymbelineCymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
, also by Shakespeare, for the same reason. - In the famous fairy tale BluebeardBluebeard"Bluebeard" is a French literary folktale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...
, written by Charles PerraultCharles PerraultCharles Perrault was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , Cendrillon , Le Chat Botté and La Barbe bleue...
, the title character kills two of his wives. - Uxoricide is a key event in the legendary horrorHorror filmHorror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
/mysteryMystery fictionMystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
filmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
I Saw What You DidI Saw What You DidI Saw What You Did is a Universal Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford and John Ireland in a tale of murder. The screenplay by William P. McGivern was based upon the 1964 novel Out of the Dark by Ursula Curtiss. The film was directed and produced by William Castle, and co-produced by...
. - In the Agatha ChristieAgatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
novel Death on the NileDeath on the NileDeath on the Nile is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 1, 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.The book...
, Simon Doyle and his former fiancée Jacqueline plot to murder his wife, the wealthy Linnet. - In the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series, Colonel Saul TighSaul TighSaul Tigh is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Hogan. The character was named Paul Tigh in early scripts, and was renamed due to legal issues, according to producer Ronald D. Moore. He is one of the main characters of the show.-Overview and personality:Saul Tigh is a...
kills his wife, Ellen TighEllen TighAfter she is killed for treason against the resistance on New Caprica, Ellen resurrects aboard a Cylon ship, where John Cavil holds her prisoner. However, by downloading into a new body, she regains the memories that Cavil had blocked decades earlier...
, after she betrays the New Caprica resistance movement to the Cylons. - In the film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet StreetSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1936 British film produced and directed by George King.-Plot:The film features Tod Slaughter in one of his most famous roles as barber Sweeney Todd. Sweeney Todd was wrongly sentenced to life in prison. After his release 15 years later, he begins...
, Sweeney Todd, in a passionate flurry of murder, accidentally kills his wife under the assumption that she was just a witness to his many other murders. - The Death Metal comedy series MetalocalypseMetalocalypseMetalocalypse is an American animated television series, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, which premiered on August 6, 2006 on Adult Swim...
features a flashback in which William Murderface's father kills his wife with a chainsaw before turning it on himself. - In the horror film The StepfatherThe StepfatherThe Stepfather can refer to one of these films:*The Stepfather , the 1987 horror film*Stepfather II, the 1989 sequel* Stepfather III, the 1992 sequel, starring Robert Wightman and Priscilla Barnes....
, Henry Morrison murders his wife before assuming the identity of a real estate agent. - In Silent Hill 2Silent Hill 2Silent Hill 2 is a survival horror video game published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and developed by Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo...
, James Sunderland smothers his wife in an act of euthanasia after becoming fed up with her illness-induced moodswings as well as wishing to end her suffering. - In the Manhwa series PriestPriest (manhwa)Priest was a manhwa series created by Hyung Min-woo. It fuses the Western genre with supernatural horror and dark fantasy themes and is notable for its unusual, angular art style...
, Ivan Isaacs kills his love Genna after she becomes a still-intelligent zombie, an incident which drove him even more insane. - On the television show American Dad, the goldfish, Klaus, marries another bigger fish and has guppies with her, but out of annoyance of her bad habits (and eating their own guppies does not help), he kills her (the method for which was unseen) and asks to borrow Stan's shovel when he opts to bury her out in the Smiths' backyard.