Authorities: Marine confessed to killing wife

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Marine charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife had confessed to the killing in a 911 call, police said Tuesday.

Cpl. Cody Daniel Richardson, 22, of Carroll, N.H., was charged in the death of his 21-year-old wife, Jessy, Jacksonville police said. He was held under a $1 million bond in the Onslow County jail.l

Chief Michael Yaniero told a news conference that Richardson confessed to a 911 operator that he strangled his wife, but an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Yaniero said officers went to the couple’s apartment Monday and found the Marine officer outside and the woman’s body inside.

Authorities said the couple had an argument that resulted in her death and it appeared the woman had been dead for up to two days.

Camp Lejeune officials said Richardson is assigned to the 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, at Camp Lejeune. He entered the Marine Corps in August 2006 and was promoted to corporal May 1, 2008.

He deployed to Iraq in November 2007 and returned in May 2008.

Richardson is the latest Lejeune Marine charged in a domestic violence case.

Cesar Laurean, a former Marine corporal, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, whose charred remains were found in his backyard in January 2008.

Authorities have charged military personnel in the deaths of three other women in North Carolina.

Army Sgt. Richard Smith has been accused of hiring a man to kill his wife, Sgt. Christina Smith. Army Sgt. Edgar Patino has been charged with killing Spc. Megan Touma, who was pregnant. And Marine Cpl. John Wimunc has been charged in the death of his wife, Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc.

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