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Guilty: Restaurant Owner Who Confessed He Cooked His Dead Wife's Body Convicted of Murder
Following three days of deliberation, a jury has found David Viens, 49, guilty of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of his wife, Dawn.
Dawn Viens was reported missing, and ultimately the investigation pointed towards her husband David, with whom she owned and operated the South Bay's Thyme Contemporary Cafe. Believing she had been killed, authorities dug up the recently-renovated restaurant's floor in hopes of recovering the body.
When a local paper revealed David Viens was a suspect, he fled from authorities, giving chase and hurling himself off a cliff. He survived the fall, but while hospitalized, admitted he killed his wife, then cooked her body over four days, then disposing of the remains in the trash and in the restaurant's grease pit.
The six-man, six-woman jury had the option of convicting Viens of first- or second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter; settling on second-degree murder, according to City News Service.
Sentencing has been scheduled for November 27. Viens faces 15 years to life in prison.
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