Soldier Sentenced In Death

FORT LEWIS - A 22-year-old soldier was sentenced yesterday to life imprisonment for murdering his wife by throwing her off a cliff in a plot to collect $300,000 in life-insurance benefits.

Spec. Clayton Kaspers also was ordered to forfeit all pay and allowances and was reduced to the rank of private E-1. Kaspers was found guilty of murder, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and adultery at a court-martial Thursday.

His wife, Rhonda Kaspers, 25, died June 6, 1992, when she fell 300 feet from a cliff above Rock Creek in the Olympic National Forest. Kaspers had taken out four life-insurance policies in the weeks before his wife's death.

Another soldier - Shawn Maciel, 23 - was convicted last month of murder, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the death. He also was sentenced to life in prison at Leavenworth, Kan.