Man Is Convicted Of Murdering Wife

TACOMA - A Bonney Lake man has been convicted of first-degree murder for strangling his 22-year-old wife last year.

Chey Uebler faces a sentence of up to 26 years, 8 months in prison when he is sentenced July 8 by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Terry Sebring. A jury convicted Uebler on Wednesday.

Defense attorney Brett Purtzer had contended Uebler, 23, was mentally ill when he put his wife, Rebekah, into a choke hold on April 22, 1996. But Deputy Prosecutor Steve Gregorich contended Uebler was sane and had planned every detail of the slaying.

Testimony indicated Uebler was involved in an affair with a 17-year-old girl, and had written to her several weeks before the slaying that his wife would be out of the picture within the next few weeks.