Ex-cop, 58, who beat his wife to death with a hammer and hid her body in their garage for SIX WEEKS sentenced to life in prison

A former police officer has been sentenced to 16 years-to-life behind bars for beating his wife to death with a hammer and then storing her dead body in their garage for six weeks.

Gary Stroud, 58, pleaded guilty last month to charges that he repeatedly beat his 53-year-old wife Diane in the head with the weapon in October last year.

He then wrapped her body in a sleeping bag and hid it in their garage in Mentor, Ohio, and told family and friends she had run off and joined a cult.

No explanation: Gary Stroud, 58, pleaded guilty to killing his wife Diane by repeatedly beating her in the head with a hammer. He is pictured at his sentencing on Wednesday

Six weeks later, their daughter Stephanie called 911 to report there was a stench coming from the garage, which she believed was due to a rotting animal carcass.

Police discovered the body, which was so decomposed that it was unrecognisable, on November 27, around six weeks after Diane Stroud disappeared.

Authorities said a plastic bag had been placed over her head, and it was duct-taped in place before the body was shoved into sleeping bag.

They were forced to use a Taser to subdue Stroud at the house as he initially refused to allow police officers to let them search the garage.

Murdered: Stroud, left, shoved the body of his wife Diane, right, in a sleeping bag and hid it in the garage



Stroud, who had worked for the Mentor Police and as a Lake County Sheriff's Deputy , was convicted of murder, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse and failure to report a death.



At the sentencing on Wednesday, Stroud said he loved his wife and apologised for killing her. He claimed he was recovering from a head injury due to a stroke when he killed Diane.

'We had more good times than bad times,' he said, the Ohio News Herald reported. 'I still feel Diane's spirit with me. Diane's death was not planned or wanted.'

Stroud's son Greg sobbed as he asked his father why his mother had to die in court on Wednesday.

'You were always a good dad. Mom was a good mom. I miss you both very much. I don’t understand. Why?' he asked.



Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson said Stroud never really explained what sparked the gruesome murder.

Grim discovery: Police found the body in the garage, left, last November after Stroud's daughter thought she smelled the rotting body of an animal. Diane had been missing for six weeks

Regrets: In court Stroud said he did not want or plan to kill his wife, who had served on the town's council

'He made a number of statements to the court, but they were inconsistent with the evidence that police found,' he said. 'Why don't know how or why he did it, except that he hit her 12 times in the head with a hammer and hid the body.'

Stroud worked as a police officer in Mentor from 1977 until his retirement in 2005.

In 2006, he started working part time in the Lake County Sheriff's Office, where he helped transport prisoners and with courtroom security.

He lost the job in September 2011, a month before the murder.

County records also show J.P. Morgan Bank filed a foreclosure action against the Stroud's house in August, 2011, The Plain Dealer reported.