A fertility doctor who strangled his wife and then staged her body to make it appear as if she had taken a fatal fall down a staircase at their San Clemente home was sentenced on Friday, March 15, to 15 years to life in prison.
More than seven years after the death of 45-year-old Susann Sills, and nearly five years after the husband’s arrest, an Orange County Superior Court jury late last year deliberated for around three hours before finding Dr. Eric Scott Sills guilty of second-degree murder.
During Dr. Sills’ sentencing hearing on Friday in a Santa Ana courtroom, Susann Sills’ family members remembered her as a “dynamic person” who was filled with hopes and dreams.
Theresa Neubauer, Susann Sills’ mother, told Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick H. Donahue that “so much has been said about Scott during the trial and about what he did and what he did not do,” leading the mother to instead focus on her daughter.
“She was a vibrant, intelligent, witty adult,” the mother said. “She was hardworking and above all passionate. … She had dreams for their house, and for her children and her future.”
Frank Gaulden, Susann Sills’ half-brother, told the judge that while he believed “the verdict was the correct verdict,” it has brought “no happiness, no joy. …
“When she died it was like reading a novel and right when it starts getting good there is nothing but a blank page,” Gaulden said. “I just want as much as the law of California can do to give a sentence that is commensurate as much as possible with the life sentence we are all suffering.”
Susann and Eric Sills’ now-19-year-old daughter, Mary-Katherine Sills, told the judge that she had “experienced so much tragedy already” in her life, including the death of her mother, ending up in the foster care system after her father’s arrest and being pulled into the criminal case and trial.
She and her twin brother were 12 years old and both home the night of their mother’s death.
“I have been left orphaned and I’m so lost without my parents,” the daughter said. “I humbly ask for mercy and kindness to be shown toward my father.”
Dr. Sills, now 58, did not speak during the sentencing. He appeared to listen intently, at times nodding slightly or staring down with his eyes closed.
Eric and Susann Sills worked at the Center of Advanced Genetics, their fertility clinic in Carlsbad where he handled the medical work while she ran the business side. The family lived in an upscale San Clemente neighborhood.
On the morning of Nov. 12, 2016, Dr. Sills called 911, saying he and his daughter had woken up to find his wife’s injured body at the bottom of the stairs.
He claimed his wife, who had been suffering from migraines that weekend, was fatally injured in an apparent fall.
Law enforcement officials were not convinced.
Pathologists and investigators suspected that Susann Sills’ extensive injuries — particularly marks on her neck — didn’t match up to such a fall. Investigators also said they believed that Dr. Sills appeared detached during the 911 call and seemed to avoid performing CPR on his wife despite the urging of the dispatcher.
And the couple’s son told investigators that he had woken up early that morning to the sound of his parents arguing in another room.
Susann Sills’ cause of death was eventually determined to be strangulation. And after a lengthy investigation — including multiple rounds of DNA testing — Dr. Sills was arrested in April 2019 and charged with first-degree murder.
In the midst of an early morning argument while the couple’s children were sleeping in another room, Dr. Sills strangled his wife with either his hands or a scarf, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors.
The violent attack left small amounts of blood on curtains, a wall and a nightstand, as well as on the shirts both Eric and Susann Sills were wearing, the prosecutor added.
Faced with the question of what to do with his wife’s body and with little time or options, the prosecutor argued that the husband leaned on his medical knowledge and his awareness of what medications his wife was taking and about the migraines she was suffering and posed her body at the bottom of their stairs.
No specific motive for the killing was identified during the trial. Walker, however, pointed to several signs in the Sills’ marriage.
They were under financial strain, the prosecutor alleged, she was frustrated over her relationship with his older children from a previous marriage, and he was upset about a topless photo of her she posted in a chat room after losing a bet over whether Donald Trump would win the Republican nomination for president.
Dr. Sills, who did not testify during his trial, has repeatedly denied any responsibility for his wife’s death. His attorney, Jack Earley, described it to jurors as a tragic accident.
Earley argued the medications Susann Sills was taking for her migraines impacted her balance, causing her to fall down the stairs and to suffer a spinal injury that left her unable to breath.
The defense attorney argued that the marks on Susann Sills’ neck that were cited by the prosecution as proof of her strangling could have been caused by the family’s two large dogs pulling on a scarf she was wearing while she lay slumped unconscious after a fall.
Earley also accused investigators of immediately focusing their suspicion on Dr. Sills and argued that the pathologist eventually changed her findings to match the police theory about the death. The pathologist denied she changed course.
During questioning by the defense, the couple’s son backed away from the comments he had made to police shortly after his mother’s death about hearing an argument between his parents.
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During questioning by the prosecution, the twins said they remain close to their father.
Walker, during her closing arguments to the jury, questioned how the dogs could have tugged on the scarf without leaving any bite marks or rips in the fabric.
The prosecution had sought a first-degree murder conviction, which could have led to a 25-years-to-life sentence. But jurors ultimately found Dr. Sills guilty of the lesser count of second-degree murder.