ORLANDO, FL – A 72-year-old Florida doctor will spend slightly over the next decade in prison after pleading no contest to charges relating to the murder of his wife, which authorities say was carried out by way of smothering the victim with a pillow.
On August 5th, Dr. Thomas Wentzell entered a plea of no contest in connection with the murder of his wife, which occurred this past December, an act to which Wentzell had reportedly already admitted to committing when apprehended by authorities following his wife’s untimely demise, as reported by Florida's Local 10 News.
On December 2nd, 2024, Windermere Police responded to the Wentzell residence, where officers discovered 71-year-old Linda Wentzell deceased. During the initial interview with the deceased’s husband, Wentzell gave investigators a statement found to be “inconsistent with their initial findings,” with Wentzell harboring an assortment of various scratches and markings that he described at the time as having sustained while playing with the family dog.
According to local reports describing Wentzell’s wounds observed by police, he “was covered with bruises and cuts on his face, neck and arms,” which lacked the telltale signs of markings caused by a domesticated dog playing with their owner but rather “appeared to be defensive wounds caused by another person.”
Three days after Linda’s death, Ocoee Police officers responded to a 911 call to Wentzell’s office after he claimed to be suicidal to an acquaintance, allegedly telling the 911 caller that he “deserved to die” after admitting to murdering his wife. After officers brought Wentzell in for questioning regarding the incident, he reportedly confessed to smothering his wife to death with a pillow following an argument the two had one evening.
Following the police interview, Wentzell was booked into the Orange County Jail and subsequently indicted on second-degree murder charges. After entering his no-contest plea, Wentzell learned his fate on August 6th, with the judge presiding over the case handing down a 12-year sentence to the disgraced doctor. With Florida’s Truth in Sentencing law in mind, Wentzell would have to serve a minimum of just over ten years to be eligible for community supervision release.
On August 5th, Dr. Thomas Wentzell entered a plea of no contest in connection with the murder of his wife, which occurred this past December, an act to which Wentzell had reportedly already admitted to committing when apprehended by authorities following his wife’s untimely demise, as reported by Florida's Local 10 News.
On December 2nd, 2024, Windermere Police responded to the Wentzell residence, where officers discovered 71-year-old Linda Wentzell deceased. During the initial interview with the deceased’s husband, Wentzell gave investigators a statement found to be “inconsistent with their initial findings,” with Wentzell harboring an assortment of various scratches and markings that he described at the time as having sustained while playing with the family dog.
According to local reports describing Wentzell’s wounds observed by police, he “was covered with bruises and cuts on his face, neck and arms,” which lacked the telltale signs of markings caused by a domesticated dog playing with their owner but rather “appeared to be defensive wounds caused by another person.”
Three days after Linda’s death, Ocoee Police officers responded to a 911 call to Wentzell’s office after he claimed to be suicidal to an acquaintance, allegedly telling the 911 caller that he “deserved to die” after admitting to murdering his wife. After officers brought Wentzell in for questioning regarding the incident, he reportedly confessed to smothering his wife to death with a pillow following an argument the two had one evening.
Following the police interview, Wentzell was booked into the Orange County Jail and subsequently indicted on second-degree murder charges. After entering his no-contest plea, Wentzell learned his fate on August 6th, with the judge presiding over the case handing down a 12-year sentence to the disgraced doctor. With Florida’s Truth in Sentencing law in mind, Wentzell would have to serve a minimum of just over ten years to be eligible for community supervision release.
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