Family Law

Divorcee Murder Suspect Retracts Confession

By ckramer

A man currently on trial for allegedly killing his wife after she served him divorce papers recently took back his murder confession.

Werner Lippe had married his wife Faith in 1990. According to an Associated Press article, Werner and Faith began to argue tremendously during the later years of their marriage.

Lippe allegedly had their 15-year-old son tape arguments he had with Faith in order to use them against her in the divorce proceedings.

Faith eventually served her husband with divorce papers. The two scheduled a meeting between them and their attorneys to hammer out the details of child custody and alimony. Both were issues that neither agreed upon.

But before they could have their meeting about the divorce proceedings, Faith went missing.

On October 3rd, Faith had missed several of her appointments. Werner later said the he saw her drive away in a SUV but he could not tell who was driving the vehicle.

Faith never came back home that evening and Werner became concerned. He visited a friend the next day and asked about the proper amount of time before a missing person’s report can be filed.

Later that day he called 911 and advised the police that Faith was missing. The police searched the Lippe household, but found no evidence of foul play.

It wasn’t until later that Werner confessed to his wife’s murder. He was speaking with his friend, James Learnihan, when he said he burned his wife’s body in a barrel he kept at his home.

But Learnihan was wired and police got a taped confession from Lippe.
Once the police confronted Lipped about the tape, he confessed again.
Shortly after his arrest, he changed his story. Lippe said that the he was scared of his friend and thought he was being framed. He only confessed again to the police because they were not listening to his pleas of innocence.

If convicted, Lippe faces 25 years in prison. Lippe had two previous marriages that both ended in divorce and neither lasted over two years.

Full post as published by The Divorce Blog on February 18, 2010 (boomark / email).