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In June 2015, Mark Sievers called a family friend and asked for him to go check on his wife after she did not make it into work the day after returning home from a family trip. The story will be featured on tonight’s episode of 48 Hours.
At first glance, the case was nearly open and shut. Investigators discovered GPS data from a rental car used by two men the day of the murder as well as surveillance video placing the men in the area. By the time the case was actually closed, though, three men were implicated and convicted in connection with the murder.
Siever was found dead in her apartment by a family friend. She had been bludgeoned by a hammer, and her husband was later convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
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Though Sievers still maintains his innocence, a jury convicted him of hiring the men who killed his wife. According to police, Sievers recruited his childhood friend, Curtis Wayne Wright Jr. to kill his wife. He allegedly said that he would give him some of the money from the life insurance policy payout.
They said that Wright then recruited Jimmy Rodgers, who was a former cellmate of his, to help him carry out the crime. Authorities say that the plan was made in advance, leaning on the fact that Mark and the children remained in Connecticut on vacation as Teresa headed home to work.
Prosecutors argued the motive had to do with his wife’s $4 million life insurance policy as well as a generally unhappy marriage. Mark Sievers was charged with first-degree murder and the conspiracy to commit murder.
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Jurors deliberated for just four hours at the Lee County Justice Center before returning with a guilty verdict, according to News-Press. They also recommended death.
After being found guilty of first-degree murder and the conspiracy to commit murder, Mark Sievers was sentenced to death for first-degree murder. For the second charge, he was sentenced to 30 years, to be served concurrently.
Prior to the sentencing, he’d served over 1,400 days in jail, which he was given credit for. An appeal was automatically filed on Mark Sievers’ behalf.
Curtis Wayne Wright Jr was 51 when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. His plea agreement required that he provide substantial assistance to prosecutors against both Jimmy Ray Rodgers and Mark Sievers.
“Your lawyer did a good job for you,” Lee Circuit Judge Bruce Kyle told Wright after the sentencing, Naples News reported. “I don’t know if it was the position you were in was by luck or because it was pre-planned, but good luck to you.”
Jimmy Ray Rodgers was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of second-degree murder. The murder was committed less than a year after Rodgers was released from federal prison, according to WINK News.
Sievers is currently in Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
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