A jury trial is underway in Pennsylvania for a man accused of trying to kill his wife by rigging a tripwire at the top of a staircase in the couple’s home.
Prosecutors are alleging William Joseph Dankesreiter Jr., 63, intended for his wife, Laura, to fall to her death and collect on a $300,000 life insurance policy, according to a report in PennLive.
Fortunately, she managed to catch herself before tumbling down the wooden staircase, initially thinking her near-fall was caused by a loose piece of carpeting.
However, upon closer inspection, Laura Dankesreiter said she spotted a pair of metal eye hooks installed on either side of the doorway with a piece of fishing line stretched tightly between them about 3 inches above the carpet.
According to court filings, Laura Dankesreiter told investigators she tripped on something on her way down to the basement of her Derry Township home to retrieve something for breakfast from the freezer in October 2020.
“There was nothing accidental about this,” State Trooper Stephen Limani told KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh at the time, noting that her injuries would have been “catastrophic” had she fallen all the way to the concrete floor below.
In court this week, prosecutors painted a grim picture of the state of the Dankesreiters’ marriage, with witnesses testifying that William Dankesreiter was having an affair with another woman.
“His happiness and sexual satisfaction were more important than Laura,” prosecutors said in their opening statement Monday, PennLive reported.
According to reports, William Dankesreiter’s defense team intends to cast doubt on the alleged affair, and may even imply that Laura Dankesreiter set up the whole thing herself.
Court records state William Dankesreiter is facing charges of attempted criminal homicide, assault, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment.
