Bernie Tiede, the murderous mortician played by Jack Black in the film Bernie, sent back to prison by jury
In 1996, Tiede shot wealthy widow Marjorie Nugent four times in the back with a .22-calibre rifle, then hid her body in a freezer for nine months.
A jury on Friday sent a former East Texas mortician whose murder case inspired the movie Bernie back to prison.
Bernie Tiede was sentenced to 99 years to life in prison following a new sentencing trial for his 1999 conviction in the killing of Marjorie Nugent, a widow more than 40 years his senior.
Tiede, originally given life in prison, had been incarcerated nearly 16 years when he was temporarily freed in 2014 after his original prosecutor, Danny Buck Davidson, said he believed Tiede deserved a lesser sentence because of new evidence related to claims of sexual abuse that Tiede had suffered as a minor.
Tiede, 57, was a mortician at the Hawthorn Funeral Home in Carthage, Texas, a town of about 7,000 about 150 miles east of Dallas, when he met Nugent at her husband’s funeral in 1990.
The two became close friends and took lavish vacations abroad. Tiede became known around town for the gifts he gave himself and local residents – using Nugent’s money.
In 1996, Tiede shot Nugent four times in the back with a .22-calibre rifle, then hid her body in a freezer next to packages of frozen meat, pecans and corn. He carried on for nine months as if Nugent was still alive before authorities searched her home and found her body.
In his confession, Tiede described her as “evil” and asserted that he snapped under the pressure of her mistreatment.