Calif. Doctor Strangled Wife, Then Staged Scene as a Fall After Becoming Angry About Photo She'd Posted

Mar. 15, 2025

Susann Sills.Photo:Facebook

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A California fertility doctor was found guilty of murdering his wife and then staging the scene so it looked like an accident.

E. Scott Sills, 58, was convicted of one count of second-degree murder Tuesday in an Orange County courtroom in connection with the death of his 45-year-old wife Susann Sills.

Susann, a mother of twins, was found dead from what Sills initially said he believed was a fall in the early morning hours of November 13, 2016. Sills allegedly told deputies that he woke up to find Susann dead at the bottom of the stairs of the couple’s San Clemente home.

Prosecutors didn’t believe his claim and argued that Susann was strangled. They pointed to blood stains discovered on the wall and curtains in their daughter’s bedroom, where Susann had been sleeping because of a migraine.

“This man killed his wife and hid it, and he hid it pretty well, because it took a while to bring him to justice,” Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker told jurors, theLos Angeles Timesreported.

E. Scott Sills.Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty

Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty

Walker alleged Sills killed his wife during an argument and then staged her murder as a fall down the stairs, theTimesreported.

Text messages between the couple also showed strains in their relationship, theTimesreported.

“I will never be free, ever,” she texted, per theTimes. “You are killing me, don’t you see? … I just want out.”

An alleged point of contention between the couple was a topless photo Susann posted online after she lost a bet, prosecutors alleged, according to theTimes.

“Is that the reason he killed her? I don’t know,” Walker said in court, adding that maybe “he is done with her embarrassing him.”

Sills' defense attorney Jack Earley told jurors that Susann may have lost her footing on the stairs because in the days prior to her death she had been suffering from a migraine, hadn’t eaten and was on Valium and the pain medication tramadol, per theTimes.

E. Scott Sills.Orange County Sheriff’s Department

The couple worked together at the Center for Advanced Genetics, a Carlsbad, Calif., IVF & infertility clinic. Susann co-founded the clinic and Sills was the medical director.

According to the company’s website, Sills graduated from Cornell University in 1998 and is a board-certified physician and author with expertise in IVF, surrogacy and fertility surgery.

The website says Sills is also a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, American College of Surgery and the Royal College of Physicians (Ireland) and has authored numerous books includingFighting at the Fertility Front: A Navigational Guide to Infertility for U.S. Military, Veterans & Their Partners.

“He is among an elite group of experts who has published scholarly articles with both a Member of the United States Congress and a Member of the UK Parliament,” his company website reads.

According to an obituary in theLos Angeles Times, Susann was born in Philadelphia and was a graduate of South Fork High School in Florida. She attended George Mason University and received her MBA in International Studies from the University of Miami in 2000.

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Sills was charged in 2019 with her murder.

Sills faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 15.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

source: people.com