Fertility doctor convicted of wife’s murder, after staging her death as an accidental fall down the stairs

Yesterday, California’s District Attorney’s Office for Orange County announced that a 58-year-old fertility doctor was convicted on December 19 of second-degree murder for the fatal strangulation of his wife whose body was found at the foot of the stairs in a staged accident at their San Clemente home back in November 2016.

E. Scott Sills was found guilty by a jury yesterday of one count of second-degree murder. He is now looking at a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison.  Sills is scheduled to be sentenced on March 15. 2024.

Background:  On November 13, 2016, Sills called 911 and said he awoke to find the lifeless body of his wife, 45-year-old Susann Sills, after she apparently fell down the stairs. Evidence presented at trial showed that she died due to strangulation and blood stains were found on a wall and curtains in their daughter’s bedroom where Susann was sleeping due to a migraine. A clump of her hair was also found in the room, indicating that there had been a violent struggle between the couple.

During the trial, Sills’ lawyer argued that Susann Sills’ history of migraines is why she was sleeping in a different bedroom and that painkiller meds she had taken on an empty stomach “could have made her disoriented” which caused her to fall down the stairs. The jury didn’t buy that theory.

Pathologists suspected that Susann Sills’ extensive injuries didn’t match up to a fall down the stairs, eventually determining that her cause of death was strangulation. After a lengthy investigation — including multiple rounds of DNA testing, Sills was taken into custody and charged with his wife’s murder in 2019, according to NBC News and the Orange County Register.

Orange County’s Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker of the Homicide Unit prosecuted the case.

“Dr. Sills was sworn to care for the sick and injured and his chosen profession as a fertility doctor helped bring so much joy to his patients but the woman he vowed to love in sickness and health was strangled to death by his own hands,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.

“Think of how diabolical you have to be – not only to kill your wife but to make it look like she had fallen down the stairs. It took calculated planning to commit this crime and worse of all he ruthlessly and selfishly murdered the mother of their children who now are left without their parents. I am grateful to the jury for the verdict and the diligent work by investigators and Senior Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker for holding him accountable for his reprehensible act.”

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(Source: District Attorney’s Office for Orange County)

Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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