Inmate 'Sent Victim's Widow Autopsy Photos'

She received disturbing package after father-in-law's conviction
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 11, 2016 2:57 AM CDT
Inmate 'Sent Victim's Widow Autopsy Photos'
This booking photo provided by the Yellowstone County Detention Facility shows James D. Sindelar, 74.   (Yellowstone County Detention Facility via AP)

It's hard to imagine a father-in-law worse than James Douglas Sindelar: Not only did he kill his own son, the Montana man is believed to have sent his victim's widow disturbing autopsy photos. Prosecutors say Victoria Sindelar received an envelope last month with a color photo of her husband's bloody body, two pages of black-and-white thumbnail autopsy photos, and a note reading "For Your Family Album," the Billings Gazette reports. It was sent from the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, where Sindelar, 74, is being held before he's sentenced for fatally shooting his son, Wesley Sindelar, during an argument last year.

The elder Sindelar was convicted of mitigated homicide in March, and authorities say he's the only person who could have sent the photos, which he could have accessed through his defense attorney before his trial. "Only the defendant would have had access to these materials at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility," Deputy Chief of Criminal Operations Christopher Morris wrote in an affidavit. Morris, who's seeking a handwriting sample to confirm that Sindelar is responsible, doesn't plan to file fresh charges, but he does plan to bring up the incident at Sindelar's sentencing hearing next month. (More Montana stories.)

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