Stephen Capaldi will spend 22 to 44 years in state prison after pleading guilty on Tuesday, to killing his wife, Elizabeth “Beth” Capaldi, 55, dismembering her body and hiding her remains.
Stephen Capaldi, 57, of 254 High St., Sellersville, entered guilty pleas to third-degree murder, possessing an instrument of crime, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, obstructing the administration of law or other governmental function and abuse of a corpse.
He was charged on Dec. 9, 2022, almost two months after his wife was reported missing from their Sellersville home. Her wallet was missing, but her keys and cell phone had been left at home.
Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Charissa J. Liller accepted Capaldi’s negotiated plea agreement.
Deputy District Attorney Mary Kate Kohler said the plea agreement was not entered into lightly by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, but it allowed “for swift closure for the victim’s family, which was one of the wishes of the family.”
Additionally, she said, as part of the negotiated plea, Stephen Capaldi fully cooperated with investigators, told them what he did to his wife and led them to her remains, allowing her family to give her a proper burial.
In December, Stephen Capaldi took police to Hog’s Island in Tinicum Township, Delaware County, near the Philadelphia International Airport, where some remains were recovered and “conclusively found” to be those of Beth Capaldi.
He also told authorities he disposed of some remains in an apartment complex dumpster in Lansdale, but the dumpster had since been emptied by the time police arrived, said Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub.
In addition to the state prison sentence, Liller also sentenced Stephen Capaldi to pay $8,308.50 in restitution to his daughter for funeral expenses, ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation and ordered that he have no contact with his daughter, unless she chooses to contact him.
In an emotional victim impact statement, their daughter said she has struggled every day since she lost her mother, who was like a best friend to her, the DA’s office said. Making it harder for her is that her father was the killer and lied to her for several weeks about what happened to her.
“My mother is dead, and my father killed her,” Emma Capaldi said. “I have the love of friends, family, even strangers, but my own father took the person who loved me most.”
While she said she cannot help but feel grief and love for her father, the daughter said “he should never be free from prison to finally leave my mother’s memory in peace.”
This investigation began on Oct. 12, 2022, when Elizabeth Capaldi was reported missing to the Perkasie Borough Police Department by her daughter. Elizabeth Capaldi lived with her husband, Stephen Capaldi, who last saw her in the early morning hours of Oct. 10, 2022, but never contacted police.
Stephen Capaldi killed Elizabeth Capaldi on the morning of Oct. 10, 2022, while she was sleeping in their bed, by strangling her and using a pillow to smother her, the DA’s office said. He then moved his wife’s body from the primary bedroom to a back bedroom and then the basement, where he dismembered her and disposed of her remains on Oct. 12, 2022, prior to ever meeting with law enforcement.
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