GEORGETOWN, Texas May 5, 2005 — A woman who helped her husband dig up a corpse and use it to fake his death in a fiery staged car accident was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison.
A jury sentenced Molly Daniels after she pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and hindering apprehension. She was also fined $10,000.
"This was a ghoulish, horrific crime," said prosecutor Jane Starnes. "I think it is unfortunate she could only get 20 years."
Officials said the body of an 81-year-old person was used in the fake death June 18, before husband Clayton Wayne Daniels was scheduled to report to jail for failing to report to his probation officer. He had been on probation for sexually assaulting a girl.
Clayton Daniels returned a few weeks later with a different name and his hair dyed black, prosecutors said. His wife introduced him as her new boyfriend to her 4-year-old son.
Defense attorney Thomas Vasquez argued that Molly Daniels acted out of desperation to keep her family together. "Her family was falling apart, and she had to take action somehow," he said.
Clayton Daniels is in jail, awaiting trial on arson charges.
Molly Daniels testified that she made plans for her husband to dig up the grave, then dress the body the way Clayton Daniels dressed. Then the body was to be placed in a car, pushed off a cliff and burned, she said.
"It was about keeping our family together," she said.
But prosecutors blamed greed, pointing to a $110,000 life insurance policy.
In court, investigators said the wreck had seemed suspicious from the start. There were no skid marks on the road, and an investigator found that the fire started in the driver's seat and was helped along by charcoal lighter fluid.
An investigator also testified that Molly Daniels was surprisingly calm when he interviewed her.
Searches of the couple's home and Molly Daniels' work computer also revealed a scheme to create a new identity for her husband, including fake birth certificates and a Texas driver's license under an assumed name.
