Days before his trial was to begin, the Kansas City North man accused of killing his wife in 2009 has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge than that of first degree murder.
39-year-old Shon Pernice gave a surprise plea this afternoon at the Clay County Courthouse in Liberty.
Shon Pernice admitted to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Renee Pernice.
Kansas City Police had suspected she’d been killed although the 35-year-old nurse’s body hadn’t been found. It never has been.
Lack of a body made prosecution much more difficult. Detectives had tracked Pernice after discovering he had acid washed his garage floor in the dead of winter. The GPS tracking mechanism led police to some revelations.
KCUR learned that surveillance video showed Pernice and a woman hugging and kissing in a casino hotel elevator within days of the wife’s disappearance. The woman was later identified as a Kansas school teacher and she testified to a grand jury about terms of her relationship with the accused. That evidence, as well as blown up photos of the couple, were expected to be revealed if there was a trial.
Renee Pernice had begun divorce proceedings when she disappeared in early January 2009.
The murdered woman’s family this afternoon retracted a $25 thousand reward offered for locating her.