Woman Who Pleaded Guilty in Fiancé’s Death Could Still Inherit His $490K in Insurance Money
January 26, 2018The family of a New York man is fighting his fiancée after she pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in his drowning death but still stands to inherit $491,531 in insurance money from his estate, PEOPLE confirms.
Vincent Viafore was killed on April 19, 2015, when his kayak capsized in the Hudson River after embarking from the shores of Bannerman Island near New Windsor, New York, while on a trip with Angelika Graswald.
Graswald, who had hoped to marry the 46-year-old Viafore, was originally charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in his death.
But in July, just weeks before her trial, she reached a deal to plead guilty to the lesser felony charge of criminally negligent homicide.
She admitted she knew the locking clip to Viaforte’s kayak paddle was missing, that he was not wearing a life vest or a wet suit and that the waters in the Hudson were dangerously cold and rough at the time they were kayaking.
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The Orange County, New York, District Attorney’s Office pointed to money as as motive for the slaying, saying Graswald, 37, would get a $250,000 insurance payout. She has steadfastly maintained she never intended to kill Viafore.
The nearly half-a-million dollars Graswald could receive — almost double what prosecutors had said — comes from accidental death insurance policies that Viafore took out. But his family said she should get nowhere it.
“We feel she doesn’t deserve it and we are doing to do everything we can to make sure she doesn’t get it,” Viafore’s mother, Mary Ann Viafore, tells PEOPLE of trying to block Graswald from the insurance money. “She has absolutely no right to that money.”
From left: Angelika Graswald and Vincent Viafore
Source: Facebook
When Mary Ann discovered that Vincent had died, “I was devastated, I am still devastated,” she says. “I lost my only son. He wasn’t a little boy, but when you lose a child, there is no comparison to losing anyone else. You never get over it.”
Graswald’s plea last year did not stop her from claiming the insurance money in the future. Her attorney, Richard Portale, declined to comment to PEOPLE.
In order to bar her, the Viafore family must prove that Graswald “recklessly” caused Vince’s death, according to a Jan. 16 ruling from Judge James Pagones of the Dutchess County, New York, Surrogate’s Court. A copy of the decision was obtained by PEOPLE.
A further hearing will be held on Feb. 27, according to Pagones’ ruling.
“She was definitely reckless,” Mary Ann tells PEOPLE.
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Angelika Graswald (right) in court in 2015
Allyse Pulliam/Times Herald-Record/AP
“She knew that by removing the [drainage] cap [on the kayak] that there would be a problem, and the pin from the paddle,” Mary Ann says. “Now she’s trying to backtrack and say the whole thing was an accident.”
“She didn’t admit she intentionally removed the drain plug so he could die,” Graswald’s attorney previously told PEOPLE. “She had taken it out sometime prior to April 19 and she didn’t know there was this risk.”
A native of Latvia, Graswald has been out on parole since her Dec. 21 release from prison.
Her attorney wrote in an earlier letter to the surrogate’s court that she “would be entirely within her rights if she chooses to lay claim to any and all of Mr. Viafore’s death benefits,” according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Mary Ann says Vincent’s sister, Laura Rice, filed a wrongful death suit against Graswald in late October.