Man gets 22 years in wife’s death in Henrico

By Bill Mckelway

Published: January 7, 2009

When his brother's dog was near death, Michael Ingram drove three hours to be by his brother's side.

And when his wife's sister died, the kindhearted restaurant manager surrendered a chunk of his freedom to take on the adoption of the woman's twin daughters.

But yesterday, after a five-hour sentencing hearing filled with talk of bitter anger and marital infidelity, a Henrico County judge sentenced Ingram to 22 years in prison for murdering what he said he loved most: his wife.

Prosecutor Paul Cushman told the court that in the early hours of Feb. 6 last year, Ingram crushed Jamey Ingram's throat with his hands, rendering her unconscious in the couple's home near Regency Square.

He went to the kitchen, secured a knife and cut her throat.

Ingram then fled the house, leaving his wife to choke to death on her own blood, Cushman said.

Hours later, a detective reached Ingram in his truck by cell phone.

Dazed from alcohol and drugs, Ingram managed a persistent question:

"Is she dead?"

Ingram, now 37, was the manager of a Chester restaurant. Before turning on his wife, he had battled depression and addictions to pain medications and survived three suicide attempts.

In September, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, a crime that the prosecution said bordered on first-degree murder and the defense said was almost a textbook case of a crime of passion.

Ingram's 31-year-old wife, an energetic businesswoman who worked for CarMax, was having an affair with a co-worker.

Things exploded early one morning when she returned from a West Coast business trip. Her husband intercepted a text message from his wife's lover.

"Good morning, beautiful," the message read.

That was enough to begin a vicious fight, even though Ingram was unaware that the message had come after a quick tryst at the airport.

Defense lawyer Craig Cooley said Ingram was acting out of passion, forsaken by the love of his life.

According to Cooley, the knife wound occurred after Jamey Ingram revived and thrust the knife at her husband. He grabbed her hand, inadvertently directing the weapon back to his wife's throat, Cooley said.

"This is out of the movies," retorted Cushman, condemning the theory. "This isn't real-life."

In a tearful last statement, Ingram referred to the twin sisters who have now lost two mothers: "I know the girls are the ones who are hurt the most."
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .