Man accused of killing wife in Franklin County to be sentenced next month
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PRESTON — A man accused of killing a woman in Franklin County is expected to be sentenced next month rather than going to trial.
Douglas James Gildemeister, 56, was arrested last year for the death of Gail Gildemeister, 58. Social media showed the two were married. Court documents said he shot and killed his wife and failed to report her death for at least 12 hours.
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Douglas was originally charged with felony second-degree murder and felony failure to notify law enforcement of a death. He was also facing a sentencing enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon. He pleaded not guilty last year.
Last month, he took a plea agreement. He agreed to plead guilty, and the state reduced the original charge of second-degree murder to voluntary manslaughter and kept the charge of failure to notify law enforcement of a death. The sentencing enhancement was dismissed.
The plea agreement said the state will recommend for the first charge no more than nine years determinate and six years indeterminate. The defendant will agree to a minimum of seven years determinate with eight years indeterminate.
For the second charge, the defendant and state will recommend five years determinate and five years indeterminate to be concurrent.
The agreement is binding to the court.
Gildemeister is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. at the Franklin County courthouse.
He remains in the Cache County jail on a $500,000 bond.
Background
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, on May 1, 2023, a deputy met with Douglas after he requested to speak with law enforcement about a dispute that happened the previous night.
Police called it a “domestic violence incident” in a previous news release.
The deputy met with Douglas in an interview room, and Douglas said he did not do anything wrong. He said Gail pulled a gun on him and that she tried to “kill him,” court documents said.
Idaho State Police collected evidence at the scene north of Preston, where they found a woman’s body—which was Gail’s.
During ISP’s investigation, they advised of several concerns with the position of the victim along with other forensic evidence that they felt did not corroborate with the suspect’s statements that Gail pulled a gun on Douglas or that it was self-defense, court documents said.
Documents indicated that Douglas told witnesses an argument, and the shooting took place the night before reporting the incident. It is estimated that it was reported “approximately 12 hours later.”