The plan was for Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi to be sentenced on Wednesday at 2 PM for the murder of her husband, Pierluigi Bigazzi. However, at 10:30 AM on the same day, the 76-year-old woman was found dead in her home in Connecticut, NBC News reports. The circumstances surrounding her death are described as “untimely” and are under investigation by the state police.

Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi had admitted to the murder of her 84-year-old husband, who was found in February 2018 after being reported missing by his workplace, UConn Health (University of Connecticut Health). Doctor Pierluigi Bigazzi was discovered wrapped in plastic and in an advanced state of decomposition in the couple’s home. Medical examiners determined that he had died from blunt force trauma to the head.

The murder occurred in July 2017 following an argument about repairs to the couple’s terrace. Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi explained that her husband approached her with a hammer, which she was able to wrestle away from him after a prolonged struggle. She then swung the hammer around and struck her husband in the head. In her confession, she wrote, “I just hit him by swinging the hammer in all directions. Then he was quiet—for a few seconds—then he stopped breathing.”

The police discovered the body only after UConn Health raised the alarm after paying Pierluigi Bigazzi’s salary for six months without having seen him. The salary was deposited into his and Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi’s joint account, which she did not address while continuing with her life.

Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi was facing a sentence of 13 years in prison for the murder, but her death now concludes the legal proceedings. Her defense attorney, Patrick Tomasiewicz, described her as “a very independent woman who always had control over her own fate.”