Man gets life for wife's slaying

ST. LOUIS -- A man who told police he poured glue down his estranged wife's throat before strangling her has been ordered to spend life behind bars without parole.

Donnell Winfield, sentenced Friday by a St. Louis judge, pleaded guilty in December to charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and endangering the welfare of a child. In exchange for those pleas, prosecutors abandoned plans to seek the death penalty.

An autopsy found that Brenda Winfield died of asphyxiation on Jan. 2, 2002. Duct tape had been wrapped around her head, covering her mouth. Police said Donnell Winfield, 33, told investigators he had poured glue down her throat and also strangled her with his hands and with a phone cord.

The victim's body was found by the couple's two sons -- then ages 8 and 10 -- in her bedroom.

The endangerment counts alleged that Winfield left the boys home alone after the slaying, police said.