A woman accused of plotting the murder of a former employee and filing for his life insurance policy was found guilty of first-degree murder in Elko, Nev., on Monday.
After two days of deliberation, a jury in Nevada's 4th Judicial District Court delivered the verdict on 46-year-old Linda Walker Fields in Judge Michael Memeo's courtroom.
Jerry Palensky's body was found in the Jordan River on Jan. 14, 2004, and Fields was arrested in the slaying last November. Investigators believe Palensky, 61, was killed by blunt force trauma to the head, a blow that fractured his skull, Elko County Sheriff's Lt. Kevin McKinney told the Deseret Morning News in November.
Fields drove the body to Utah and dumped it in the Jordan River. When the body was discovered, she tried to collect on a $300,000 life insurance policy for which she was the sole beneficiary.
The policy was taken out in 2002, when Palensky, an immigrant from the Czech Republic, worked and lived on a ranch owned by Fields and her husband in Elko. At that time, Fields had obtained power of attorney over some of Palensky's affairs.
It is unknown whether she was planning to kill Palensky when the policy was taken out and it's also unknown whether Fields' husband was involved in the plot; however he is still considered by investigators as a person of interest.
Since the public discovery of the policy, however, several parties have expressed interest in the money, including family members still living in the Czech Republic. A lawsuit to determine how the money will be allocated is ongoing in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
Fields will remain in the Elko County Jail, where Memeo has revoked any eligibility for bond, until her sentencing hearing Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.
E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com