Man accused of killing wife battling cancer wins Indiana town board primary from jail
A man jailed in the death of his wife who had just finished chemotherapy treatment has won a Republican primary election in his Indiana town.
Andrew Wilhoite is accused of killing his wife, 41-year-old Nikki Wilhoite, McClatchy News reported. Indiana State Police say he struck her “with a blunt object” and dumped her body in a nearby creek.
Her body was discovered on March 26, about 18 hours after the search began, McClatchy News reported. Andrew Wilhoite was taken into custody later that day.
Before his arrest, Wilhoite was up for election on the Clinton Township Board. He remained on the ballot for the primary on Tuesday, May 3, despite being in jail until his trial.
The murder suspect received 60 votes and will be on the ballot for November’s general election to fill the town’s three available seats. Other winners in the primary are Bradley J. Smith (110 votes) and Michael Young (106 votes).
Wilhoite can remove his name before the June 15 deadline, but for now he is still allowed to be on the ballot despite the charge against him, Brad King, co-director of the bipartisan Indiana Election Division, told the Tribune-Star.
“There is no legal reason he can’t be a candidate,” King said. “Under our system you are innocent until you are proven guilty. If a person is convicted of a felony, then they are no longer eligible to be a candidate and are ineligible to hold office.”
A date has not been set for Wilhoite’s murder trial, according to WXIN. If the election takes place before the trial, Wilhoite can take his oath of office in jail, King told the Tribune-Star.
Nikki Wilhoite had filed for divorce with her husband a day before her last chemotherapy treatment in mid-March, WXIN reported.
“She’s fighting to stay alive, to see her kids grow up. To have it end like this, it’s just a tragedy that no one should have to go through. It just shouldn’t be that way,” childhood friend Mary Smith told WRTV.
Clinton Township is about 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Man accused of killing wife battling cancer wins Indiana town board primary from jail."