Amber Hilberling, the 25-year-old woman convicted of second-degree murder for pushing her US Air Force husband to his death from their 25th floor apartment in Tulsa, has been found dead in her prison cell.
Terri Watkins, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections said that Amber Hilberling was pronounced dead at 5:33 p.m. on Monday at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center. Hilberling was serving a 25-year prison sentence for killing her husband in 2011.
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The DOC Inspector general is investigating Hilberling’s death, state medical examiner’s office will determine Amber’s cause, according to Ms. Watkins.
While there has been no confirmation as of yet, a source who identified themselves as a prison official told News 9 that Hilberling was found hanging in her jail cell in an apparent suicide.
Bryan Whitlock, Amber’s stepfather, believes that the medical staff at the facility are treating her death as a suicide. However, he says there was “no way” that Amber would have killed herself considering she was planning on telling her side of the story in a planned interview. Whitlock also mentioned that in addition to taking college courses and speaking daily to her son, Levi.
When Amber Hilberling was being tried in court, the prosecutors alleged that she shoved her husband through the window after the couple had a disagreement about splitting up.
At the time of Joshua Hilberling’s death, Amber was only 19 and was seven months pregnant with their second child.
During Amber’s trial in 2013, she argued that Joshua’s death was the result of “unusually thin” windows in the couple’s apartment.
Joshua Hilberling’s family testified in court that on the eve of his murder, the Air Force veteran was planning to leave Amber and had packed his bags. He reportedly had suffered abuse at her hands, and he had obtained an emergency protective order against his wife a month before his death. Joshua alleged that Amber threw a lamp at his head, leaving him requiring stitches, according to Daily Mail.
When the couple missed their court date, the protective order was dismissed.
A month later, Joshua’s body was discovered crumpled on the roof of the garage at the apartment building.
In April of 2013, Amber chose to reject several plea deals from the prosecutors and take her case to trial. The decision backfired and she was slapped with a length prison sentence and a guilty verdict.
What are your thoughts about the death of 25-year-old Amber Hilberling?
[H/T Daily Mail, News 9]
