53-Year-Old Mays Landing Pleads Guilty In The 2022 Christmas Day Shooting Death Of Her Husband

Wednesday, June 5, 2024, 3:15 P.M. ET. By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

MAYS LANDING, NJ.- Atlantic County Prosecutor William E. Reynolds reported, on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, that Marylue Wigglesworth, 53, of Mays Landing, New Jersey, appeared in Atlantic County Superior Court and entered a guilty plea before the Honorable Donna M. Taylor, J.S.C. to one count of second-degree manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of her husband, David Wigglesworth, inside their Mays Landing home on Christmas Day 2022.

     In return for the guilty plea the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office will recommend that Ms.Wigglesworth be sentenced to a 6-year term in New Jersey State Prison subject to the No Early Release Act which will require Wigglesworth to serve 85% of her custodial sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Sentencing has been scheduled for August 20, 2024.

     The guilty plea stems from an incident, when on December 25, 2022,  shortly after 10:15 p.m., members of the Hamilton Township Police Department responded to a home on the 5200 Block of Somers Point Road in Mays Landing after receiving a 911 Emergency Call, requesting assistance for an injured man. Upon arrival, Police Officers found David Wigglesworth deceased from a gunshot wound. Ms. Wigglesworth was subsequently taken into custody and formally charged with David’s death.

     The Southern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined Mr. Wigglesworth’s cause of death to be a single gunshot wound and the manner of death was ruled homicide.

     During the plea allocation, Ms. Wigglesworth stated that before the shooting, she and her husband, David engaged in an argument. David physically assaulted Ms. Wigglesworth and threatened her with a firearm that he kept in their bedroom. Immediately following the threat, Ms. Wigglesworth shot David with the gun used in the assault. Investigating officers documented significant bruising on Ms. Wigglesworth’s body consistent with a physical assault.