NJ Man Sentenced To 30 Years In Prison In Frying Pan Murder Case

FREEHOLD, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) - A New Jersey man convicted of beating his wife with a frying pan and strangling her to death is going to prison for 30 years before parole.

A judge in Monmouth County sentenced 47-year-old Patrick Allen on Thursday.

Prosecutors say the former securities salesman had been trying to hide the family's financial difficulties from his wife, Kimberly. Prosecutors say the couple argued in 2011 as a mortgage company was about to start foreclosure on their Middletown home.

Allen told police he left the house after they argued and returned to find her near death.

Allen's attorney argued his client was about to come into some money that would have held off the foreclosure.

Before he was sentenced, Allen told the court he misses his wife daily and she was his best friend.

Her father told the judge his grandsons will go through life knowing their father killed their mother.

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