Last year, former New Times news blogger James King wrote about Wade Ridley's arrest and subsequent confession to the February 2011 north Phoenix machete/butcher knife murder of his girlfriend, Anne Simenson.
Ridley was charged with first-degree murder in Maricopa County Superior Court, but the local case still was awaiting disposition as he sat in a Nevada prison after his conviction on another savage attack.
Last September, the 54-year-old was sentenced in Las Vegas to a term of 28-to-70 years for the attempted murder and armed robbery of an ex-girlfriend. That crime occurred one month before the brutal Phoenix killing.
Ridley confessed in the Nevada case to stabbing the ex-girlfriend with a knife until it broke, and then stomped on her head before fleeing.
Somehow, that woman survived. Sadly, Ms. Simenson in Phoenix did not.
Ridley told detectives that he had hooked up with his female victims through the dating website Match.com.
Well, the Phoenix homicide trial against Ridley isn't going to happen.
A spokesman for the Nevada Department of Corrections tells us that Mr. Ridley "apparently" committed suicide recently.
Public information officer Steve Suhe says, "The manner of death appears to be suicide. I have no further information or comment as the incident is currently under investigation."
Think of the savings to local taxpayers.
