After avoiding charges for 9 years, man indicted in his wife’s grisly 2013 killing

ADDIS – After law enforcement went roughly nine years without charging anyone in a vicious beating that left a woman dead, a grand jury has opted to charge her husband with murder.

Eddie Rinaudo was indicted Friday for second-degree murder in the killing. His wife, Sandra Rinaudo, was found dead inside the couple’s home in August 2013.

Despite two different coroner’s offices declaring Sandra’s death a homicide—citing several severe internal injuries—and family members calling for her husband to be prosecuted, no one was formally charged in the killing for years.

Officials said Friday that new detectives taking a fresh look at the case helped reopen the case. That’s what led to Rinaudo’s indictment Friday.

Sandra’s daughter, Ragean Bellelo, told WBRZ on Friday she was grateful for those at the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office and Addis Police who sought justice for her mother. 

Rinaudo’s charges carry a life sentence if he’s convicted.