Booneville man pleads guilty to capital murder in death of wife

BOONEVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – A Booneville man will spend the rest of his life in prison for kidnapping and murdering his wife.

Mike Brian Rutledge pled guilty to capital murder for the 2017 death of his wife Laura Ann Rutledge.

In a confession to detectives, Rutledge admitted that while camping in the woods, he had “grabbed her [Laura Ann Rutledge] hands and tied them behind her back and then started stabbing her and then beat her in the head with a stick. After I killed her, I covered her up with a sheet and drug her off in the bushes in an attempt to cover up her body hoping no one would find her.”

Her body was found in the woods near North College Street, in Booneville. Her official cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and sharp force trauma to the head and upper body.

Detectives found a 10-inch knife. Mike Rutledge identified that knife as the murder weapon.

On Tuesday, a judge sentenced Mike Rutledge to life in prison, without the possibility of parole or release.