SAN DIEGO (AP) — A man accused of killing one of his two wives testified in court that he fatally stabbed the woman during an argument, then panicked and mutilated her body before burying her in the Arizona desert.
Sean Goff, 38, took the witness stand in his murder trial. Joy Risker, 25. disappeared on Sept. 19, 2003, after having dinner with Goff at the historic Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.
Risker was one of two women married to Goff, who confessed to the murder in 2003. Risker, Goff and Sheila Goff shared a home in San Diego. Risker and Goff had two children together, and Sheila and Sean Goff had one child together.
The defendant testified that Risker threatened him with a knife after they argued about her plans to attend beauty school.
“At some point, I took the knife away and I stabbed her again,” Goff testified.
Goff said he panicked and decided to cover up the crime by mutilating Risker’s corpse, including cutting off her fingertips with a meat cleaver. He said he then loaded her body into a plastic container and drove to Arizona, where he buried the body in the desert near Gila Bend.
Her skeletal remains were found in 2004.