Doctor’s Body Wrapped in Plastic Bags for Months. Medical School Pays Him Anyway

It seems the University of Connecticut Medical School might want to rethink their competency in keeping track of folks they employ. They now realize they were sending paychecks out to one of their doctors 8 months after he'd . . . you know . . . died.

UConn administration did the right thing when they fessed up to police that, well, yes, they had noticed one of their valuable employees hadn't returned emails and phone calls since last summer. And that seemed kind of odd. But the man was temporarily working from home and, my oh my, doesn't time just slip away? It must have been fairly important work, since they were paying Doctor Pierluigi Bigazzi $200,000 a year. Eventually last month they asked police to do a safety check at his home in Burlington. Good idea - just 240 days too late.

Police discovered the doctor's body in the basement. He was wrapped tightly in black plastic trash bags and secured with duct tape. Investigators saw blood splattered on the kitchen ceiling and cabinets and walls. Who would do such a thing? Well his wife, Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi, had some pretty bizarre things to say about it all. So she's been charged with Murder.

Investigators report that Doctor Bigazzi, age 80, had been killed by multiple hammer blows to his head. That much was clear. They believe he had been lying on the floor of the basement since June 13 - the last day he was known to be alive, while his wife lived upstairs. We suspect watching those $16,000 automatic deposits into their bank account each month, might have eased her painful memories of bashing a man's head in.

Police said emails between the medical school and the doctor in 2017 did not reveal much forensic information. But they certainly showed that UConn had very little contact with the professor for much of last year. UConn President Susan Herbst ordered a review of Bigazzi’s arrangement with the medical school. There is no evidence that any staff member had heard from him after May 25 when he was last seen on campus.

In the months afterwards, Doctor Bigazzi was sent emails requesting that he attend several faculty meetings in November, December and January. He was absent from all of them. Investigators now know that the doctor's electronic pass key was used three times after he was already dead. They believe his wife, Linda, was trying to access his office, possibly to make it appear that the doctor was coming and going as he normally once did.

Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi, age 70, is free on $1,500,000 bail and now wears a GPS monitor on her ankle. In addition to her husband's murder, she also is charged with tampering with evidence.

“The university is conducting a review of the circumstances surrounding Doctor Bigazzi’s work, including what the expectations of him were and what efforts were made to communicate with him.” (UConn spokeswoman Lauren Woods)

Now there's a nifty idea, But here's a more pertinent thought: Let's say YOU bashed YOUR spouse to death with a hammer; hid the body for half a year in the basement so you could steal thousands of dollars from a prestigious university.

Do you suppose the court would send YOU home and say, "Hey! You're grounded."

You've just gotta love our liberal higher education programs, don't you?