Bergman to plead guilty
A photo of Charles Bergman taken by an ATM camera in mid-September and released by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office as part of a nationwide search.
FILE PHOTO
DAVENPORT — Charles R. Bergman, who has been charged with murder in the death of his wife, has agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder, according to Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Adam Walser.
“He is pleading guilty to murder in the second degree,” Walser said. “While the agreement must still be finalized by the court, the agreed resolution is 15 years (in prison) followed by community custody after that.”
Walser would give no other details about the agreement. Bergman is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30. His trial was originally set to begin on May 17.
Bergman, 54, is being held without bail in the Lincoln County Jail and was charged with causing the death of his wife Theresa after picking her up at the Spokane International Airport after midnight on Sept. 18, 2021. Theresa Bergman’s body was found by a farmer four days later on Stolp Road near Kintschi Road, northwest of Sprague, according to a statement from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Bergman, a Moses Lake resident, was arrested on Sept. 23 in New Stanton, Pennsylvania, by U.S. Marshals acting on the Lincoln County arrest warrant.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.