What's Next For Angelika Graswald? Hudson River Kayaking Death Accused Pleads Guilty

Angelika Graswald pleaded guilty Monday to killing her fiancé Vincent Viafore in 2015 by sabotaging his kayak during a trip on the Hudson River. Prosecutors said she was charged with negligent homicide for pulling the plug on Viafore's kayak leading to his death by drowning.

Graswald, 37, admitted she knew Viafore was not wearing a life vest and that the locking clip to his paddle was missing, Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler's office said in a statement. Following the incident, which took place April 19, 2015, Graswald lodged a missing report for her husband-to-be. The victim's body was later recovered from the river, about 50 miles north of New York City.

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Graswald will be sentenced on Nov. 1, People magazine reported citing Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler, adding she could face 16 months to four years in jail. She could also be deported to Latvia as a result of her conviction. The deportation decision will ultimately be made by a U.S. judge, prosecutors reportedly said.

“While no outcome can compensate for the loss of a beloved son, brother, and uncle, this disposition will hopefully bring a measure of closure to the Viafore family,” Hoovler said in a statement. “This plea ensures that the defendant will be held criminally liable for her actions. By pleading guilty the defendant has acknowledged that Vincent Viafore’s death was not simply a tragic accident, but the result of this defendant’s criminal conduct.”

Graswald has remained in Orange County Jail since her arrest 11 days after the incident, but her attorney Richard Portale said Monday she “will be home in December.”

While the real motive behind the murder still remains unclear, officials said Graswald killed her fiancé for his $250,000 life insurance policy.

“We’ve maintained from the very beginning this was not an intentional act,” Graswald's attorney said. “Knowing what the weather was like, the size of the waves, knowing the water was at 40 degrees, Vince wasn’t wearing a life vest,” he said, adding: “All those things created a risk of death and she failed to perceive it.”

Speaking to People magazine in an interview Monday, Portale said: "She didn’t admit she intentionally removed the drain plug so he could die. She had taken it out sometime prior to April 19 and she didn’t know there was this risk. She failed to perceive this risk."

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Graswald and Viafore got engaged just weeks before the the Latvian national killed her would-be-husband. “She loved Vince very much,” Portale said. “I don’t think in her wildest dreams she would have thought her actions would have caused his death.”

In three jailhouse interviews with People magazine, Graswald had also said that Viaforte’s death was a tragic accident — and not a homicide.

“I’m numb. I’m devastated. The truth will prevail,” she told People in 2015.“I feel he’s always with me,” Graswald said at the time. “He’s with me here.”