Man gets life sentence for fatally stabbing wife

An Oakland County Circuit Court judge has sentenced 47-year-old Ellery Bennett of West Bloomfield Township to life in prison without parole for the stabbing death of his wife.

The sentence was handed by Circuit Court Judge Nanci Grant on Wednesday, March 9 after a jury previously found Bennett guilty of the charge of first-degree murder.

The body of Bennett’s 46-year-old wife, Lisa, was discovered in their home in the 7100 block of South Oak Court East on Aug. 18, 2010.

West Bloomfield police were dispatched to the home after Ellery Bennett checked into Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak with stab wounds and told hospital staff that a victim could be found in the home.

According to Sergeant Bob Spencer of the West Bloomfield Township Police Department, a search warrant was obtained and evidence indicated that Ellery Bennett may have stabbed his wife and then himself in a suicide attempt.

Spencer added that Ellery Bennett had left notes at the scene of the crime detailing the couple’s financial and marital problems and that Lisa Bennett had filed for divorce.

Township police had previously stated that two of the couple’s children, a 10-year-old and a 20-year-old, and the victim’s mother were inside the home but had no knowledge of the victim’s death when police arrived at the scene on Aug. 18.

Ellery Bennett apparently used the victim’s vehicle to drive to the hospital, leaving the other family members in the home to believe that Lisa Bennett had left the home to go to work for the day.