Wife Of Slain UConn Professor Found Dead On Her Sentencing Day

HARTFORD, CT — A woman who was to be sentenced Wednesday for manslaughter in the killing of her UConn professor husband in 2018 was found dead in her home about three-and-a-half hours before her scheduled court hearing, state police said.

She was also accused of not reporting the death while continuing to deposit his paychecks, according to case records.

Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi, 76, was slated for a 2 p.m. hearing in Hartford Superior Court to be sentenced for first-degree manslaughter related to the death of Pierluigi Bigazzi, judicial system records show. State police said that, at 10:37 a.m., the Troop L barracks were contacted by someone saying that Kosuda-Bigazzi could not be contacted at her home at 70 Smith Lane in Burlington, according to an incident report.

State troopers and local firefighters gained entry into the home and found Kosuda-Bigazzi inside, unresponsive, according to an incident report.

Police categorized the scene as "an untimely death investigation." The scene remained active into Tuesday afternoon and Smith Lane remained shut down.

Kosuda-Bigazzi had been free on a $1.5 million bond while awaiting her court date, according to judicial system records.

On March 11, Kosuda-Bigazzi, entered a guilty plea before Judge David P. Gold to the first-degree manslaughter charge, along with first-degree larceny.

She was arrested in February 2018 after her husband, who was 84, was found dead in the basement of the couple's Burlington home.

Police discovered the body while responding to a call for a welfare check at the home after UConn officials said they had not heard from him for several months, according to case records.

An investigation showed paychecks from UConn continued to be deposited into the couple's joint checking account from the time of his death, which authorities believed to be sometime in July 2017, until his body was discovered in early February 2018, according to case records.