Hot-grease death: Wife charged after 40 years on run

Four decades after fleeing Texas authorities, an elderly woman accused of dousing her husband with hot grease is facing a murder charge in his death.

Mary Ann Rivera, wearing an orange prison uniform and wheeling around an oxygen tank, made her first court appearance Friday in Houston. She had her case reset to Nov. 15.

The ailing 76-year-old is accused of killing her husband, Cruz Rivera, in October 1970.

Prosecutors said Rivera threw hot grease on her husband after getting angry at him. He died days later from liver problems caused by his burns.

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Court records don't give a motive, and authorities say police were never called to the couple's Houston home for domestic violence.

Rivera was brought back to Texas this week after cold case detectives tracked her down in the small Georgia town of Lake Park.

'We understand'
Rivera had been a fugitive since 1970, when she posted a $10,000 bond and disappeared with her three children.

Authorities say she worked as a waitress, raised her children and made friends in Georgia.

One of her grandsons, who wanted to remain anonymous, told WCTV that he felt "no ill feelings toward her."

"We understand what she did, and she told us her side of the story," he reportedly said. "My grandmother was always there for me. She was always there for all of us."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44985845/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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