A New York mother and son were found guilty Tuesday of killing the mother's estranged husband and pouring acid on his face to make his body more difficult to identify.
Laura Rideout, 46, and her son Colin, 23, were convicted by a Rochester jury of second-degree murder and evidence tampering. Laura herself was also convicted of one count of second-degree burglary.
Another son, Alexander Rideout, 20, was acquitted of murder charges but charged with evidence tampering. Laura's 51-year-old boyfriend Paul Tucci was acquitted on both charges.
Responding to the verdict, Craig's mother Agnes told the Democrat and Chronicle, "Justice for my son - but those are my grandkids."
Craig Rideout, 50, was found dead, mutilated, and covered in tarp in woods near upstate New York's Finger Lakes (about 40 miles southeast of Rochester) in 2016 when a man accidentally discovered the body in the woods and alerted the police. When police arrived to investigate, they heard a cell phone ringing. It was Craig's, and still in his pocket.
According to prosecutors, Craig had been beaten and strangled in his home on July 20, 2016, while the couple went through a heated divorce. Evidence included video footage from Walmart, where Colin had bought a shovel and four pairs of work gloves the day before Craig disappeared. Another store's security camera caught Laura and Tucci buying drain cleaner, bungee cords, and tarp two days before the murder.
The shovel was later found near Craig's body, and the four pairs of gloves were covered in his blood. Witnesses told the police that Alexander and Colin had thrown a bag with solvents, drain cleaner, and gloves into a suburban Rochester park's pond the day after the murder.
Laura and Craig had seven children together.
The sentencing was scheduled for September 1.