American Monster is investigating the murder of Sherri Ponsati, who the police believe was beaten to death by her husband, Mark Eric Ponsati, at their home in Gilbert, Arizona.
The couple’s two young children were in the house at the time of the murder but are thought to have slept through the murder.
Ponsati claimed his 33-year-old wife had slipped on a wet floor in the bathroom, but detectives concluded that he staged her murder to look like an accident.
The Gilbert cops initially thought it possible Sherri had died in a tragic accident, but their suspicions about Ponsati’s odd behavior were heightened when friends and family members said the couple had been having marriage problems. One witness even claimed Ponsati had threatened to kill Sherri if she left him.
On September 7, 2017, Ponsati dialed 911, claiming to have found Sherri lying on the bathroom floor. Ponsati told the operator, “Oh my God, oh my God. I just found my wife. I think she’s dead.”
He continued, “There’s children in the house. I believe she’s dead. She’s in the bathroom, and there’s water and soap everywhere and blood. Oh my God, Oh my God, my children, my children.”
Mark Eric Ponsati refused to do CPR on Sherri Ponsati
The operator instructed Ponsati to perform CPR, but he refused to do so, stating that he was an Afghanistan veteran and he knew “what death looks like.” He added, “She’s gone.”
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelPonsati told investigators that Sherri must have slipped on spilled soap and whacked her head on the side of the bath. The cops examined the blood splatter and concluded it didn’t fit with a fall. Her body appeared to have been placed in that position.
Sherri’s autopsy revealed she had been beaten to death. The results showed she’d suffered blunt force injuries, rib fractures, skull fractures, spine and brain bruising, and a large cut on the back of her head. Some of the injuries were “consistent with violent shaking.”
Mark Eric Ponsati guilty of killing Sherri Ponsati
In 2023, Ponsati was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years.
After the sentencing, Sherri’s mother wrote in a statement, “I have been waiting for five years and eight months to speak about my precious daughter. The pain is indescribable, especially when I heard about all the injuries she received.”
Sherri and the children had moved across the country multiple times because of Ponsati’s job, but in the months before her murder, he had been laid off, and Sherri was the primary breadwinner.
American Monster airs Sundays at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.