Former Saul Ewing Partner Dies in Prison, Where He Was Serving Life Sentence for Murder of Mistress
Updated: A once politically connected lawyer convicted in the 1996 slaying of his missing mistress has died in prison.
Tom Capano, 61, died Monday in his prison cell, report the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Wilmington News Journal. The body of the mistress, Anne Marie Fahey, was never found. A scheduling secretary to then-Delaware Gov. Thomas Carper, she had broken up with Capano before her death.
Capano had been a managing partner of the Saul Ewing law firm and had served as then-Delaware Gov. Mike Castle’s general counsel in the early 1990s, the Inquirer says. At trial, he had claimed he helped dump Fahey’s body in the ocean to protect a second mistress who shot Fahey in an accident.
Capano had been in poor health and foul play was not suspected, according to the Inquirer.
The state medical examiner said he died of sudden cardiac arrest, with obesity a contributing factor, reports the Daily Times.
He also found that Capano, who had gained a substantial amount of weight in prison, had atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
There was a history of heart problems in his family, the newspaper says.
Both the News Journal and Inquirer stories said the murder case was followed across the nation. “In a time before 24-7 reality television and the parade of criminal trials, the Capano case gripped the state,” the News Journal says. “Not only was it a huge mystery for a long time, but it also involved some of the state’s most prominent citizens. Spectators lined up to get into the courtroom, the national media descended and best-selling crime writers appeared.”
The Inquirer says the case inspired at least four books and a TV miniseries.
Prior coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Ex-Saul Ewing Partner Loses New Trial Bid in Killing of Mistress”
Updated at 5 p.m. to include information from the Daily Times.
