Husband admits strangling wife, affidavit says; bond set at $2M

Looking down and rubbing his head often, the 34-year-old Dixon man made his first appearance in Lee County court Tuesday via closed-circuit TV. He is charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 13 strangulation of his wife, Yolanda M. Sigler, also 34.

Lee County Judge Jacobson set his bond at $2 million.

Jacobson also ruled that Sigler can afford to hire an attorney, but appointed him a public defender in the interim because of the seriousness of the charge.

He has a status hearing Feb. 6.

Sigler was released from KSB Hospital on Monday after surgery and treatment for self-inflicted knife wounds to his neck and abdomen.

According to the probable cause affidavit, which outlines the basis for the charges filed: 

Police and fire personnel were called to the Siglers’ home at 230 Lincolnway at 2:26 p.m. that Sunday by the couple’s 10-year-old son, who said his father needed help.

The boy told the officer his father was upstairs and his mother was in the family room, but there was something against the door that prevented it from being opened.

The officer could hear moaning coming from upstairs, where he found Brian Sigler in a bathtub that appeared to have water and blood in it. He had a cut on his neck, and told the officer that he had cut himself. A knife was found next to his feet.

When asked where his wife was, Sigler said, “She’s dead. I killed her. She’s downstairs in the room by the dining room, then I cut myself.”

Another officer found Yolanda Sigler on her back on a couch in the family room, “mostly covered with a blanket.”

Officers found neck injuries consistent with strangulation. She also had what appeared to be human hairs in her hand that “may have been pulled out in a struggle with the perpetrator,” according to the affidavit.

A forensic pathologist said she died from manual strangulation.

Police have said they believe she was dead for several hours before they arrived.