A 70-year-old woman was arrested for murder after her 84-year-old husband -- a University of Connecticut Health doctor and professor -- was found dead from blunt head injuries, officials said. 
 
 On Feb. 5, police responded to a home in Burlington, Connecticut, for a well-being check on Dr. Pierluigi Bigazzi, 84, and found him dead inside, Connecticut State Police said. Bigazzi's wife, Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi, was at the home and initially did not let authorities inside, according to a statement from UConn Health. 
 
 Bigazzi's death was ruled a homicide by blunt injuries to the head, the medical examiner's office told ABC News. 
 
 On Feb. 9, Kosuda-Bigazzi, 70, turned herself into police, and was charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence, state police said. 
 
 Kosuda-Bigazzi appeared in court today but did not enter a plea. Her attorney declined to comment to ABC News. She was placed on house arrest, according to The Hartford Courant. 
 
 Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant/TNS via Newscom 
 
 While Bigazzi's body was found this month, authorities believe he may have been dead for up to eight months -- a sealed court file suggests police believe he was killed between June 13, 2017, and Feb. 5, 2018, according to the Courant. The state police declined to comment further on the case, citing the ongoing investigation. 
 
 Bigazzi was a UConn Health faculty member in the School of Medicine for over 40 years "and was an accomplished researcher and teacher in the field of pathology and laboratory medicine," UConn Health spokeswoman Lauren Woods said in a statement. 
 
 Kosuda-Bigazzi also worked at UConn Health from 1986 to 1998 as a science instructor and she then volunteering, helping her husband through the summer of 2017, Woods said. 
 
 Patrick Raycraft/Pool photo via AP 
 
 Bigazzi last taught in the spring of 2017, she said. 
 
 Then, in the summer of 2017, Bigazzi was assigned to update parts of the School of Medicine’s curriculum, create and update instructional materials, and develop materials for individualized learning courses, Woods said. 
 
 That work can be done "from any location, and it was acceptable for him to work remotely," Woods explained in the statement. "This is why his absence from the campus would not have been noteworthy or cause for concern." 
 
 Rebecca Lurye/Hartford Courant/TNS via Newscom 
 
 Bigazzi's key card was last on the UConn Health campus in August 2017, Woods said, citing access records. His annual review would have been scheduled for later this month and "at that time, he would have presented the work he had completed since the summer to the pathology department head for her review," Woods said. 
 
 In January, UConn staff tried to reach Bigazzi and never heard back, so his department alerted police who went to the home for the welfare check in February, according to the UConn statement. When police knocked on the door, Kosuda-Bigazzi initially didn't let them in, the UConn statement said. Officers later went inside and found Bigazzi's body. 
 
 State police ask anyone who had or may have had contact with Dr. Bigazzi between July 2017 and February 2018 -- including any contractors who worked at his home at that time -- to contact authorities at (860) 626-7922. ||||| UConn President Susan Herbst Wednesday ordered a review of the work arrangements for slain medical professor Pierluigi Bigazzi, whose last contact with the school was apparently last summer. 
 
 Bigazzi earned $200,000 last year at the UConn School of Medicine, but university officials have said the last time it was certain anyone at UConn saw him was May 25, 2017 at a meeting about grading related to a three-week class that ended in February 2017. 
 
 The 84-year-old professor’s body was found wrapped up in the basement of his Burlington home Friday. His wife, Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi, was arrested and charged with murder. 
 
 She is free on a $1.5 million bond. State police are investigating whether Bigazzi had been dead for months — possibly as far back as June 13, according to court documents. 
 
 “The review will examine whether relevant UConn and UConn Health policies and protocols were followed in this instance, and whether updated or new policies and protocols may be required,” Herbst said in a statement released Wednesday night. “The review will examine what the expectations of him were and what efforts were made to communicate with him.” 
 
 Bigazzi was a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the UConn medical school, which is part of UConn Health in Farmington, according to the school’s directory. He had been on the faculty since 1975, according to state records. 
 
 The May 25 meeting that Bigazzi attended could have been the last time anyone at the school saw him. The last email his department head got from him was dated July 7, according to UConn Health Center spokeswoman Lauren Woods. 
 
 Bigazzi’s key card was used for the last time on Aug. 23, although UConn officials acknowledge there is no way to know if it was Bigazzi who used it. 
 
 Bigazzi last taught a class from Jan. 24 to Feb. 13, 2017. Last summer, he was assigned to update parts of the school of medicine’s curriculum and to create and update a variety of instructional materials, Woods said. 
 
 His annual review was to be scheduled for later this month, Woods said, and he was expected to present the work he completed since summer to the head of the pathology department for review. 
 
 “Given the nature of his assignments, it was acceptable for Dr. Bigazzi to work remotely,” Woods said Wednesday. “However, it would be inappropriate for any regular full-time employee to be absent from campus and out of communication for a very lengthy period of time if they are not on sabbatical or some other form of official leave. Given that, the president instructed that this review take place.” 
 
 Herbst ordered the UConn Provost’s Office and Human Resources Department to review the circumstances surrounding Bigazzi’s work arrangements. 
 
 Linda Kusoda-Bigazzi appeared in court briefly this week and her case was continued to March 20. 
 
 The warrant for her arrest has been sealed. She is also charged with tampering with evidence. 
 
 Kosuda-Bigazzi must wear a GPS monitoring system affixed to her ankle. She must remain in her home unless she has to leave to buy food, for medical or legal appointments, or to get her mail. ||||| A northern Minnesota artist admitted in court Wednesday that he fatally crushed his wife with a 17-foot-tall totem pole they were carving, a murder his accusers say was fueled by infidelity and deceit. 
 
 Carl Muggli, 51, pleaded guilty in Koochiching County District Court to killing 61-year-old Linda Muggli in November 2010 at the couple's home south of International Falls. The husband had tried to convince authorities that the 700-pound pole accidentally fell out of a cradle and onto his wife of 24 years. 
 
 But about a week after Linda Muggli's death, a tipster told the Sheriff's Office about Facebook entries between Muggli and a woman in Alabama that were "very intimate in nature." Investigators also reported that they were unable to recreate the alleged accident. 
 
 "This whole thing is a tragic occurrence," defense attorney Charles Hawkins said Wednesday. He explained that his client chose to plead guilty to second-degree unintentional murder because "he did not want to put the family, his family or himself through any more misery." 
 
 Muggli had been charged with first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree intentional murder and his trial had been scheduled to begin Monday. 
 
 He remains in the county jail awaiting sentencing on Feb. 4. 
 
 Hawkins said Muggli faces a sentence of 12 1/2 to 15 years in prison, with the possibility of supervised release for the last third of that time. 
 
 On Nov. 26, 2010, a sheriff's deputy called to the couple's garage found Linda Muggli on the floor, bleeding from the mouth but still breathing. 
 
 She was taken to a hospital, where she died. 
 
 Later that day, Carl Muggli told a deputy that a totem pole the couple had been working on fell out of its cradle and onto his wife. 
 
 Agent found messages 
 
 A state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agent reviewed Muggli's computer and uncovered Facebook messages between him and the woman that stretched from more than a month before Linda Muggli's death to a few days afterward. 
 
 "I love you with all my being. ... I want us together to live our lives as we seek. For I am with you. I am yours. We are one!" Muggli wrote to the woman he called "Eveningstar" the day before his wife's death. 
 
 He also began sending e-mails to real estate companies in Texas, looking for a new place to live. On Nov. 30, a few hours after his wife's memorial service, Muggli sent the woman an online link for property in Palestine, Texas. He later moved to Stockdale. 
 
 A month after Linda Muggli died, sheriff's deputies and an agent with the BCA went to the Muggli home in an effort to re-create the circumstances of the death as Carl Muggli had outlined. Each effort failed. 
 
 Linda and Carl Muggli were married in 1986. They lived quietly in a log home south of International Falls in the town of Ray. 
 
 Via the Internet, they made a name for themselves, carving and selling totem poles to Six Flags Theme Park, Warner Brothers Television and the Princess Diana Memorial Children's Park in London, according to their website. 
 
 Since Linda Muggli's death, the website, which remains active, has read, "She passed while doing what she loved." 
 
 Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
– A 70-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of her husband, an 84-year-old University of Connecticut doctor and health professor who may have been dead inside the couple's home for up to eight months. Authorities arrived at the Burlington home to perform a wellness check on Pierluigi Bigazzi on Feb. 5 after university officials couldn't reach him, reports ABC News. The professor had been working remotely to update the School of Medicine's curriculum since last summer and was to present his work this month, says a university rep. Though his wife initially prevented officers from entering the home, they gained access Friday, noticed a foul odor, and found Bigazzi's dead body wrapped up in the basement, reports the Hartford Courant. They believe he died of blunt head trauma as early as June. It was around that time that Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi began helping her husband with his work, the university rep says, calling Bigazzi "an accomplished researcher and teacher in the field of pathology and laboratory medicine." Kosuda-Bigazzi, a former UConn science instructor, surrendered to police Friday and is now charged with murder and tampering with evidence, police say. She has yet to enter a plea but was placed on house arrest during her arraignment Tuesday, per the Courant. Police are now trying to determine when her husband died. Part of that effort involves a plan to review alimony checks sent to Bigazzi's first wife since the summer to see who signed them. Bigazzi's department head says she last received an email from him on July 7. His campus key card was last used on Aug. 23.