09/12/2002

Associated Press

A man was sentenced to life in prison for burying his wife alive with help from his son.

Gary Hardegger, 48, offered no explanation for the murder and no insight into why he involved his son in the plot.

The son, 18-year-old Brian Hardegger, was also sentenced to life in prison during back-to-back hearings Wednesday in Lane County.

Defense lawyers for both men alluded to "psychological warfare" in the family leading to the murder, but neither gave details of the family's home life. Mark Sabitt, Brian Hardegger's court-appointed lawyer, said his client lived away from his parents' home for 18 months before the murder because of "discord in the family," and returned home after Barbara Hardegger, 44, sought divorce.

Before a packed courtroom, prosecutors Bob Lane and Debra Vogt provided this version of events to Lane County Circuit Judge Karsten Rasmussen.

The men dug a deep grave off a remote logging road, 20 miles southwest of Eugene, and visited the site the day before the crime.

The father and son waited for Barbara Hardegger to arrive home for a scheduled visit just after her work shift ended around midnight on Sept. 20. When she arrived, they attacked her in the garage with pepper spray and a stun gun.

Her hands were bound with duct tape and a yellow nylon rope, which had been looped around her neck and upper arms. Her legs and hands also were bound with plastic zip ties commonly used to secure bundles of electrical wiring.

Later, when Barbara Hardegger raised her head from the grave, gasping for her life, the son stepped on her face so Gary Hardegger could shovel more dirt.

Prosecutors didn't seek the death penalty because one legal requirement for a death sentence is that the jury must rule the defendant poses a continuing threat of violence to others.

"We could not find one person to say Gary Hardegger was a violent man," Vogt said.

R. Bruce McCracken, Barbara Hardegger's father, told the judge that his family continues to suffer with thoughts about the horror of his daughter's last hour of life.

"She was becoming her beautiful self again," McCracken said. "Gary was losing control of Barbara and couldn't handle it."

Karen McCracken Simpson, Barbara Hardegger's sister, told Brian Hardegger that he is "a shell of a human being, without character or conscience."

She recalled a phone conversation with her sister four days before the murder when Barbara Hardegger said she knew her son hated her, but hoped he one day would overcome those feelings.

"She was the one who held your hand when you were in trouble," Simpson told Brian Hardegger. "She loved you."

The son had walked into court with an exaggerated swing to his shoulders and showed no emotion during his 13-minute hearing.

Asked by the judge whether he had anything to say, the younger Hardegger replied, "No."

The son must serve at least 25 years of his sentence before he's eligible for parole.

Gary Hardegger will be eligible for parole in 30 years. Offering no explanation for the crime, he faced the parents, brother, sister and numerous friends of his murdered wife and tearfully said he was sorry.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)