Sigler gets 20 years for murder

DIXON – A Dixon man was given the minimum prison sentence of 20 years on Tuesday for strangling his wife 2 years ago.

Brian C. Sigler, 36, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after admitting that he killed his wife, Yolanda, in a fit of rage and left her body under a blanket on the living room couch in 2013.

The sentence was part of a deal Sigler made with prosecutors in exchange for his guilty plea. He must serve the full 20 years in prison, then be under supervised release for 3 years.

Family members, along with police officers and detectives involved in the case, filled the courtroom benches to hear the long-awaited sentence

Sheriff John Simonton was also there. Then a Dixon police officer, he and his son, Dixon Police Detective Aaron Simonton, were the first to respond to a 911 call made Jan. 12, 2013, by the Siglers' then-10-year-old son. They found Brian Sigler in an upstairs bathroom, bleeding from self-inflicted stab wounds.

The fatal fight was sparked when Sigler found sexual text messages on Yolanda's cellphone, he told police.

After Judge Ron Jacobson accepted Sigler's guilty plea Tuesday, three of the victim's family members made their way to the witness stand, one by one, to read victim impact statements.

Not once during any of those statements did Sigler look up as he sat, handcuffed, next to his attorney, Jim Mertes.

Yolanda Sigler's cousin, Amanda Coleman, talked through tears about her own history with an abusive relationship, and how much Yolanda's death affects her and her family every day.

"Her fate could have been mine, and my future could have been hers," Coleman said.

"Every day is a struggle now ... [because of] what happened to my old friend, my fill-in big sister, my cousin."

Sigler declined to make a statement before sentencing.

"In this case, no one wins," State's Attorney Anna Sacco-Miller said. "Obviously, their son is without a mother, and now his father is going to prison for 20 years. It's a horrible tragedy for everyone concerned.

“But, considering the circumstances and the fact that he doesn't have any prior history, the 20 years on the first-degree murder is what we felt is justice for Yolanda."