Illness delays sentencing for wife killer, 80

Rudi Koos, the 80-year-old Souderton man convicted of killing his wife during a fit of rage, was hospitalized late Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for Montgomery County.

Koos was scheduled for sentencing at 1:30 p.m. today in connection with the crime. That has been delayed, a court official said.

Koos had pleaded guilty to murder charges on May 5, admitting to authorities that he strangled his wife, Waltraud "Trudi" Koos, 75, on the kitchen floor of their Souderton apartment after he suspected her of cheating on him.

The victim had been out for a walk and returned with her hair mussed earlier on the day leading Koos to believe his wife had been seeing another man, police said.

After calling an acquaintance in the Midwest to tell of the slaying, Koos summoned police who found the victim lying on the floor, her arms neatly crossed, covered with a blanket.

The spokesperson said the sentencing will be continued and a date set once Koos's medical condition is stabilized. Koos is expected to receive at least five years, attorneys have said.

As a teenager, Koos had been drafted to serve in Hitler's army late in World War II. He was 15 the day Germany surrendered. After the war, he married Waltraud, and the couple emigrated.

They had lived, childless, in the Souderton apartment on Broad Street since 1957. He is a retired bricklayer and machinist. His wife was said to have doted on him. But for decades, going back to Berlin, he had believed her unfaithful.