Heartbroken Wife Murders Estranged Husband's New Girlfriend, Sentenced To Life In Prison

A woman who stabbed her estranged husband’s girlfriend to death was found guilty of murder and has been sentenced to life in prison.

The accused, Michelle Boat, who hails from the US state of Iowa, was convicted for the murder of Tracy Mondabough.

According to court documents, Boat’s husband of 20 years, left her in March last year and began living with his new girlfriend.

"I wanted to tell her how much I wanted him back, and I wanted her to leave him," the 59-year-old said in Iowa’s Marion County District Court on Monday, May 10.

Boat was reportedly distressed by her husband’s actions and maintained a calendar marking every day since he left. The suspect also left a threatening note on her husband’s phone.

"Tell the b**** that you’re sleeping with, she messed with the wrong momma," Boat says in the message.

On May 18, 2020, Boat followed Mondabough’s red pickup truck as she drove to a Burger King and bought a meal for herself and her boyfriend.

Boat waited in her car and watched the couple eat their lunch, during which she saw them kiss.

Agitated by the sight, Boat followed Mondabough to her home. She got out of her car and confronted the victim, police said.

During the altercation, Boat said she "just snapped" and repeatedly stabbed Mondabough while she was still in her car.

"I just snapped, and I grabbed the knife. And I just stabbed her, and I dropped the knife," Boat said.

Police officers found Mondabough dead inside the vehicle. She was still wearing her seat belt, a police bodycam footage showed.

Witnesses identified her Cadillac and Boat was arrested from her home a short while later.

During her trial, Boat told the court that she felt "heartbroken, sad, despondent, devastated, destroyed," when her husband left her.

The jury, however, was not convinced by Boat’s defense and found her guilty of murder in the first degree.

"She was able to turn her emotions on and off like a spigot at a sink. She, quite frankly, was not convincing," prosecutor Ed Bull told Inside Edition.

Boat was sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison.