Killer Strangled Prison Pen Pal To Death, Stole Her Corpse And Placed Her In Car Then Faked Car Crash To Fool Police

After a vicious killer strangled his prison pen pal to death, he placed her lifeless body in the front seat of his car, then faked a car accident to fool police into believing she died as a result of the crash, according to the Mirror.

In September, 2013, David Goodell was 33-years-old at the time he pleaded guilty at the New Jersey Superior Court for the death of his prison pen pal, Viviana Tulli.

Killer strangled girlfriend and drove corpse around – then faked car crash to fool police http://t.co/hdzLgSln0p pic.twitter.com/JlxI7JS6Dd

— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) July 8, 2015

Goodell met his victim – both of New Jersey – when she was 16-years-old and he was 11 years older than her. The two began a relationship just before he was sentenced to prison for assaulting his ex-girlfriend and a police officer.

Even behind bars, the two continued with their relationship and became pen pals. “I urged my sister to leave him. I couldn’t bear the thought of my little sister being with a man capable of hurting anyone,” said the victim’s 39-year-old sister Stella.

“But she wouldn’t. She said he didn’t have anything else and needed her support more than ever. She even visited him in prison. He wrote to her. In the letters he said, ‘You’re my world.’ “

After meeting the convict, Stella stated that they never developed a connection, and something about him seemed off to her.

“I was immediately concerned. I’d met David a few times over the years, but we’d never really clicked,” Stella stated. “I knew he’d had a tough upbringing and didn’t have any close family, but there was something about him that made me think he was trouble.”

“He seemed jealous of my close relationship with Viviana and tried to convince her not to spend time with me. I thought she could do better but Viviana saw the good in him which was typical of her.”

Upon his release from prison, Doodell and Tulli reunited, but soon after, he strangled her to death and stole her corpse for reasons not yet told to the public. He put sunglasses and a hat on his victim and placed her dead body in the front seat of the car. After driving around for six hours, he finally decided to fake a car crash to fool police into believing that the woman died in the car crash.

“I wanted to know exactly what had happened to her,” said Stella. “The police told me on the day of the crash they had stopped David in a car park.”

“His wrists were slashed and he was bleeding heavily. They said Viviana was in the passenger seat, with sunglasses and a hat on.”

“Officers said David appeared dazed, but when he saw them, tried to get away and rammed his car into a lorry,” she continued.

“An autopsy confirmed that Viviana had been strangled to death and had been dead for several hours before the crash.”

After pleading guilty to the pen pal murder in 2013, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

“It was chilling,” Stella said, “As David was sentenced, he laughed. I was sickened.”

[Image courtesy of John Cowpland / Getty Images]