A western Iowa jury has found a Council Bluffs man guilty of killing his wife. A jury has convicted 40-year old Stanley Tribble of First-Degree murder in connection with the May, 2006 death of his wife, 35-year old Tracey Gostomski-Tribble.
The verdict was announced at around 2:40 p.m. in the courtroom at the Pottawattamie County Courthouse. Tracey Tribble disappeared from the couples’ Council Bluffs home last year on May Third. Her battered body was found floating in the Missouri River just south of the Bluffs nearly two weeks later. An autopsy revealed she had suffocated.
There was no reaction from Tribble when the verdict was read, but Tracey’s mom weeped and said if there was one question she could ask of her daughter’s murderer, it would be "Why did you do this?"
Stan Tribble’s family was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read. They arrived shortly after he was led away to a holding cell, and were visibly upset. Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber said he thinks phone records showing calls Tribble made to his wife in the days prior to her disappearance, that ended abruptly the day she went missing, convinced the jury of his guilt. He now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.