A 29-year-old Virginia woman charged with savagely beating her 77-year-old boyfriend last year will now be charged with murder after the man died from injuries suffered in the attack, prosecutors announced. Kristina Pongracz was charged last spring with aggravated malicious wounding after beating her sugar-daddy boyfriend, William Herchenrider, with his own cane in his home in Goode, Va.
Police said Pongracz flew into a rage after Herchenrider tried to break off their relationship and kick her out of his mansion in rural southern Virginia. Herchenrider spent weeks in a hospital after the incident, and then died on Aug. 25, after he was discharged, according to the Roanoke Times. Prosecutor Stephanie Ayers said the murder charge stemmed from an autopsy report that showed Herchenrider had died from complications related to injuries he suffered during the beating.
“We’re still discussing whether it will be first-degree or second-degree,†Ayers said. At the time of the fight, the lovers lived in a 3,700-square-foot mansion on a 20-acre estate that belonged to Herchenrider, a former president and CEO of Delta Star Inc., which manufactures electrical transformers.
Bedford County police said they had been together for about a decade. Pongracz’s defense attorney, Webster Hogland, told Virginia’s WDBJ-TV that the two hooked up while she was working as his receptionist. On the night of the beating, police and hospital staff testified, Pongracz attacked her elderly beau in a drunken rage, tore his flesh with her fingernails, threw patio furniture at him and nearly ripped his ear off.
“She beat the hell out of me,†Herchenrider told police, according to a deputy’s testimony. Police testified that when they responded to a 911 call at the mansion, they found the old man bleeding and cowering on all fours, while Pongracz was passed out in her underwear and covered in blood.
He was taken to a hospital in Roanoke where he was treated for multiple bruises and cuts on his head and body and received a blood transfusion, according to local reports. He died at his home several days after he was released from the hospital. In court on Tuesday, Hogland asked the judge to allow him to call an expert witness who would contest that Herchenrider had died from his injuries. A hearing about the possible appointment of an expert is scheduled for March. Hogland said the elderly business titan took advantage of his client.
“She’s been diagnosed with bipolar disorder,†he told WDBJ-TV. “She has various other problems.â€
