An Effingham County jury found Kimberly Moretz guilty Friday of concealing the death a Wilmington Island man last January and of hindering the apprehension of the man investigators say committed it, her husband Chad Moretz.

The jury found Moretz not guilty of tampering with evidence after deliberating for about three hours.

“It doesn’t make much sense,” defense attorney Michael Schiavone said of the jury’s decision. “These three offenses are inter-related, and I would expect there to be consistency in the verdict — that it would be either not guilty on all three or guilty on all three.”

The trial produced grisly testimony about Charlie Ray being stabbed to death and then dismembered in the Moretzes’ home in Rincon. The defense portrayed her as being under her husband’s control and abuse, but the prosecution countered with evidence that  Kimberly Moretz misled investigators in the days following Ray’s death.

Ray’s torso, arms and legs were placed in a South Carolina storage unit, and his head and hands were hidden behind a kitchen cabinet in the Moretzes’ home. Chad Moretz was shot and killed by Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department SWAT team snipers following a standoff at the Moretzes’ home.

Moretz will be sentenced Feb. 12. She could face up to 15 years in prison, and assistant district attorney Brian Deal said he will ask for the maximum penalty.

“I am delighted that the jury saw fit in this case to hold Mrs. Moretz responsible for the actions that she took to conceal the deal of Mr. Ray,” Brian Deal said following the verdict.

See Tuesday’s Herald for more.