Susan Cummings (born July 21, 1962 in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

) is an American heiress, best known for killing her boyfriend in 1997. She had been charged with

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

, but subsequently convicted of

voluntary manslaughter Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender acted during ''the heat of passion'', under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed to the point that they cannot ...

only. She was released after serving 57 days.

Biography

Cummings and her

fraternal twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

sister, Diana, are the only children of billionaire arms dealer

Samuel Cummings Samuel Cummings, (February 7, 1927 – April 29, 1998) was an American small arms dealer. He founded the International Armament Corporation (also known as Interarms or Interarmco) in 1953, a company which came to dominate the free world market ...

. After the family moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, Samuel Cummings bought his daughters a lavish estate in

Warrenton, Virginia Warrenton is a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, of which it is the seat of government. The population was 9,611 at the 2010 census, up from 6,670 at the 2000 census. The estimated population in 2019 was 10,027. It is at the junction of U.S. R ...

, named Ashland Farms. It was here that Cummings shot Villegas on September 7, 1997. Ms. Cummings sold the ''Ashland Farm'' estate on the edge of Warrenton in

Fauquier County, Virginia Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 16 ...

for $4.9 million in 2004. She and her twin sister Diana moved to the LeBaron Farm in

Culpeper County, Virginia Culpeper County is a county located along the borderlands of the northern and central region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 52,552. Its county seat and only incorporated community is Culp ...

. Their manor house, designed by the firm of Versaci Neumann Partners, won recognition in the 2006 Washingtonian Residential Design awards.

Killing

Cummings had been in a relationship with

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

player Roberto Villegas, who had emigrated to the U.S. in 1991. It was common for Argentine polo players to be recruited onto teams owned by wealthy landowners. The players would also be supplied with horses and accommodation. Cummings met Villegas in 1995 and by 1996 the relationship had gotten more intense. He forwent returning to Florida for the polo season to help her on her farm. Cummings never paid Villegas for his work; however, she did pay his rent and costs for the horses he owned that he kept on her farm. Cummings had a lot of control over Villegas due to his not having a real income. By mid 1997, strains on the relationship were starting to show. On the day of his death, Villegas was to play in a polo tournament representing Argentina. He left his apartment and traveled to Cummings's farm (where he also stored his gear). At 9 in the morning, Cummings shot Villegas four times in the second kitchen of the main house. She told the 911 dispatcher and police that he had turned

abusive Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...

towards her, threatening her with a knife. Villegas was found with a knife crossing his arm. Cummings had cuts on her arm, which police suspected were self-inflicted. She was arrested on charges of

. She was represented by Blair Howard. Howard's law firm claims he is one of the best ten lawyers in the country. Cummings was convicted on May 13, 1998, of

in the death of her boyfriend, and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and ordered to pay $2,500; she was released after serving 57 days.

In film and media

In 2002, this case was the focus of an episode of ''

Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice ''Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice'' is an American crime TV series that examined real-life cases of crime, passion, and greed involving privileged or famous people. The episodes were shown on truTV (formerly Court TV) and on Star T ...

''. Entitled "A Scandal in Hunt County," this was the third episode of Season One. In 2004,

Lisa Pulitzer Lisa Pulitzer (born c. 1962) is an American author and journalist. Pulitzer is a former correspondent for ''The New York Times'' newspaper. She is the author/ghostwriter of more than fifteen non-fiction books. In addition to her own books, Pulitz ...

wrote a book on the case called ''A Woman Scorned''. A

Biography Channel FYI (stylized as fyi,) is an American basic cable channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications (each owns 50%). The network features lifestyle pr ...

program about the case included an interview with a young

Tareq Salahi Tareq Dirgham Salahi is an American vintner, International polo player, travel/tourism expert, television personality and winery owner. Salahi has appeared in two reality-television shows: ''Where the Elite Meet'', and NBC Universal/Bravo's '' ...

, who was a friend of Roberto Villegas. Susan Cummings' case was featured in an episode of ''Behind Mansion Walls'', and on the

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...

channel program ''Vanity Fair Confidential'', season 2, episode 8, entitled "Love's Deadly Harness".

References

External links

Murder in Polo Land - TIME

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Susan 1962 births American people convicted of manslaughter American socialites Living people People from Warrenton, Virginia Prisoners and detainees of Virginia American twins Wealth in the United States Monegasque people of American descent Monegasque emigrants to the United States People from Culpeper County, Virginia