BOISE, Idaho — The preliminary hearing for the man accused of shooting his wife to death inside their Meridian home was pushed back Monday morning.
Eric James Steiner, 42, appeared in court in a yellow-and-white striped jail uniform and answered the judge's questions in a quiet voice. He remains held in the Ada County Jail on a $2 million bond.
Police say Steiner shot 41-year-old Christine Steiner in the head the afternoon of March 5 at their house on East Chateau Drive. For hours, he left her body lying in the master bathroom, telling his 4-year-old son and a 17-year-old foreign exchange student staying with the family that Christine was sick and had gone to bed early, according to investigators.
Later that night, Steiner dialed 911 and calmly explained to dispatchers that he had killed his wife, police say. When officers arrived, he surrendered without protest.
A motive in the murder remains unclear. Prosecutors have not revealed anything about why Steiner, a self-employed contractor, might have wanted to hurt his wife. The suspect has virtually no criminal history, and police say they had never been called out to the Steiners' home for domestic violence or anything else.
Steiner faces a felony charge of first-degree murder, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison or the death penalty. He is due back in court April 30.
