Man Gets 11-Year Term for Killing His Wife

A La Jolla man who boasted of his underworld ties on a national television show was sentenced Friday in Van Nuys Superior Court to 11 years in prison for killing his wife and burying her body at their former Canoga Park home.

Michael J. Hardy, 46, got the maximum sentence for a plea of no contest--the equivalent of a guilty plea--to voluntary manslaughter in the 1985 death of his wife, Deborah L. Hardy.

Her remains were uncovered behind a house on Sherman Way last year when Michael Hardy’s 25-year-old son, Robert, told police about the killing and provided a map showing where he had helped his father bury the body.

Michael Hardy has continued to maintain that his wife’s death was accidental, and that his only fault was burying her rather than reporting the death to police.