American Monster on ID: Where is Mark Eric Ponsati now?

The mysterious death of Sherri Ponsati in 2017 turned into a homicide investigation and led to the arrest of Mark Eric Ponsati. Mark Ponsati had dialed 911 on September 7, 2017, informing the operator about his wife's alleged slip and fall.

Ponsati mentioned Sherri injuring her head and turning purple over the call. However, the investigation brought forth a different angle to her death, and Mark Eric Ponsati was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Sherri Ponsati. He is presently serving 25 years in prison at the ASPC-Lewis Rast Unit in Arizona.

A documentary called American Monster season 10 aired its second episode on June 22, 2024 at 9 p.m. EST on Investigation Discovery, exploring the murder of Sherri Ponsati.

The official synopsis of the second episode titled We Were Fooled reads:

"Mark-Eric and Sherri Ponsati have a picture-perfect life, and the arrival of two children completes their family. When Mark-Eric reports that Sherri has had a tragic accident, their world falls apart."

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How was Mark Eric Ponsati arrested?

On September 7, 2017, Sherri Ponsati was found lying unresponsive on the slippery and soapy bathroom floor of her Val Vista Lakes home. According to her husband, Mark Eric Ponsati, Sherri had slipped and hit her head which caused her to turn purple.

As Mark spoke to the 911 operator, he reportedly refused to perform CPR. In response he said, as quoted by The Gilbert Sun:

"She’s purple, I know what death looks like. I’m an Afghanistan veteran. She’s gone.”

As the first responders and Officer Kyle Peterson arrived at the scene, they performed compressions and rushed her to the Banner Gateway Medical Centre where she was declared dead. However, Detective Michael Bishop noticed anomalies in the crime scene which made him suspect Mark's involvement in Sherri's sudden death.

An ABC15 Arizona report stated that the crime scene looked staged. Detective Michael Bishop had mentioned that the blue bubble bath bottle had a shape that would not allow the soap to leak out without being held over. Moreover, the amount of soap left in the bottle was not indicative of the contents pouring out due to an accident.

Sherri Ponsati's autopsy report came back with bruises on the brain and the spine, rib and skull fractures, and multiple blunt force injuries. While Mark mentioned no issues in his marital life, the witness statements mentioned the extent of domestic abuse in the marriage.

The Arizona Republic reported that Mark had threatened to kill Sherri and her children if she ended their relationship and filed for divorce.

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Mark Eric Ponsati sentenced to 25 years in prison

Mark was arrested on September 14, 2017, on the charges of second-degree murder. His bail was set at $1 million and he was subsequently found guilty of his charges on March 2023, per The Arizona Republic.

According to The Gilbert Sun NewsMark's defense lawyers tried to argue and put forth a case where they stated that Sherri's fall could be due to her medical history of cardiac arrhythmia. The defense attorney, Thomas Henager, further argued:

“Additionally, she had some type of bone challenge. She had normal thinness to her occipital skull bone ….behind the eye so that a fall or a fall on top of her potentially could cause a more fatal situation than it could be for somebody who doesn’t have this issue.”

However, Mark Eric Ponsati was sentenced to 25 years in prison and he has been incarcerated at the ASPC-Lewis Rast Unit presently, per the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry.

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Watch all the details on American Monster's second episode as it streams on Discovery Plus and Prime Video.