Wife of Arizona Glass Company Owner Still Fearful for her Life

The wife of the Arizona glass company owner in jail for conspiring to kill her says she remains fearful for her life.

Ed Novak, the attorney for Libia Knadler, the estranged spouse of Arizona Shower Door owner Fred Knadler, says his client continues to worry about her safety, even though her husband remains in jail awaiting trial on three counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to abandon a body.

“Fred is obviously someone with a temper and who is very vindictive,” says the Phoenix-based Novak. “[Libia Knadler] is concerned that, even though he is behind bars, he has the ability to make an attempt on her life.”

Knadler, 75, was first arrested in January 2012 for allegedly offering to pay one of his employees to kill his wife, Phoenix police charge in papers filed with the Maricopa (Ariz.) County Superior Court. The employee immediately went to the police after recording the conversation, authorities say.

The multimillionaire businessman was still in jail awaiting trial this past January when he allegedly solicited help from another inmate in hiring a hit man to kill both his wife and then the employee he had originally solicited to kill her.

An undercover Phoenix police detective posing as a hit man met in jail with Knadler, who offered to pay $10,000 to have both of them killed, Novak says.

Knadler was indicted on February 20 for the second murder conspiracy charge and remains in jail with a $5 million bond.

It was in the summer 2011 that Fred Knadler first asked for a divorce from Libia Knadler, who is much younger than her husband. Novak alleges that Fred Knadler had been physically and verbally abusive to his wife. Things became even more contentious between the two when she refused to move out of the home the two shared, leading to the first attempt on her life, according to Novak. The couple has no children between them.

No trial date has been set yet for Fred Knadler.

“It’s been tough on her and her family,” Novak says of Libia Knadler, “and it will continue to be.”

Phoenix-based defense attorney Robin Varcoe, who represents Knadler, did not return calls seeking comment.