On the afternoon of Sept. 30, 2011, Jerold Goodwillie told his wife, Joan, he had met someone else, wouldn’t divorce her because he “wanted the money” and was going to kill her.

Then, according to court papers, the 78-year-old man picked up an ax handle, smashed his 67-year-old wife on the head several times, seized a knife she was holding to defend herself and cut her throat.

Jerold Goodwillie then pursued his bleeding wife outside to where she’d collapsed on the lawn and stabbed her in the back three times. While she lay there, he smoked a cigarette and complained she was taking too long to die.

On Feb. 27, 2014, Jerold Goodwillie pleaded guilty to one count of attempted assault in the first degree. Last Friday, King County Superior Court Judge William Downing sentenced him to 69.75 months in prison. The top of the sentencing range for the 81-year-old Auburn man was 10 years in prison.

“With credit for time served, he’ll serve about two more years,” said Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the King County Prosecutor.

The King County Prosecutor’s office had initially charged Goodwillie with second-degree attempted murder for what it said was a premeditated attack

His wife, who sustained life-threatening injuries in the assault, survived.

Auburn police detective Aaron Williams’ account of what happened is as follows:

About 1:30 p.m. a neighbor called 911 to report having seen a man drive down the street in his white Toyota pickup truck then stop near a woman lying in the middle of the 5400 block of James Avenue Southeast. The neighbor said he watched the man pick up the woman and throw her into the back of his pickup truck before driving back into his garage and closing the door. The neighbor knocked on the door but heard no response and called 911.

Police arrived to find a white pickup truck in the garage and a woman in the truck bed, bleeding profusely from stab wounds to her back. The woman told investigators that her husband had repeatedly stabbed her but that she had stumbled outside and fallen on the grass.

According to Williams’ account, the injured woman said she had lain on the grass for some time before her husband returned, wearing rubber gloves and carrying garbage bags. She told police he tried to strangle her and place one of the bags over her head, but she begged him to let her die while she lay looking at the sky.

“Jerold then sat down, lit a cigarette and began to drink coffee,” Williams wrote. “Joan stated that Jerold complained it was taking too long for her to die. He dragged her back into the garage. He tried to strangle her again but stopped when he told her she was going to die and to leave her alone.

“I’m going to sit here until you die,” Jerold Goodwillie told his wife.

Joan Goodwillie said she lay still and he grabbed her and loaded her into the back of the truck. Ultimately she escaped and rolled herself down the driveway and onto the street, hoping someone would see her. When her husband picked her up, he took her back to the garage, telling her, “you’re going to die here.”

When officers arrived they saw Mr. Goodwillie walk through a door from the house into the garage, wearing only pants and gloves, his arms covered in blood.

In addition to at least three stab wounds on her back, one of which lacerated a lung, Joan Goodwillie sustained a deep laceration to her left thumb, which severed or severely injured her tendons. Her heart stopped at least once at least but medics revived her.

Jerold Goodwillie sustained cuts to his hands. He was handcuffed and taken to a hospital for treatment.