The wife of the slain 84-year-old UConn School of Medicine professor who had not been on campus for months has repaid the university through her attorney, the school said.
UConn Health said $50,040 was recovered and that amount also recoups taxes and all net of vacation time owed.
UConn officials said Dr. Pierluigi Bigazzi last taught in the classroom in Spring 2017 and keycard access records indicate he was last on campus in August.
In January, staff from UConn Health tried to contact him about a routine administrative matter but did not hear back. Then on Feb. 5, the head of Bigazzi’s department alerted UConn Police, who found the man dead under a tarp in the basement, according to police reports.
The doctor's wife, Linda L. Kosuda-Bigazzi, 70, was arrested a few days later after police developed probable cause.
While Bigazzi had not been on campus for months, his absence would not have been a concern because the work he was doing could be done from anywhere, including remotely, according to a statement from UConn.
On Thursday, UConn said the recovered payments start from Aug. 4, 2017, however, if it is determined the doctor had been dead earlier than that day, they will call for additional repayments.
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“The full reimbursement of all salary paid to Dr. Bigazzi after Aug. 3, 2017, in concert with UConn Health’s recent review and modification of its process for monitoring off-campus work and projects, underscores our commitment to fiscal accountability and our diligence in recouping all state funds inappropriately disbursed after the employee’s undisclosed death,” Chris Hyers, UConn Health’s chief communications officer, said on Thursday.
Kosuda-Bigazzi has been charged with murder and tampering with evidence and court records said Pierluigi Bigazzi could have been killed anytime between June 13, 2017 and Feb. 5, 2018.
Following Bigazzi's death, the school said they would look into whether relevant UConn and UConn Health policies and protocols were followed and whether they need to update or create new policies and protocols.
On Mar. 21, UConn President Susan Herbst directed that deans at UConn Health provide her an account of every faculty member that included where the person is physically working, what type of work they are doing and last contact with the staff member.
Herbst provided a memo sent to all management enforcing standards that include staying in regular contact with reporting faculty members, assessing a staff member's work on a regular basis and reviewing approved vacation reporting on a monthly basis.
Recently, UConn identified Dr. Melinda Sanders, the head of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, as the person responsible for managing Bigazzi. She was removed as the department head on Mar. 14.
