HARRISBURG, Ill. (WJPF) — A Saline County jury has convicted former doctor Brian Burns of murdering his estranged wife.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Brian Burns fatally shot Carla Burns and then burned her body to hide the crime.

Burns claimed the death was an accident. That he was teaching his wife how to shoot a gun when she accidentally shot herself in the face. In a shocked state of grief, he then placed her body on a pile of wood and lit it on fire, in accordance with her final wish to be cremated.

Brian Burns was convicted on First Degree Murder and Concealment of a Homicidal Death. He’ll be sentenced in February.