CHEF HUSBAND MURDERED WIFE AND BOILED HER BODY TO CONCEAL EVIDENCE.

Just before she was killed by her husband and her body slow cooked until only her skull remained, Dawn Viens was stashing money and preparing to runaway.

That is the latest revelation from a new investigation into the gruesome crime for which chef David Viens, 50, attempted suicide over and is now serving 15-years in a Californian prison.

Dawn Viens was preparing to leave husband David Viens before her disappearance in October 2009 - her body has never been found. Local businessman and friend Joe Cacace claims Dawn gave him more than $1000 to hold for her a week before she went missing in October 2009, then when he confronted David Viens about his wife's disappearance was stunned by his brazen 'lying'.

The 39-year-old hostess, who worked with her husband at their own restaurant in the sleepy village of Lomita, confided to Cacace that David Viens had become too controlling.

However, Monday came and Dawn never showed up. After a few days he went to confront Viens - who claimed he had dispatched his wife to rehab because she had a drinking problem.

Day of reckoning: David Viens, a chef who told police he cooked his wife's body in boiling water, was sentenced in Los Angeles to 15 years to life in prison for second-degree murder.

The body of Dawn Viens, 39, has never been found after she vanished in October 2009. Jacqueline Viens told the court her body would never be found and had previously joked that cooking someone was a good way to get rid of the body.

Police tore up the floors and walls of Viens' Thyme Contemporary Cafe in Lomita with shovels and cadaver dogs to try and find her remains, but to no avail.

Viens claims his wife ran away to the mountains from their restaurant 16 months ago after an argument over whether she should go for drug rehabilitation.

But authorities were suspicious because of ‘inconsistent statements’ he gave and the fact she left behind her wallet, mobile phone and other personal belongings.

His new girlfriend, Kathy Galvan, then took over Mrs Viens’s job and moved into her home, before he was seen throwing out his wife’s belongings into a dustbin behind his restaurant, police said.