Prosecutors filed the charge Thursday against 47-year-old David Viens.
He is hospitalized after he jumped off a cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes last week.
Investigators say Viens has implicated himself in the disappearance of his wife, Dawn.
The charge comes a day after crews dug up the restaurant Viens owns, looking for her body.
She was last seen at the restaurant.
Viens remodeled it, including pouring cement, after she disappeared.
