ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (WFLA) — A 91-year-old Florida man charged with murdering his disabled wife last week told investigators that he viewed the act as “keeping his promise” to never put her in a nursing home.
On Aug. 1, St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office (SJCSO) deputies were called to a home in St. Augustine, Florida, after a man reported that his father fatally shot his mother.
According to an SJCSO arrest report, William Lippold, 91, called his 63-year-old son to his home earlier that morning, saying, “I did something bad, I need you to come over.”
The son told deputies that Lippold revealed that he had killed his wife and then tried to take his own life by suffocating himself with a plastic bag, but it didn’t work.
Lippold was the sole caretaker for his wife, who was blind and had severe Alzheimer’s. According to the arrest report, his son said that Lippold “has alluded to this outcome in the past.”
“William said he had previously promised his wife he would never put her in a nursing home, so he views this as keeping his promise to her,” the report said.
Lippold said he recently purchased the gun and learned to use it at a gun range. A neighbor reported hearing a suspected gunshot at around 11 p.m. the night before Lippold’s arrest.
“As deputies were securing the scene, William spontaneously made the statement, ‘It’s not complicated, I shot my wife,’” the arrest report said.
Lippold’s wife was found dead on a bed in the primary bedroom, with “apparent blood around her body, a firearm, a shell casing, and a note.”
Lippold was charged with first-degree murder with a firearm.
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