An 82-year-old woman allegedly shot her husband dead inside a South Carolina nursing home in an attack investigators now believe was a calculated act, according to authorities and reports.
Harriet Kay Recker was arrested on Sept. 12 after she allegedly shot and killed her 81-year-old husband, Dennis Recker, at the Preston Health Center, just one day after he was admitted for medical care, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to WTOC.
On the morning of the incident, a neighbor who drove Harriet to the facility was showing the couple a room and left to retrieve an extra chair, investigators detailed in court proceedings.
When the neighbor left the room, they heard a loud noise and rushed back to see the 82-year-old woman holding a revolver and her husband with a gunshot wound to his chest, the outlet reported.
Before he passed away, the dying husband said, “She shot me,” according to a witness.
He died despite life-saving efforts on the scene.
Deputies later located a cryptic note in Harriet’s purse, which was identical to a note discovered in financial documents in her home, that said, “To you all, this has just been too much for me, I so wish I could do it with the wonderful family we have, so many good friends.”
“We can’t have a life without someone and that someone can’t be me as I am not strong enough or smart enough to do all this,” the letter continued, according to the outlet.
Financial documents and interviews also supported the conclusion that the shooting was premeditated, investigators argued.
Harriet was booked into Beaufort County Jail the same day and has been charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, court records indicate.
After the court hearing, the judge found probable cause in the case and sent it to a grand jury.
The octogenarian remains held without bail.
Ted Dwemoh, a Beaufort County resident who provided pest control services at the Reckers’ Sun City home, claimed the wife was a kind woman who was always willing to help.
She was “always loving” and “the nicest person in Sun City,” he told the outlet.
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