William Hager had some coffee Monday, he told investigators.
He reached out to his daughters.
Then, he phoned 911.
“I want to apologize, I didn’t call earlier,” the 86-year-old told a deputy who responded to the scene that afternoon, according to an arrest affidavit. “I wanted to tell my kids what happened first.”
Hager later gave authorities his version of events, detailed in the affidavit: He said that before the coffee and phone calls, he shot his wife in the head while she slept in their Florida home.
He said he used a .32-caliber revolver he pulled from a nightstand.
He said 78-year-old Carolyn Hager was sick – and that the medications she needed were too expensive.
“Hager stated Carolyn had a lot of illnesses and other ailments which required numerous medications,” the affidavit reads. “Hager stated he could no longer afford the medications needed for Carolyn’s care, thus decided to shoot her this morning.”
Hager was arrested on a first-degree murder charge in connection to his wife’s death, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.
It is unclear whether Hager has an attorney.
“He talked about her medical condition, that she was in poor health,” Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Garry Wilson said Tuesday, according to Treasure Coast Newspapers. “She was always in a lot of pain.”
A tweet: “Couple married 57 years, says Wilson”
Authorities responded to a Port St. Lucie home Monday, according to the affidavit. When a deputy knocked on the door, he heard a man tell him to come in.
Inside, Hager was on the phone. He mentioned “bad news,” according to the affidavit, and the deputy asked him what he was referring to.
That’s when Hager told the deputy that he had shot his wife at 7:30 that morning, the affidavit states.
“With a gun?” the deputy responded.
“Hager replied saying ‘yes’ and that ‘she was dead,’ ” the document says.
Hager kept talking, even though the deputy wasn’t questioning him, according to the affidavit.
“Hager went on to say his wife was in the northeast bedroom,” the document states. “Hager stated he shot his wife because she was in poor health and couldn’t afford her medication.”
Carolyn Hager’s body was found in a bed, covered with a blanket, according to the affidavit.
In his interview with investigators, Hager said he had been considering killing his wife for “several days due to her being in pain,” the document states.
Carolyn Hager had previously told her husband that she wanted to die, William Hager said. But, he added, she hadn’t asked him to kill her.
“He was perfectly clear on that he was going to be arrested and go to jail, but again, he felt that this is where it had gotten to him and this was his course of action,” Wilson said, according to Treasure Coast Newspapers. “He showed emotion and he was very clear that he was out of options in his mind.”
