ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A 91-year-old man was arrested Aug. 1 and charged with first-degree murder after deputies found his 87-year-old wife fatally shot at their home, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said.
William Albert Lippold was arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder. No bond was set.
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Deputies responded to a St. Augustine Shores home after his son, David Lippold, called 911 and said his father had killed his mother, the sheriff’s office said. When deputies arrived, William Lippold and his son came out of the home.
Deputies say William Lippold spontaneously said, “It’s not complicated, I shot my wife.”
Investigators found his wife, identified as Mary Lippold, dead on a bed in the master bedroom with a firearm, a shell casing and a note nearby, the report said. A neighbor at a nearby address told detectives they heard what sounded like a gunshot late July 31.
Detectives said William Lippold admitted he had planned the killing for about a month, telling investigators his wife was blind and had severe Alzheimer’s disease and that he was her sole caregiver.
He told detectives he had promised not to place her in a nursing home and described exchanging messages with his adult children about the stress of caring for his wife.
William Lippold said he bought the gun recently, practiced at a shooting range and had planned to suffocate himself after the shooting but was unable to do so, the report said.
Neighbors who spoke with News4JAX described the couple.
“But they were a really nice couple, and everybody’s heart broke,” neighbor Bill Meyers said. “Everybody in the neighborhood’s heart broke because we all loved the guy and we’d do anything for him.”
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