81-year-old fatally shoots wife while arguing in bed, Illinois cops say. ‘I’m so sorry’
An 81-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting his wife while they were in bed together, then calling 911, Illinois police say.
Officers responded to the shooting call at 12:38 a.m. Friday, Jan. 17, at a home in north Lombard, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office and Lombard Chief of Police Tom Wirsing said in a news release. According to officials, the caller was “requesting police assistance as he had allegedly shot his wife.”
Charles Witter was waiting at the front door when police arrived and officers immediately took him into custody, officials said. Inside the house, officers found his wife, 80-year-old Helen Witter, “unconscious, lying on her back with her head on a pillow and her mouth open.”
There was a significant wound to her head and blood on the bedding, officials said.
She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead minutes later, at 1:17 a.m., according to officials.
The husband and wife had been arguing when he grabbed a gun from a nightstand and shot her, authorities said. Then he called police.
Helen had dementia, which had worsened over the last few years of their marriage, making her prone to aggression and violence, Witter’s attorney, William Wolf, said during a court hearing, the Daily Herald reported. On the night of the shooting, she had been screaming at him, accusing him of giving her car keys to another woman, Wolf said.
The fighting was worsening a headache caused by a case of shingles Witter previously had, Wolf said, the newspaper reported. He asked his wife to stop yelling and screaming, Wolf said, but she continued so he went for the gun.
“Oh my God. Oh, honey, honey. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” Witter was heard saying while on the phone with a 911 operator, the outlet reported. Witter cried in court as the recording played. “I didn’t mean to do it,” he told the operator. “I don’t know why.”
Witter is charged with two counts of murder, the state’s attorney’s office said.
“The alleged shooting death of Helen Witter is indeed a tragedy,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. “I extend my sincere condolences to the entire Witter family and their friends as they cope with this heartbreaking loss.”
Lombard is a suburb of Chicago and a roughly 20-mile drive west from the city’s downtown.
This story was originally published January 19, 2025 at 1:58 PM with the headline "81-year-old fatally shoots wife while arguing in bed, Illinois cops say. ‘I’m so sorry’."