An 80-year-old Florida husband allegedly went to church with his wife on Sunday and then smothered her to death with a pillow at home, claiming that the victim had been “suffering from Alzheimer’s” that had “progressively gotten worse over the years” and retirement money was drying up.
Richard Scharf of North Fort Myers is behind bars in Lee County and facing a murder charge as authorities allege that he killed his wife, wrote an apology note and attached it to a will, and then called his daughter to confess as he tried to take his own life inside the garage of his Kaidon Lane home on the afternoon of Sept. 22.
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A probable cause statement obtained by Law&Crime says that the Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to the residence first after a caller reported that the defendant was threatening to take his own life after smothering his wife with a pillow.
When deputies got there, Scharf was allegedly sitting inside his SUV in the garage, was detained, and informed authorities he “took a large amount of over-the-counter medication in an attempt to kill himself.”