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Fenton, Missouri (First Alert 4) – A Jefferson County man was charged with murder Friday after he said he shot and killed his wife because he was exhausted from caring for her but didn't want to die in a nursing home.
The Jefferson County Prosecutor's office has charged 73-year-old Kenneth Poutler with first-degree murder and armed criminal proceedings. He is being held unconfined at the Jefferson County Jail.
They were called to the Karen and Kenneth Poutler homes on a block of Fenton's Frontier Trail around 2:15pm Friday, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
When investigators arrived, Kenneth Poutler met them at the entrance and let them in. Inside the house, investigators discovered the body of 75-year-old Karen Poutler on the bedroom floor with wounds to her lower back and upper arms. Kenneth Poutler gave investigators the gun he used in the shooting.
In an interview at Jefferson County Sheriff's Office headquarters, Kenneth Poutler told investigators that his wife, Karen Poutler, had a mental health condition, and over the past few days he had been exhausted while trying to take care of her.
He then told investigators that he determined that his wife did not want to die in the nursing home on Friday morning and decided to kill her instead.
“Kenneth advised that he wanted to make the victim's death humane, so he chose a specific cartridge for the firearm,” the sheriff's detective wrote in a statement of probable cause. “Kenneth also said he chose to place his shots to kill the victim as quickly as possible.”
The statement of possible causes said investigators did not believe Kenneth Poutler would appear in court. He said, “he advised he no longer wants to live and issued multiple statements that he wanted to end his life so that he could be with his victims.”
Kenneth Pautler's first court appearance is not set as publication time.
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