An Indiana man is behind bars after he allegedly confessed to killing his wife just five weeks after she gave birth to their first child.
Officers responding to the couple’s home found 25-year-old Robert Cooley leaving the scene in bloody clothes.
“I did something bad. I need to go to jail,” he reportedly told the officers.
The body of his wife, Amber Cooley, was found lifeless inside the home next to an unharmed infant.
The 26-year-old woman was reportedly so badly beaten that she was unrecognizable, police said. She was also shot in the head.
Amber Cooley’s parents said that the couple had been married for five years and that recently, there were “ongoing domestic issues” and red flags revealing a deteriorating relationship.
“He was verbally abusing her and started to spiral out of control a little shortly after the birth of her baby,” Amber’s mother said.
“He threatened me,” Amber’s father said. “He tried to engage in a physical altercation with me.”
The victim’s mother said that the night before the tragedy, Amber asked her for help with a petition to dissolve the marriage.
“We think he tried to confront her and she told him something he didn’t want to hear,” Amber’s father added.
