A Florida man was arrested this week after he allegedly confessed to killing his ailing wife after church services Sunday.
80-year-old Richard Scharf allegedly smothered his wife to death with a pillow while she napped and then wrote an apology note he attached to his will.
The man then went to the garage of his home where he called his daughter to confess after planning to take his own life.
When Lee County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, Scharf was sitting inside his car. He told the deputies he “took a large amount of over-the-counter medication in an attempt to kill himself.”
Scharf told detectives he thought about ending “the decedent’s pain and suffering” while driving back from church.
He noted that her Alzheimer’s condition was getting worse and that she had “severe jaw pain” in addition to the “financial stress” due to their retirement money drying up.
