Bond set at $700,000 for Powell man charged with wife's murder

Posted 8/29/17

“You don’t have to worry about either one of us anymore,” Williamson reportedly told his son before hanging up.

The 64-year-old then called authorities with a similarly brief message, saying his wife was dead and to send police.

“I’m …

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Bond set at $700,000 for Powell man charged with wife's murder

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David Williamson is alleged to have shot his wife Shirley early Saturday morning south of Powell, then called his son.

“You don’t have to worry about either one of us anymore,” Williamson reportedly told his son before hanging up.

The 64-year-old then called authorities with a similarly brief message, saying his wife was dead and to send police.

“I’m the one that killed her. That’s all you need to know,” David Williamson reportedly told a Park County Sheriff’s Office investigator who responded to the Lane 11 home.

According to court documents filed Monday, Williamson later told the investigator that his 65-year-old wife’s mental state had been deteriorating and that, early Saturday morning, pointed an unloaded gun at him, pulled the trigger and then yelled for him to kill her.

David Williamson is alleged to have then fatally shot her in the head with his own gun.

“He told me that she was in a better place now,” Sheriff’s Investigator Phil Johnson wrote of a Sunday follow-up interview with David Williamson. “He said it was instant for her, meaning her death.”

The Park County Attorney’s Office has charged Williamson with second-degree murder — alleging he killed Shirley Williamson “purposely and maliciously, but without premeditation.”

“This … is a very devastating and heartbreaking situation for all of those parties involved,” Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Leda Pojman said in court on Monday, also calling it “an extremely scary and dangerous crime.”

Pojman asked for David Williamson to be held on a $700,000 cash bond; he did not object and Circuit Court Judge Bruce Waters accepted the recommendation.

The Williamsons had reached their 36th anniversary on Wednesday, but their son told law enforcement that the couple’s relationship had soured in recent months, including fights. He said his mother felt trapped in her home.

Shirley Williamson, who was blind, used her phone as a lifeline to keep herself occupied and was affected by a recent outage in phone service, the affidavit says.

“Shirley Williamson has been awake most of the previous two weeks, having mental issues like hearing people around the property and thinking gang leaders were coming to get her,” Johnson wrote of David Williamson’s account.

Shirley Williams reportedly began carrying a Glock 9mm for security, though, at the suggestion of their son, the weapon was unloaded Wednesday night.

Things reportedly came to a head on Friday night, when David Williamson took his wife to the Powell Valley Hospital Emergency Room to try getting her some help, Johnson wrote; they reportedly argued the entire hour they were there, the affidavit says.

Sheriff’s logs indicate that around 8:45 p.m., Shirley Williamson called the Sheriff’s Office to report that people were in her garage on Lane 11 — though she made the call from near the hospital, the log says. The report was ultimately determined to be “unfounded.”

After responding deputies left the home, David Williamson reportedly tried to take Shirley to a hotel, but she wouldn’t go.

David Williamson told the investigator he then tried to get his wife to go to bed. The couple’s son told authorities he was on the phone with his mother — trying to convince her to go to sleep — until around midnight.

But David Williamson said Shirley kept moving around and going on and on about people coming to get them — also accusing her husband of being in on it, the affidavit says.

“He said that she was getting worse,” Johnson wrote of the account.

It was at that point she reportedly pointed the Glock at David Williamson and pulled the trigger; since it was unloaded, it resulted only in a click, he told Johnson.

He said he threw the gun on the floor while “Shirley Williamson kept pushing up against him. She yelled at David Williamson to kill her,” Johnson wrote of the man’s account.

David Williamson is alleged to have then fired one shot in her head from his Bersa .380 handgun. He then recounted getting dressed and calling his son and law enforcement around 4:42 a.m.

The Williamsons’ son told authorities that his mother was not suicidal and once told him, “If I die, it will be someone else who did it,” Johnson recounted. The son also said his father constantly picked on his wife and would call her a “[expletive]ing idiot,” the affidavit says. He said his mother had previously asked to stay with him.

Deputies who responded to the couple’s Lane 11 home early Saturday found David Williamson sitting on his porch and asked what was going on.

“Go inside, you will see,” Williamson reportedly replied. “She is in the bedroom.”

His Bersa handgun was found on the bed, near his deceased wife’s feet.

Williamson later told Johnson he had not planned the incident and agreed that it was spontaneous — then started to cry, the affidavit alleges.

A conviction for second-degree murder carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.

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