it was debbie. police quickly determined that the only shot fired in the house came from lars s gun. he said it was an accident a case of mistaken identity. everything happened so fast. reporter: nevertheless any kind of infidelities going on between you or with her anything like that? no sir. i trust her completely. completely. reporter: lars answered each of the investigators questions. reporter: in return, he just wanted to know one thing nobody has told me anything about if she s alright. reporter: so after two hours of talking, they broke the news i don t know how to tell you this, but your wife didn t make it. okay?
cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. no matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. reporter: lars itzo admitted he fatally shot his wife debbie. but said it was a terrible accident. from the very beginning, he cooperated with police. answered every question, no lawyer present. then, about eight hours after that first conversation about
it didn t even make any sense to me. reporter: in arkansas, jim and anne kelly learned the news from their son. that s just the worst news that a mother could ever hear. how does your brain process that information? i don t think you do. i couldn t process the shooting part, i guess. it was just that she was gone. and a part of me died the day she died. just kept saying, not debby, not debby, not deb. reporter: debbie s parents flew to san antonio, to spend time with lars, to support him in their shared grief. he could hardly talk. he seemed extremely remorseful. was he saying everything that you would wanna hear? like, i messed, i did it, i m sorry? apologized profusely for it and said it was just an accident. it was dark. some people might be really angry but you didn t go down that road?
it said a lot. it was great. reporter: debbie s friends weren t nearly as supportive. did you say anything to him? did he say anything to you? no. no, i didn t. i did not. reporter: they were furious at lars for doing something so stupid, so careless. everything he did bothered them. even his taste in flower arrangements that day. like the one that s pictured here. there was a wreath up at the front that was a huge flower heart, and in the middle of it, it was broken with these lines. so it was this broken heart. and it actually looked like a heartbeat, and it was in such poor taste. she was actually shot in the heart? well, it penetrated the lining of her heart, yes. reporter: as family and friends tried to sort out their feelings police reviewed the case, looking to see if this was a crime or not. since even an accident can warrant criminal charges. and, sure enough 11 days after lars fatally shot debbie, he was charged with manslaughter. anything you want to
out of lars laid-back ways just a guy into old-school board games, restoring muscle cars, and drinking texas favorite, home-grown soft drink, dr. pepper. about a case a day. i mean, he had a lot reporter: what? of dr. pepper. at least a 12-pack, i know. reporter: i ve never heard of someone drinking that much dr. pepper. i thought it would kill him. really. doesn t drink a lot of alcohol at all, just dr. pepper. reporter: and when private debbie brought lars out to meet her friends, they knew it was serious. he arrived with her, hand-in-hand. reporter: sure, they noticed lars was a different sort of match for their friend. he s very quiet he s got the blond hair that would go with being named lars. he seemed like a surfer big man. reporter: but to debbie, he was the right man. i felt like she was really in love with him. i can understand her thinking, you know, maybe it s time to try something just different. reporter: and pretty soon that som