Man Kills Ailing Wife, Commits Suicide, Police Say

An 81-year-old man concerned over his wife’s declining health shot her to death then turned the handgun on himself Friday morning in their carport in Leisure World, police said.

Investigators and witnesses said Karl G. Pearson calmly walked behind his wife of 55 years, Velma M. Pearson, 78, and shot her in the back about 11 a.m. He then sat beside her body and shot himself in the head, Seal Beach police said.

The murder and suicide shocked neighbors in the quiet, gated retirement community. Those who knew the Pearsons said they were extremely close and went daily to shopping malls where they enjoyed walking and having lunch at different restaurants. Neighbors said Pearson loved his wife deeply, but was worried about her care if something happened to him.

Lucille Bell, who lived next door to the couple for about four years, said Velma Pearson was a cheerful person who in recent years began showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease. “He was so worried about her,” Bell said. “He often said, ‘I don’t know what will happen if I get sick.’ ”

Several residents said Pearson, a tall, handsome man who had worked as a sales manager for a local car dealership, did many of the household chores and watched his wife closely because she often walked unsteadily on her cane.

Although the couple were said to be friendly, neighbors said they mostly kept to themselves in the one-bedroom home where they had lived for 25 years. Only recently, Bell said, did Pearson occasionally open up about his wife’s deteriorating health. He told her that his wife suffered memory lapses and that he feared that if he took ill, nobody would care for her.