Man Dead After Fight Over Goats
An Eldon, Okla., woman has been arrested for allegedly fatally shooting her husband after an argument over who should feed the couple’s goats, police said Thursday.
Authorities charged Pearl Lynne Smith, 47, with first-degree murder for the death of her husband, Thomas Smith, 51. Sheriff’s deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call at the couple’s rural eastern Oklahoma home Tuesday and found the husband dead, shot once through the chest.
“We were told that what prompted this disagreement was her failure to feed the goats,” Cherokee County Undersheriff Dan Garber said.
Garber said the wife pointed a 9-millimeter pistol at her husband and demanded that he go feed the goats.
Thomas Smith then dared his wife to shoot him, Garber said. When he took a step toward Pearl, she killed him with a single shot, Garber added.
The two had a history of domestic trouble, Garber said, and the argument over feeding the goats was the breaking point.
“Something like that is the trigger that unlocks something deeper,” Garber said.
Pearl Smith is in jail on $100,000 bail, pending her arraignment today, court officials said. She could face the death penalty if convicted.
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