Among the “grievances” Lawrence Loeffler used to justify the murder of his wife Betty to police was her insistence on putting the ketchup bottle lid on “too tightly.”
Prosecutors told an Oregon jury that Loeffler was also upset about his stepdaughter not wishing him a happy birthday.
Police and court documents state Loeffler planned the murder in advance, grabbing a .25-caliber handgun from the bedroom and luring his 83-year-old wife onto the deck of their house near La Pine.
He then allegedly shot her once in the neck and again in head to make sure she was dead.
Loeffler initially told officers he shot his wife out of self defense in the midst of an argument about laundry.
He then changed the story to claim his wife and stepdaughter were plotting to kill him.
Finally, he confessed to the murder and told investigators it was planned.
Defense attorney Jacques DeKalb argued that Loeffler was delusional and had become irrationally obsessed with death following a recent stay at a retirement home in Bend.
The trial continues.
