James Radford (Shawano County Sheriff’s Office).
A Wisconsin man allegedly claimed that his wife shot herself in the chest — while holding a gun in both hands — after he said he was going to leave her, but authorities didn’t believe him.
According to a criminal complaint, the widower, James C. Radford, now 39, was allegedly the one who shot and killed Sabrina Radford, 25, while she was holding a phone, and he concocted a story about her supposed “suicide” as well as about him doing CPR.
From the complaint:
Complainant further alleges that when law enforcement arrived on April 11, 2016, items of clothing and other things were thrown on the floor in an upstairs bedroom. The complainant believes the defendant had done this because he was mad she was with another man, and SR was leaving.
Radford is charged with first-degree reckless homicide with use of a dangerous weapon. He was charged on April 11, nine years after he allegedly killed Sabrina Radford, but Shawano County deputies announced it on Tuesday. Radford is scheduled for a status conference to take place June 9. Bond was set at $800,000 and he remains behind bars as of Tuesday.
According to the complaint, he called 911 in the early morning hours of April 11, 2016, to say his wife “has been shot real bad” and that he was doing CPR.
“Law enforcement arrived and observed that there was a substantial amount of blood on the clothes, body and area surrounding SR’s body,” the complaint stated. “Law enforcement observed that she had sustained a gunshot wound to her chest and was deceased.”
Authorities claim that Radford’s story didn’t hold water. Supposedly, Sabrina Radford shot herself in the chest while holding the gun in both hands, but the gun, a large .44 caliber handgun, lacked blowback material and blood on the barrel or muzzle, authorities say.
Although there was a significant amount of blood on the victim’s clothes and body, an exception was her chest: It lacked blood when paramedics took off her sweatshirt to perform CPR, authorities said. That contradicted James Radford’s claim that he had been doing CPR before first responders arrived.
Investigators also said they scrutinized the 911 audio.
From the complaint:
In analyzing the 911 call made by the defendant, at 1 minute and 31 seconds into the phone call, he states “I can’t believe ? (unintelligible) shot her”. Complainant believes he says “I”.
James Radford allegedly acted out of jealousy. A text from Feb. 16, 2016, showed Sabrina had writing “that the defendant was threatening her if she sees another man.”
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