'How could I do that to my wife?' Man stands trial in wife's killing

Just before 7 a.m. on March 4, 2021, Ricky Allen Holdsclaw called Gaston County Police and told the dispatcher that he shot his wife in the stomach while she was asleep in bed. Judy Allred Helms was 72 when she died.

Holdsclaw, who was arrested for Helms’ death at the time, is on trial for voluntary manslaughter.

In court Monday, a 911 call presented by the state shed light on the circumstances surrounding Helms’ death.

Helms, who had Alzheimer’s Disease, had a particularly intense episode the day before, Holdsclaw told the dispatcher.

He said in the call that Helms retired from a career in healthcare about 17 years prior and had always asked him to never put her in a nursing home.

“She has these spells where I have to hold her down,” he said through tears at the time. “She suffers so much when she has one of these spells.”

While trying to restrain her, Holdsclaw said in the call, he pulled a muscle in his stomach which rendered him nearly immobile.

Sometime after that episode, Helms wanted to go for a walk by herself and returned home escorted by a neighbor who found her standing in their driveway.

Holdsclaw said in the call that Helms shared a chicken pot pie with the neighbor for dinner, took her medicine and went to bed.

“(At) about six this morning, I just went crazy and shot her,” he said. “How could I do that? How could I do that to my wife? She was my one and only companion.”

Prosecutors Kristen Northrup and Josh Warner also introduced several pieces of evidence on the first day of trial including the gun allegedly used in the shooting, bedding found at the scene and a deformed jacketed bullet.

Rather than face a jury, Holtsclaw is having his case decided by Superior Court Judge David Phillips.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Details revealed in trial of man who is accused of shooting his wife