--- title: William J Hager of Florida Kills Sick Wife Over Costly Drugs description: An 86-year-old man in Florida told authorities he fatally shot his ailing wife because he could no longer afford her medication. canonical: https://time.com/4342881/florida-man-murder-wife-sick/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-20T12:23:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:42:42.751Z article:section: U.S. og:title: William J Hager of Florida Kills Sick Wife Over Costly Drugs og:description: An 86-year-old man in Florida told authorities he fatally shot his ailing wife because he could no longer afford her medication. og:url: https://time.com/4342881/florida-man-murder-wife-sick/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: William J Hager of Florida Kills Sick Wife Over Costly Drugs twitter:description: An 86-year-old man in Florida told authorities he fatally shot his ailing wife because he could no longer afford her medication. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Florida Man Says He Killed Sick Wife Because He Couldn't Afford Medication  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 20, 2016 12:23 PM CUT  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 20, 2016 12:23 PM CUT An 86-year-old man in Florida told authorities he fatally shot his ailing wife because he could no longer afford her medication. [According to the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/20/us/florida-man-says-he-killed-sick-wife-because-he-couldnt-afford-her-medicine-sheriffs-say.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=1 "undefined"),William J. Hager said he shot his wife Carolyn, 78, in the head while she slept Monday morning in their Port St. Lucie home. They had been married for more than 50 years and she had been sick for the past 15 months, and they could no longer afford the medication she needed. Hager, who has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, told authorities that after he shot his wife, he drank coffee and called his children to let them know what he had done before he called the police. “He was perfectly clear on that he was going to be arrested and go to jail, but again, he felt that this is where it had gotten to him and this was his course of action,” Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Garry Wilson said, [according to Treasure Coast Newspapers](http://www.tcpalm.com/news/crime/st-lucie-county/port-st-lucie-man-charged-with-murdering-his-wife-330a8809-e084-1ee8-e053-0100007fd9bf-379786381.html?version=meter+at+3&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click "undefined"). “He showed emotion and he was very clear that he was out of options in his mind.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4342881/florida-man-murder-wife-sick/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4342881/florida-man-murder-wife-sick/"},"headline":"Florida Man Says He Killed Sick Wife Because He Couldn't Afford Medication","datePublished":"2016-05-20T12:23:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:42:42.751Z","description":"\"He was very clear that he was out of options in his mind\"","url":"https://time.com/4342881/florida-man-murder-wife-sick/","keywords":["Crime","Florida"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4342881/florida-man-murder-wife-sick/","name":"Florida Man Says He Killed Sick Wife Because He Couldn't Afford Medication"}}]}] ```