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A Tampa man told a 911 dispatcher he had shot his terminally ill wife because he could no longer watch her suffer, then waited at the couple's home for deputies to arrest him, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Randall Walton Willis, 61, called for help on the afternoon of March 20, 2012, and reported that he had shot his wife, Gilda Beth Willis, 62, at their house on Clewis Avenue, deputies said. Arrest reports said he shot her in the head and chest. Deputies reached the home at about 12:10 p.m.

On the recorded call, Willis told the dispatcher, "I just shot my wife," and said, "She just suffered too much." He said his wife needed her medication refilled and that "I couldn't see her suffer anymore," according to authorities.

Gilda Willis had been in failing health for years. Relatives and investigators said she had endured liver failure, multiple strokes and seizures and lived in chronic pain that required regular medication. The couple's house was in foreclosure and had been listed for public sale the day before the shooting, records showed.

Willis was booked into the Falkenburg Road Jail and charged with second-degree murder. He was held there in the months that followed.

The couple's son, Russell Willis, defended his father in interviews, saying, "I've never once seen a side of him that's even capable of this." He added, "I still love him, no matter what."

Willis never went to trial. On June 30, 2012, he collapsed in a general population unit at the jail and was pronounced dead at Tampa General Hospital, the sheriff's office said. He was still being held on the murder charge at the time of his death.