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A 65-year-old Wilmington man called 911 to report that he had shot his wife in the head, then acknowledged on the recording that he had waited about a day before summoning help, according to police and local news accounts of the September 2011 case.

Davis Ray Belton reached emergency dispatchers on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, from a trailer park off South Kerr Avenue, according to WWAY. He told the operator he had been drinking brandy and that his wife, 55-year-old Diane Clemmons Belton, had been shot in the back of the head. "She's sitting in the recliner, dead as a rock," he said, according to the recording released by WECT.

Belton said the gun had fired the previous night and that he had not touched it since. "The thing went off, that's it," he told the operator, adding that the back of his wife's hair "blew up" when the round struck her. Much of the call was difficult to make out, and Belton struggled to explain why he had not phoned sooner.

Officers found Diane Clemmons Belton dead inside the home. Belton was questioned and charged the following day with second-degree murder, according to WWAY. The charge was later elevated to first-degree murder.

At trial in September 2012, prosecutors argued that Belton acted with malice and premeditation, contending that he shot his wife on Sept. 3 and kept drinking for 18 to 20 hours as she lay dead. Defense attorneys said the shooting was accidental, telling jurors that an intoxicated Belton had been trying to show his wife how to handle the weapon when his finger slipped onto the trigger. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict, and a judge declared a mistrial.

On Nov. 8, 2012, Belton pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, according to WWAY. He was sentenced to 57 to 78 months in prison.