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Edward Michael Pautenis, 59, was convicted of murder and tampering with physical evidence in Hood County, Texas, after admitting in a recorded police interview that he shot his wife, Jennifer "Jenn" Pautenis, 29, and leading officers to her remains. The couple lived in Granbury with their two children, ages 7 and 5. Jennifer was a dispatcher for LifeCare EMS, while Edward stayed home with the children. Jennifer's family lived in Florida, where Edward had worked before the move to Texas.

Jennifer was last seen on October 20, 2019. Edward told her family he had been putting the children to bed when she left with another man. He said they had an open marriage and that it was not unusual for her to leave with other men for long stretches. He did not report her missing. In a jailhouse interview after his arrest, he described firing repeatedly and said, "The more she kept coming at me and I just sat there and shot her," claiming self-defense. He said he then put the children to bed, cleaned the house and dumped her body in a field. He told the children that he and their mother had been playing a Halloween prank. Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said Pautenis claimed to have used three guns.

On October 22, 2019, Hood County Sheriff's Office investigator James Luckie answered a welfare check requested by a co-worker after Jennifer missed work for a couple of days. Nobody was home, and there were no obvious signs of foul play. Edward returned Luckie's call that day and repeated the account about Jennifer leaving with another man. Her relatives in Florida began calling after she went quiet on social media, which was unlike her, and Luckie opened a missing person investigation. On October 25, Edward gave Luckie a detailed account of the night she supposedly left. Luckie noticed a white Dodge van parked outside.

The Texas Rangers were asked to assist. In early November 2019, Ranger Don Stoner interviewed Edward, who denied killing Jennifer and said he had nothing to do with her disappearance. Ranger Danny Briley was then assigned. Officers searched the property with Edward's consent and a cadaver dog on November 14, but the van was gone. Edward said it was at a storage facility in Fort Worth but refused to name the facility, calling it his personal business. A tip from Jennifer's relatives placed the van at a business in Florida where Edward had worked. Investigators recovered it there on November 15 and found blood on the weather stripping around the back hatch.

On December 4, 2019, Briley arrested Edward for tampering with evidence for moving the van out of Hood County and interviewed him in custody. Briley read him his rights, and Edward said he understood them. As they discussed the blood in the van, Pautenis said, "I don't know where else I'm supposed to go at this point. I mean, I'd like to talk to a lawyer or something, but I don't even know if that will do anything for me in this." Briley paused for several seconds before asking another question, which Pautenis answered. Later in the interview, Pautenis admitted killing Jennifer and agreed to show Briley where he had put her body. The recording was played at his trial.

Pautenis led officers to a rural area, where searchers found a skull with what appeared to be a bullet hole and other bones. DNA testing showed that the bones and blood from the van almost certainly came from Jennifer. At a second site where Pautenis said he had dumped the guns, a canine search recovered a .25 caliber pistol and two black barrels from a small .22 caliber rifle.

Pautenis was indicted for murder and tampering with physical evidence. He moved to suppress his December 4 statements and testified that his reference to a lawyer had been a request for one, but the motion was denied. He pleaded not guilty and argued that he had killed Jennifer in self-defense. A jury in the 355th District Court in Hood County found him guilty on both counts. It assessed life in prison and a $10,000 fine for murder, and 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for tampering. On January 25, 2024, the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth affirmed both judgments, holding that the lawyer remark was ambiguous and did not invoke his right to counsel.

The video is a police interview-room recording that runs about 74 minutes. It presents the interview itself and opens with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

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Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.