FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Sharon McGee never believed her father when he said her mother accidentally shot herself to death while threatening suicide 30 years ago.
So late last year, she confronted her father, James O’Neil, and demanded the truth. Her father told her a story vastly different than the one he told her – and detectives – decades ago.
According to court documents, O’Neil told his daughter her mother was threatening to kill herself. She pulled out a gun and he wrested it away from her. Verna O’Neil then said she wanted to die and her husband responded: “Let me show you how it’s done” and pulled the trigger.
McGee kept her father’s confession a secret for several months before going to police earlier this year, according to court documents. On Thursday, O’Neil, now 83, was charged with manslaughter. He was released Friday on $50,000 bail.
His attorney, Michael Salnick, did not return a phone call seeking comment.