MARION, AR - Murder in Marion, Arkansas. The daughter of a high-ranking Crittenden County sheriff's deputy is the suspect. The victim is her husband.
The shooting happened Tuesday, August 23, 2011, inside the couple's home. Police say it was a heated domestic dispute that escalated.
Emotions were also heated at the West Memphis courthouse Wednesday where 30-year-old Kristin Andrews appeared before a judge. She's charged with manslaughter for killing her husband, 29-year-old Stanley Andrews.
Stanley's mother says she doesn't like the way her son's murder is being handled.
"I'm upset about having to find out about it this way and I'm upset because my child is dead," says a tearful Nina Andrews.
Andrews is angry, trying to come to terms with the way she learned about her son's death.
"A 911 call came in at 8:48 last night, and I'm finding out this morning, a few minutes past 7:30," she says. "I should have heard something last night. I told them I know that's your daughter, but that's my son."
Authorities say the shooting happened after Kristin and Stanley Andrews got into a fight at their home on Morning Side Drive. Her father, George Blair, is a chief of the uniformed patrol with the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department. Nina thinks that's why she's being left out of the loop.
"I think it's because her dad is high up," Andrews tells abc24.com. "George is the father, and he told me my grandbaby said that mama had a gun and she supposedly shot him in the back."
Kristin Andrews' attorney says she ran into a closet where the couple kept a pistol, closed her eyes and began firing. In her court appearance Wednesday afternoon, a judge set Kristin's bond at $5,000, a decision Nina vehemently disagrees with.
"She got a $5,000 bond and is out on bail," she says. "You're going to get a low bond because your father's high up."
Kristin was released late Wednesday night. As a mother, Nina says that makes dealing with her son's death even harder.
"How can you not tell a mother her son is dead?" she asks. "I don't understand that."
She says Kristin and Stanley were married for 10 years, were high school sweethearts and had three kids.
Before Tuesday's trouble, investigators say they'd never been called to the Andrews' home. An official report on the shooting was not available for reporters.
Stanley Andrews' body has been taken to Little Rock for an autopsy.
