Two Weeks After Murder Killer Botches Suicide

"INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, FL — Police are planning to charge a husband with murder in the death of his wife and then trying to kill himself.

"Police said David R. Ernst, 42, killed his wife Darlene Mayfield, 59, at their home at 1916 1st St.

"Police said they will charge Ernst with second-degree murder when he recovers from his Thursday suicide attempt; he told officials he had taken unknown medications.

"Ernst is under guard at a local hospital.

"While investigating the attempted suicide, deputies learned Ernst had made statements to a neighbor that he had killed his wife. Deputies found a decomposing body in the bathtub of the upstairs bathroom.

"The body was badly decomposed and detectives could not identify it as Mayfield, or observe any obvious signs of trauma, until Friday.

"Detectives said Ernst told them he had suffocated his wife about two weeks ago during an argument then placed her in the bathtub."

From Tampa Bay Online...