Woman, age 82, charged with murdering husband inside Hilton Head care home
Police have accused an 82-year-old woman of fatally shooting her husband Friday morning inside a Hilton Head Island skilled care facility.
Harriett Kay Recker, of Sun City, was booked at the Beaufort County jail around 2 p.m. on charges of murder and a related firearms offense.
Gunfire was reported around 10:30 a.m. from the Preston Health Center, a 58-bed skilled care facility inside the Hilton Head Plantation gated neighborhood. Deputies responded to a patient’s room to find Becker alongside her husband, 81, who had a gunshot wound.
The husband died of his injuries, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Coroner’s staff had not yet disclosed his identity.
Chrissy Kristian, a community manager at Hilton Head Plantation, wrote in a message to residents that the suspect had shot her husband in the torso, and the man died as medics attempted to treat him on scene. The couple had “recently arrived” at the facility at the time of the shooting, she added.
Hilton Head Plantation is home to about 10,000 residents, comprising nearly a third of the island’s total population.
As of Friday afternoon, police would not specify any potential motive in the shooting.
This report will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published September 12, 2025 at 11:08 AM.
