Coroner names gunshot victim, 81, allegedly killed by wife in Hilton Head care home
Officials have identified an 81-year-old man who was allegedly shot and killed by his wife last week inside a Hilton Head Island nursing home.
Dennis Recker, of Bluffton, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound at 11:26 a.m. at the Preston Health Center, according to the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office. Attempts by first responders to save the man’s life at the care center were unsuccessful.
Police arrested the man’s 82-year-old wife, Harriett Kay Recker, after she was found inside her husband’s room at the care facility. She was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
The Preston Health Center is a 58-bed skilled care facility offering short-term, long-term and memory care services, according to its website. It’s located in The Cypress of Hilton Head, a retirement community within the larger Hilton Head Plantation gated neighborhood.
Public records showed the Reckers had lived in the Bluffton area since 2012, when they purchased a home in Sun City Hilton Head. Before then, the couple had a listed address in Madison, Mississippi, for about seven years.
Police had not specified a possible motive in the killing.
Harriett Recker remained in custody at the Beaufort County jail as of Monday afternoon.
Due to the seriousness of her charges, Recker’s bond would need to be set by a circuit court judge. Circuit court resumes in Beaufort County on Sept. 22, according to judicial records.
