Man, 72, suffocates wife, drags body to car in broad daylight, police say

File photo of a police car with lights on

Credit: Westend61

Credit: Westend61

File photo of a police car with lights on

A Texas man was arrested and charged with murder after police responded to a call about a man seen dragging a body from a house to a car in broad daylight, police said.

When police arrived to the home inside a gated community, they saw Joseph Scala, 72, leaning against a vehicle, and the body of his wife Betty Scala, 72, on the ground next to it around 11 a.m. Thursday, according to WFAA.

Scala told officers he suffocated his wife, Sgt. Chris Brichetto, a Granbury police spokesman, told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.

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"She was laying next to the vehicle. He was kind of trying to catch his breath," Brichetto told KDFW. "That is what was reported to me. They asked what happened. He said, 'I suffocated her.'"

The couple lived in Arlington, but Betty was staying with a friend in Granbury. Joseph Scale did not give a reason for or say what lead up to the incident, Brichetto said.

“She was staying out here with a friend. He was not,” Brichetto said. “So he drove out here today, apparently for that reason."