Puxico woman accused of killing husband in his sleep takes plea deal

KENNETT, Mo. — A Puxico, Missouri, woman pleaded guilty Monday to a lesser murder charge in connection with the 2013 shooting death of her husband, who she killed because “something” told her to “end him.”

Victoria Lee Isaac, 51, accompanied by her attorney, Patti Tucka of the Public Defender’s Office, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and felony armed criminal action before Presiding Circuit Judge Robert Mayer.

Isaac entered her plea after the state, represented by Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Russ Oliver, filed amended information with the court.

It alleged May 14, 2013, Isaac knowingly caused the death of Chris Isaac by shooting him in the head with a .22-caliber handgun.

Isaac’s 43-year-old husband, according to earlier reports, died after being shot several times in their home.

Isaac originally was charged with first-degree murder.

Isaac’s plea pre-empted her pretrial conference, set for Wednesday in Dunklin County, as well as her trial slated for Dec. 5 to 9.

“This has been something that has been discussed for quite some time,” Oliver said. “The family of the victim was involved in these conversations, and they were in favor of this resolution.”

Isaac’s plea was “a completely open plea” to the second-degree murder and armed criminal action charges, Oliver said.

“The murder in the second degree has up to a life sentence,” which is calculated at 30 years, Oliver said. Armed criminal action, he said, has an “unlimited sentencing range.”

Oliver said there is nothing in “our agreement to limit (Isaac) from being imposed with consecutive sentences.

“The defendant is 51 years old, and given the facts of murder in the second degree ... a mandatory 85 percent to be served prior to any potential release, I was comfortable in this resolution,” Oliver said.

After Mayer accepted Isaac’s plea, he set her sentencing for 9 a.m. Dec. 15.

According to earlier reports, authorities were contacted during the morning of May 14, 2013, when Isaac called Stoddard County 911 Services to report shooting her husband.

Upon their arrival, deputies found Isaac and her son, Kennett Smith II.

Smith, Stoddard County sheriff’s Capt. Hank Trout said in his probable-cause statement, reported he was in bed when he heard the first shots.

“(He) said that ‘she ended up firing six rounds into him there on the couch,’” Trout said.

Isaac’s husband was asleep on the couch when he was shot.

As Isaac was being taken to the sheriff’s department after her arrest, the woman, who had been told of her rights, said “she was just lying in bed and ‘something’ told her to get up and ‘end him,’” Trout wrote.

Trout said Isaac further reported she was going to “end (herself), but her son came into the room, and she didn’t have enough time to load the rounds to shoot herself.”

Oliver said there was no “official mental exam” conducted on Isaac by Department of Mental Health officials because the defense did not request one.

Pertinent address:

Puxico, Mo.