PHOENIX — He said they had been arguing but couldn’t remember over what. Probably the self-described stupid stuff they had routinely been fighting about. She was walking away from him, still yelling, when he grabbed the gun and fired five times.
David Koepke, 53, called 911 and calmly told the dispatcher what he did, according to a probable cause statement filed in court. Police arrested him on suspicion of second-degree murder.
Police and paramedics tried to save the life of Yvette Appleby, 68, inside the Peoria apartment the two shared. She died in a hospital.
Koepke was held in jail on a $1 million bond. Outside of a speeding ticket, court records show this was Koepke’s first brush with the law.
The Arizona Republic could not reach relatives of either Appleby or Koepke.
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Koepke told Peoria police that the two used to be a romantic couple but had lived as roommates over the last few years as she had “shut down” on him, he said.
They had been bickering for the last two years about “stupid stuff,” he said, and the early evening of July 16 was no different.
Koepke said he had been cleaning their mobile home. He said he had also been drinking beer, somewhere between 8 and 10 through the course of the day.
When Appleby arrived home at about 5:30 p.m., he said, she started yelling at him. He argued back and followed her, he told police, as she walked down a hallway.
He ducked into a room where he kept his 9mm handgun and racked a bullet into the chamber, he said.
She didn’t respond to the sound, he said. Appleby was facing away from him when he fired.
He estimated to police that he fired three times. Police would find five casings in the hallway. Koepke admitted to police he was a bit fuzzy on the details because of the beers he drank.
Koepke called 911 at about 6:25 p.m. He told the dispatcher that he had shot his ex-girlfriend, that he had put the handgun he used on the floor and that he posed no danger.
When police arrived, he walked out of the mobile home with his hands in the air, according to court documents. As officers handcuffed him, documents said, he told them, “I shot her.”
Appleby had multiple gunshot wounds to her torso, according to documents.
A detective told Koepke during an interview with him at the police station that she had died. He showed no emotion, telling officers that he wasn’t much of a crier and that people grieve in different ways, documents said.
“I wish I could take back everything,” he said. “I’m kind of in shock.”
