Family disputes account
TIONESTA TWP, Forest County — The family of a Butler County man shot and killed allegedly by his wife during an argument at their camp here disputes her account of what happened.
Ruth M. Angert, 58, of Clearfield Township told state police that 68-year-old Larry B. Angert attacked her first during a domestic quarrel late Saturday night.
She claimed he shoved her and choked her.
A short time later, Ruth Angert said she got a handgun that happened to be on a table, according to court documents.
She recounted that her husband reached for the pistol and, following a brief struggle, the gun fired, killing her husband of six years.
“Larry never would have hit her,” Shirley Angert of Donegal Township told the Butler Eagle. “He was not like that. He wasn't violent.”
And he would not have left his pistol unsecured on a table, according to Shirley Angert and her husband, Frank, Larry Angert's younger brother.
“When we heard those two things, about the fight and the gun,” Shirley Angert said, “we didn't believe her story.”
Ruth Angert is in the Warren County Prison without bail on a general charge of homicide and a felony count of assault.
Police arrested her soon after she called 911 at 10:31 p.m. Saturday, according to court documents, and told a dispatcher, “I just shot my husband. I shot him in the cheek.”
An autopsy the next day determined Larry died of a single gunshot wound to his head, said Forest County Coroner Norman Wimer.
The bullet went through his head, but Wimer refused to disclose any other findings of the autopsy, including the location of the wound on the head or the caliber of the bullet.
Larry was pronounced dead at the camp on Tubbs Lane that the couple bought soon after they married in 2006.
“They really loved that camp,” Frank Angert said of his brother and sister-in law. “They were there all the time.”
Larry, a retired laborer, and Ruth, better known by her nickname, “Cricket,” enjoyed the surroundings, refuge and activities that the camp provided.
Until her arrest, Ruth was employed at the Irene Stacy Community Mental Health Center's on-site psychiatric rehabilitation program in Butler.
The program helps individuals dealing with mental health diagnoses develop and enhance independent living skills such as cooking, balancing a checkbook, maintaining housing and managing medications.
She was at work on Friday, the day before she allegedly shot her husband.
Police said when troopers got to the camp they found Larry, documents said. They immediately took Ruth in for questioning.She waived her right to an attorney, investigators said, and told police she wanted to make a statement.Ruth recalled the argument that night during which her husband “pushed her to the floor and grabbed her around the neck,” according to a police affidavit.She said that after he let go of her, she got to her feet, walked to the kitchen and got a handgun from the table.“(Larry) grabbed the gun and a struggle ensued when the gun discharged,” investigators said she said.He fell to the floor. She said she put the gun down and called 911. Afterward, documents said, she told police that she did cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her husband.“We don't believe her,” said Shirley Angert. “Larry never ever did any type of hitting. Choke her? No way.”Family members also poked another hole in her story. They described Larry as being meticulous with the care of his guns and an orderly man by nature.“Everything was always in its place with him,” Shirley Angert said. “There was never a thing out of place. He never would have left his gun on the table like (Ruth) said he did.”The family said Larry and his wife earlier that evening had left their camp to attend a gun raffle.But at some point, they said, Ruth got angry and stormed off, driving away in the couple's vehicle and leaving Larry to get a ride back to camp from a man.Police in charging documents have not stated what precipitated the couple's argument at the camp.Trooper Jason Wagner, the lead investigator, did not return a telephone call Tuesday.Larry's family described Ruth as “jealous” and “controlling” and prone to tantrums and fits of anger.Frank Angert said he and other family members neither disliked nor particularly liked Ruth when she and Larry first began dating and later married.For each, it was their second marriage.Larry's first wife died in 2003. They were married for 36 years. They had two children.Ruth and her first husband divorced in 1998 after 24 years as man and wife.Like Larry, she brought two children to the couple's second marriage.“He knew Ruth for about 6 to 8 months before they got married,” Frank Angert said of Larry. “He told us they were getting married, and it was his business. He didn't care what anyone thought.”Debra Morrow of Petrolia, Larry's sister and the youngest of three siblings, declined to discuss the criminal case.But she talked affectionately of her late big brother.“He was a very loving and caring brother,” she said. “He loved his children, and he loved his beautiful camp that he worked very hard for.”The Butler Eagle tried to contact Ruth Angert's children and siblings. None of them could be reached.Court officials in Forest County were unaware if she has an attorney.Her preliminary hearing is set for 1 p.m. Tuesday at the county courthouse in Tionesta.
