Man Shoots Fiancee Day Before Wedding

Police in Florida are continuing their investigation of a 62-year-old man who fatally shot his fiancée the day before the wedding after allegedly mistaking her for an intruder.

"We're still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together," Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle told CBS' "The Early Show" Monday.

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John Tabutt, 62, told investigators he got his gun when he thought he heard an intruder, then fired at a figure in the hallway, according to Brunelle. It was Tabutt's live-in fiancee, 62-year-old Nancy Dinsmore, whom family members say he was going to marry Saturday. Tabutt told authorities he thought she was next to him in bed the whole time.

Brunelle said police were not yet viewing Tabutt's claim about believing Dinsmore was next to him in bed as suspicious and added Tabutt has no criminal record on file.

Tabutt called the police emergency dispatcher shortly after 2:30 a.m. Friday, moaning and sobbing, the newspaper reported.

"I thought I had an intruder in the house," he told the emergency dispatcher. "Honest to God, she looks dead."

He then thought he heard her take a breath.

"Hang in there, Honey. Hang in there," he said.

As for Tabutt's demeanor when police arrived, "he was as frantic as he sounds on tape," Brunelle said.

The couple planned to wed in a small ceremony Saturday at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Winter Springs, Dinsmore's son-in-law Scott Sposato, of Vero Beach, told the Orlando Sentinel.

"They loved each other," he said. "It was quite apparent."

Winter Springs is about 15 miles north of Orlando.

VIA