Debbie Kelly: Dateline: The Silhouette - 5 harrowing details about Debbie Kelly's murder, explored

Early morning around 4 AM, in a house in San Antonio, Texas, a "happily married" husband accidentally shot his wife, mistaking her for a thief breaking into the house in October 2015, as per the Dateline NBC episode. The investigators are highly suspicious of the story Lars Erik Itzo has come up with after shooting a figure in the hall area that turned out to be his beloved wife, Debbie Anne Kelly.

Debbie was a healthcare executive and, after her last promotion, used to be mostly out with work. The investigators, after connecting all the dots related to the case, arrested Lars for manslaughter and later for the murder of Debbie. They suspected that Lars always wanted a conventional wife; however, Debbie's work trip and fiercely independent nature were posing a challenge.

The Dateline episode titled The Silhouette covers this murder case and dives into some interesting plot points.

Here are the 5 harrowing details about Debbie Kelly's murder, explored as per Dateline

Debbie was a 48-year-old woman who married Lars a few years before the murder. After having a brief failed marriage in her 20s, she met Lars while she was fixing her house. Lars and Debbie started seeing each other, going out on dates, and finally got married. So was Lars true about the incident being an accident, or is there some hidden agenda behind it? Let's explore this through some details about the case as shown in Dateline.

Lars called 911 after shooting Debbie.

Lars heard a scream after he shot the bullets, which was similar to Debbie's, and he froze. Panicking, he immediately called 911 and asked for help. The instructor asked him to check if she was breathing, to which Lars responded negatively. He continued to offer CPR and tried to stop the bleeding.

Debbie was 3 feet away when Lars shot her.

When Lars approached the hallway in suspicion of some intruder, he found her standing right in front of him, and in a blink of an eye, he shot her. He retreated to his room to reload the gun, and that is when he heard the scream of none other than his wife.

Lars thought Debbie was in the house sleeping beside him

According to Lars' statements on how he didn't know where Debbie was, he said that he thought she was sleeping beside him. He admitted that he even warned her about the thief and that he was going to see him while leaving the bed.

Dateline: The Silhouette - 5 harrowing details about Debbie Kelly's murder (Image Via NBC)

The change in Lars' statements

However, the prosecutors never believed Lars and thought that he was faking his grief. They claimed some changes in his statement. He mentioned some torchlight from a flashlight in the phone call that woke him up in the morning. Later he never repeated the same experience. Later, he said it was the barking of the dogs that woke him up.

Moreover, during the investigation, he also ordered his favorite drink, Dr. Pepper.

“I enjoy Dr. Pepper every now and again, but I don’t want to drink a Dr. Pepper when my hands are covered in my wife’s blood,” said Prosecutor Alexander of his behavior shortly after the shooting. “He doesn’t even seem to take notice of that.”

Lars' final arrest

Lars was arrested for manslaughter and later for Debbie's murder; however, during the trial in 2016, he was acquitted of the murder case and is currently serving his 15 years of punishment under the charge of manslaughter, as per the investigations shown in the Dateline NBC episode.