(La Porte, IN) - A man charged with taking his girlfriend's life in La Porte allegedly claimed that she accidentally shot herself when he first reported the shooting.

 

Those are among the details released today in the case against John McCaw, charged in La Porte Circuit Court with murder.

 

McCaw, 62, is being held in the La Porte County Jail without bond for the August 18 fatal shooting of Nancy Ainsworth, 57, of 906 Ridge Street. 

 

According to court documents, a man believed to be McCaw told a 911 dispatcher the woman shot herself in the head by accident, and he was still inside the home with the victim. However, a neighbor's surveillance system captured McCaw leaving the residence ten minutes before the call.

 

Court documents also revealed McCaw, quickly identified as the suspect, was later stopped by police in Gary, previously made aware that he was a person of interest in the slaying. He was held at the Gary Police Department until an officer from La Porte drove there and took him into custody.

 

Nancy Ainsworth was discovered on a living room couch in her home and soon pronounced dead at Northwest Health.

 

Evidence at the scene indicates the shot was fired through a pillow, judging by what appeared to be bullet entry and exit holes on the pillow located near a spent shell casing and the body.

 

According to court documents, what police described as a suicide note apparently written by McCaw was found on a kitchen counter. Police said the letter was addressed to the son of the suspect.

 

The letter contained a written apology and revealed the suspect had left everything he owned to his son. Blame was also placed on the victim in the letter.

 

"It's time for me to be gone!" the words in the letter proclaimed. The letter also revealed McCaw was heading to Michigan "to say goodbye to my brothers."

 

Authorities offered no explanation on why McCaw was in Gary, not Michigan, after the fatal shooting.