Austin L. Miller
Staff writer

Published: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 7:35 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 7:35 a.m.

Dwight Bettner said he wished his 92-year-old neighbor would leave him alone long before she fired four shots at his Fort McCoy home on Monday.

Helen Staudinger

Helen B. Staudinger said her relationship with the 53-year-old man soured because of his "lies" and that he was not "paying his way" when they dined out.

On Tuesday morning, in a room at the Marion County Jail where inmates appear before a judge via video, Judge Sarah Ritteroff Williams told Staudinger that even if she posts the $15,000 bail for charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling and gets out of jail, she still is forbidden to have any contact with Bettner.

The judge also warned Staudinger that if Bettner's residence is within 500 feet of her home, she is not allowed to return home. And, the judge added, she is not allowed to possess any firearms or ammunition.

"I feel pretty good," Bettner said upon hearing the news of the restrictions placed on his neighbor.

Before facing the judge during first appearance, a handcuffed Staudinger, dressed in a red and white jail outfit, told a Star-Banner reporter that Bettner is a smooth talker. She said she liked him and had told him many times about her fondness for him.

Staudinger said she is a widow and that her husband died in 1982, and that is the year she moved to Fort McCoy. She said they had five children, four girls and a boy, and that she was a housewife but also once worked as a supervisor for a chain of cleaners.

She said she used to cook for Bettner when he first moved into her Fort McCoy neighborhood. She said they used to go out and eat and sometimes he would kiss her on the cheek and other times would give her a peck on the lips when she cooked for him.

Staudinger said Bettner told lies and was not paying his way when they dined out.

She also said he had a number of girlfriends coming and going from his residence.

Bettner said he moved to the neighborhood about six months ago and that a couple of months after moving in, Staudinger needed a part for her stove so he drove her to Ocala to purchase the item. On their way back, he said, they stopped to grab a bite to eat and she offered to pay for the meal. He said that was the only time they ever went out to eat.

He said Staudinger once cooked dinner or breakfast for him and he gave her a kiss on the cheek just "trying to be nice to her."

"I've got a girlfriend of my own," said Bettner, adding that he has repeatedly ignored the woman's advances.

When sheriff's deputies arrived shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, Bettner told them he had been hit by flying glass when his neighbor fired shots into his residence.

"I was standing in the bedroom talking on the phone when one of the bullets came into the bedroom," he said. "The other three bullets hit the side of the house."

Bettner said Staudinger has cursed at him and once attempted to strangle a woman she thought was having an affair with him.

While standing in Staudinger's front yard, Deputy Kimberly Minton asked for the gun and Staudinger told her it was inside.

The deputy found the .380 semi-automatic handgun on an end table in the living room. She emptied the weapon and noted a round was in the chamber.

Staudinger told the deputy she had gone next door to talk with her friend, but he wanted her to leave. She said although Bettner had a girlfriend, she was not going to leave the house until he gave her a kiss. They argued, Staudinger said, and she left his home in anger, grabbed the gun and went back to the house and fired several shots.

Staudinger told the Star-Banner reporter, however, that the reason she went to Bettner's home was because he owed her money from the times they went out to eat.

"The more I thought about it, the madder I got," she said.

She denied asking for a kiss before leaving.

She did say the weapon belonged to her.

Staudinger's friend Penny Powell said she heard shots and went to her friend's home to check on her.

"I think she was upset at him," Powell said.

Staudinger was appointed a public defender. Her next court date is April 2.

 

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