Former Orlando police officer accused of shooting wife with dementia indicted for murder
Updated: 1:57 PM EDT Jun 11, 2026
A grand jury indicted William Simmons for first-degree murder earlier this month.Simmons is accused of shooting and killing his 83-year-old wife, Nancy, who had dementia, during an argument over a cruise at their Orlando home.He remains in the Orange County jail without bond.BackgroundSimmons, 80, called 911 and told the dispatcher that his wife was down and he was just sitting there.Criminal Defense Attorney Mark O’Mara of Orlando is representing Simmons. “He’s God-sad, and he knows that he destroyed her, her life, and he also knows he destroyed his, whatever it turns out to be,” O’Mara said about his client. Simmons, a 25-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, retired 15 to 20 years ago and had taken on some security jobs.He was married to Nancy for 43 years, and she had suffered from dementia. O’Mara explained, “And you know, go violent, scratching, biting. We saw marks on his arm. One time, the story is she grabbed the wheel while they were driving and put him into a curb.”Williams told investigators he had “dealt with her dementia for too long, would rather live in prison than live with her, and loved the old Nancy.” O’Mara added, “How do you deal with the reality of the person you do love is no longer with you, even though her body is?”O’Mara noted that a firearm was used in the case, and Simmons said, “I never discharged my firearm in the line of duty, 25 years. He also said he never got into a fight, a fist fight with anybody in 25 years.”O’Mara discussed the defense strategy, stating, “We’re not going to say he didn’t do it; he did it, it seems from all the forensics, but what we say is why? I think he just snapped. I think it was just the built-up over time where you try to deal with the person who you loved and certainly loved who she was before the disease took over her personality, her mind.”
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
A grand jury indicted William Simmons for first-degree murder earlier this month.
Simmons is accused of shooting and killing his 83-year-old wife, Nancy, who had dementia, during an argument over a cruise at their Orlando home.
He remains in the Orange County jail without bond.
Background
Simmons, 80, called 911 and told the dispatcher that his wife was down and he was just sitting there.
Criminal Defense Attorney Mark O’Mara of Orlando is representing Simmons. “He’s God-sad, and he knows that he destroyed her, her life, and he also knows he destroyed his, whatever it turns out to be,” O’Mara said about his client.
Simmons, a 25-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, retired 15 to 20 years ago and had taken on some security jobs.
He was married to Nancy for 43 years, and she had suffered from dementia.
O’Mara explained, “And you know, go violent, scratching, biting. We saw marks on his arm. One time, the story is she grabbed the wheel while they were driving and put him into a curb.”
Williams told investigators he had “dealt with her dementia for too long, would rather live in prison than live with her, and loved the old Nancy.”
O’Mara added, “How do you deal with the reality of the person you do love is no longer with you, even though her body is?”
O’Mara noted that a firearm was used in the case, and Simmons said, “I never discharged my firearm in the line of duty, 25 years. He also said he never got into a fight, a fist fight with anybody in 25 years.”
O’Mara discussed the defense strategy, stating, “We’re not going to say he didn’t do it; he did it, it seems from all the forensics, but what we say is why? I think he just snapped. I think it was just the built-up over time where you try to deal with the person who you loved and certainly loved who she was before the disease took over her personality, her mind.”