Police: Man said he strangled wife

William Brinnon told investigators his wife was “picking and picking at him and he lost control,” so he grabbed her by the throat Monday evening and “squeezed her until she was dead,” according to court documents.

Among the points of contention between the couple that night, police said: his wife’s threats to expose him as a drug-dealing molester.

Meanwhile, an autopsy report confirmed strangulation was the cause of 43-year-old Dana Brinnon’s death, Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said Wednesday.

Despite references to the “shooting death of Dana Brinnon” in court documents filed by the Kootenai County public defender’s office, Wolfinger said there were no gunshot wounds on her body.

During an interview with investigators Tuesday, William Brinnon said he killed his wife after she threatened to tell his employer he was selling drugs and molesting a girl, according to court documents.

The cause of Dana Brinnon’s death was released Wednesday as her husband appeared before a judge in a brief hearing at Kootenai Medical Center, where he is recovering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.

Bond is set at $1 million for Brinnon, 46, who is charged with second-degree murder.

“I killed your mother,” was Brinnon’s admission to his adult son, according to court documents.

The 21-year-old went to his parents’ Rathdrum-area home Monday evening and his father met him outside. Inside, the son saw his mother’s body on the living room floor.

She was blue, he told investigators.

When deputies arrived, they found neither Dana nor William Brinnon. They followed tracks to a nearby office for a housing development and went inside. William Brinnon shot himself in the head as deputies called out for him, court documents said.

Though he was injured, William Brinnon allegedly told deputies his wife’s body was in the back of his pickup.

The body was hidden beneath some carpet, according to court records.

Investigators also found a shovel.

The couple had a history of domestic violence. Both William and Dana Brinnon had been arrested for domestic battery, and each had sought restraining orders against the other.

William Brinnon most recently filed for a protective order against his wife March 12.