Ex-wife testifies in nursing home massacre case

CARTHAGE, NC (AP):

Crying and trembling as she testified, Wanda Neal said yesterday that as soon as she learned someone was firing shots at the nursing home where she worked, she knew her then-husband was the gunman.

Robert Stewart is charged with killing eight people in the March 29, 2009, massacre at Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation Centre in Moore County.

"I just knew. When they said somebody was in the building with a gun, I just knew it was him," Neal said of Stewart, whom she had recently left.

Prosecutors say Stewart, 47, was hunting for Neal, who worked at the nursing home but was safe in a locked ward during the rampage. Before he went into the facility, Stewart stopped in the parking lot and repeatedly fire bullets into her car. She has since divorced him.

But on cross-examination, Neal acknowledged that she told investigators after the shooting that she never would have believed Stewart could be the gunman.

Neal also testified about trying to kill herself the day before the trial began two weeks ago, and after talking with prosecutors, by downing 60 prescription pills with alcohol.