Deputies: 70-year-old man admits to fatally shooting man he caught having sex with wife

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Posted: 03/11/2013

By: Kristal Roberts
By: Jacqueline Ingles

BRANDON, Fla. - A Brandon man was shot dead late Sunday night after he was allegedly caught in the act of having sex with the gunman’s wife, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Just after the shooting, 70-year-old Ralph Wald called authorities and told a dispatcher he shot a man he saw “fornicating” with his 41-year-old wife Johnna Flores in his Brandon home, at 513 Clara Drive.

"He was a good neighbor," said Warren Wilmeth. "Friendly. No trouble ever. We've lived here 33 years and I guess he has lived here maybe 25 years."

According to the sheriff’s office report, Wald woke up just before midnight and went to the kitchen for a drink when he saw his wife having sex with another man.

Deputies say Wald went back to the bedroom, grabbed a gun and shot the man multiple times.

The victim, 32-year-old Walter Lee Conley of Lovers Lane in Riverview, died as a result of the shootings. The wife was not injured.

Back in October 2012, Conley lived with Flores in the house next door to Wald's, according to deputies.

Police records also show on October 14 Flores shot a round at Conley, who had been staying at her home at 511 Claral Drive, for about two weeks, after she asked him to leave several times, an affidavit shows. Conley told deputies she had invited him to stay.

Neighbor Karen Anna heard the shots.

"We heard a loud crack and thought we heard a car crash and we went running out," recalled Anna.

The case was later dropped after Wald paid $2,000 to get Flores out on bond.

Eleven days after the shooting, Flores wed Wald and moved into his home.

Wald married Flores on October 31, 2012. It is his fifth marriage. ABC Action News did speak with Wald's ex-wife Karen Singletary. Although she declined to speak on camera, Singletary said her ex husband was not violent nor the jealous type. She spoke of his volunteer work.

Wald, who served in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years, was taken into custody without incident and charged with second-degree murder.

Conley's family declined to comment his death.