MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A Martin County man is under arrest for manslaughter after investigators said he killed his pregnant wife and their unborn child in November of 2020.
An arrest warrant was issued for Alex Matthew Rupp, 33, on Monday. He's being held on $100,000 bond in the Martin County Jail.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to Rupp's home in the 4700 block of Southeast Bollard Avenue near Stuart around 2:15 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2020.
According to an arrest report, Rupp called 911 saying he had shot his wife, Nicole Rupp, 32, who was six months pregnant.
When deputies arrived at the home, they found Nicole Rupp lying on the floor and gasping for air, with a black Glock 23 handgun lying between her legs. She had been shot in the forehead.
Nicole Rupp was taken to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center where she tragically passed away. Rupp's child, Savannah, was delivered via Cesarean section at the hospital. She died one week later when her family took her off life support on Nov. 11.
According to the sheriff's office, Alex Rupp told investigators he had gone to bed around 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 3, and Nicole Rupp was in bed beside him.
Rupp said he woke up some time later and saw some kind of light coming through his bedroom door, which was cracked open.
Rupp got out of bed and grabbed his loaded Glock 23 handgun.
Through the bedroom door, Rupp said he saw a "figure pass by a blue microwave light in the kitchen so he believed a criminal was inside the house," the arrest report stated.
Seconds later, as the person entered Rupp's bedroom, he fired the gun.
Rupp said he then saw the person was his wife, and she fell to the floor. Rupp told investigators he went into "panic mode" and tried to help her.
"He said he did not know the figure in the residence was his wife until after he fired," the arrest report stated. "He said he had believed his wife was in their bed prior to firing at the figure."
Rupp "admitted that, after he realized that he shot Nicole, he put the firearm to his head and thought about killing himself," according to the arrest report.
Rupp's son then came out of his room, and Rupp placed the gun on the floor.
After more than a year of investigating the case, the Martin County Sheriff's Office on Monday issued an arrest warrant for Rupp for two counts of manslaughter, saying "Alex Rupp exhibited culpable negligence when he fired his firearm at a person inside his residence, which was occupied by two other family members, without identifying the person."
The sheriff's office added that "the suspect shot at this non-threatening figure that he could not identify as the figure attempted to enter the room, without taking any steps to verify the location of his wife."
