First Day in Court for Lakeside Man Accused of Wife Slaying

A man accused of shooting his wife in the back during a fight in their Lakeside home must stand trial on a murder charge, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Andrew Richard Welch, 45, faces 50 years to life in prison if convicted in the death last Oct. 25 of Tonya Welch, his wife of one year.

Text messages between the couple showed they had been arguing the night she died, according to evidence presented during a preliminary hearing today in El Cajon.

Judge Patricia Cookson ruled that enough evidence had been presented by the prosecution to order the defendant to stand trial. A Superior Court arraignment was set April 3.

At an earlier hearing, Deputy District Attorney Scott Pirrello told another judge that the defendant walked into the sheriff's station in Santee shortly after 1 p.m. last Oct.  26 and told deputies he and his wife had fought the night before and that he had hurt her "really bad."

When deputies offered to send medical assistance to his home, Welch said "no" and told deputies he had killed his 43-year-old wife, Pirrello told the judge.

Investigators went to the couple's home in the 11300 block of El Nopal and found the victim face down in a pool of blood, Pirrello said.

-City News Service

Updated March 20 at 6 p.m.