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Crime News Domestic Violence

Texas Man Indicted For Murder Of Ex-Wife After Telling Police She Committed Suicide

Bruce Allen Hanson told police his ex-wife Vickie Annette Hanson had killed herself in their Wichita Falls home in October 2021, but authorities now allege that was a lie.

By Chambolion Fairley
Bruce Allen Hanson

A 64-year-old Texas man was indicted on Monday for allegedly murdering his ex-wife after he told police she shot herself on his birthday.

The indictment obtained by Oxygen.com alleges that Bruce Allen Hanson knowingly committed “an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death of the complainant by shooting her and/or firing a gun at her.”

Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Bruce on Jan. 25, and took him into custody at his Wichita Falls home for the murder of his former wife, Vickie Annette Hanson, 65. His bond was set at $1 million. 

Back on Oct. 14, 2021, Wichita Falls police responded to the same home investigating a possible suicide. 

According to police, when officers arrived they spoke to Bruce who told them that Vickie was deceased inside their master bedroom. 

Vicki Hanson’s body was subsequently discovered in the house.

Local outlet KDFX reported that police were suspicious of the incident because of a delayed 911 call and several inconsistencies in Bruce’s story.

Vickie’s family also cited the couple's allegedly abusive past as reasons for skepticism. 

“He’s broken her jaw, her nose, busted her eardrums, she couldn’t hear out of eardrums because of it,” Vickie’s daughter, Christie Wise told KFDX. “I went to go live with my dad when I was 14 because of the situation with Bruce and my mom.”

Vickie and Bruce had married during the 1980s and ended up getting a divorce, according to court documents, but continued to live off and on together, reported KAUZ

Wise said at the time of her mother's death that police had told her and her brother they were investigating it.

“No one would ever say one way or another [if] my mom had shot herself or not,” Wise told KDFX

KDFX reported that Bruce told police at one point that Vickie had been baking him a cake for his birthday on the day she died. 

Vickie was a mother of two and grandmother to four, according to the local outlet.

“My mom was my best friend and I spoke with her every day,” said Wise, according to KAUZ. 

“I’m thankful to WFPD and the detective on the case for keeping us informed. We knew from the start there would be an investigation, and we hope to see justice done for my mom.”

Court records show that Bruce has already been convicted of driving while intoxicated multiple times. 

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