In Minnesota, a 31-year-old father will serve decades in prison for shooting his wife dead while his kids were home, just after he discovered messages on her phone that said she was “involved in an extramarital affair” with another man.
Bryan Demarais entered a guilty plea to one count of second-degree murder including the use of a handgun in the 2023 killing of 29-year-old Kayla Demarais, and Meek County District Judge Stephanie L. Beckman on Tuesday sentenced him to little over 30 years in a state penitentiary prison.
Along with the murder penalty, Demarais also entered pleas to two charges of felony child endangerment. Demarais will probably spend two-thirds of his sentence in prison, roughly 19 years after receiving credit for 579 days of time served, and the remaining one-third will be under supervised release, according to Minnesota state law.
The couple’s two children, an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, were in the house when the shooting occurred, but they were unharmed.
On December 28, 2023, at approximately 10:15 a.m., Meeker County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an emergency report concerning a gunshot at a home in the 22000 block of 713th Avenue.
“I would like to report a murder,” said the caller, who identified himself as Bryan Demarais, adding that he “had just shot his wife.”
He stated, “I just finished,” in a probable cause affidavit.
Bryan Demarais said that following a furious dispute, he repeatedly shot his wife in the head with his.22 caliber revolver.
Because he did not want their two children to see their mother’s bullet-riddled body, he also urged authorities to ensure that they were removed out of the house through a window in the bedroom.
Bryan Demarais then consented to hand himself over to the police and empty his pockets.
First responders claimed that when they arrived on the scene, they saw Bryan Demarais leaving the house and detained him right away. After entering the house, deputies discovered Kayla Demarais, who seems to have been shot at least once in the head. At the scene, she was declared deceased.
Bryan Demarais informed police that his wife was his designated caregiver and that he has several medical conditions that make him eligible for caregiver services.
Police said Bryan Demarais consented to be questioned by detectives after being informed of his Miranda rights. He clarified in the ensuing interview that he and his spouse had a disagreement the night before on a number of marital concerns, such as financial difficulties and Kayla Demarais’s adulterous affair.
When Bryan Demarais checked his wife’s phone the next morning, he discovered text exchanges between her and the man she was having an affair with, who was identified in the affidavit as “Witness.”
“On the morning of December 28, 2023, [Bryan Demarais] and [Kayla Demarais] were in bed,” according to the affidavit. “[Kayla Demarais] was laying on [Bryan Demarais’] arm when [Kayla Demarais’] phone buzzed. [Bryan Demarais] then observed messages from Witness to [Kayla Demarais]. [Bryan Demarais] yelled at [Kayla Demarais] for not working on their relationship and cheating on [him].”
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Then, before heading off to work, he told the two kids that he and their mother were divorcing each other because she was having an affair.
Bryan Demarais claimed that he “became even more pissed” with his wife and refused to answer her phone when she tried to call him on his way to work. He refused his wife’s calls and said he didn’t recall anything.
After arriving at work fifteen minutes late and discussing his wife’s infidelity and the upcoming divorce with his supervisor, Bryan Demarais was given permission to depart early. According to the supervisor, Bryan Demarais seemed “distraught.”
The children of the marriage told police that their father cooked them a snack and came home from work early while they were playing video games. Before their mother screamed and fell to the floor in the living room, both children reported hearing their parents argue and then hearing many gunshots. Then their father shouted for the children to shut the bedroom door.
Kayla Demarais owned the.22-caliber semiautomatic weapon that was used in the murder, according to the police.
