Kids heard fatal shots, saw wounded mother fall in home near Twin Cities, charges against father say

Two young children heard fatal gunfire and saw their mortally wounded mother fall to the floor in the family's home west of the Twin Cities, according to charges filed Tuesday against their father.

Bryan W. Demarais, 35, was charged in Meeker County District Court with second-degree murder and child endangerment in connection with the shooting Thursday of Kayla M. Demarais, 29, at their home just west of Dassel in the 22000 block of 713th Avenue.

Bryan Demarais appeared in court Tuesday and remains jailed in lieu of $1.5 million bail ahead of a follow-up hearing on March 25. His attorney, Erica Allex, said Tuesday the defense is conducting its own investigation and it was too early to address the allegations.

"My beautiful sister was taken from this world, leaving 2 young children and a family devastated," Casey Watts wrote on an online fundraising campaign that was started to help the family with expenses related to Kayla Demarais' death.

According to the charges:

Bryan Demarais called 911 late Thursday morning and said, "I would like to report a murder." He went on to say he shot his wife and that their children were in the home at the time.

Officers arrived and arrested Demarais as he walked toward them from the home. The officers went inside and saw his wife on the living room floor with at least one gunshot wound to the head. Emergency medical personnel declared her dead at the scene.

In a jailhouse interview, Demarais said he and his wife argued the previous evening after the children went to bed about their financial problems and his suspicions that she was having an affair.

While the couple was in bed the next morning, he looked at her phone after it buzzed and allegedly saw messages from the other man. He began yelling at her about her cheating on him, then told their children before he left for his job that he was divorcing their mother.

A professionally trained interviewer spoke with the son, who said his father went to work but was soon sent home. The boy said he "heard a gunshot and saw [his mother] fall over," the criminal complaint read.

The daughter told the interviewer that she and her brother were in the boy's bedroom playing a video game, and they both heard the gunfire coming from the kitchen and saw their mother crumple to the living room floor.