Demarais charged with murder

Bryan Demarais, 35, of rural Dassel made his first appearance in Meeker County District Court on Tuesday, Jan. 2. He was charged with one count of second-degree murder (with intent but not premeditation), and two felony counts of child endangerment. He remains in Meeker County Jail awaiting his next court appearance on March 25. Bail is set at $3 million without conditions, $1.5 million with conditions.

At around 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 28, Demarais called 911 from his home in rural Dassel. He told the dispatcher that he had shot his wife repeatedly in the head with a .22-caliber firearm. He told the dispatcher that there were children in the home, and he had told them to stay away. He asked that the children be removed from the house through a bedroom window, so that the children would not see their mother.

When Sheriff’s Deputies arrived, Demarais came out of the house and was arrested. He said he was not injured, but told officers he needed medication for his anxiety. He also said that his two children were in the house with their dead mother.

Officers entered the house and found Kayla Demarais, 29, on the floor of the living room, with no pulse, and with apparent gunshot wounds to the head. She was declared dead at the scene.

The children were escorted to safety and later interviewed. The children were playing video games in a bedroom while their parents argued that morning. They heard a gunshot and saw their mother fall to the floor, calling for them to call 911. Their father told the children to close the door and said he would call 911 himself. The children then heard more gunshots and then their father calling 911.

On being interviewed, Demarais said he and his wife had argued the night before about financial problems and other marital issues. He told officers that his wife was in an extramarital affair, and that he had found messages from the other man on her phone that morning.

Demarais admits he was angry that morning and told his children as he left for work that there would be a divorce. The couple spoke briefly by phone that morning while he was driving, but he hung up and refused his wife’s further attempts to call him. By the time he arrived at work in Hutchinson, his supervisor reported that Demarais was distraught and said his marriage was over. Ultimately, Demarais was allowed to go home for the day.

A GoFundMe.com site was started by family with the goal of returning Kayla and her children to Georgia, providing for burial of Kayla there, and finding a home where family can take in the -couple’s two children who are still in Minnesota. and other expenses related to Kayla’s untimely death, and caring for her children.