On November 3rd, 2003, a 911 call came from Mark Center in Defiance County, Ohio. The caller was 10-year-old Corey Breininger.

Corey was hysterical and told the dispatcher that his father had been shot in the head after a gun went off accidentally. He said he didn’t know there was a bullet in the chamber.

Corey then confirmed that his stepmother, Judith, wasn’t home and that he hadn’t contacted her yet. It was just him and his father in the house. The dispatcher then walked him through CPR.

When police arrived around 4:00 PM, they found 34-year-old Robert Breininger dead in his bed from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Officers spoke with Corey, who they described as broken and crying. Corey pleaded with the officers, saying, “Save my dad, he’s my best friend.”

Corey explained that he and his father had been talking about hunting and gun safety. 

As his father was showing him how to use the gun, Corey was handing the weapon to his dad. Corey said that his finger was on the trigger and the safety was off. He claimed his father then pulled the trigger and set the gun off.

But what had truly happened that day? And was Robert Breininger’s death genuinely an accident?