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Mindy McCready Denies She Killed Boyfriend David Wilson, Blasts Reports of an Affair

Country singer says on Dateline that she had no involvement in her beau's death, but said she was unsure whether she thought he had been murdered

By Natalie Finn, Alexis L. Loinaz Jan 29, 2013 4:48 PMTags
Mindy McCreadyDan Harr/AdMedia/Sipa

Mindy McCready's life has taken another tragic turn.

The country singer is mourning the loss of her "soul mate," David Wilson, after he was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound earlier this month. Now, McCready is opening up for the first time about the tragedy, addressing lingering questions surrounding the circumstances of his death and slamming rampant speculation.

In an upcoming exclusive interview with Andrea Canning on Dateline, excerpts of which were obtained by E! News, McCready denied she had any involvement in Wilson's death when asked flat-out whether she had shot him.

"Oh my god, no. Oh my god, no," McCready responded. "He was my life. We were each other's life. There's no way to tell where one of us began and the other ended. We slept together every night holding hands."

Although she admitted that she and Wilson did have fights, she added that it wasn't out of the ordinary: "People have fights—it's just like normal couples."

But when asked whether she believed "100 percent" that Wilson killed himself or whether he might have been murdered, the singer fell silent before saying, "I don't know." As Canning pressed McCready further, the singer admitted she didn't know because "I don't understand why he would leave us."

McCready also blasted rumors that Wilson was seeing someone else.

"David was not having an affair with another woman," she insisted. "That is absolutely, totally untrue.  Neither one of us have ever cheated on each other and would never do that. That is absolutely a lie."

She also paid tribute to Wilson, saying that "he didn't just touch my heart, he touched my soul. He was my soul mate."

"I've never gone through anything this painful," she added as she held back tears, "nor will I ever again go through anything as painful."

The Ten Thousand Angels artist did not attend a Jan. 19 memorial for Wilson in Fayetteville, Ark., that was organized by a few college pals, which prompted the inevitable question: Why?

"I think that a bunch of David's friends got together and got drunk in memory of David—not something appropriate for me and my children to be a part of," she explains.

She added, however, that she plans to create a foundation in honor of Wilson's memory—"some kind of foundation for people to donate in David's name, probably something having to do with music, a scholarship fund. David loved music more than anything. And he desperately wanted his music to be heard."

Per the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office, emergency responders arrived at Wilson's Heber Springs residence at around 6:15 pm. on Jan. 13 in response to a call about a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The musician was transported to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead shortly after 8 p.m.

McCready had been living there with the couple's 9-month-old son, Zayne, and her 6-year-old son, Zander, from a previous relationship.

Wilson's death put a number of questions into the heads of those close to him who are now wondering why he would have possibly committed suicide. One of the close pals who organized his memorial told E! News, "He was a really great guy and dad. It doesn't make sense."

—Reporting by Baker Machado and Senta Scarborough

(Originally published on Jan. 29, 2013, at 4:58 a.m. PT)