Apr. 20—Española police arrested a 59-year-old man Tuesday after, police said, he admitted to killing his wife during a domestic dispute days before.

Myrrel David Hammersmith has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Diane Hammersmith. The suspect called 911 on Tuesday and told dispatchers he had an argument with his wife Sunday "in which he slapped her and believes he killed her," according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court.

A recently filed criminal complaint and an affidavit for a search warrant filed the day of Myrrel David Hammersmith's arrest give different reasons for the altercation and describe the injuries Diane Hammersmith suffered differently.

Police Chief Mizel Garcia said Thursday the discrepancies are due to Myrrel David Hammersmith giving investigators different versions of the fatal incident. He said the documents were written by two of his personnel, and each one used a different version of events provided by the suspect.

"Very rarely do you get the true story the first time. So these documents just show how [a suspect's story] grows and they build on one another," Garcia said.

According to the affidavit, Myrrel David Hammersmith told investigators he was cooking dinner around 9 p.m. Sunday when his wife defecated into an adult diaper. He claimed she refused to pick up the adult diaper from the kitchen floor and hit him with a frying pan after the couple got in an argument.

The suspect said he then punched his wife twice in the forehead during the altercation. According to the affidavit, the second jab caused Diane Hammersmith, 73, to fall backward off of their home's porch and crack her head open on rocks outside.

Myrrel David Hammersmith said he helped his wife into bed around 2 a.m. the next morning but left her on the bedroom floor after she rolled off the bed, according to the affidavit.

He told investigators he checked on his wife shortly after she fell off the bed, but he claimed she was no longer responsive and "probably already dead," according to the affidavit.

Myrrel David Hammersmith told investigators his wife asked him to "put her down" multiple times in the past and did not feel bad about killing his wife because she already forgave him, the affidavit says.

Garcia said police did not find a used adult diaper on the premises. He said the affidavit's version of events was used to establish probable cause to search the suspect's home.

The criminal complaint gives a different reason for the physical altercation between the Hammersmiths.

During an interview with investigators, Myrrel David Hammersmith said he and his wife started arguing Sunday about a camping trip she decided to participate in at the last minute. According to the complaint, Diane Hammersmith's decision — along with her insistence on doing laundry before preparing for the trip — led to the altercation.

The complaint includes additional details about the fight and says he tried to treat his wife's wounds with Neosporin and hydrogen peroxide.

Myrrel David Hammersmith said he didn't call police sooner because he wanted to see if his wife "would come back," according to the complaint. This contradicts with the response listed in the search warrant affidavit, which says he told investigators his wife wouldn't have wanted him to call for help.

The Rio Arriba County jail's online records did not include booking information for Myrrel David Hammersmith as of Thursday afternoon, although Garcia said he was booked into the facility after interviews at the police department.

State prosecutors requested a 24-hour delay in Myrrel David Hammersmith's proceedings Thursday to decide whether to pursue pretrial detention, according to online court records.