An 88-year-old Missouri man has pleaded guilty in the stabbing death of his ailing 86-year-old wife last year . Donald Rowland pleaded guilty in Boone County Circuit Court Monday to first-degree involuntary manslaughter . His sentencing has been scheduled for April 13 . Rowland was originally charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of his wife , Betty Rowland , but prosecutors reduced those charges last month . Authorities have said an adult daughter called police after going to the couple 's home in Columbia in October 2014 and finding her parents together in bed , both with stab wounds . Tragic couple : Donald Rowland ( left ) , 88 , has pleaded guilty to first-degree involuntary manslaughter in the October 2014 stabbing death of his wife of 64 years , Betty Rowland ( right ) Police say Rowland told officers he killed his wife and tried to take his own life , because he did n't want them to be a burden on their family . A neighbor told the Columbia Daily Tribune that Betty Rowland had recently had a stroke . Appearing in court Monday in a striped jail garb and accompanied by his attorney , Rowland only answered 'yes ' and 'no ' in response to Judge Kevin Crane 's questions . Prosecutor Merilee Crockett recommended seven years in prison for the octogenarian defendant . At around 12.20pm on October 31 , 2014 , Betty and Donald Rowland 's grown daughter stopped by her parents ' condominium in the 3400 block of Woodrail Terrace to check up on them and discovered the couple wounded in bed . Horrific discovery : Betty and Donald Rowland 's grown daughter stopped by her parents ' condominium in the 3400 block of Woodrail Terrace to check up on them and discovered the couple wounded in bed . Mrs Rowland suffered two fatal stab wounds to the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene . Her husband of 64 years was taken to University Hospital with self-inflicted injuries , according to a probable cause affidavit . Betty Montgomery married Donald Rowland , her college sweetheart , in 1950 , and the two went on to have four children , 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren . Mrs Rowland , a music teacher by trade , followed her husband , a career military officer in the US Air Force , when he was posted to Yokota Air Base in Japan , where she taught piano to military personnel . When she was not giving music lessons and singing in a choir , the mother of four acted as a Brownie and Girl Scout leader , a PTA officer and was involved in charity work .
Donald Rowland , pleaded guilty to first-degree involuntary manslaughter in wife Betty 's October 2014 death . One of the couple 's four grown children found her parents together in bed , both with stab wounds . Betty Rowland , Donald 's wife of 64 years and grandmother of 13 , had had a stroke not long before her killing .