Husband charged in Isleworth shooting

Orange County Sheriff’s Office Homicide investigators have charged 61-year-old James Robert Ward with second degree murder in the shooting death of his wife, 55-year-old Diane Elizabeth Ward.

Detectives say the shooting happened Monday night in the Isleworth Country Club community. They say the wife was found in the master beadroom with a gunshot wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Click here to see pictures from inside the home on the real estate listing website

Investigators say they recovered a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum handgun from the top drawer of a nightstand next to the bed in the master bedroom.

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the call.  "Sixteen plus cop cars...probably 20-plus cars," said witness Nico Porcaro describing the scene.  Porcaro tells us that he and his mother were looking out the window of their home around 8 p.m. when they saw the emergency crews and police responding. Porcaro said he saw an ambulance leave with home with no urgency. At the same time, police were placing crime scene tape around the home.

FOX 35 talked to several residents who were stunned to hear that such an incident occurred in their normally-quiet community.

Diane and James ward lived a lavish lifestyle. Their home just one of many multi million dollar homes in the isleworth community. Their house once owned by legendary golfer Arnold palmer. Tiger woods, Shaquille O’Neal are just some of their neighbors.

The couple bought the 8,800 square foot home two years ago for $4.3 million. The orange county property appraiser says it's now worth $3.5 million and it's up for sale right now for $5.2 million.

The two-story mansion has seven bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, a pool, spa, and an elevator.

Court records show the mortgage is now nearly $17,000.00 a month and it reportedly hasn't been paid in a year since September of last year.

Financial troubles have plagued Diane and James Ward for several years. Bankruptcy court documents filed lin November 2008 show Robert Ward's land developing business Land Resource LLC, a developer for several subdivisions in North Carolina, owed $65 million with assets of just under $1 million.

According to a North Carolina newspaper 450 people bought homes from land resources but only three of the homes were built.

In the bankruptcy court documents 10 people are listed as former employees, owed from $100,000 to $1.8 million which is owed to the former ceo who also happens to live right down the street from where ward was arrested.

On Tuesday FOX 35 went to the land resource headquarters in Orlando near the mall at millennia. The door was unlocked but the office was empty with pictures on the floor and carpeting rolled up and no one around.

Two people inside the building told FOX 35 land resources owed them money, thousands of dollars but they wouldn't talk about it on camera.