Looks like the husband dragged the barrel in the house and tried to drown her and the cat.
He succeeded in drowning the missus - but not the cat - so he had to rewrite his story!
I don’t buy any of his story. He did not need to tie any barrel to any door. They don’t tip over. He picked her up, and stuck her head down in the barrel. He was thinking of the picture of a child falling in a 5 gallon bucket and drowning. Her top half was not heavy enough to pull the bottom half in.