A Jefferson County man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife eight days after police said he assaulted her because he said she was nagging him, the Jefferson County sheriff's office reported Monday.
Stephen Carroll O'Quin, 61, was arrested and initially charged with first-degree domestic battery after deputies responded on May 6 to a reported domestic disturbance on Hillside Drive, which is in a small neighborhood off Interstate 530 and U.S. 270 in Jefferson County, the agency said in a statement released Monday afternoon.
Deputies found Jane O'Quin on the kitchen floor of her daughter's home as her son-in-law, Anthony McKinney, applied pressure to multiple cuts on her upper torso and head. She also suffered cuts to her right bicep and right side of her neck, deputies said.
Jane O'Quin was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center, where she underwent surgery. She was transferred to the UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock two days later, unresponsive and in a coma, according to the sheriff's office news release.
Jane O'Quin was then placed on life support and underwent surgery for swelling in her brain. On Thursday, deputies were told that she was removed from life support after she showed no signs of improvement. She died Saturday, the statement said.
Deputies arrested Stephen O'Quin the day of the assault. They found him sitting on the front porch of the home he shared with his wife on U.S. 270.
In a statement he gave sheriff's office investigators, Stephen O'Quin said that, prompted by his wife's "nagging," he picked up a box cutter in the kitchen, walked to the recliner in which she was sitting, and stabbed her from behind. Jane O'Quin got up and struggled with her husband before fleeing the house, Stephen O'Quin said.
Stephen O'Quin told investigators that he chased his wife through the backyard and, at some point, grabbed a metal rake and struck her several times in the upper torso and head during the chase, the sheriff's office statement said. He chased Jane O'Quin to her daughter's residence before returning to his home.
Deputies searching his home found a rake with what appeared to be blood stains, the statement said.
Stephen O'Quin is being held in the Jefferson County jail in lieu of $250,000 bond.
Metro on 05/17/2016