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Florida Man Pleads Guilty To Stabbing Wife 13 Times, Killing Her, Over Their Divorce
Gerard Stewart has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his wife Julie Ann Stewart in 2018. He claimed that she threatened to "take everything" from him in their divorce.
A Florida man has admitted to killing his wife in 2018 after she filed for divorce from him.
Gerard Stewart has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the killing of his wife Julie Ann Stewart, a press release from the office of the State Attorney Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida stated on Tuesday.
He now faces life in prison. A hearing has not yet been scheduled for his sentencing.
Gerard Stewart’s neighbor had called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in June of 2018, claiming that Gerald had confessed to him that he “had killed his own wife and placed her body in the trunk of his car,” according to the press release.
When investigators arrived on the scene, “Stewart pulled his car out of the garage, exited the vehicle, and went inside his home.”
That resulted in a three-hours standoff, which ultimately ended with Stewart attempting suicide by ingesting a large quantity of pills, the Florida Times-Union reported at the time.
After investigators arrested him and interrogated him about his wife’s death, he told them that “he killed his wife by stabbing her two- to three times, but an autopsy revealed 13 wounds, including her throat being cut,” the press release stated.
Text messages analyzed during the investigation revealed that Gerard knew his wife had filed for divorce in April after 20 years of marriage, the Times-Union said.
“Stewart told officers his wife told him she was going to take everything, including their son, from him in their upcoming divorce,” the press release stated. “He then told them that, after killing his wife, he wrapped her inside trash bags secured with tape and placed her in the trunk of his vehicle.”
The couple had one son, who was 9 at the time of the murder, together, News4Jax reported. He was in the home at the time the standoff with police began, according to the Times-Union.
Gerard was found guilty of tampering with evidence by a jury in February in connection with Julie Ann’s death, a spokesperson for the State Attorney Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida told Oxygen.com via email on Thursday. The jury in the case deadlocked on first-degree murder charges, News4Jax reported at the time.
