Jill Biden’s ex-husband charged with murder for ‘killing his wife during a domestic disturbance’
William Stevenson, 77, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 64-year-old Linda Stevenson
The ex-husband of former First Lady Jill Biden has been charged with murder for the death of his wife following a domestic disturbance, officials announced.
Bill Stevenson, 77, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 64-year-old Linda Stevenson after a police investigation that lasted over a month.
Officers from the New Castle County Division of Police responded to reports of a domestic dispute at a home in Oak Hill, Wilmington, Delaware, late on December 28.
Upon entering the home, officers found Linda Stevenson unresponsive in the living room and administered life-saving measures, but were unable to save her, according to a police press release at the time. Further details about her death and the moments before have not been released.
TMZ reported at the time that it was Stevenson who called authorities and cooperated with them. Until now, he had not been charged with a crime.
Stevenson was taken into custody at the same address where his wife’s body was found. He is currently being held at the Howard Young Correctional Institution after failing to post a $500,000 bail.
The Independent has contacted the New Castle County Police Department for any further information on the case.
Little is known about Jill Biden’s marriage to Stevenson.
Stevenson married the former First Lady, then Jill Jacobs, in 1970 while she was studying at Brandywine Junior College, and she took his last name to become Jill Stevenson. However, the pair drifted apart and were officially divorced in 1975.
During that time, Stevenson opened the Stone Balloon college bar, near the University of Delaware, which became one of the most popular in the U.S. and was once described by Rolling Stone as “one of the best kept secrets in Rock and Roll.”
In a book,The Stone Balloon: The Early Years, Stevenson omits details of his divorce, but reportedly walked away from the case giving her only half of what she had asked for including part-ownership of the bar.
Jill married then-Senator Joe Biden in June 1977.
In 2022, her biographer Julie Pace told People that Biden “had these expectations of sort of what that marriage was going to be, and the marriage did not live up to those expectations.”
“She was incredibly young and probably a bit naive about what life was going to look like, and it stings her. It really stings her, and it makes her question quite a bit.”
In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, Stevenson came forward to dispute the Biden campaign’s claims about how the former first couple met.
He told WDEL in an interview that Jill met the future president while working on a local political campaign around 1972. Many of the campaign fundraisers were held at the Stone Balloon.
Stevenson went on to accuse his former wife of having an affair, something a Biden spokesperson strongly denied at the time. The account put out by the Biden campaign details that it was Jill’s brother Frank who set up his sister and Joe on a blind date after her divorce.
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