William Stevenson, 77, of Wilmington, Delaware, remains in jail after prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Linda Stevenson, whose body was found unresponsive in their home late last year, authorities said. Stevenson was charged Monday in a grand jury indictment in connection with the Dec. 28 death of Linda Stevenson, according to the Associated Press. Authorities said he has stayed behind bars after failing to post $500,000 bail.
Police said they were called to the couple’s home shortly after 11 p.m. for a reported domestic dispute and found Linda Stevenson unresponsive in the living room. Law enforcement said life-saving measures were unsuccessful.
Stevenson’s charge followed a weekslong investigation by detectives with the Delaware Department of Justice, authorities said. Investigators did not disclose a motive as the homicide case moves through the courts, and they also did not immediately indicate whether Stevenson has an attorney. The Associated Press reported that court records made public so far do not list a defense lawyer, and that charging documents detailing the allegations had not been released.
The Associated Press also reported that it attempted to seek comment by leaving a voicemail and sending emails to phone numbers and email addresses associated with Stevenson. The case has drawn national attention because Stevenson was once married to Jill Biden, the former U.S. first lady.
Stevenson was married to Jill Biden from 1970 to 1975. Jill Biden later married then-U.S. senator Joe Biden in 1977, and he served as U.S. president from January 2021 to January 2025.
Linda Stevenson was described in an obituary as a family-oriented mother and grandmother and a Philadelphia Eagles fan. Her obituary, the AP reported, did not mention her husband. In a Facebook statement, Linda Stevenson’s daughter, Christine Mae, described her mother as an avid reader and a dedicated runner and said the pair would participate in a monthly 5K to support local charities.
Mae wrote, “One hug from her and all your worries would disappear,” and said, “The pain of losing her is paralyzing and the emptiness in my heart is an abyss.” In the same post, Mae said she was frustrated that coverage of the case has focused on Stevenson’s past marriage to Jill Biden rather than on Linda Stevenson’s life, adding that Linda Stevenson “deserves her own story” and should not be reduced to being described in relation to her mother’s former spouse. The AP reported that Mae was not available for further comment.
A spokesperson for former U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden said Jill Biden declined to comment on Monday. The AP also reported that William Stevenson founded the Stone Balloon, a music venue in Newark, Delaware, in the early 1970s.
In her 2019 memoir, Jill Biden described meeting Stevenson while she was a student at the University of Delaware and marrying him at 18. She wrote that Stevenson drove a yellow Camaro and described him as charismatic and entrepreneurial, adding that she believed she had found a partnership “built on loyalty and devotion.” The memoir said the marriage later unraveled as they grew in different directions, calling the collapse “the biggest disappointment of my young life,” and she wrote that she ultimately decided not to “settle for a counterfeit love.” The memoir also said Jill Biden saw Stevenson become more engaged in the long-shot 1972 U.S. Senate campaign of Joe Biden and that she later attended the election-night celebration where she met Joe Biden’s first wife, Neilia.
The AP reported that in a 2024 interview with the conservative outlet Newsmax, Stevenson criticized Jill Biden and described their divorce as contentious, calling her “bitter” and “nasty.”