William Stevenson is in custody in Delaware accused of murdering his wife, Linda Stevenson
Local authorities announced on Monday that Jill Biden’s former husband has been arrested and charged with killing his current wife at their Delaware residence in December.
William Stevenson, 77, is detained and charged with first-degree murder in Linda Stevenson’s death. According to Delaware’s New Castle County Police, he is being held at the Howard Young Correctional Institution after being unable to post a $500,000 cash bail.
The arrest follows an investigation lasting several weeks into the death of the 64-year-old woman. Police have not disclosed the cause of death, but an earlier statement indicated officers were called to a domestic disturbance on December 28 at a home near Wilmington. Authorities reported finding a woman unresponsive in the living room who died despite resuscitation attempts by officers.
If convicted of first-degree murder under Delaware law, Stevenson would receive a mandatory life sentence without parole. The state eliminated capital punishment in 2024, so life imprisonment is now the most severe penalty available.
Jill Biden wed William Stevenson in February 1970, soon after her high school graduation, when she was 18 and he was 23. They divorced in 1975. That same year, she met then-Delaware Senator Joe Biden, and the couple married in 1977.
“Looking back, it may seem like that relationship was a mistake of youth,” Biden wrote in her 2019 memoir. “But there was a time when I truly believed we were destined for each other.”
The office representing Biden after her time as first lady has not issued a statement regarding Stevenson’s arrest or the allegations.