Former First Lady Jill Biden’s ex-husband, William Stevenson, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife.
The murder charges come after police responded to a domestic dispute call at their Delaware home more than a month ago.
Stevenson, 77, was taken into custody at his home near Wilmington, Delaware. He is being held at the Howard Young Correctional Institution after failing to post $500,000 cash bail.
The arrest came after what police described as an “extensive weeks-long investigation” into the alleged homicide of Linda Stevenson, 64, who was found unresponsive in the living room of the couple’s home on December 28, 2025.
New Castle County Police responded to a report of a domestic dispute at Biden’s ex-husband’s home just after 11:00 PM that night. Officers found Linda Stevenson unresponsive and immediately began lifesaving measures, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The grand jury indictment claims Stevenson “did intentionally cause the death” of his wife. Authorities have not released a cause of death, and the body was turned over to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science for autopsy.
Caroline Harrison, spokesperson for the Delaware Attorney General’s office, confirmed that Stevenson is the former husband of Jill Biden.
Stevenson married Jill Biden in February 1970, when she was 18 years old and a student at the University of Delaware and he was 23.
The couple divorced in May 1975 after five years of marriage, just months after Jill had met then-Senator Joe Biden in March. The Bidens were married two years later in 1977.
Bill Stevenson married Linda approximately a decade after his divorce from Jill Biden.
Following Delaware’s 2024 repeal of the death penalty, if found guilty of first-degree murder, Stevenson faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of probation, parole, or any other reduction.
Wow. Jill Biden’s ex husband William Stevenson was just arrested yesterday and charged with murdering his current wife. pic.twitter.com/8V8Gz2zAQM
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) February 3, 2026