INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A 58-year-old man faces a first-degree murder charge after deputies said he slashed his wife several times with a knife-like object at their county home.
Gary Alan Stump, of the 700 block of 41st Avenue, was charged late Friday with first-degree murder in the death of his 69-year-old wife, records show. Stump was held Saturday at the Indian River County Jail without bond.
“We see domestic violence homicides all too often,” Indian River County sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Eric Flowers said at the scene late Friday. “This is another tragic situation in a home between a husband and wife.”
What prompted the slaying remains unclear.
Deputies received a 911 call from Stump about 8 p.m. Friday. Stump told dispatchers his wife was dead.
“After several questions, we learned he had stabbed her,” Flowers said Friday. Several unidentified people spotted near the home where the crime took place could be seen sobbing and consoling each other.
Flowers said the woman was awake when stabbed and there appeared to be a struggle. There was no one else home during the incident.
Deputies took Stump into custody late Friday. Flowers said the state attorney’s office was working with deputies to investigate the crime.