Dallas public defender’s chief investigator charged with wife’s murder after bloody apartment discovery
Jimmy Spurger Jr., 54, the chief investigator for the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office, faces a first-degree felony murder charge after his wife, Maria Spurger, was found stabbed to death inside their downtown Dallas apartment Friday night.
Key points
- A Texas investigator who spent years working on capital murder cases is now accused of killing his wife of roughly 35 years, less than two weeks after filing for divorce.
- He was booked into the Dallas County Jail Saturday on a murder charge and is being held without bond, according to jail records.
- TEACHER FOUND DEAD WITH THROAT SLIT; DETECTIVES SCRUTINIZE HUSBAND’S SHIFTING STORY Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said Sunday that he had ordered Spurger suspended and his access revoked.
RETIRED POLICE SERGEANT SHOOTS DEPUTY CHIEF WIFE AND THEIR DAUGHTER IN WEALTHY, COASTAL ENCLAVE HOME Before his arrest, Spurger oversaw investigators who helped public defenders prepare criminal cases, according to the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office website.
Additional details
- Emergency crews found Maria on a couch with a knife in her neck and her husband sitting on a bed in another room, covered in blood, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox 4 Dallas.
- He spent more than 13 years with the office, primarily in its Capital Murder Division, where his work included examining evidence and interviewing witnesses.
- During his final decade in law enforcement, he supervised child abuse and family violence investigations for the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.
- "Upon notice of this tragic murder yesterday, I instructed Administration to place the employee on suspension and remove his access," Jenkins wrote on X.
- IVY LEAGUE-EDUCATED PEDIATRICIAN ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY HUSBAND WHO THEN SET HOME ON FIRE: POLICE Maria was pronounced dead at the apartment.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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