Jill Biden’s Ex-Husband Charged With Wife’s Murder

The ex-husband of former First Lady Jill Biden has been arrested in Delaware for murdering his wife, authorities said on Feb. 3.

William Stevenson, 77, was taken into custody on Monday after officials spent weeks investigating the death of his wife, Linda, 64, the New Castle County Police Department said in a statement.

Officials presented evidence to a grand jury, which returned an indictment charging Stevenson with first-degree murder.

Stevenson was arrested without incident at his home in Wilmington, the police department said. He was arraigned and is being held after failing to post bail. First-degree murder carries a penalty of life in prison in Delaware.

Jill Biden, who was married to Stevenson for five years in the 1970s, has not commented on the development.

Linda Stevenson was “deeply family-oriented and treasured time spent making memories, especially on family vacations with her daughter and granddaughter,” her obituary, which does not mention William Stevenson, said.

Her cause of death has not been released.

The New Castle County Police Department said in a statement in late 2025 that officers responded to the Oak Hill home after a reported domestic dispute and found Linda Stevenson unresponsive in the living room. She was soon pronounced dead.

Jill Biden, at the time Jill Tracy Jacobs, married William Stevenson in 1970. William Stevenson was 23 at the time; Biden was a university student and a teenager. The couple divorced after five years of marriage. That same year, 1975, she met Senator Joe Biden. They were married in 1977 and have had one child, Ashley Biden.

Biden later attempted to obtain half-ownership of a bar that William Stevenson had started in Newark called The Balloon, but was not successful, according to local newspapers. The Balloon closed in 2006.

By Zachary Stieber |  Epoch Times