A Florida man is in jail after his wife was discovered dead in a canal near their home following an argument over infidelity.
Jeffrey Ernest Evans, 43, is not currently charged with the death of his wife, Jessica Evans. Rather, he is accused of domestic violence battery after she told him she cheated on him because she suspected he would do the same, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit. Jeffrey Evans called 911 shortly before 9 p.m. Monday to report that his wife was having a “mental break” and needed assistance at their home in the 9900 block of NW 15th Court in Coral Springs, police said.
A few minutes later, dispatchers received a call from a neighbor who reported hearing a woman scream, “My husband is trying to kill me!”
Cops responded to the scene and discovered the woman’s body floating face down in a nearby canal. She was eventually pronounced dead.
After receiving Miranda warnings, the husband told cops that he and his wife had argued the night before after she accused him of infidelity. She left and didn’t return home that night. He claimed she returned the next day and told him she had gotten revenge by cheating on him, according to the affidavit. She appears to have attempted to wrestle her husband’s laptop away on the night of her death in order to search for evidence of his cheating.
According to cops, this resulted in a scuffle in which she fell to the ground. The defendant stated that he believed things had calmed down and they were moving on. He claimed they went into the bedroom together, that he left the room for a moment, and that she was gone when he returned.
Jeffrey Evans went outside and discovered her running between two houses across the street, yelling, “Help!” “He’s going to kill me,” the affidavit stated.
He attempted to restrain her and bring her back inside, but “realized it would appear to an outsider that he was the ‘aggressor’ in this situation” because she was yelling at him, police said. He stated that he ran back inside and called 911.
The investigation is ongoing. Police have yet to release the cause and manner of death.
He remains in the Broward County Jail on a $1,000 bond.
