The Dallas County Public Defender’s Office’s chief investigator was arrested in connection to the fatal stabbing of his wife after he recently filed for a divorce.
Maria Spurger was found stabbed at a Dallas residence the evening of Friday, November 6, according to the Dallas Police Department. Dallas Fire-Rescue ultimately declared Spurger, 53, dead.
Officers took Jimmy Spurger Jr. into custody as part of their investigation, police said in a Sunday, November 8, news release.
Maria was reportedly found “lying on the couch with what appeared to be a knife lodged in her neck” at the pair’s Dallas home, according to Jimmy’s arrest affidavit obtained by ABC affiliate WFAA-TV.
Jimmy, 54, was located with a small knife next to him in a bedroom, where first responders noticed he was bloody, per the affidavit. Officers also found pill bottles covered in blood in the kitchen.
He was taken to a hospital “due to him possibly ingesting multiple pills,” the affidavit viewed by the TV station states.
Jimmy has worked as the chief investigator for the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office for nearly a year after spending several years conducting investigations for the office’s Capital Murder Division, according to an archived webpage of his biography on the office’s website.
His biography appears to have been removed from the site as of Monday, November 9.
Following Maria’s death, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said in a Sunday social media post that he moved to suspend Jimmy.
“Upon notice of this tragic murder yesterday, I instructed Administration to place the employee on suspension and remove his access,” Jenkins wrote in the post shared to X.
Maria’s death comes after Jimmy filed for divorce on October 26 after 35 years of marriage, according to court documents viewed by KDFW-TV.
Before working for the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office, Jimmy spent more than 20 years in law enforcement, including 10 years with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office where he supervised child abuse and family violence investigations.
As the chief investigator for the county public defender’s office, Jimmy “is responsible for the supervision, training, and professional development of investigative staff while helping ensure that each case receives thorough, strategic, and client-centered investigative support,” according to his online biography on the county’s website.
Jimmy was held without bond at the Dallas County Jail, per the Dallas Morning News.
Information on whether he retained legal counsel wasn’t immediately available.
The Dallas Police Department said the motive for Maria’s alleged murder is still under investigation.
