# William Stevenson, 77, ex-husband of Jill Biden, arrested for 1st-degree murder of wife **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350 "2026-02-04T00:32:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/1 "2026-02-04T00:32:12Z")
Late in December 2025, Linda Stevenson, 64, was found nonresponsive at her home, and later pronounced dead. Today, her husband, who was married to Jill Biden in the early 1970s, was arrested for her murder. Further details are skimpy, probably due to the very nebulous connection-to-high-profile status of the suspect and victim. TBH, at his age, dementia is not unlikely, and I sure hope it was a factor. When I heard about it on NBC News, a reporter read an excerpt of her 2019 autobiography, where she said, in so many words, that she didn’t feel like she could be herself with him. She was just 18 years old when she married him, and thankfully they didn’t have any children. I had also wondered how The Other Side might view this, and discovered in the meantime that in recent years, he did at least one interview with Newsmax . Go figure. I also decided not to post this in the politics thread because it really isn’t a political story. > **[Jill Biden’s ex-husband faces murder charge in death of his current wife | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/us/jill-biden-ex-husband-charged-murder)** > > The ex-husband of former first lady Dr. Jill Biden has been indicted on a murder charge in the death of his current wife, authorities said Tuesday. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/2 "2026-02-04T01:52:02Z")
How soon can we expect the first “Jill Biden’s Husband Arrested For Murder” headlines? Ten paragraphs down they’ll explain it was her first husband. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/3 "2026-02-04T01:58:39Z")
Seeing that this guy and Jill Biden were divorced _50 years ago_, the celebrity connection seems a bit tenuous. Maybe Trump will try to rev things up with one of his inimitable late-night shitposts on social media. He likes to try to manipulate tragic events for revenge on those he doesn’t like. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/4 "2026-02-04T02:06:42Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Maybe Trump will try to rev things up with one of his inimitable late-night shitposts on social media. He likes to try to manipulate tragic events for revenge on those he doesn’t like. He’s not nearly smart enough to think up a clever angle on that, unless one is suggested to him by one of his sycophants. But even that might take time, because intelligence isn’t their strong suit. More likely might be an outright lie, maybe something like “How do we know that Joe Biden didn’t kill Linda Stevenson, and then frame William for the murder out of jealousy?” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/5 "2026-02-04T03:38:59Z")
From the FWIW department, I just looked on Givesendgo to see if anyone started a fundraiser for his bail money. So far, nobody has, but there was a J6er who said he couldn’t find any job other than Door Dash since he got out of prison for “peacefully protesting” and yeah, he’d raised a(n un)tidy sum. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/6 "2026-02-04T03:58:20Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > there was a J6er who said he couldn’t find any job other than Door Dash since he got out of prison for “peacefully protesting” He didn’t apply to the right places. I’m sure that he’d easily get a job with ICE – this is exactly the kind of “peaceful protester” that they’re looking for! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/7 "2026-02-04T04:26:29Z")
One wonders if THEY also rejected him! ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/8 "2026-02-04T06:26:39Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > He’s not nearly smart enough to think up a clever angle on that, unless one is suggested to him by one of his sycophants. “Here’s proof: Jill Biden married LOSERS. Bigly.” Clever? No. But about what I’d expect. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/9 "2026-02-04T14:34:25Z")
I can’t find it now, but when I logged on this morning I saw a headline that may have been the most misleading click bait I’ve ever seen: “(_Something about Savannah Guthrie’s mother’s disappearance_);Ex-husband of Jill Biden arrested” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/10 "2026-02-04T14:41:19Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > He’s not nearly smart enough to think up a clever angle on that, unless one is suggested to him by one of his sycophants. But he is dumb enough to be genuinely confused about which Jill Biden husband is which. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/11 "2026-02-04T15:33:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How soon can we expect the first “Jill Biden’s Husband Arrested For Murder” headlines? Then what’s to stop the other side from posting “Trump’s wife falls drunk down the stairs and **[breaks neck](https://www.grunge.com/934778/disturbing-details-found-in-ivana-trumps-postmortem-report/)**”?. Let them. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/12 "2026-02-04T19:00:17Z")
My question is how do these come to light? I’m pretty sure this would have only been a local news story only if it wasn’t for who his ex was, & he hasn’t been associated with her for 50 years. I remember another story about some athlete’s mother was arrested for something (DUI?); except she had a different last name than famous person. Is TMZ running every arrest thru a database to see if that somehow matches the name of someone famous & then doing something else to confirm they are one & the same person? I know when I’ve looked up myself or relatives there have been names associated that I’ve never heard of before. Just because we both live in NYC doesn’t mean that Peter is related to Sarah Jessica despite both having the last name of Parker. Screwing up is going to be a costly defamation suit. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2026, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-stevenson-77-ex-husband-of-jill-biden-arrested-for-1st-degree-murder-of-wife/1027350/13 "2026-02-05T03:14:58Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Is TMZ running every arrest thru a database to see if that somehow matches the name of someone famous & then doing something else to confirm they are one & the same person? I’ve never worked for TMZ but I would speculate their system is based on informants. There are clerks who work in various police agencies who see the official reports of a celebrity getting arrested or dying of an overdose. They then call up a TMZ reporter and sell them the information for a thousand dollars or so. Being a TMZ reporter is all about making sure these clerks know your phone number.