William Stevenson, who was briefly married to former first lady Jill Biden more than five decades ago, has been charged with the murder of his longtime wife, Linda Stevenson, Delaware police announced Tuesday.
On Dec. 28, just before midnight, police responded to a domestic dispute at the Stevensons’ New Castle County home. Police said they found Linda Stevenson unresponsive in the living room, and after attempting “life-saving measures,” she was pronounced dead. Police provided few details of the incident and did not say how she died.
On Monday, authorities presented the case to a grand jury and an indictment was returned, charging the 77-year-old with first-degree murder. Police took him into custody “without incident” that same day. His bail was set at $500,000 cash.
William and Linda Stevenson had been married for about 40 years.
Linda Stevenson, 64, was a mother, grandmother and business owner.
“Linda will be remembered as tenacious, kind-hearted, and fiercely loyal,” reads her obituary, which does not mention her husband. “Her strength, resilience, and unwavering love for her family and friends will never be forgotten, and her absence will be felt deeply by all who knew her.”
William Stevenson sparked headlines in the 2020 presidential election when he told “Inside Edition” that he believed Jill and Joe Biden had an affair. Jill Biden was married to William Stevenson from 1970 to 1974.
Stevenson claimed that he and Jill got to know Joe Biden in 1972 when Stevenson threw a fundraising event for the future president, who was then a county council member in New Castle, Delaware. Stevenson said he began to suspect the two were having an affair in 1974 — one year before Jill and Joe Biden have said they were set up by Joe Biden’s brother on a blind date.
Jill Biden denied Stevenson’s claim, telling “Inside Edition” in a statement at the time that the claim of an affair is “fictitious.”
William Stevenson came forward with the allegations when he was thinking about releasing a book about his life. In 2020, he told the Daily Mail that he didn’t “want to harm” Jill Biden’s chances of becoming first lady.
“She would make an excellent first lady — but this is my story,” he said.
He added: “It’s not a bitter book — I’m not bitter because, if it wasn’t for my divorce, I would never have met my wife Linda and she’s the greatest thing in my life — but it does have facts in it that aren’t pleasant to Jill and Joe.”
