Top Dallas County investigator arrested, charged with wife's murder
Jimmy Harold Spurger Jr., 54, the chief investigator for the Dallas County public defender’s office, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder Saturday after his wife was found dead in their apartment. (Photo from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department)
The chief investigator for the Dallas County public defender’s office was arrested and charged with first-degree murder Saturday after his wife was found dead in their apartment.
Jimmy Harold Spurger Jr., 54, who has worked for the public defender’s office for nearly 14 years, was married to his wife, Maria Teresa Spurger, for 35 years but filed for divorce in late October, according to Fox 4.
Local first responders who were conducting a welfare check Friday night forced their way into the apartment, where they found Spurger’s wife unresponsive on a couch with a knife in her neck, Fox 4 reports. Spurger also was found in the apartment, covered in blood and sitting next to a knife in the bedroom.
After responding officers found multiple pill bottles also covered in blood, they suspected that Spurger had ingested pills and transported him to the hospital, Fox 4 reports. He was later taken into custody and is being held on a $1 million bond.
Spurger has led the Investigative Division for the Dallas County public defender’s office for 11 months, Fox 4 reports. Previously, he spent more than 13 years in its Capital Murder Division. He also worked for more than 20 years in law enforcement, which included supervising investigations in the Child Abuse and Family Violence Division of the Dallas County district attorney’s office.
Dallas County Chief Public Defender Christi Dean told Fox 4 that Spurger was “an exemplary colleague,” and that “it’s hard to imagine that he has been charged with murder.”
“We know in our profession that the probable cause affidavit doesn’t tell the whole story,” Dean also reportedly said. “The media reports don’t tell the whole story. And we’re still in preliminary stages.”
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